The One With Aldacron

Watching the Republicans react over the Foley scandal makes for good comedy. I’m really rather enjoying it. For whatever reason, too many people are complacent over the Iraq mess and other crimes committed by the Republican leadership. It’s okay to send our teenagers off to die en masse over a pack of lies as soon as they turn 18, but if you start throwing sex-talk at them before then, the line is crossed!

In response to allegations that he knew about the problem a year ago, House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert resorted to the tried-and-true political defense favored by so many Republicans:

Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the majority leader, said in a radio interview on Tuesday that he discussed Mr. Foley’s communication with a page with Mr. Hastert last spring, joining Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York in insisting they had raised the matter directly with Mr. Hastert. Mr. Hastert has said he had no recollection of the Foley matter before it exploded last week.

Ah, the good ol’ Reagan Defense. While Hastert was busy not recalling a major breach of ethics and violation of the law, Foley’s lawyer was making public a bit of news all good Republicans surely must love to hear:

The lawyer, David Roth, who said Mr. Foley had enlisted him immediately after resigning from the House of Representatives on Friday, told reporters, “Mark Foley wants you to know that he is a gay man.”

Whoa! A gay man in the Republican party! Republicans are notoriously homophobic, if not outright homo-haters, so it’s a bit of surprise to learn that a gay man would join their ranks. Then again, there are black and hispanic Republicans even though the party is built on bigotry, and I’m sure there are more closet gays carrying a Bush card. Anyone can sell their souls, I suppose.

In the days since the news first became public, Foley has let it be known that he is an alcoholic and suffers from mental illness. Not as an exuse, mind you — just conveniently letting people know about it all now that they’ve discovered he’s a pervert. We also know more about his past:

Mr. Roth also said that the congressman, who resigned Friday after being confronted with sexually explicit messages he had sent to teenage Congressional pages, had been molested from ages 13 to 15 by a clergyman. Mr. Roth said Mr. Foley had not had any sexual contact with minors.

Obviously, Foley can’t pull off the Reagan Defense with so much evidence against him. Instead, he has to resort to the Finger-Pointing Defense. A homosexual, alcoholic nut-job who took it up the bum from a priest as a teen just can’t help coming on to teen boys himself. After all, that’s what the experts say:

Mr. Roth, who said he had known Mr. Foley for 35 years, called a news conference on Monday to announce that his client had checked into a treatment center for alcohol and mental health problems. On Tuesday, he said Mr. Foley had decided to disclose his abuse by a clergyman he would not identify as part of his recovery.

“Based upon the experts that I’ve spoken to,” Mr. Roth said, “the combination of alcohol, mental illness can result in inappropriate conduct, which Mark Foley has fully accepted responsibility for.”

Heh, a clergyman he “would not identify.” Gee, thanks for letting us know about it now that you’re BUSTED! Of course, not everyone is buying it (me! me! me!):

“It doesn’t change anything,” said Sid Dinerstein, chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. “In a way it makes it worse. A person who knows they have a problem and spends all those years covering it up, who leads a double life and allows themselves to be a leader of a community when their life is completely hypocritical, is worse.”

What do you know? There’s a Repbulican I agree with. Hey, Foley — just admit you’re a preverted freak and get on with life. It’s not like you’re going to be elected to office anywhere again. Well, then again, in Florida anything is possible.

Hopefully this will do what Iraq and Bush’s trampling of human rights might not have been able to do alone — keep the fanatical conservatives (not the sensible ones, we want them) at home on election day so that they don’t cast votes for liars and criminals. Maybe then we can get a real government to help reduce the damage until Bush is finished with his job of destroying America.

Technorati Tags: Mark Foley, Dennis Hastert, Republicans, alcoholics, perverts, lunatics, molestation