DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel, who is responsible for grooming Democrat House candidates, should resign for his flirtations with underage candidates, notably Darcy Burner. Although Burner is chronologically eligible to serve in Congress, it's clear from her conduct that she's not mature enough for the job.
Burner's latest juvenile campaign stunt was to ask that Dave Reichert join her in demanding House Speaker Denny Hastert's resignation
An investigation is certainly in order, so is the immediate resignation of those House leaders who knew about Mark Foley's grossly inappropriate communications with young pages.A grown-up Congresswoman would wait for more information to come out in the investigation before attributing blame and demanding consequences. But it does seem too much to expect Burner to act like a responsible grown-up Congresswoman would act. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at October 05, 2006 10:33 AM | Email This
Is is OK to intercept someone's Instant Messages? What if they are communicating overseas with Al Quaida members? If not, why not? Just asking.
Posted by: Steve on October 5, 2006 10:42 AMDemocrats, upon conviction of a felony and the frogmarch.
Republicans, based upon the seriousness of the accusation, proof, facts, legal process, etc... are irrelevant.
Posted by: jcm on October 5, 2006 10:47 AMSome conservatives are huffing and whining about the exposure of Jordan Edmunds as the page in conversations with Foley. The correct view, as noted by Stefan is that the story is still evolving. ABC made the exposure of Edmunds possible, and it's looking more and more like Dems were complicit in withholding information for an October surprise as well as conducting outing campaigns and other political stings designed to create this story.
As usual, this is probably going to backfire on Dems just like the Dan Rather Fake Memos, etc.
Here's a great Eskimo story about how Eskimos capture wolves. Eskimos will drizzle seal fat and blood on a sharp knife. Then they will freeze the knife. Once frozen they sick the knife in the group handle down, blade up, and wait. The wolf will eventually come along and start licking the frozen blood and seal fat off of the sharp blade. As the wolf gets more aggressive in it's licking, it's tongue is slit by the sharp blade and begins to bleed, furthering the wolf's bloodthirsty madness. The frenzied taste for more blood escalates and eventually the wolf dies in a sanguine pool of self defeat.
Remind you of a political party?
Posted by: Jeff B. on October 5, 2006 10:54 AMLeno:
"Name the President of the United States"
Man on the street Burner:
"Ah - Like - Ah, Is it Lincoln?"
And as far as community involvement is concerned, don't forget that she volunteered to be president of the Ames Lake Community Club, two months before filing to run for Congress.
"Ah - Like - Ah, I need something on my resume. I better get involved in something".
That does raise the question, though:
Is Darcy Burner's position on this issue because she is homophobic?
Man, one thing is for sure, you can convince a Dem of anything. Hence Global Warming and the 9/11 Deniers.
Posted by: Jeff B. on October 5, 2006 12:02 PMDon't know if Darcy is homophobic, but if she stays consistent in touting her qualifications, I'm sure somebody in her family is homophobic
Posted by: ameslaker on October 5, 2006 12:12 PMUh, Mike.....Think for a second. Did anyone say that when Duke Cunningham resigned for massive bribery, Dennis Hastert should resign? No. Has anyone said that William Jefferson's apparent guilt of bribery means that Nancy Pelosi should resign? No.
The R's and D's calling for Hastert's resignation are not saying that the mere fact of someone else's guilt automatically means that the party leader of that person should resign -- and they didn't make that claim in the case of EITHER the corrupt Republican or Democratic bribe-takers.
The calls for Hastert to resign (which are coming from BOTH high-level Democrats and nationally-prominent Republicans -- another hole in your logic, btw) are based on the claim that HIS conduct was wrong because he should have done more (that is, SOMETHING) to determine if Foley was a danger to other kids. You may not agree that his conduct merits his resignation. But to claim that there's a "double standard" is based on a fantasy that the arguments about Hastert are based on some principle that in EVERY case of a congressperson gone wrong, his or her party leader should be out. They're not.
The logical parallel would be a situation where Pelosi had reason to suspect Jefferson's bribery and didn't do what she should do to prevent it. If that were the case, she should be gone. Likewise, if Hastert had reason to suspect misconduct by Cunningham (or others), and didn't act to prevent or prosecute it, he should be gone.
The SAME standard should apply to Hastert here. If he acted to protect Republican chances in the election rather than protect high school kids, he should be gone. HIS conduct, HIS resignation. Got it?
Posted by: Vonnegut on October 5, 2006 01:19 PMSorry, 7 words: Gerry Studds, three standing ovations by Democrats.
