Foley may be prosecuted under child sex predator laws

[ProSense]

From Talking Points:

(September 29, 2006 -- 06:34 PM EDT)

From the House to the Big House? Rep. Foley (R-FL) may be prosecuted under child sex predator laws he helped pass.

[kestrel91316]

1. Oh, PLEASE, God.......

[liberaliraqvet26]

2. Justice may be served.

He deserves it.

[INDIA]

3. I bet they start uncovering all kinds of dirt on this guy

Somehow I don't think this was the first time he tried to take advantage of a minor.

[mom cat]

4. There is probably more than dirty talk in his past.

[ProSense]

5. Big. Big Trouble.

(September 29, 2006 -- 08:32 PM EDT)

Big. Big Trouble.

Snip...

The page in question worked for Rep. Rodeny Alexander (R-LA). And the page brought the matter of his contacts with Foley to the congressman's attention via a staffer, who I'm told has since left Rep. Alexander's employ.

Here's the key passage from the AP article ...

The page worked for Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who said Friday that when he learned of the e-mail exchanges 10 to 11 months ago, he called the teen's parents. Alexander told the Ruston Daily Leader, "We also notified the House leadership that there might be a potential problem," a reference to the House's Republican leaders.

I assume that passage doesn't need much unpacking. But let's do it anyway.

So Rep. Alexander knew about this 10 or 11 months ago. And he says he notified the House leadership. That means Hastert and (at the time) either Tom DeLay or Rep. Blunt (R-MO). We don't know it was either of those three men yet. But that's what Alexander means when he says he "notified the House leadership." They're the House leadership.

If I'm understanding this correctly, that means that the leaders of the House Republican caucus have known for almost a year that a member of their caucus was having cybersex with an underage congressional page. And apparently they did nothing about it.

I think this story is about to get a lot bigger.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/010054.php

[karynnj]

10. They knew nearly a year ago, and left this guy as a Congressman?

I wonder what his behavior has been this year. It also meant he ignored the chance to leave, minimizing the damage to his party. One of the RW talk shows on the radio was whining that ABC, which has a liberal bias (???), kept these rumours to themselves until after the primary to steal a Democratic seat.

The Democratic candidate looked good. (Joh Kerry has been scheduled to campaign for him this weekend.)

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Republicans: Soft on Pedophilia!

Republicans may be running on a "Democrats are soft on terrorism" platform but now the Democrats can run on a "Republicans are soft on pedophilia" platform.

[Generic Brad]

7. Karma can be a bitch

And Karma can also be sweeter than anything imaginable. I had no idea Karma could be both at the same time. I guess it all depends which side of the situation you are on.

:patriot:

[Erika]

8. Let it be and he takes down Hastert and the rest of the GOP garbage

with him.

[The Magistrate]

9. He Certainly Should Be, Ma'am