Glad to see you haven't joined the lynch mob.

When are Republicans going to learn that being in charge means you have to take responsibility?

Considering the title, "What Did The Democrats Know, And When Did They Know It?", the article you extensively quote from makes no attempt to answer the question.

We know that the house Democratic leadership was not informed of this, and that Hastert considered this a political issue, not one of propriety or a criminal issue.

Mentioning a bunch of Democrats who had sex scandals doesn't change the facts of this case.

Let's not forget Ex NJ Gov. James McGreevy on that list of Dem offenders. He coerced a young foreigner to come to the US and gave him a job in national security just so he could have him close by for nooners.

The GOP:
Whenever we screw up, it's the Democrats fault. Because honestly, we don't know how to run a government.

I swear if Denny Hastert or Bill Frist murdered a baby on national television, you guys would blame the Democrats.

I have to admit that I never quite expected my former party to sink so low as this. You guys are starting to sound like 9/11 truthers at this point. I'm quite certain that the pseudo-con dream team will find some way to blame the Democratic party, homosexual agenda, and Bill Clinton for Mark Foley's pederasty. The question that remains is whether anyone will continue to listen to clear partisan hackery at that point.

Wow. Isn't this where you bring up Lewinsky? Except that the entire senior leadership of Congress didn't conspire to hide evidence of serial predation from discovery.

Try these behaviours on for size: it would be refreshing, for once:

1) Acknowledgement of gross negligence of oversight
2) Acceptance of responsibility (!)
3) Refrain from a pathetic "but you guys did it too in 1983" or whenever.

Don't bother diverting attention to misdeeds. I think Clinton was pretty properly punished and stained his name in history. But the Foley Five? Hiding or, worse, ignoring clear sexual predation by one of their own? Disgusting? Morally reprehensible? Unfathomable? Are those appropriate terms?

Jeez, for a bunch of moral absolutists, you certainly love to see grey on your own.

The Republican have, collectively, lost all moral authority to govern. Somewhere between the abandonment of Habeus Corpus, the attempt to shift responsibility for 9/11 and now this heinous irresponsibility, you managed to do it.

The only question really remains is when and if you will ever feel a smidgen of shame for what was done.

I read that and it's an interesting question. I've actually seen it several times come up with Pelosi's name mentioned.

I don't know where that came from though. Can someone point me to a source or something cuz I hear mention of Dems knowing but I haven't heard anything about it and you'd think that would be bigger news.

Keep spinning, fellers, keep spinning. The story's not going to go away anytime soon, matter of fact, I bet it gets much worse. But, it's fun to watch you unsuccessfully try to spin it away.

"Mark Foley, What Did The Democrats Know, And When Did They Know It?"

Yes, THAT'S the question on everyone's mind!

Peter - how could you think the ability of this band of Republican miscreant scoundrels to feel even the tiniest iota of shame is still in question ?

I'm actually heartened to read of this attempt to blame Foley on the Democrats. Repugnicrans have been getting by on nothing more than outrageous hubris for a long time now, and combining that strategy with one based on staggering stupidity is hardly going to help their cause

What Did The Democrats Know, And When Did They Know It?

Ah, that famous Question Mark. You can say anything you want when you put a Question Mark at the end and get away with it. Fox News is famous for it. The Question Mark is also known as "The Cavuto".

Some examples:
"George W. Bush sexually assaulted Barney?"
"GOP has become the party of Grand Old Pedophiles?"

Peter, forgive me if I say your faux outrage is laughable at best. There are two different issues at play here. The emails, which were non-sexual in nature and not legally actionable and the IMs which were sexual in nature and would have triggered an ethics probe. The republican leadership heard about the emails, the democrats KNEW about the IMs and let Foley continue his sick little games in order to pick up seats in the upcoming election.

Any representative of the party of abortions for 16 year old girls without parental notification and lowered AOC laws need not lecture anyone on the right about morals.

This Just In! ABC's Brian Ross says the Foley evidence was given to him by Republicans.

And another talking point dies a slow, undignified death...

Well, the others said it pretty well. Your leaders have a child predator in their midst and do nothing about it. I'll just add one thing: The people who came forward with the emails were not Democratic lawmakers. They were the pages themselves. Game. Set. Match. A few of your party's victims have done you in. About time.

You're accusing Dems of hypocracy? Excuse me, but wasn't it supposed to be the G.O.P., MY PARTY (or at least, it used to be), which claimed to be the Party Of Family Values?

Explain to me how the G.O.P. leadership covering up a Republican senator preying on boys in the Senate represents America's Family Values?

The dems never claimed to be the party of Family Values, WE Did.

You're not fooling anybody, even those on your side, by trying to pin this on the Democrats. If they knew about this last November, as we did, they would've damned sure used it then. Maybe if somebody would've told Hastert that he was trying to Marry the boy, then somebody would've been outraged enough to take care of the situation THEN, before it so damaged us this close to the election.

This is the final straw for me. I was going to hold my nose and vote Republican this year, but now I'm staying home. The party currently pretending to be conservatives deserves what it gets.

