I hate to say "distraction" too often or out of turn, but...

[mcscajun]

Was Foley projected to keep his seat until now? Is this a "falling on his sword" moment to pile on distraction from "Report Links White House and Lobbyist" (Abramoff) and the Torture Bill, and anything else that might have surfaced during the Friday News Dump? Bad enough the quite justifiable attention paid to the goddamned Torture Bill; i.e., "the Bill that Killed the Dream that was America", pushed what, in a saner world (would that we lived in one) would have been banner headlines all over the country, but now the Foley Follies threaten to obliterate the Abramoff story entirely from any chance of reaching the public consciousness.

Yesterday's headline for the Abramoff article:
Report Links White House and Lobbyist
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/washington/29abramoff.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1159502400&en=aed7d2940bae729f&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin
Today's headline for the same (now embellished) story:
Abramoff and Rove Had 82 Contacts, Report Says

In one (ONE!) day, the Edge is off the story, White House replaced by Rove, and it's not even a top story anymore; not in Most E-mailed, not in Most Searched, not in Most Blogged. It's off the radar...nobody's talking about it...except a few of us here, and precious few at that.

Today it's all about Foley, the Woodward book, the Clinton interview, and Torture, in many cases in just that order.

Once upon a long time ago, this is the headline that would have begun the final fall of an Administration. Those days are now as mythical as those of any Grimms' Fairy tales. The little boy to point out the Emperor has no clothes has been bound and gagged and treated to "special rendition" without benefit of Habeas Corpus (another quaint relic of another mythical time).

I'm this close to despair, to giving up fighting, and a lot closer to taking a break from DU. Maybe I've been too wound up for too long, to (seemingly) no avail. How much time can be spent being both angry AND ineffectual before it wears your spirit down to nearly nil?

I'm going to up the ante on Keith Olbermann's recent question to Chimpy: "How dare you, Mr. President?" Screw the interrogatives; I'm skipping declarative and exclamatory and going straight for the imperative and the profane:
Damn you, Mr. President!

[wiley]

1. Thank You so much!

He would be running instead of Harris if this was not already well known by Republicans. The actual e-mails are unbelievable. 18 is not completely stupid. Some guys already have kids at that age. This looks more like a set up for blackmail to me, which is why the Pukes had to pull the plug. What a better time.

[babylonsister]

2. I've seen the Abramoff story covered on ABC and CNN today;

it's not over by a long shot. Repugs are 'slowly' imploding, but they are. We need to concentrate on November. Once Dems gain some kind of control, I strongly believe they will turn that torture bill around.
And here's a :hug:

[mcscajun]

4. Thanks for the hug.

We all need to support each other in these difficult times.

:)

[MissWaverly]

3. I still don't think there will be any slowing this down

this is how the money got into pump that primed Team Bush, Tom DeLay, et al.

[mcscajun]

5. I certainly hope you are right.

But our hopes have been dashed continuously through a long string of short-term scandals that bloom and wither on the vine.

[MissWaverly]

19. Abramoff is much bigger, because it's clearly influence peddling

with a cast of many pols, reminds me of a soap opera

[mcscajun]

23. God, I always hated soap operas.

This one most of all.

[MissWaverly]

29. yes, this is like cat on a hot tin roof or one of those

desperate plays to show you the seamy side of life

[Straight Shooter]

6. If it bleeds it leads, until a sex scandal comes along.

The general population loves a juicy scandal. It makes their head hurt to think of political scandals.

I'm just waiting for people to connect all the dots. Who knew, why didn't they tell, what deals were made to cover this up.

[mcscajun]

8. Excellent point. Juice over politics every time.

Fluff over substance.

I hope somebody is making the map now for people to connect the dots; this America is going to need a lot of help before this scandals sticks, as so many have not to date.

[femrap]

7. I swear this is the second time that this story

has surfaced...maybe the first time, it was from Raw Story or someplace like that...but not the 'fabulous msm' NY Times.

When are the indictments coming? When??? And I want Reed and Norquist at the same time!

[mcscajun]

12. The story's been dribbling out in pieces for months now...

...but this, AFAIK, is the first concrete report linking the WH to Jack A.

Indictments, we all want indictments...lots of 'em and in a lot of directions.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

9. In 1990, Rove sat down & planned out all events until 2020

day by day. All your base are belong to him.

[johnnydrama]

10. I think

House Republican leaders cover up sex scandal with underage boy is a bit more dangerous
for them then the new Abramoff news.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

11. I think there is some way both are good for them as soon as Rove

the Mastermind figures out how. Try not to move and maybe
he won't see you.

[mcscajun]

15. "Watch the Shadows, they move when you're not looking..." n/t

.

[mcscajun]

13. 2020? I could be DEAD by then.

About two years ago, I started to resign myself to the fact that I might not live to see this country restored; now, I'm nearly certain of it.

[mcscajun]

14. Self-delete

::smacks head:: Responded to my OWN post!

