Hey, did anyone else here about semi-closeted gay Republican Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), who allegedly was hitting on a high school intern? The emails have been released, and while Foley isn't going as far as that crazy Washington State mayor, his interest in the young'un (interest in buying him a birthday gift, request for a photo, telling him about working out, etc.) is certainly creepy. But hey, he's Co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus, go figure!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/29/con...s.ap/index.html

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Florida, submitted a letter of resignation from Congress on Friday in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former male page, according to a congressional official.

Foley, 52, had been considered a shoo-in for re-election until the e-mails surfaced in recent days.

Campaign aides had previously acknowledged that the Republican congressman e-mailed the former Capitol page five times, but had said there was nothing inappropriate about the exchange. The page was 16 at the time of the e-mail correspondence.

Foley's election opponent, Democrat Tim Mahoney, has called for an investigation.
************************************************************************

Foley has long been rumored to be gay

Was he a Log Cabiner????

Funny... he was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.

What a loser.

Foley was endorsed by Uncle Tom's Log Cabin.
My hat's off to LCR for getting it off there website so quickly! Way to go guys!!!

Oh, and Foley is a Catholic.

My impression?

Other than I think he should be hung from the public square, and the family allowed to mete out it's punishment first, I did think of this.

What is the biggest problem in Mark Foley's library?

Bent over pages.

(I know, it's sick, but it's an update of an old joke)

A few years ago it was reported somewhere, cant remember where, that he was in a long term raltionship with a Dr. from West Plam Beach. A friends of mine parents have a home down there ands see him quite often on planes between DC and West Palm Beach. However, I have not any updates in awhile so I dont know anymore.










I thought so too at one time, however, friedns of mine that work on the hill said he wasnt.

I actually posted the info on the emails in another thread below.

http://www.outsports.com/forums/index.php?...0379&st=20#

A stout defender of children and young people, especially from Internet predators and pursuers. Except himself, it seems.

I guess the IMs in which he asked some pages to "get naked" sealed his fate.

"Hypocrisy" barely encapsulates this one....

Sounds like he is lucky he didn't get busted on a "Dateline" to catch a predator show.

I've known he's gay. I grew up in West Palm Beach, and back when I was in my early 20s and he was a local politician, he hit on me in a bar. Any doubt he's gay is out the window.

I actually thought he had been outed during one of recent Congressional campaigns. I never like seeing gay men exercise such awful judgement; it reinforces the stereotype too many straights have of gay men as predators.

I know and that's what really sucks about this

From my understanding, Foley wasn't that bad as far as Republicans go

Oh, the LCR is doing such good work down there in Florida!!! Do I hear silence from our resident LCR's?

One good thing -- one less seat the Dems need to fight over. With Foley out of the running, the GOP will officially be without a candidate meaning that Foley's Dem opponent will now be running unopposed. One more seat to Speaker Pelosi.

Did he support/vote for the Marriage Amedment?

That's not accurate. A new Republican candidate will be picked next week, and any votes cast for Foley will automatically be credited to that new candidate. Foley's district is traditionally Republican, and he was personally popular, so I think it's still better than 50-50 that this district will stay Republican.

Bush won Foley's district with 55% of the vote, so it's competitive.

The bigger scandal now erupting is that the GOP leadership appears to have known about

1) Foley's mess almost A YEAR AGO;
2) but kept it secret all this time and allowed Foley to keep his leadership post and his position chairing that committee to protect children from Internet predation; and
2) did not tell the Democrat on the House page committee about the investigation that Shimkus (R-IL) conducted.

Also, one of the sexually provocative IM sessions is from 2003, not 2005, so there's now a question as to whether the GOP knew about that, and it's come out that the male pages basically warned each other about Foley. Did the GOP leadership know about this or not? The stories from GOP Reps Hastert, Alexander, Shimkus and others are starting to conflict chronologically and logically, and the FBI is also involved.

Ironically enough, the very law Foley pushed for may end up leading to his conviction. He certainly risked violating sexual harassment laws, as these IMs show.

According to this article, Foley voted for the anti-gay 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.

