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In The Blog's-Eye: Time For New House Leaders?

The unfolding cyber-sex scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned Friday, has spread to the House leadership that appears to have known of Foley's involvement with a former congressional page for months. The word "cover-up" is now being aimed at various top House Republicans, and they are losing support from Republican bloggers as a result.

At least one prominent GOP blogger, Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters, urged House Republicans to demand the resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and possibly Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Republicans have to act swiftly to remove the stench of Foleygate from the party," Morrissey wrote.

He added, "Allowing Foley off the hook was a mistake in judgment, but this is a betrayal of those who trusted Hastert to lead the House with dignity, honesty, and integrity."

That's a reversal in tone from Morrissey's earlier post on the matter, which sought to deflect some of the attention from Foley and the GOP in the current scandal by calling attention to the way Democrats reacted two decades ago to another scandal involving congressmen and congressional pages.

UPDATE: Now GOP Bloggers is trying to deflect criticism of GOP leaders toward the press for echoing "liberal talking points" about the Foley scandal and "asking Hastert and others, 'what did you know and when did you know it?'" when some publications had seen Foley's e-mails but did not write about them.

Talking Points Memo also criticized the St. Petersburg Times for its explanation of why it sat on the story.

UPDATE II: RedState is now on board the blame-the-media bandwagon -- and for good measure added "leakers of the information, who were undoubtedly Democrats."

UPDATE III: Is the mainstream media at fault for not reporting the story sooner? Or, as The American Thinker, Blog P.I., Just One Minute and Right Wing Nut House suggest, is a politically motivated blog called Stop Sex Predators really to blame for manipulating the media into covering the story just in time to drive Republicans from control of Congress?

The number of conspiracy theories and amount of spin generated in just one weekend is mind-boggling.

UPDATE IV: A writer at GOPProgress also has urged Hastert to resign as House Speaker. "Right now, the GOP has been put in a position where it looked like we were going to retain the House," SJ Reidhead wrote. "Now I don't know. I do know if he doesn't step down, we're going to lose it in disgrace."

UPDATE V: Another call for Hastert to resign, this time at La Shawn Barber's Corner.

Posted by Danny | 07:00 AM

Comments

I'm also of the opinion that it's time for Hastert to go. My post here: House Leadership Responding Too Little, Too Late

Rick Moore | 10.02.06 12:07 PM

The House leadership provided cover for a pedophile to continue in his unspeakable behavior. The Media is irrelevant. They have dishonored their positions and possibly violated the law. They should at the very least resign their leadership positions.

Ryan | 10.02.06 12:58 PM

Much ado about nothing. Foley did bad things - Foley is gone. The rest is playing into Democrat hands and they're playing the right like a fiddle. Wake up, folks. ... We still have a Democrat senator sitting in the Senate who killed an intern with his drunk driving, leaving her to drown whilst he saved [himself]. All Foley did was write some nasty notes - and he resigned.

Michael | 10.02.06 01:16 PM

to continue Michael's remarks...

...and, we have an ex-KKK senator who has used the N-word n times (where n is a LARGE number), and another member of the D party who's roomate ran a gay brother in his house. Seems the Dhimmicrats didn't find anything wrong there.

Gimme a break. Had the Repubs exposed Foley earlier, the Ds would have raised the roof about the Repub's intolerance for "alternate" lifestyles. Foley is a creep, pure and simple. The Repubs made him resign, just as they did to another Repub creep during the '83 scandal. There was a Dhimmicrat congressman who was equally guilty during the '83 scandal. Did he resign? Oops, forgot - Dhimmicrats don't have to resign for sex scandals.

Da Coyote | 10.02.06 01:27 PM

Either some things are more important than partisan politics to a given person, or they're not. If it turns out that Hastert had reason to think a member of his caucus was a sexual predator and did nothing, Hastert needs to go. I don't care if the "outing" was the result of some Democratic operative sleazing the story into the media; that would be a minor sin. Foley and Hastert have committed deadly sins -- the predation itself and the cover-up.

100% turnover -- it's the right thing to do.

Mark Poling | 10.02.06 01:29 PM

No. Hastert's behavior in blocking FBI searches of Jefford's office was a disgrace. This is just the last straw. I'm with Capt Ed - dump him.

Fen | 10.02.06 01:59 PM

If Hastert knew, he and everyone else who did should go. Trotting out canards like Teddy Kennedy, Barney Frank and God knows who else, ad nauseum, does NOT excuse the House leadership if they knew and brings no honor to conservatives/Republicans, period.

If they went quickly back to the ranks of average Congressman and someone known for their INTEGRITY and BS intolerance stepped to the plate, this would die a quick death. But they don't have it in them to do so, or they would have hammered Foley in the first place. And maybe looked like real men.

tree hugging sister | 10.02.06 03:09 PM

Is this all our politics has come to? Relentless searching for the next "gotcha", desparately trying to blame stuff on the other guy before he can blame it on us?

The "creepy" e-mails which are all that Hastert or the St. Petersburg Times ever saw until ABC ran the story did not justify doing ANYTHING in light of Foley's explanation that he was just trying to mentor the Louisiana page. There's not enough in that e-mail, alone, to fire a civil service employee, much less a Congressman.