Sarah Macarthur -

Look, your distinctions between emails that are not legally actionable and IMs that are remind me of that guy (forgot his name) who argued about what the definition of "is" is.

I'm a parent. Two kids. A boy and a girl. If either one of them got an email from a 56-year-old that said what EITHER one of those "non-actionable" emails said, I would KNOW there was a problem. It wouldn't be like "oh, yay, nice old man wants a picture of my son", it would be "holy sh!t, this guy's trouble, I'm calling the cops".

If you don't see that, Sarah, then you're way off-base and really splitting hairs. Foley was a perv. His emails should have triggered an investigation, PERIOD. You're lying to yourself if you think otherwise. Or, you don't have kids and don't have a frigging clue.

What did the Democrats know and when did they know it? Hmmm. Hard to tell.

But I'll tell you when the GOP House leadership knew about it: TWO YEARS AGO.

Read 'em and weep, GoOPers.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/04/foley.ap/index.html

Your sorry pathetic attempt at spin is laughable at best.

All anyone needs to know is that Kirk Fordham told Hastert

2 YEARS AGO!!!!!!!

Thats how long the GOP has been covering for a child predator.

The Dems are achieving what they planned to before the elections (and it looks like they have had this game plan the works since 2003 when the IM’s were supposedly saved).

They will have fractured the Republican Party by November and will take control.
Rush is absolutely correct that this is the Gang of Clinton at its best. If this continues and the Republican Party engages in a witch hunt for gays with the help of the Gay Left it will be disastrous.

"As it is, Republicans deny knowing about the explicit text messages that Foley sent to a 16-year-old congressional page back in 2003."

well well well...now we find out (by accident) that the 16 year old page was actually an 18 year old...in otherwords AN ADULT!!!

Wasn't the defense that the donks used for Clinton/Lewinsky was "two CONSENTING ADULTS"???

So it turns out that the MSM wasn't revealing ALL of the details about this. It is clearly a cleverly contrived smear campaign timed as an October surprise.

Only now that more details come out it might be the Donk who are surprised.

Family values---what a load!. My President sanctimoniously talks of promoting a culture of life while he's sending kids off to die in a b.s war, the facts of which he's been obscuring all the while. ----Now I learn that the party or family values has provided two years of cover for a sick f&^k who has been touching for young boys. I'm done. I won't be voting GOP again anytime soon.

Hmmm...

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/10/foleygate-what-stunk-like-rat-was.html

Soo... a guy who calls the DCCC to coordinate an 'outing of a gay republican' an interesting coincidence...

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/10/foleygate-what-stunk-like-rat-was.html

I don't know how to make that a clickable link... I'm not that computer savvy.

Sooo... Democrats knew about this for a period of time before it was made public, almost as if it was coordinated with the Brian Ross/ABC News story... hmmm indeed.

Let me get this straight........, your warped Congressmen is caught trying to get into the pants of a young boy and you're concerned about when and what the Democrats knew?!?!?!?!??! You can't be serious and call yourself a decent person.

So we've had five years of complete failure from the Republicans -- 9/11, Afghanistan, Enron, New Orleans, let's not forget Iraq, and now the pederasty scandals.

Somehow, despite the fact the Republicans have held the presidency, the Senate, the Congress and the Supreme Court for all that time, somehow the Republicans continue to blame the Democrats! But now, no one is believing it -- not even your own crew, who is calling for the resignation of everyone in sight.

Now, a rational person might say, wow, over a 100,000 dead and perhaps as many as a million wounded for nothing in Iraq, and nothing to show for it -- perhaps that's more important than conduct of a representative that, while disgraceful, still didn't actually kill or mutilate anyone.

But one thing at a time. First get the Republicans out of office -- then warcrimes trials for the people who caused all the death and the looting of the Treasury -- finally we can, I hope, rescue the country from the results of your incompetence and corruption.

wawillio

Ross said his source were Republicans. Insinuating that Democrats knew does NOT mean that they did, as much as you would hope otherwise.

Dennis Hastert should lose his job because - regardless of when he knew - this happened on his watch. It is clear that he knew of the emails, which were suspicious at best and creepy at worst. He should have followed up. "Send me a picture?" Come on, I don't by for a second that 'he wanted to make sure that the boy was OK after Katrina'.

This is a Republican scandal. Republican Congressman - unfortunatly for Fox News, though they tried to cover it up - implicated, Republican goes to ABC/Ross, Republican leaders ignored it.

Even Roy Blunt said he would have handled it differently.

I get it -- the timing of this is bad for Republicans, so the Democrats MUST be responsible. Too bad the evidence contradicts you. But of course Republicans don't care much about facts or evidence. And I only wish the Democrats were that competent. Sorry, but the Republican party owns this one 100%.

If the Dems want an investigation of e-mails and IM's from Congress, let's give 'em what they want. Let's call for a complete data dump of ALL congressional e-mails with pages of both sexes.... I wonder what will pop up?

So let me get this straight:

Bill Clinton being caught fooling with an intern by Republicans, is Bill Clinton's fault.

Mark Foley's sexual predatory tendencies being covered up by the Republicans Hastert, Shimkus, Reynolds, Fordham, and Boehner is...the Democrats' fault.