According to Andrew Tobias (financial whiz, DNC treasurer and author of Best Little Boy in the World) in this Miami Herald article, Foley was "19 years into a relationship" and the fact that he had to hide this relationship was "sad." Mike Rogers of BlogActive.com slams Foley for his politics in the same piece. I'm assuming the relationship was over or open, if he was trolling for young pages. Anyone know?

His record on other issues is mixed; in some cases he's far right-wing, on others a moderate.

Hey, I wonder what kind of winner the Rethuglicans will pick this time? Is Allan Keyes available, by chance?

Now this really does sound pretty interesting! I'd love to see how this all turns out. Did he get the page he was hoping for?

Talk about your dogma getting run over by your kharma.

Obviously he was doing some freelance investigative work.

LOL

From what I am hearing, the Dems. have just as good a chance at picking up a seat here as the GOP.

Sure -- but it's one thing to be personally popular with gay rumors floating about for years -- it's another thing to be popular when found having sent "do I make you a little horny?" and ""You in your boxers, too?... Well, strip down and get naked." To a 16 year old.

I doubt many GOPers are gonna enter the booth to cast of vote for his name -- even if they hold their nose -- and even if they know his votes will count toward somebody else. It's a much better chance the Dems pick up the seat.

Foley had to know he was playing with matches here, and that this would come out..sooner than later....just read an in depth story about this whole sordid affair in my morning paper...

I think that having sat in elected office as long as he had, and representing a district that went 62% for Dubya in 2004, he was feeling a bit of invincibility, and it came back to bite him. Oh well.

Even though the Dems may not win the seat, Foley's resignation puts the seat in play, meaning the GOP will probably have to campaign and pour money into a race they figured was non-competitive. SUrely, this is the last thing the Republicans wanted or needed.

Jersey. You have it exactly. No longer a safe bet, which means $$ must be spent down there, which hadn't been planned on as much anyways.

Hmmm, wonder where gmg went?
He's run away faster than College republicans from a military recruiter.


"Inclusions wins"
"Do I make you a little horny"

Darius - LOL!!!

I don't think he was feeling invincible. I think he was feeling (as Austin Powers would say) a bit randy!

He still represents Palm Beach and those people know that the RepubliCANTS are going to protect their dough!!!

but take a look at the current political situation in Florida

you have a fairly competitive governor's race; you have Cruella running for Senate and now this

you're going to have Democrats come out to vote

Wow, and yet another bombshell as it seems top Repugs. knew of this situation and or at least the e-mails over a year ago, and sat on it and did nothing!!! Wow. This gets even uglier............Fun listening to them deny, back peddle, and then deny again.

From ABC News, which broke this story and essentially forced Foley to resign, the secret messages (pdf file)

While Foley keeps asking the page about his masturbation habits, how he (Foley) is "hard as a rock" and how he imagines his (the page's) "cute butt bouncing in the air", the page ends the conversation with:

well i better go finish my hw...i just found out from a friend that i have to finish reading and notating a book for AP english

Kids, they're so resiliant!

It's beginning to sound like pages are the new millenium's altar boys.

I feel really bad that this happened to these kids. It is just ironic what Congressman got caught doing this. I am glad this kid was able to come forward and tell what happened. I am sad that these kids and there families have suffered and are going to suffer as this story comes out.

On the political side of this, why should anyone be shocked that the GOP leadership's lack of action on this? They only care about one thing, themselves. They could care less about the people. They only care about power and corporations. This issue just adds to the laundry list of things they have done that show their total disdain for people in this country.

If this does not convice you that we need to vote this party out of office, I really don't know what would. I am not a total fan of the Democrats but they cannot possibly be any worse than this. The Democrats do give the appearance that they care about the working class and protecting civil rights. One cannot say that about the Republican party at this time.

This guy really does get his kicks from hitting on younger guys. It's predators like him who give the rest of normal gay folks a bad name! I hope he gets slammed in the slammer!

UCLA. I agree with you 100%. Just read a story about him and this on msnbc. Supposedly his sexuality was the worst kept secret in D.C. according to the article....and his partying was known rather well additonally. He gets what he deserves for sure.