What if a Scoutmaster had written e-mails like that to one of his own son's friends. Say the Scoutmaster had met the kid at some national Jamboree, had heard about the storm, and sent that e-mail to him to see how he was doing. If the Scouts had tried to search his personal computer, his personal e-mail account, what would the reaction have been from all those today calling for Hastert's head on a platter? Yep. Homophobia, they'd call it; an unwillingness to believe that a homosexual man could have a non-sexual interest in teenage boys.

If you want Hastert to resign for not doing more based on the e-mails to the Louisiana page, then you are saying that all gay men should be viewed as potential child molesters and thoroughly investigated at the first hint of improper commmunication with a teenager.

PatHMV | 10.02.06 04:32 PM

tree hugging sister:

You said:

"Trotting out canards like Teddy Kennedy, Barney Frank and God knows who else, ad nauseum, does NOT excuse the House leadership..."

The dictionary calls a CANARD:

"An unfounded or false, deliberately misleading story."

What exactly is false or misleading about the Kennedy drowning of his intern? It might seem like one to a left-leaning Kennedy apologist who doesn't want to hear or know the truth, but ... I was alive and an adult when [Kennedy] drove off that bridge. I saw the phony stories taking place. It was obvious to most Americans that [Kennedy] got a pass on that crime. And he got one out of pity, I would guess - he'd just lost two brothers to the assassins' bullets.

But it does not change the story. He was drunk. He wrecked his car by driving off a bridge - something most people are able to avoid doing when they drive across the same bridge even today. And he escaped the accident, leaving her to drown, while he went home and sobered up before calling the cops or doing anything to save her. That is vehicular homicide and you or I would spend some serious time behind bars for that crime. [Kennedy] did not. He didn't because of who he was. And no Democrats, in or out of office took offense to his behavior. ... Clowns like John McCain call him "my friend."

No, that story is no canard. ... There is no attempt to mislead by relating that story. Just an effort to put into perspective the difference between a congressman writing some nasty notes vs. a US Senator, still sitting and enjoying the wealth of his inheritance, after killing an innocent young girl years ago.

I never said anything about Barney Frank, although I do find him to be a disgusting creature. If the people of his district like having him as a representative - it is their choice, no matter how nasty he is. I am unaware of any laws he might have broken. Perhaps you can enlighten us since you brought it up.

Michael | 10.02.06 04:52 PM

then you are saying that all gay men should be viewed as potential child molesters

Oh, please. Nice try. That's also the excuse they use to try to keep homosexuals from being priests, too. Pedophilia is NOT HOMOsexuality, HETEROsexuality or MARTIAN sexuality. It's PEDOPHILIA.

When this story first broke, if you'll remember, there was NO mention of homosexuality. (Remember?) Just some hugely creepy emails that were absolutely inappropriate, especially in a person who is ELECTED to the public trust. In what sphere does texting a 16 year old about his underwear NOT qualify as creepy, whether it's a Congressman or your Scout Leader? (Sexual orientation never even surfaced until days later in news reports, so you can lay that 'homophobe' baby to rest.)
As for Hastert not knowing any more than the bare bones? Others including Joe Scarborough have weighed in on that now. I wouldn't bet the farm on Hastert, especially when OTHER pages saw fit to SAVE texts and emails. That sort of behaviour doesn't happen in a vacuum.

If you want Hastert to resign for not doing more based on the e-mails to the Louisiana page
In my initial comment I repeated "if they KNEW". And IF it turns out they indeed DID...then yup, you betcha, see ya. They should resign their leadership positions.

tree hugging sister | 10.02.06 05:05 PM

The original emails were creepy and should have been suspicious especially because the intern thought them creepy. Would it have been to much to ask for Hastert and Co. to have investigated (and asking Foley what's up is not investigating)? I would not have liked my son or daughter to have gotten these emails.

paul | 10.02.06 05:10 PM

You can count NWRepublican in on the clarion call for Hastert to step down.

http://nwrepublican.blogspot.com/2006/10/clean-them-all-out.html

What were these guys thinking? What price majority? What price power?

I am Coyote | 10.03.06 10:58 AM

Tree Hugging Sister: The only e-mails that Hastert is alleged to have been even told about had NOTHING about underwear, nudity, horniness, or sex in any way. To judge Hastert, you must separate out the overly-friendly e-mails to the Louisiana page, which had nothing to do with sex or underwear and which were all that Hastert ever heard about, from the other e-mails and IMs, which didn't appear until after ABC News broke the story.

If Hastert knew about the vile IMs, then of course he should resign. But not a single person, other than those repeating and enlarging a growing Internet myth, has alleged that Hastert ever saw any IMs at all like that. Nobody. Not a Democrat, not a Republican. Nobody. It's not that it hasn't been proven; it's that nobody has even made the allegation.

PatHMV | 10.03.06 11:35 AM

Just for some definitionalism, it's not pedophilia, it's pederasty. Pedophilia is sexual attraction to pre-adolescents.

Foley entered rehab, pled alcoholism and insanity, being molested by a preist as a teen, swore he never touched those boys, etc., but he hasn't quite done the Full Kennedy. That would require waving his record of defending the opressed. Oh, wait. Since that would mean bragging up his record on internet predation legislation...yeah, guess he better stay away from the Full Kennedy.

NYT has a useful timeline on events attached to their article on Hastert today. Not often the NYT has anything useful.

Tully | 10.04.06 11:33 AM

Hastert doesn't want to resign? Throw the shameless bum out!

Lucy | 10.25.06 04:13 PM

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