Marc Klaas went after the Republicans on Countdown

[eleny]

He just said that "The Republicans came very close to getting away with this" (re: Foley) since the session was coming to an end. And he asserted that "no matter how it came out, it's a good thing for the American people".

He really came down on the Rep. Party just now. Keith gave him all the time he wanted to have his say.

[fooj]

1. Mark is AUTHENTIC. My heart hurts for him.

I lived in SF when his Polly was murdered. Dark days, indeed.

[eleny]

2. He speaks from the worst experience

[Catchawave]

3. I saw that, he's a class act

and speaks with a heart full of compassion and genuine concern for children. We must never forget Polly either :cry:

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. His daughter is the reason...

I dont fully support repealing the death penalty. Whenever I think of Davis taunting him I get so angry I can't control myself.

If DNA matches somebody like Davis, he needs to fry immediately.

Sorry, that's how I feel.

[madame defarge]

5. Great man with a broken heart

Everytime I see him, I'm reminded how much he has gone through.

This whole issue resonates with everyone who has a kid/relative. We all keep thinking, "What if that were my kid he tried to hit on..."

This is big, big, big, & I sure as hell hope people aren't going to forget it come Nov. 7. We can only hope that it's a steady drip, drip, drip of new damaging disclosures until then.

And I personally want to see Mark Kirk IL-10 go down in flames. He's ass-isstant majority whip & part of house "leadership" not to mention the rep from my district...

[eleny]

6. What I keep wondering about is the alleged wishes of the page's parents

That they didn't want anything more than for Foley to be told to leave their son alone.

I can understand that they may not have wanted their son to be in the spotlight. But the whole issue of there being a predator in the Congress didn't resonate with them the way you describe the reaction of parents in general. I suppose that they never thought things were as bad as they actually were. Maybe they thought it was just their son being contacted. But we've now learned that Foley was known among the pages.

I'm curious about what they were thinking then and now. Something tells me that they'll be issuing a statement.

[madame defarge]

7. We can only hope...

but as a parent, I can imagine they are questioning themselves for not being more forceful before & are probably feeling pretty damn guilty. Also, if they're true red republicans, i.e., the base, they'll never admit anything or speak out.

[eleny]

9. I so agree with you

Protecting their son fulfilled their needs at the time. Protecting the Party was an added plus. Makes a person feel the need for a shower. Feh!

[SharonAnn]

10. I think it resonated with them and they wanted to protect their son from

any publicity and any retribution or accusations that would be made about him and could ruin his future.

I would do everything I could to protect my child. I care about the greater good but I care more about my hcild's welfare.

And if anyone thinks that because he's innocent that he wouldn't suffer repercussions, I ask them to wake up and look around. Innocent people suffer repercussions from falsehoods and being victims all the time.

[Garbo 2004]

11. The parents of the kid with the emails issued a statement yesterday.

In part:

In the fall of 2005, as soon as Congressman Alexander became aware of the e-mails received by our son, he called us. He explained that his office had been made aware of these e-mails by our son and that while he thought the e-mails were overly friendly, he did not think, nor did we think, that they were offensive enough to warrant an investigation.

Rather, we asked him to see that Congressman Foley stop e-mailing or contacting our son and to otherwise drop the matter in order to avoid a media frenzy. He did so. If we had any other knowledge or evidence of potential impropriety, we would have asked for the matter to be treated differently. For instance, we were not aware of the instant messages that have come to light in the past few days.

These instant messages, which have only recently surfaced as a result of the news of the ambiguous e-mails received by our son, are separate matters.

As a young man with integrity who had the courage to question the intention of the e-mails, we respect and honor our son as a hero. Despite his courageous actions, he is becoming a victim due to the harassment by some of the media. Please honor our request that we be left alone. There is nothing more that we can contribute to this ongoing matter. He is not the story, and we feel this intense media scrutiny could endanger our son and family.

We have no intention of discussing this further. Thank you.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001737.php#more

[eleny]

13. So they wanted to "avoid a media frenzy"

[calimary]

14. Maybe they're staunch republi-CONS who don't want to see their

party get in trouble? It's not just republi-CON congressmembers who are exercising the grossest of situational ethics. It's not just those types who are still clamoring to put the good of their party ahead of the good of the nation, or of its children and teens.

[roguevalley]

8. that was great. he's really ticked off about this.

[Imagevision]

12. Marc Klaas would do an excellant job heading Foley investigation

Once he understood that he had the manpower, the money, equipment, the legalistics Mark Klass would be a major player into getting the facts and evidence without this going into drama or overtime.