Breaking his silence: The Mark Foley interview

[2QT2BSTR8]

Source: WPTV West Palm Beach via CNN

WEST PALM BEACH, FL – It’s been more than two years since Mark Foley resigned from the United States Congress after being confronted with lurid e-mails and instant messages he sent to male pages. In the first interview since his resignation, Foley has broken his silence and agreed to sit down with WPTV anchor, Roxanne Stein.

"Torturous. Difficult, embarrassing, I don't know how many adjectives I could throw at you to quantify this experience."

Shortly after Foley's resignation, his attorney, David Roth, announced Foley was gay and had been molested by a priest as a teenage altar boy. Foley also checked himself into an Arizona treatment facility for what his attorneys said was "alcoholism and other behavioral problems."

"So people would say: 'Wait a minute. All of a sudden he's going to say he's an alcoholic and he was abused. We've heard this before'," said Foley. "It was all true. Everything David Roth said that day was true, despite the fact that so many people assumed we were making it up to save my political hide.”

Read more: http://www.wptv.com/content/foley/story.aspx?content_id=a9bb8de9-075f-40ac-9034-64785ae5c30a

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What an absolute crock of BS!

[DS1]

1. This interview failed to make me 'rock'

:cry:

[Sydnie]

2. He was a grown man who had already had plenty of time to deal with the demons in his past

He had the way and the means to do so but did nothing.

I call Bullshit on him too.

Slink back behind your rock ... we're not buying crazy anymore. Change has come to America!

[DogPoundPup]

3. AP Interview: Ex-congressman Foley breaks silence 2 years after resigning amid sex scandal

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Even today, two years after Mark Foley's very public fall from grace, the former congressman can't explain why he sent lurid, sexually explicit computer messages to male teens who had worked as Capitol Hill pages.

Sitting in his room at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York this week, the Florida Republican, wearing a yellow tie with blue elephants, finally broke his silence.

"I'm trying to find my way back," Foley said in an interview with The Associated Press, his first public comments on the scandal since resigning from Congress on Sept. 29, 2006.

Foley insists he did nothing illegal and never had sexual contact with teens, just inappropriate Internet conversations. Investigations by the FBI and Florida authorities ended without criminal charges.

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-disgraced-ex-congressman,0,6494369.story

[Swagman]

4. I guess he just admires youth. Or maybe lots of youths

[wilt the stilt]

5. I can explain it for him

He's a pedophile

[last1standing]

6. Pederast.

At least so far as I've seen, he was hitting on kids who had made it past puberty. If so, he's a pederast.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. "... kids who had made it past puberty"

You mean adults ... ?

I'm not trying to give you a hard time here; it's just not a child sex issue. I'd thought the objects of Foley's desire were a lot younger until I double-checked.

What Foley did wasn't right, but it wasn't ped-anything.

If he had hit on 18-year-old young women, or even 35-year-old staffers of either sex, it would have been similar -- an abuse of his position to get some furtive sexual contact. A pathetic habit, really. The punishment fit the crime.

The Big Question is: why are so many people -- Republicans in particular -- so sexually miserable?

:shrug:

--p!

[adamuu]

22. as opposed to being chopped into little pieces, i suppose. n/t

[zbdent]

11. These people don't quite get the age thing down ...

if it's a 15-year-old female raped by soldiers, she's a WOMAN.

If it was a 22-year-old intern giving a BJ, she was a "young girl" ...

if it was a 16-year-old being trolled by a Repuke for gay sex, he's an "adult" ...

if it was a 14-year-old who killed someone with a gun, he's an "adult" ...

if it's a college male cheerleader who committed a crime, he's a "youth" ...

if it's a 50+ year old senator who fathered a child out of wedlock, who would later on berate Bill Clinton (younger than he was at the time) for "having an affair", the senator was a "youth" ...

if it's a male going into the military, who happens to be the son of an Alaskan governor and VP choice, he's a "youth" ...

So, you see, Repukes have a hard time defining when they reach adult status ...

[marshall]

13. Terms aside, any sexual interaction between high powered official and subordinate is improper

And should be dealt with swiftly and firmly. This was decided with Tower, went off track, and now I hope we get back on track.

[SpiralHawk]

8. "We republicons are 'special,' and entitled to Wide Stance Family Values." - Foley

"Besides, at least I didn't have Diaper Sex with a Hooker, like my esteemed republicon colleagues. So you can see that, when you come right down to it, I really am morally superior. Smirk."

- Foley (R)

[adamuu]

21. So I was in the bathroom the other day, and the whole "wide stance" thing popped into my head

i noticed... its kinda hard to spread your legs out very far when your pants are around you ankles.
Ever notice that?

[adamuu]

9. "just inappropriate Internet conversations"

that be enough, arrrrgh.

[Joe Bacon]

10. say what??????????????????

Oh, if only the Predator guy caught his sorry, sleazy ass!

[Chovexani]

24. "Why don't you come take a seat, Mark?"

[catrose]

15. Thanks to Foley

inappropriate Internet conversations with minors are illegal.

[adamuu]

19. if i said he was writing legislation to protect us from himself,

would that be giving him too much credit?

[Phred42]

12. Here

[NJCher]

14. oh, yeah, Foley...

I remember how this jerk behaved from the Clinton years, when the Lewinsky scandal unfolded. Foley couldn't damn Clinton enough.

But Foley carried on the computer conversations for months, asking about masturbation, sex, and other details.

Shortly after his resignation, his attorney announced that Foley was gay and an alcoholic and had been molested by a priest as a teenage altar boy in Florida. Foley then checked himself into a treatment facility.


It's nice to know there's some justice in the world:

Today, he's a pariah in Congress and the Republican Party. The affable man who reveled in the spotlight finds himself branded a pedophile, at best, a creep. Three former staffers refused comment because of their disgust with his behavior. He makes his living investing in real estate and other business.



Cher

[adamuu]

20. nasty, dirty boy n/t

[Tab]

16. It's not even so much the crime as the hypocrisy

He was on some committee to protect children's safety.

As an adult, hetero as it happens, I wouldn't go after 14 year old girls, certainly not when in my 40s. I'd be leery of anyone under 18, even if 16 was legal. If you're in your 40s you shouldn't be having or seeking relationships with young teens.

I'm glad he got help, but it was the hypocrisy that made it worse. Why are 90% of these stories about republicans that rail again child molestation or gays but turn out to be secretly closeted themselves? There must be a lot of self-hatred in that party. Democrats aren't immune, but most of the scandals are hetero scandals, and usually not by people preaching one thing and doing the other. At least Dems generally keep their mouth shut if they're going to do it, rather than be hypocritical about it.

[happygoluckytoyou]

17. THE TAIL OF 2 YUTES.... Foley... were you trying to get an endorkment from the Minors Union ?

Vinny Gambini: It is possible that the two yutes...
Judge Chamberlain Haller: ...Ah, the two what? Uh... uh, what was that word?
Vinny Gambini: Uh... what word?
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Two what?
Vinny Gambini: What?
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Uh... did you say 'yutes'?
Vinny Gambini: Yeah, two yutes.
Judge Chamberlain Haller: What is a yute?

Vinny Gambini: Oh, excuse me, your honor...

Vinny Gambini: Two YOUTHS.

[xenussister]

25. A My Cousin Vinny reference!

Yay! I love that movie.

[Rebubula]

18. Foley

Complete Douche....That is all

[struggle4progress]

23. Who knows what his real demons were? He's out of Congress & his public career is over.

I hope he's been able to face up to his prtoblems, get help, and straighten himself out