Foley Snark
I recognize that in the grand scheme of things, the Mark Foley scandal will not amount to much more than a Hill of Beans. Other events of the day hold more importance and will be duly noted in the History books ahead of this — North Korea just created a nuclear explosion, for example — and domestically, Bush has rendered the Congress irrelevant through creativ, wholly brazen, and liberally use of the Signing Statement — a new substitute for the Veto Pen wherein the President refuses to follow through with a law.
But this is one of those stories where news develops quickly minute by minute, and thus it is conducive to our current media model of 24 Hour McNews Cable networks and the Tubular world of the Internets. News such as:
Former President George Herbert Walker Bush has come out strongly in support of beleagured House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
Sure, sure. Bush Senior supports Hastert. But what I want I want to know is: does Gerald Ford still support Dennis Hastert? Because if Gerald Ford doesn’t stand by Hastert, we know that the game is up for him.
“Just as it must be determined whether any Republican members or political operatives were aware of and attempted to conceal Mr. Foley’s activities, it must also be determined whether any Democrat members or political operatives were aware of and attempted to conceal these same activities,” Kingston wrote in a letter signed by 10 other GOP lawmakers.
Hastert has been on the front line of the fallout since he and other top Republicans were accused of knowing before 2005 about an “overly friendly” e-mail Foley sent to a teenage page. A conservative Washington newspaper even called for the speaker’s resignation, a demand Hastert rebuffed.
In a speech Thursday in Batavia, Illinois, Hastert said he had “done nothing wrong” and refused to step down. He also suggested the timing of the release of the messages was a Democratic ploy to get the upper hand in November elections.
Fair enough. But what I want to know is: Did the Reform Party know anything about Foley, and did they cover it up? Eh? Eh? Get me the head of the Reform Party — whoever that may be these days — and demand answers!