[A-Schwarzenegger]

16. Rove knew you were going to respond to your own post.

[mcscajun]

17. Ha!

But did he know what I wrote in it Before I deleted it?

We wonders, my precious, we wonders.

[Beetwasher]

20. He Plans Holistically, And It's All Good For Bush

In six dimensions. No matter what happens, it's all good for Bush, it always was and always will be.

[Canuckistanian]

18. I don't know how to keep up any more

Where should the focus be kept? Immediate midterm election issues or general Repub/Democratic national governance issues?

They're obviously related, but which is more important?

Control MUST be wrested from the enablers of tyranny, but what of the tyrants themselves?

And is Abramoff the story here or just a symptom? And if only just a sympton, what next?

Without a sensational media story ANYWHERE, there is no traction.

In other words, where is Shrub's Monica?

[mcscajun]

22. That's exactly where they want us...spinning in all directions

uncertain of which way to turn next.

Look over here....

                               No....Over here.


No...Over There.

Nothing up my sleeve
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

"Hi diddle diddle, the Queen is in the middle. When the money goes down, the lady can’t be found!
A little game from Hanky Poo, the black for me the red for you - all you have to do is to keep your eyes on the little lady - ten gets you twenty, twenty gets you forty ... now here we go ... keep your eyes on the lady."

[Canuckistanian]

33. I suppose you're right

Ever notice that for every "major", attention-grabbing scandal, a worse one is quietly disclosed?

These are not "breaking news" items, they're carefully timed.

And whenever someone gets around to mentioning the worse scandal, they reply with, "Oh, that's old news".

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

21. As Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out on last night's Countdown

Average Americans kind of know who Abramoff is, and they kind of know it's bad that he had White House access. He thought that this week's revelations would add to the cumulative negative effect but not by much.

Part of the GOP's saving grace is the complexity of their scandals. Neither Abramoff's evils nor the Plamegate investigation can be boiled down into a neat story with an easily digested moral.

But sex with a minor - everyone can grasp the immorality of that act.

To me it's all good. Major manufacturers don't sell their product the same way to every market. Whatever reaches the target audience is okay by me.

[mcscajun]

24. The Watergate Break-in was a bedtime story by comparison

to the labyrinthine tales from the crypt this Administration has woven. Guess O'Donnell was right.

Simple stories are all the American masses can handle at this point...and nothing about the BushCo unraveling of America is simple...and NONE of it is easily digestible.
:puke:

[LSK]

25. my local news just said he was a shoe-in for re-election

[mcscajun]

26. Who he? Foley he?

Huh?

[LSK]

28. yes

[LSK]

30. n/m

[ProgressiveEconomist]

27. Which of the stories you mention has "legs" for weeks of media coverage?

True, the connection between the Iraq fiasco and terrorism (former causing latter to exlode), the Abramoff bribery scandal, the torture bill that sends us back 702 years on habeas corpus ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_Corpus ), and many other issues are more crucial for serious policy wonks.

But we KNOW the media are mainly going to ignore all of that. The Foley story is going to get thousands of hours of airtime; that is INEVITABLE IMO. So we can either help shape it or let the Republicans shape it.

Here's how IMO Democrats should frame it:

(1) The real issue is not Foley's pathology, but the five questions about Speaker Hastert's COVERUP of Foley's pathology from "Joe DC" at AmeiricaBlog (see http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2260866&mesg_id=2262010 ).

(2) Democrats need to take 15 Republican incumbent seats to gain control of the House and get subpoena power over the White House. Foley is one possible unexpected pickup, and Hastert, the "queen bee", is another.

(3) Hastert's apparent coverup vulnerability breathes life into the campaign of his young Democratic opponent, John Laesch, who already has significant support among Young Democrats (see http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2262900&mesg_id=2263048 ).. "Queen Bee" is Laesch's term for Hastert, as you'll see if you click through.

[DainBramaged]

31. No. This is way more damaging, and was dumped on Fri

To minimize the damage. The JackMeOff scandal will have a life of its own, trust me. But the lies and deceit within the GOP about Foley should be part of a criminal investigation.

WHAT FOLEY DID WAS CRIMINAL, AND HE SHOULD BE PROSECUTED TO THE MAXIMUM ALLOWED BY LAW. If you've eve seen the MS NBC series on the internet exploited "children" where the men flock to the house for sex with a minor, this is the same thing.

Jail time, with Bubba and Brick and the boys will serve him right.

[Shakespeare]

32. This isn't a distraction, it's a tool. For us. The democrats.

And if we have two brain cells to rub together, we'll use this tool to beat the living shit out of the republicans in about five weeks.

Is it nice and dignified? No, but politics in this country hasn't been for a LONG time. So we fight dirty, and with this most excellent tool we've just been handed.

Think it won't have legs? One blow job kept the country in an uproar for two years. This one also has a conspiracy element to it (house leadership knew for almost a year), so if we can't keep the noise level up on it for just five measly weeks....