Something interesting happened on the way to the scandal …
Okay, so everyone despises Mark Foley. But, really, if it were all just about him, nobody’d be all that torqued at the GOP. After all, scandal nips at both parties’ heels at times. While attempts to excuse it away by turning it into a conspiracy of Gay Republican Staffers is laughable, or deflect it quoting all those Dems who said that Bill Clinton was a jerk as a person but a great leader as a President is ludicrous (since nobody is actually arguing that Foley should have remained in office),
the most insidious effort has been the GOP and right-wing pundits’ moves to make this … about Mark Foley.
But it’s not. Because everyone agrees he’s scum and should be thrown to the lions. Literally.
What the whole “Foley” scandal is about (and praise the Maker I haven’t heard anyone refer to it as “Foleygate” yet) is not what some perv-in-Congressman’s-clothing did on IM and e-mail to high school-age pages. It’s about what the Congressional leadership — the GOP leadership — did about it as it came to light. Which, as far as I can tell, was pretty much nothing, except reporting it up to superiors who progressively can’t remember ever being told about it (let alone ever learning the
story of how Caesar’s wife must be beyond reproach).
That’s the scandal. That’s the basis by which Democratic voters are liable to make a greater effort to get to the polls, and GOP voters less of one. It’s not about Foley (except for the people in his district) — it’s about the power structure that implicitly (or explicitly) protected him in order to avoid the risk of losing their power.
That’s what people need to remember for a few more weeks …
And that’s what the GOP and their media supporters are so urgently hoping they can make people forget.
Very excellent point Dave, I agree. I have said time and again that issues such as these filter down from the top. If Bush wanted no one in his party involved in such scandals, he could say so and with enough force to make sure it doesn’t happen. But when the top of the ladder says, “Meh.” It sends the message down the ranks that what you can get away with is ok.
Another great example is the Abramoff scandal. Things are still business as usual on K street. Speaking of which, here is a great PBS show on the Abramoff scandal.
Now, you had to go do it. You uttered the phrase “-gate”. Now the media will pick up on it and it’ll be all over the country. Oh, Dave…
I very intentionally did *not* include it in the headline. 🙂
Sorry to spoil it, but Crooks and Liars beat you to the punch. 🙁