Just in case you have become tired of the Foley sex scandal, let's stroll down memory lane and recall some of the better Republican sex scandals. My, oh my, this is the party that God is speaking through? Yipes! We are all doomed if it is!

http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Republican_Sex_Scandals

Okay, here's the libertarian aspect of my political views coming out, but members of both of the main political parties, Republicans and Democrats, have been caught up in spectacular sex scandals. There's that long Republican list, and then there's the high-profile Democratic ones, including most notably our dear former Bubba, Bill Clinton. I don't think the government should be bothered with what adults do in their bedrooms, so long as it's consensual between the adults, it doesn't involve grave harm to either person, and doesn't involve minors (or other non-consenting participants).

What sets the two parties apart, is their overall view on sexuality and the ways that they politicize sex, sexuality, sexual mores, and so on. There are some Democratic moralists, but for the most part, the party is less moralistic than the Republicans, and it has paid electorally for being so. It has been this way for historical reasons, but it's interesting to see how in the last 20 years the Republicans, who began out of a particular political and cultural conviction with strong elements of laissez-faire economic policy woven into their platform, have transmogrified into a party dictated by neocons and theocrats. This difference in the parties' approaches on sex and sexuality shapes the public response to crises like Foleygate.

I would imagine that Mark Foley is not the only member of Congress to have engaged in sexually provocative IMs with someone else; however, his party's anti-gay stance, its hypermoralism on issues involving sexuality and children's sexuality in general, and the incessant need to project all sexual anxieties onto the opposing party (which is what many high-profile Republicans do), cast his tragic, human personal failings in a very harsh, catastrophic light. Had he been IM'ng a consenting adult; had he not been chair of that committee; had he not voted for DOMA or mocked Clinton during his scandal; had he not pranced around with his "surrogate wife" and claimed he was "engaged" or that he "liked women" or acted as if his longtime partner (the prim New York Times refuses to name him or call him a partner or lover, instead using the antiquated term "companion"--and it's supposed to be a liberal paper?) Dr. Layne Nisenbaum were just a, well, companion, etc., there'd really be no real scandal. On top of all of this, of course, there's the even greater scandal of the "moral values" party's leadership covering the whole damned thing up for the sake of politics and political gain!

Now, if Foley somehow escapes the snare of the very bill he helped to enact, and voters in his district want to reelect him, that's one thing. Voters in Massachusetts decided that Gerry Studds's consensual relationship with a page who was not a minor, and Barney Frank's boyfriend's prostitution ring didn't outweigh the good these two Congressman had done. Neither was an anti-gay crusading moralist either. Republican Dan Crane of Illinois had to resign, however, when he was caught in a relationship with a page. Other Republicans who have been involved in sexual imbroglios have hung on; Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania is alleged to have tried to strangle his female mistress, yet he is now running for reelection. Anti-gay Republican Representative Ed Shrock was caught on tape cruising for gay sex, and immediately stepped down.

Pedophilic and hebephilic situations are in a completely different category, however, and even a Democrat would have had to resign, I think, if he were caught redhanded like Foley.

Fair enough, FT, but wasn't Studds' paramour - correct term, no? - a minor? Ms. Ann Coulter does a good job of detailing the hypocrisy on the Demo side, as you've done it on the Repubs', in her latest column and with her usual sharp wit.

Why, gmg, I do believe you have found a woman to love in the "Wicked Witch of the Worst Kind"! She fails to make her point well, especially when she fails to see the point that the party of the GOP (aka: Gay Old Pedophiles) is the one who claims to espouse family values. What family values were the Republicans upholding when they displaying when they tried to hide this despicable man's actions? I don't know about you, but to me, this is the height of the culture of corruption that has pervaded the GOP as of late.

As a fellow poster is wont to point out from time to time, "Oh, the hypocrisy!"

First, the problem wasn't just "inappropriate emails," as Coulter claims, but then again, maybe she couldn't find someone to plagiarize the truth off. It was predatory emails, IMs, behavior (showing up at the pages' dorm drunk, ferrying young boys around in his car, etc.), etc.

Second, the Democrats did not let Studds off the hook. His rationale for his unethical and problematic behavior was f*cked up, but he came out and didn't rush out and claim alcoholism or child abuse either. Foley is a typical coward, holed up in a treatment center (like Bob Ney), and now gay Republicans are being attacked, as are some of the young people whom he pursued and harrassed, by right-wing nutcases. Do you agree with this? Why didn't the Republican leaders refer Foley to the ethics committee, as well as to criminal authorities? Why did they sit on this information? Well, we know why, but why do you think they didn't do a damned thing?

Third, Studds's beau, with whom he was in a consensual relationship, disturbing as it was, was 17 years old. The age of consent in DC then as now is 16. According to Republican pages, Foley's reputation of boy-lusting goes back a decade; he was pursuing and harassing boys 10 years ago. Foley was pursuing boys who might not have even been 16, and in any case, he broke a law HE SPONSORED. She criticizes Tip O'Neill for waiting a decade, but there is no proof he knew about Studds, and in any case, REPUBLICANS have said that THEY knew about Foley going back some time--the Republican pages warned EACH OTHER about Foley. Plus, he only resigned when he was forced to, and even then, the Republicans can't get that story straight.

Nevertheless, fishing back 2 decades to try and compare two different events really is an act of desparation. Really. O'Neill, etc. aren't responsible for Foley's behavior, or the Republicans' having covered it up and their continual lies about it. THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE. Perhaps if they'd take responsibilty for ANYTHING they've done, we'd be 100x better off as a nation.

And, as I said before, if Foley's constituents love him so much, they can reelect him, provided he isn't convicted by the very law he helped to push through earlier this year, or by Florida state law, which also criminalizes sexual behavior involving an adult and a person under 18.

At any rate, I realize how far gone you are when you're citing Coultergeist's incoherent, homophobic formulations. Maybe when she figures out that a lying prostitute trolling around the White House more than 200 times and posing as a fake journalist is the issue (which neither Gannon-Guckert nor the White House has ever answered adequately), not the fact that he is a self-loathing, semi-closeted gay man (Jeff-James Gannon-Guckert), or that Democrats (and most Roman Catholics) don't have a problem with gay priests, but they do with pedophiles (are you equating homosexuals and pedophiles???), or that most gay scout leaders and gay men who work with children DO NOT ABUSE THEM, and that the majority of abusers of children ARE HETEROSEXUALLY ORIENTED, then perhaps I'll take what she says with even a grain of credibility. Lord knows, chile, you really ought to let that nutty anti-gay nutcase go!

Tehe . But don't insult "old" people.

Heck, forget the "Politics & Religion" section, Republican sex scandals could have its own separate category on the message boards here.

The latest involves the race for Nevada governor. A Las Vegas woman called 911 to report an assault and sexual advances that allegedly came from Jim Gibbons, who's running as the Republican candidate for Nevada governor. Gibbons denies the claim and says he was only having drinks with her and helping lift her up when she apparently "tripped." Never mind the fact that he's married and a self-described "family man."

Woman Accuses Gibbons of Assault