Is the AP trying to cover up details of the Foley scandal?

[Oilwellian]

I was just reading threads on Daily Kos and found this post made last night with link to an AP article that stated the following:

Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who sponsored the page from his district, told reporters that he learned of the e-mails from a reporter some months ago and passed on the information to Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Republican campaign organization.

Alexander said he did not pursue the matter further because "his parents said they didn't want me to do anything."

Carl Forti, a spokesman for the GOP campaign organization, said Reynolds learned from Alexander that the parents did not want to pursue the matter. Forti said, however, that the matter did go before the House Page Board -- the three lawmakers and two House officials who oversee the pages.

It was unclear what the officials did.

The board currently is headed by Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who did not respond to requests for an interview. <...>

Efforts to reach the boy were unsuccessful, but he told the St. Petersburg Times last November, "I thought it was very inappropriate. After the one about the picture, I decided to stop e-mailing him back." The Times didn't publish the comments until Friday.

Alexander said the boy notified a staffer in his office about the e-mails. The congressman said he learned of it from a reporter 10 or 11 months ago and promptly called the boy's parents.

"My concern then was the young man's interests and the parents' interests," Alexander said Friday. "We weren't trying to protect anybody except the parents. ... They told me they were comfortable with it and didn't want to pursue anything, didn't want to talk about it anymore."

Apparently, the St. Petersburg Times knew about Foley last November but didn't publish the story because "the parents were comfortable with it and didn't want to pursue anything, didn't want to talk about it anymore." Uh, that's so wrong on so many levels. The parents of the boy wanted to help coverup for Foley????

The Daily Kos thread provided this link to the original AP article stating the St. Petersburg Times sat on the story. If you go to the link now, it says nothing about the St. Petersburg Times. Why did they take the St. Petersburg Times out of the story overnight?

On edit: Link to original DKos thread:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/29/21480/3482

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

1. The Parents Are repub Supporters Through And Through...

This apparently sounds like it came out through other channels. That perhaps there are other pages who knew this, but somehow this evidence was the story that broke it wide open.

As for the AP changing their tune. Doesn't surprise me in the least. They're NOT on our side.

[Bjorn Against]

2. Imagine the situation the parents were in

How would you like it if a Congressman was making sexual advances at your child, and the GOP was trying to cover it up. I imagine there was immense pressure on them not to do anything. Similarily the parents knew that if they were to pursue anything that their child's predicament would end up on the front page of the morning papers. I can sympathise with the parents for wanting to keep this quiet, I can not sympathise with the GOP for knowing about this and doing nothing however.

[Sydnie]

3. Ok .... let's look at what we know from this

the parents were ok with it and didn't want to talk about it anymore. The boy brought it to the attention of a reporter himself. The reporter attempted to investigate and was shut down by someone ... either the congressman he questioned or his editors or the state gop ... someone stopped him from pursuing it.

The parents want it to go away, either to protect their son or because they are somehow involved in similar behavior themselves ... ???

The kid wanted it brought out either because he wanted it to bring down Foley or because he wanted it to stop something even more immediate in his daily life ... ???

What other possibilities could there be? Many I am sure, but those are the ones that spring to my mind. :tinfoilhat: securely on now.

[Bjorn Against]

5. You do make a good point, although I am not convinced the parents...

were ok with it. The kid clearly was not ok with Foley if he released this information to the press, so unless the parents are really sick people I don't think they would be ok with it either.

I don't know much about the parents, but I imagine there was a lot floating around in their minds. It would be understandable if they were afraid the media attention the case would certainly bring could do even more harm. And just imagine the pressure the GOP must have put on them.

I am just saying we should not judge the parents, because we know very little about them and they were in a very bad situation and no matter what path they would have chose it would have had consequences for their family.

[Sydnie]

6. As a parent myself I would look at it this way

My son participated in the chats willingly and said somethings that could be embarrassing to him should it get out that it was him. It could and most likely would follow him throughout his life. I would want to protect him from that kind of scrutiny.

On the other hand, I would know that my silence would mean that this Congressman could continue to do this to other children.

That's a heavy thing to weigh when looking at both of those possible outcomes.

As a parent, I would find it empowering and educational to have the kid stand up to this Congressman all the same. In this case, it weighs heavier on the "truth shall set you free" end of things for me.

I have some experience with a child being molested. I could have stayed quiet, go along to get along (since it was within the family sort of) and just gotten my child some therapy but I didn't. Turns out that the child that assaulted my child was also being molested by another child as well, thus acting out with the very behavior being done to them on someone else. Had I remained quiet, who knows just what worse things could have happened to the other child involved, or to my child as this child was further demoralized by their own molestation. by speaking out, I stopped the cycle and exposed it so all could seek help.

God help them if the person that did this to my child had been an adult and not a child themselves. As a parent, I would have taken him down myself.

[MikeNearMcChord]

4. The AP sucks IMHO.

Case in point, our local station that carries Thom Hartman, has AP network news, and during the time fram, their top stories was about Anna Nicole Smith, not just the tragic death of her son, but also her marriage(supossedly) and who is the father of her infant daughter. Imagine Edward R. Morrow having to report that instead of reporting real news.