Posted by: sr on October 5, 2006 01:31 PMThe 'disgusting' communications were via IM, not the e-mails that House members AND ABC have had for a year or more. Big difference. No one but the pages knew of the IMs until last Friday.
ABC is treading into faked-National-Guard-memo territory in this story, with the inaccuracies of the page's age, solicitation of IMs from who-knows-where, and it's timing (can you say October surprise?).
Rush had an interesting lead on the genesis of the e-mail publicity; something about a predator-outing website, just online in July with no entries, traffic or referrals. Then suddenly they have the e-mails posted and within minutes they are then linked from Wonkette and others. Smells of 'information laundering' to me. Keep an eye out for more.
Posted by: Concerned Citizen on October 5, 2006 01:34 PMThe only word that Left leaning commenters and trolls need to know right now is:
Blowback!
Posted by: Jeff B. on October 5, 2006 02:03 PMDemocrats are hypocrits.
Posted by: swatter on October 5, 2006 02:11 PMI haven't heard anyone supporting Foley. We are supporting, though, the reasoned and methodical investigation that is occurring. Calling for Hastert's resignation is a little over the top. Wait a little, take a deep breath and move forward.
Grr, just the oppositie is why I hate Democrats.
It is my understanding the e-mails were a little weird but not against the law. The IMs, which were a prank, may be a little over the edge and I am not sure that they are against the law.
Studds was censured in 1983, and maybe he should have been outright expelled (I don't know if the Republicans called for that or not). There was NO claim that the Democratic congressional leadership had reason to suspect Studds BEFORE he was found out.
Somehow, I think that nothing about the Studds situation "refutes" any claim about Hastert. Can you guess why?
(Hint: It has something to do with Hastert knowing something BEFORE the Foley matter became public -- which was, of course, not the case at all with Studds and his fellow groper Crane.)
Questions for those foaming at the mouth claiming parallels to the Studds/Crane era: Is it your position that the Studds matter was handled correctly? Or are you saying that Studds was handled INcorrectly, but we should follow that approach here even though it was wrong -- just because it was done that way 23 years ago?
Oh, and another thing, sr & others, feel free to speculate and accept spoon-feeding from Rush Limbaugh that this was all a "set-up" by Democrats. The actual evidence refutes the wild-eyed speculation and attempts at distraction: "Longtime Republican Was Source of Emails," http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/100506/news2.html.
Are you done making excuses for Hastert and the rest yet, or would you like to keep talking about this for another week or two? The Democrats would like nothing more, because it just exposes how craven and opportunistic leading Republicans are, sacrificing even basic personal safety of minors to the needs of the ballot box....
Posted by: Vonnegut on October 5, 2006 04:10 PMProve to us you are soooooo smart Darcy. Think, before you jump to conclusions and make an ass of yourself.
As the truth of this unfolds, there will be no way for the Dem's to spin it to their advantage.
Posted by: ameslaker on October 5, 2006 04:39 PMDan Crane (R-IL) and Gerry Studds (D-MA) caught having sex with underage pages. Crane defeated for re-election, Studds re-elected several times and received three standing ovations from the Dems.
Mel Reynolds (D-IL) had sex with a 16 year old campaign volunteer. When he thought that he was going to get "lucky" with a much younger girl he exclaimed that he'd "hit the jackpot." Sentenced to prison. Had sentence commuted and was pardoned by Bill Clinton. He was then hired by Jesse Jackson as a youth counselor (you just can't make this stuff up).
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg not only supports lowering the age of consent to 12 or 13, but she was former counsel for the ACLU which defends NAMBLA.
Dems love child molesters, as long as they're Democrats.
Posted by: Obi-Wan on October 5, 2006 05:00 PMIt's not: "Hastert wasn't motivated by politics when he did nothing. Nothing was absolutely the right thing to do, for Hastert and the rest of the leadership. And it was right for the Republicans to keep the whole thing to themselves, and not tell the Democrat on the page board about the "concerns" raised about Foley. Let's support Hastert (and the others) for doing the right thing!"
It's: "In 1983, Gerry Studds was bad!" or "In 1998, Bill Clinton was bad!" or "The Democrats raised this horrible story right before the election to embarrass Republicans, and that's bad!"*
Pretty obvious what's going on here.
*Note: This claim is false, of course (see my post above) -- not that the facts stand in the way of people repeating it, though.
