It's sad, really, to see what's become of the Republican Party. Sad not only because the party of moral values appears to have
coddled and subsequently
covered up a child predator, but also because, when confronted with the damning evidence, Republicans have done everything
but take responsibility for their actions. Instead of confronting the fact that House Republicans seemed more intent on protecting their majority than protecting minors, they've gone on the offensive, blaming everyone - the Democrats, the media, George Soros, a culture of diversity, the pages - except the natural choice:
Themselves. What's worse, the media have largely given Republican envoys a free pass to spread lies, muddy the waters and make baseless accusations. But
this scandal isn't hard to understand. Covering for a child predator is as simple as night and day. And the longer the Republican Party makes excuses for their behavior, assuming that Foleygate
can't get any worse, their strange game of Russian roulette will continue - with disastrous effects for Republican chances this fall ... and beyond.
To be honest, it would be much easier for me to tell you whom the Republicans
haven't blamed for Foleygate. That answer, of course, would be "themselves". Since the scandal first broke and Mark Foley resigned in shame, rabid right-wingers have targeted a diverse group of those they think responsible for their growing troubles. One of the first finger-pointing partisans was Rush Limbaugh, who
said, "I'm just telling you that the - the - the orgy and the orgasm that has been taking place in the media since Friday and with the Democrats is - it's all coordinated, and it's all - it's all oriented toward the election." Echoing Limbaugh was Sean Hannity, who
asked, "Apparently some of these instant messages are three years old. So I think we all have to have a question raised here. I want to know why these instant messages were held back until now. Who knew about them? Why did they hold them back? Did they do it for political reasons? In other words, were they held back to maximize the political impact before an election?" Piling on was Dennis Hastert, himself at the center of cover-up charges. As Hastert
told Limbaugh, "... there are some people that try to tear us down. We are the insulation to protect this country, and if they get to me it looks like they could affect our election as well." In an editorial in the Washington Times, Tony Blankley further shifted blame to the Democrats,
writing "While I don't have any proof, I will be amazed if Democratic operatives and at least a few Democratic congressmen didn't know about this and fed it to the media through various obscure blogs and to ABC."
When they weren't projecting guilt upon the Democrats, Republicans were looking elsewhere for blame. A CBS evening news report took an
uncritical look at the suggestion that gay Republican Hill staffers were covering one of their own. It should be noted that
playing the anti-gay card, in general, has been a popular right-wing tactic as Foleygate has unfolded. In perhaps the most laughable example of buck passing, Bill Kristol scolded those in Florida who voted for Foley,
saying, "Well, Foley is responsible for it, and the voters in Florida, I guess, who elected him. Maybe they should have known better." What's
not funny, meanwhile, has been another key Republican tactic:
Blaming the pages. On his radio show, Matt Drudge
said, "I'm just saying from reading these instant messages, this wasn't coerced. I mean, this wasn't somebody - the kid was having fun with this." Drudge also called the pages "16- and 17-year-old beasts", adding "The kids are egging the congressman on!" Michael Savage, along the same lines, accused the page of leading Foley on,
saying of the page, "Maybe he's a Democrat." Limbaugh
added, "... you probably have a bunch of pages laughing and making fun of Foley and the way he comes on to them, and he’s gay and so forth, so they egg him on and so forth ..." Another moralist excusing immoral behavior was James Dobson, who
said, "As it turns out, Mr. Foley has had illicit sex with no one that we know of, and the whole thing turned out to be what some people are now saying was a - sort of a joke by the boy and some of the other pages."
It shouldn't surprise any of us that the Republicans, when faced with yet another scandal of their own making, are pointing their fingers at everyone but themselves. It's what Republicans do. The war in Iraq?
Blame the Democrats and the media. Hurricane Katrina?
Blame the victims. Church sex abuse?
Blame the liberals. But this scandal, like so many others under Republican Party leadership, leaves scant room for blame outside the GOP. Why? Because the same majority-building apparatus that sought to put Republicans in every position of power and influence in Washington and keep them there also created a closed system by which the true extent of bad news never left the party. Since taking over Congress and subsequently the White House, the Republicans have done everything they could to exclude the Democrats from the political process. If you're a Democrat, good luck having your legislation see the light of day. Good luck getting an oversight hearing. Good luck getting the media's attention for your next big announcement. In short, good luck.
That, to me, makes the Republican Party's claims that, somehow, the Democrats have a hand in Foleygate all the more absurd. I
wish we were that organized. I
wish we had the chance to point out the right's many derelictions of duty and have the mainstream media give a damn. I
wish I could make a charge and see it made by a far more prominent Democrat within minutes on CNN. But it just doesn't work that way under the Republican Party's leadership. Not in today's bipartisanship-be-damned world where the Republicans are in charge and everyone else can take a permanent backseat. Not in the world of
Karl Rove's creation where the party in power treats the Democrats with the same contempt as it supposedly does the terrorists. And I don't mean to tell you how to do your jobs, Republicans, but one of the consequences of one-party rule is that you lose the ability to blame
anyone but yourselves when trouble hits. If one of your goals is to strip your opposition of as much power and influence and possible, don't be surprised when your claims as to their power and influence ring hollow when trouble hits. And that's a notion that gets me to my next point, and that is this:
The Republicans' ongoing game of Russian roulette with Foleygate can only end badly for the right.By going on the offensive as they have, the Republicans are making a big assumption, that things won't get any worse. Blaming everyone but themselves is a rather risky move, of course, when it remains unknown exactly how much illegal or unethical behavior occurred. Reports have already given lie to the notion that top Republicans
didn't know about Foley's actions for quite some time. And we also learned this weekend that Foley indeed
engaged in sexual activity with a 21-year-old former page. Only a party as brazen as the Republicans would go on the attack assuming that things couldn't possibly get any worse. But can anyone honestly say that things won't? That more explicit messages won't come out? That more reports of online-to-in-real-life relationships won't see the light of day? That more examples of GOP leadership covering for this behavior won't hit the wires? Times are tough within the Republican party and their chances to keep both houses were already in danger
before Foleygate hit. Now that it has and the forecast only looks worse, top Republicans everywhere are scrambling to not only make sure they remain in office and untarnished, but also that they look decisive should a leadership battle emerge. In doing so, they appear eager to stab each other in the back
and make wildly untrue accusations about the Democrats, leaving the impression to the American people of a party more concerned with its job security than the security of underage children under their supervision.
If this persists and the Republicans wish to keep blaming everyone else for their problems and telling us that what happened wasn't that big a deal, so be it. Who are we to stop them from making themselves the minority party? And if the Republicans wish to keep struggling while stuck in quicksand despite repeatedly refusing to acknowledge that what's trapping them is indeed quicksand, so be it. Who are we to tell them what everyone already knows? I suppose I shouldn't find it surprising that the incompetent leadership that led to this cover-up is also responsible for so terribly botching its response. The party that warned against others playing the "blame game" has turned passing the buck into an artform. While they may have gotten away with it in the past, the Republicans appear to have finally taken things one step too far. Because this scandal, unlike the others, is easy to digest, to wrap one's head around. Americans know that child predators must never be allowed to act without consequence. They also know that covering up for a child predator simply to remain in power is an act as reprehensible and immoral as the predator's original behavior. To see the Republican Party react to Foleygate with such a tin ear is just as mystifying. Excusing a predator and blaming his victims is something Americans don't need a pundit explaining to them. This isn't tax policy. This is pedophilia. And to witness the Republican Party treat this scandal as it has every other is to witness the so-called party of values play - and soon lose - a politically deadly game of Russian roulette. Only this time, what the right doesn't realize is that there's a bullet in every chamber.
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