[Vision2020] Foley Case A Major Political Coverup

[Ted Moffett]

Paul et. al.

Paul wrote:


>  I wish that the citizens of this country would vote on the issues and not
> on how wholesome they think a candidate is.
>

I agree in some ways.  Gary Hart's affair with Donna Rice was none of our
business.  This was his private life.  Yet it stopped his political career.


However, deception about and cover ups of critical information about abuse
of power in government are moral issues that are inextricable from the
duties of government officials.  There are aspects of how "wholesome"
a politician is that cannot be dismissed as "private" business, that impact
the integrity of government.

Again, its the cover up about government misconduct, not Foley's original
misconduct, that is the main issue here.  If those within the Republican
party had taken decisive action to stop Foley's misconduct when they became
aware of it, no doubt there would have been political damage if this
information went public, but the damage would not spread to so many other
Republicans, as it is doing now.

Paul wrote:

**If more comes out about either party sitting on the information, then
**maybe I'll get more upset.  From what I've heard, though, the information
**that was had early on was more vague than damning.

Either party sitting on the information? Vague information?  What?  There
were political operatives working for Foley taking action to stop Foley's
misconduct in 2003, according to Republican witnesses.  The main sources for
information about how long ago Foley's misconduct was being ignored, or
tolerated, or whatever you want to call it, comes from inside the Republican
party.

Consider that these events, if true, might have been a bombshell for the
Democrats to lob at Republicans during the 2004 Bush v. Kerry election.  And
you are implying it is possible Democrats knew about this and kept silent?
Democrats may be fools, but really...

Kirk Fordham, Foley's former Chief of Staff, tried to moderate Foley's
behavior regarding sexual approaches to minor pages as early as 2003,
according to his public statements, and when this failed, he approached
Scott Palmer, Hasterts Chief of Staff, to intervene.  Fordham has already
been interviewed by the FBI, and is going to testify.

Though Fordham is under attack, with some questioning the authenticity of
his story, or trying to blame him for blocking the release of the
information about Foley's misconduct, others are coming forward to verify
his claims.  Fordham would have to be some sort of "double agent" working
for the Democratic party, to explain his conduct as connected to Democratic
propaganda to damage the Republicans, as some claim.

Again, some of the most damaging information about Foley's misconduct
regarding minors in the page system, that was allowed to continue for years,
comes from Republicans working inside the Republican party.

Quote below from this news story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100601888.html

The staff member's account buttresses the position of Foley's onetime chief
of staff, Kirk Fordham, who said earlier this week that he had appealed to
Palmer in 2003 or earlier to intervene, after Fordham's own efforts to stop
Foley's behavior had failed. Fordham said Foley and Palmer, one of the most
powerful figures in the House of Representatives, met within days to discuss
the allegations.
---------

And consider this report further bolstering Fordham's claims, and actions by
high ranking Republicans to investigate claims of Foley being drunk,
intercepted by capitol police trying to enter the page dorm:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15131243/

WASHINGTON - A senior congressional aide resigned Wednesday and said he told
House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office about former Rep. Mark Foley's
sexually charged correspondence with teenage pages more than three years
ago, long before officials have acknowledged becoming aware of the issue.

Late Wednesday, the No. 2 House Republican, Majority Leader John Boehner of
Ohio, asked the House clerk to investigate allegations that Foley, R-Fla.,
who resigned last week, was intercepted by Capitol Police trying to enter
the House pages' dormitory while drunk late one night.
----------

Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett


Ted Moffett wrote:

>   Paul et. al.
>
> I think the Foley case is a focal point that illuminates why many of the
> issues you raise that are so important have not been addressed sufficiently
> in the halls of Congress.
>
> Before making the following points, I would like to repeat the political
> truism that the cover up is often worse than the crime.  And the
> implications of the cover up in the Foley case goes far beyond any attempts
> by Foley to hide his behavior, or moral and legal issues of the specifics of
> Foley's behavior.
>
> The evidence is mounting that Hastert, or his office, knew of Foley's
> objectionable conduct as far back as 2003.  Either Hastert is woefully out
> of touch, or he knew what Foley was doing and chose to keep silent.  Other
> Republicans also knew of Foley's conduct, and also kept quiet.
>
> If the Republican party takes advantage of being the party of "moral
> values," meaning in part they support the fundamentalist religious view of
> the immorality of gay behavior, which is an approach they certainly have
> exploited in their courting of the powerful voting block of the religious
> right, I don't think it is trivial or misguided to fully examine a case
> of these moral positions being violated substantively by a member of their
> party, while other party members hide this fact.  If they are hypocrites,
> hiding behavior that might result in the loss of support of the religious
> right, this deception requires full examination, if for no other reason than
> to inform voters of the truth, to encourage truth in governance.
>
> This case strikes at the heart of one of the primary propaganda tools of
> the Republican party, a tool that has been used to deflect attention from
> the critical issues you insisted are more worth discussion.  If we cannot
> dismantle these effective propaganda tools used as "weapons of mass
> distraction," how can government focus on the critical issues?  Instead we
> have the US Congress wasting time discussing a constitutional amendment to
> ban gay marriage, or intervening in the Terri Schiavo case... The party of
> "moral values" indeed!
>
> The Foley case is another example of the pattern of secrecy that the Bush
> administration has exhibited on many other issues (need I list them?), that
> are more important, as you point out in your laundry list, then one
> congressman's sexual approaches to minor pages.  It is the damage of
> conducting the affairs of government in secrecy that is critical here, a
> pattern in the Bush administration, central to the fundamental health of
> democratic governance.
>
> We are also discussing abuse of power, the arrogance of approaching
> governance as though above accountability, that can spill over into many
> areas of government, which is another concern of many regarding how the Bush
> administration has conducted itself, such as in the abuse of executive
> signing statements by Bush. etc. Perhaps the Republican party became a bit
> too overconfident in their dominant position, and thus arrogant to the point
> of carelessness.
>
> These three fundamental issues, a political party's hypocrisy, secrecy and
> abuse of power in government, far transcend the moral and legal issues about
> sexual approaches or contact between a 16 year old and a 52 year old (I
> don't care whether hetero or homosexual), if this was the conduct of an
> individual leading a totally private life.
>
> However, when politically damaging information is covered up in the
> attempts to deceive voters, during an election, about behavior of a member
> of a political party that would contradict that party's message of being the
> high minded party of "moral values," exploited to win political office, such
> as in the Bush v. Kerry election 2004, we are talking about deception of the
> whole nation to win the presidency.
>
> A trivial issue?
>
> We shall see what develops in the Foley case regarding the evidence.
>
> Ted Moffett
>
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20061009/5d96ccb5/attachment-0001.htm