The sign has already been removed from the door of Mark Foley's office.

Meanwhile, ABC is reporting that pages were warned about Foley in 2001.

Maybe McGreevy can give him pointers on how to write a book, and recommend an agent for him to get talk-show bookings.

Mmm, maybe not; McGreevey's guypal, Golan Cipel, was a grown man. I don't think many talkshows are going to want Foley anywhere near them.

Here's another irony: had Foley just had consensual sex with a 16-year-old guy who wasn't a page, however morally and ethically troubling we might personally find that, he might not have broken any DC laws, since the age of consent in DC (and many states) is 16,

BUT because of the very law he sponsored, the "Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006," he very well may have broken the law. According to Glenn Greenwald:



Another tidbit: here's Foley on Clinton back in 1998: "It's vile....It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction." (Cf. Hypocrite...)

So Rep. Alexander, the page's sponsor, finds out about this. He doesn't call the Speaker, the Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, the House Clerk's office, etc. No, he finds it important to tell Rep. Reynolds, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee--repsonsible for getting Republicans elected to Congress.

Difficult options these elected officials have to weigh:

Hurt a kid? or Lose a seat?
Hurt a kid? or Lose a seat?
Hurt a kid? or Lose a seat?

Disgusting.

Hey, if anyone out there wants to have some fun, take a listen to any conservative talk show on the radio and listen to the spin they are putting on this story! It literally has me in stitches! I just knew the day would come when Clinton looked GREAT compared to anyone in Washington. Pardon me, I think I am now hearing crickets. No, wait, that's the Gop'ers on this board! Why, they are as loud (or quiet) as crickets! Where, oh where are the same blow-hards that were spouting off about Clinton and Lewinsky? Congrats, GOP! You have now made Clinton look like a family-values president! Hats off to the Rethuglicans!

*sigh* I long for the simple days where adultery was the cause for an impeachment.

I was thinking his advanced placement english paper could be the real page turner. I wish him luck with that one with all these distractions.

"make sure you measure". My God...all over the media this morning. D.C. is in another crisis mode I hear, while it seems the GOP has been hiding this dirty little secret for years. What a disaster in the making. Foley is giving the hard right within the GOP all the ammo it needs for another 10 years or so.

Some breaking news on msnbc.com, as I understand Foley has checked himself into some kind of (alcohol) rehab. program.......

Ha-ha-ha-ha. This is all too priceless. Even Hollywood wouldn’t have bought this script. Can’t wait for the watered-down movie of the week on Lifetime next spring.

A few questions come to mind:

Do idiots become politicians, or do politicians become idiots?

Do liars become Republicans, or do Republicans become liars?

Does a Page or an Intern give better head?

Why are Democrat members of the Missing & Exploited Children’s Committee not getting the same information as the Republican members?

Over the years, exactly how many teen boys have been exploited and molested by Fooley? No one becomes a pedophile overnight. And no one becomes a pedophile because they have a drinking problem. Excuses, excuses….

Is Congress itself a protective breeding ground for pedophiles?

Did most Republicans spend their weekend shredding documents and sledge-hammering their hard-drives?

Are Log Cabin meetings like sleeper cells of perverts? Or just of guys who can’t otherwise get a date?

Why is Florida the epicentre of the corrupt, i.e., Republicans? Is it because it’s “America’s wang?”

Since he claims to be Roman Catholic, why didn’t he just join the clergy where the boys are served up in robes? Much easier to “slip them off”. Mmmmm, sacrilicious!

And this, from Newt Gingrich on Sunday, on why the Republicans didn’t act sooner: “We didn’t want to be accused of GAY BASHING.” So, instead, they made him the head of an exploited children’s committee.

Today, every self-respecting (?) member of the Republican Party should burn their membership card and ask for a full refund. You’ve been had. Again.

Paging GMG, where art thou?

Log Cabin?? "Value voters?" Bill Bennett? Ken Starr??

HELLO???? Anyone....???

Cut and run, cut and run!