Posted by: Vonngegut on October 5, 2006 05:20 PMI am not sure I follow your logic. Maybe that is on purpose since it appears your logic may be faulty.
I find very few people defending Hastert, and certainly not Foley. I am pretty confident that if the facts bear out that Hastert knew anything beyond that Foley stepped over the line by asking questions that are too personal in the emails that he was shown that there will be very few, if any conservatives that will defend him.
Pretty much all you are hearing from conservatives is:
1. Liberals have no moral ground to stand on in this case because of their failure to act against their own who are involved in misdeeds, and thus exhibit the height of hypocrisy.
and
2. Hastert has yet to be found to have done anything wrong and thus calls for his resignation are premature.
It is possible that one can have a difference of opinion on the appropriate actions to be taken by the leadership regarding the emails that Hastert may have known about, but their content does not warrant the level of fervor being leveled at him, and any intellectually honest person should concede that Hastert may have failed to dig deeper, but that was a judgment call and not a cover-up. And since the howling is coming from the party of "let's legalize sexploitation", I can hardly accept their indignation with much credulity.
The fact is, conservatives are much more consistent in their approach to the misdeeds of their own then ever are the liberals, so you will have to do better than you have so far just to climb out of your hole much less assume the moral high ground in this instance.
Eyago
Robert Barr (R-GA) A co-author of the "Defense of Marriage Act," Barr has
been married three times and sued more than once for non- payment of
child support. During his third married, was photographed licking whipped
cream off strippers at an inaugural party.
Robert Bauman (R -MD) - A staunch moralist, notorious anti-gay activist,
and four-term member of Congress, Bauman surprised his constituents by
being arrested for soliciting sex from a sixteen- year-old boy.
Jim Bunn (R -OR) - After winning election to Congress in 1994 with the
help of the Christian Coalition, Bunn then divorced his wife (and mother
of this five children), and then married his mistress, giving her a job
as his Chief of Staff and a nearly six-figure salary to boot.
Dan Burton (R -IN) - Called Bill Clinton a "scumbag" for his marital
infidelities, before voters learned that Burton had himself fathered a
child out of wedlock in the early 1980's. The mother was given a no-work
job on Burton 's campaign payroll.
Ken Calvert (R -CA) A family values advocate elected with the help of the
Christian Coalition, he's been sued for alimony payments by his ex-wife
and was arrested for soliciting a prostitute - specifically the arresting
officer caught Calvert in the act of receiving oral sex in his parked
car.
Charles Canaday (R -FL) One of the House Impeachment managers while on
the House Judiciary Committee, Canaday engaged in an adulterous affair
with a married woman, breaking up her marriage. Canaday has since been
appointed to the Florida Court of Appeals by Jeb Bush.
Helen Chenowith (R -ID) - Said on record that "personal conduct and
integrity do matter" with regard to Bill Clinton's sex life, but was
somewhat more lenient when she admitted in 1998 that she had been engaged
in a long-term extra-martial affair with a married man.
Dan Crane (R -IL) A rising star of the New Right, Crane was censured by
the House in 1983 for having sex with a seventeen-year- old page. It
marked the first and only time a member has been censured for sexual
indiscretion. Some members have the House wanted to expel Crane, but
Henry Hyde (R-IL) (see below) rose to his defense.
Duke Cunningham (R -CA) - You thought it was just about money? Think
again. As many as a half dozen Republican lawmakers have been implicated
in receiving the services of prostitutes hired by the contractors who
bought off Duke Cunningham. An FBI investigation is ongoing.
Thomas Evans (R -IN) Served three terms in the House, but was defeated
after he was linked to lobbyist Paula Parkinson, a young woman who
admitted that her lobbying technique was limited to having sex with just
about anybody who asked.
Newt Gingrich - (R -GA) Received oral sex from mistress Anne Manning in a
parked car within sight of his own children. Married three times, with
the first two marriages ending because of Gingrich's infidelity.
Tim Hutchinson (R R-AK) A Baptist minister and vociferous critic of Bill
Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky affair, Hutchinson was simultaneously
having an affair with one of this staffers. Hutchinson divorced his wife
of 29 years to marry his mistress.
Henry Hyde (R -IL) Another of the Republicans who took Bill Clinton to
task for having an extramarital affair, it was later learned that Hyde
himself had been engaged in a long-term affair - which Hyde called a
"youthful indiscretion" even through he was over forty at the time.
Bob Livingston (R -LA) Briefly the Speaker of the House after Newt
Gingrich's resignation, Livingston was caught up in Larry Flynt's
"dragnet" of Republican sexual indiscretions and resigned himself before
stories of his marital infidelities were published.
Donald Lukens (R -OH) Was caught by a Columbus , OH television news crew
meeting with the mother of the teenaged girl with whom he'd been having
sex. Lukens was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor
but refused to resign his seat in Congress. Finally resigned after he was
caught groping a Capitol Building elevator operator.
Sue Myrick (R -NC) A self-described "devout Christian," Myrick admitted
that she had an extramarital affair that lead to the break-up of her
husband's first marriage. When peppered with questions about the affair
during a radio call-in show, Myrick stormed out of the studio saying, "I
don't have to put up with this shit."
Robert Packwood (R -OR) One of the most notorious serial gropers in the
history of the United States Congress, Packwood resigned his seat after
dozens of women came forward saying that they had been molested by
Packwood, some of them in elevators in the Capitol Building.
John Peterson (R -PA) Has been accused of sexual harassment (including
fondling and forced kissing) by six women, including Capitol Hill
lobbyists and House Interns. In the 2004 Election, Peterson was
re-elected without opposition.
Don Shorewood (R -PA) - A staunch supporter of family values, Shorewood,
a four-term member of the House of Representatives, admitted to a five
year affair with a woman who is not quite old enough to be his daughter
(she's thirty-five years younger). His admission came after he settled a
lawsuit with his former mistress, who accused Shorewood of physical
abuse.
John Schmitz (R -CA) A member of Congress and member of the John Birch
Society (who eventually kicked him out for his "extremism"), Schmitz
fathered a child out of wedlock. Schmitz is also the father of Mary Kay
Letourneau, the teacher who was convicted of statutory rape for having
sex with one of her students.
Ed Schrock (R -VA) Another vociferous opponent of gay rights and gays in
the military who, it turns out, is gay himself. Schrock declined to seek
a third term in the House when audiotapes of his voice on a gay-sex chat
line were make public.
Strom Thrumond (R -SC) Nicknamed "The Sperminator" by aides for his
pursuit of female staffers and lobbyists, Thurmond fathered a child out
of wedlock with his family's African- American maid - while Thurmond
himself was a staunch segregationist.
J.C. Watts (R -OK) - A winner of the Christian Coalition "Friends of the
Family Award," it was later disclosed that Watts has two children
fathered out of wedlock with two different women while serving as a Youth
Minister in Oklahoma.
It is nice that you can cut and past a pretty set of "examples" to prove the wrong point.
Now, if you can show how people on this site have been inconsistent in their support of the values that they espouse, then you may have won a point, but to show that OTHER people are intellectually dishonest is a fallacy.
It is true that there are hypocrits on the right as well as the left, but I did not say no conservatives are hypocrits. In fact, Foley is a hypocrit. I am simply saying that the hypocrits have no moral authority.
As for your rogues list of bad boys from the conservative ranks, the same list can be compiled for liberals. However, can you show how many of these were defended at all levels by all members of the party as has been done with the likes of Bill Clinton?
So, please let me know if you find anyone on this site who have excused any of the misdeeds of the people you list or others in this thread and I will concede my error in judgement. I know I don't excuse them and find it all reprehensible. Can you say the same about Kennedy and Clinton? Can you tell me that you beleive the Kenndy should have resigned in disgrace all those years ago? That Clinton should never been elected to a second term? That he should be ashamed to show his face and that Democratic politicians should ostracise him for his behavior? Until you can show me THAT level of response for his rape and sexual assualts I have a hard time seeing the "equivalency".
Posted by: Eyago on October 5, 2006 06:14 PMI applaud you for your consistency. Too few people seem to have it.
As for who cares? Well, it WAS the point I was arguing, so I guess I cared.
As for Foley Chairing the Page Protection Program, that is incorrect. That was someone else. Foley did chair something related to the proection of children from exploitation, which makes him quite hypocritical for which no one is defending him, but that is slightly different than knowingly letting the fox guard the hen house. Ragarding the original complint, it seems now that his explicit emails were with an adult, so that, while in poor judgement may be a different thing than first thought. The other developing story is that others have now stepped forward to claim he made "passes" at them. I shall observe the devlopments and make my judgements upon the facts as they are revealed by the legal authorities and not the media.
Posted by: Eyago on October 5, 2006 06:56 PMif it's nation building, where is your vigorous equal condemnation for Spain, UK and other Euro countries who have colonized much over recorded history? only the US is bad? and Egypt? and Rome?
sad, but true--the world is an evil place. i don't wave any party's flag nor condone illegal activities, but history shows "negotiations" are ineffective against bombs and mustard gas.
and--"torture?" like the Bataan death march? like the slaughter of the Chinese by the Japanese in the 30's? like current genocide & arm-lopping in Africa? like the WW2 holocost? like the N. Viets did to our 'Nam war captives? like most jails in the 3rd world?like the head-cutting of civilians? like the people forced to jump on 9-11 by peaceful religious folk? charred soldiers in Mogadishu dragged in streets? my guess is that you never whacked your finger with a hammer nor fought a bully at school. force is a necessary reality.
i noticed all the pudgy, comfy critics of the U.S. are always safely here--they never relo to Paris or Brussels or Caracas to bond with their thought-mates & walk the talk--easy to talk, when you are not looking over your shoulder like in Cuba or for some Crapistan's secret police or your neighbor turning you in for a meat ration.
how about a little appreciation for your home & freedoms once in a while?
Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on October 5, 2006 07:56 PMAsked her stance on the estate tax, she said she thought working people were over taxed and the rich should pay their fair share. Hey Darcy! If you are pro-death tax, just say so! Your dumb answer didn't fool anyone anyway. And at least then I can respect your honesty.
Asked how we get out of Iraq (since 80% of her speech was that we shouldn't be there), she said we should've applied the Powell Doctrine ("God forbid I quote a Republican") before we went in. Yes, very helpful to tell us that now, thank you!
I mean, this was really an embarrassment.
If the people of the 8th district are dumb or uninformed enough to elect this complete simpleton to Congress, they deserve to be represented by her.
She was really, truly pathetic.
Posted by: BMack on October 5, 2006 08:23 PMWho is rich according to Darcy Ben? Who are the working class people she claims to be for in terms of income? Why does Darcy believe Social Security is not in financial trouble? Is she smarter that the last two Fed Chairmen? Why does Darcy supported a "Easier path to citizenship" for 12 million illegal aliens? How will Darcy improve the Economy beyond it's current growth rate,record levels in the stock market and record low unemployment? With her proposed package of tax increases and "investments"? The only thing that really needs to change is Darcy's tune. How many "working class people" live in Darcys neighborhood on Ames lake?
Posted by: Smokie on October 5, 2006 10:22 PMA lot of working class people live on Ames Lake. This is a very diverse community, which has large, expensive homes next door to run down double wides. Actually, Darcy the so called "exectutive" has a home that would rank above trailer, but below many of the homes on the lake.
Darcy has never ventured out into the neighborhood to find out what we think about anything, but she wants to represent, not only the 390 households in Ames Lake, but the entire 8th district.
Thanks to BMack for verifiying what I have been trying to tell people in my posts, as someone who has dealt with this woman.
She is a totally unqualified idiot.
Posted by: ameslaker on October 5, 2006 11:02 PMwe are dealing with throat cutters and child school hostage takers as in the Balkans. we need intelligence and info. sometimes it's obtained with a little tough persuasion. to tie only our own hands and let the enemy use whatever it wants is a strategy all losing sides employed throughout history. what do you think other countries do like Venezuela? China? Putin's gang? put enemy combatants up in swank hotels?
terrorists do NOT have "rights." if you think Gitmo was "tourture," then you missed my historical examples and perspective of not being the "polite warrior." there is no such thing as a John Kerry "gentle, kinder" type of war. true, ideally, wars should be avoided, but not at the cost of selling one's own life/country out.
Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on October 6, 2006 05:45 AM#38 I can't figure you out AS. Yes, if the US pulls out of Iraq (which the Ds want), the ayotollahs will have won. That seems to defeat your anti-Republican comments.
I also liked your list of "sinners". Since the Democrat list didn't have any names, I have to assume they do a better job of coverup. Hence, double standard. Hence, hypocrits!!
Posted by: swatter on October 6, 2006 07:04 AMI think that when a congress-critter acts up and gets caught, they should be forced to resign and accept the consequences for their actions.
To hold another person responsible, who was not involved is immoral and illegal. A similar response would be to arrest and jail the parents of all murderers and give them a 20 year manditory sentence. After all, they should have know that their children were this dangerous. And by not acting in the publics best interest, they allowed the murder to happen.
Posted by: Mike P on October 6, 2006 12:36 PM