Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Sick sick sick

I’m still getting caught up with the Mark Foley outrage, which seems to get more stomach-churning by the hour. For the moment, I’d like to give House Speaker Denny Hastert the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t know the full extent of Foley’s communications.

The problem is that he should have known. A leader cannot know all information and, for that reason, it’s imperative that a leader surround himself or herself with subordinates who can communicate information and take the initiative when needed. The Republicans on the House Page Board had a responsibility to protect their charges.

This isn’t to say that the Democrats haven’t played (or engineered?) this mess for political gain. But the Republican leadership in the House allowed it to happen by turning a blind eye to Foley’s actions. This is the kind of scandal that lingers and festers in the public mind and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if it throws the House to the Democrats in November.

More - Poor, poor, pitiful me.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Remember when Karl Rove was talking about an "October surprise"? He sure was right!

Anonymous said...

I realize that logic isn't your specialty, but it is possible for a political party to espouse certain ideals, while still having an occasional miscreant in its ranks.

Anonymous said...

"Occasional miscreant"? Yeah, that's exactly what the uproar is all about. Very astute!

And it was "one bad apple" in Abu Ghraib. And "an incompetent mayor" in New Orleans. And one rogue lobbyist named Abramoff who nobody remembers seeing.

This is the party you elected.
This is the leadership you continued to support.
This is yet another result of valuing words over deeds, of valuing gestures over accomplishments, of valuing fealty over competence, and of valuing winning over all else.

"Espousing certain ideals" is so much easier than embodying them.

It's not specifically a Republican trait, it's a political trait. Luckily for our country, it looks like it's about to be corrected.

Anonymous said...

The Straw Man Army is on the march again.

And it was "one bad apple" in Abu Ghraib…

No, it was a few of them, and they were roundly condemned and then punished.

And Abramoff: disgraced, thrown out the door.

(By the way, how is William Jefferson Clinton managing since he got booted from Congress? Oh, he’s still there? Never mind.)


This is the leadership you continued to support.

The GOP leadership is guilty of two things: complacency (they have “gone native” in D.C.), and thinking that they have to placate and appease the leftwingers (they should know by now, this can’t be done, and it’s a waste of time and energy to try).


This is yet another result of valuing words over deeds, of valuing gestures over accomplishments, of valuing fealty over competence, and of valuing winning over all else.

It is clear that you do not even come close to understanding the people you condemn. Not even close.


"Espousing certain ideals" is so much easier than embodying them.

When you are the majority party in a country of 300 million people, you will occasionally be embarrassed by fools (and sometimes criminals) like Foley. Mature grown-ups with a sense of perspective understand this. Do you hold the Democrats to that same standard? Of course not, because you know it isn’t fair to the vast majority who aren’t corrupt.

Anonymous said...

I supported pervy homos before I was against them.

Anonymous said...

Today's TGK wisdom:
It wasn't one bad apple at Abu Ghraib. It was SEVEN apples!
Abramoff was disgraced, and thrown out the door! No 346th in-person White House meeting for a bum like him!
Your Straw Man Army is nonsense... and besides, what about Clinton's 1995 B.J.?
You don't come close to understanding those you condemn. Not even close. Because immature leftwingers can never, ever be appeased!


After the kneejerk belligerence will come the shame. The shame will cleanse you. Let it come.

Anonymous said...

What crime did Foley commit. So far
the one page identified is Edumds a 21 yr. old now. 18 3 yrs ago. As Strouds? (D) said many yrs ago what happens between adults isn't anyones business.
But nothing did happen here except for some IMs and E-Mails?

Anonymous said...

"It's vile. It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction... It's unbelievable that he could behave so carelessly in that setting."
--Rep. Mark Foley, Sept. 11, 1998, after learning details of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair.