Hate to nitpick about foley thing, but...

[katsy]

Commentator on CNN just said the gop did not violate any rules in the foley investigation. As an afterthought (at least IMO), they added (quietly) that the gop was negligent in protecting the the kids.

Like which came first, the negligence or investigation?

Here's your headline MSM: gop is guilty of negligence in caring for our kids.

[Riddler]

1. They may be saying there's nothing "criminal" there, but reality is that

corporations, businesses, and people get sued EVERY day for negligence. Maybe the families of the pages will sue the Republican Party for negligence!

[Nite Owl]

2. Heard the same thing on

Bloomberg. The part about being negligent was indeed an afterthought. Does it occur to anyone that maybe the damed rules were wrong? They were morally responsible for these kids.

[katsy]

7. There goes that "liberal" media

whitewashing gop failures again.

The gop was found negligent in their supervision of those children would get an average person's attention.

They're trying to mitigate the gop's failure this matter.

What are the rules for investigating themselves anyway?

[lapfog_1]

3. Headline on CNN: No members will be reprimanded in the Mark Foley scandal.

idiot reporter went on for at least a minute or so to make it clear that the GOP had done nothing really wrong, according to the investigation... and then added that it did find them (GOP leadership) "negligent". Most of these people (in the House) are lawyers, "negligent" is a specific term and it implies a sense of criminal liability

[OzarkDem]

4. GOP investigated themselves

IIRC, this was a stacked committee, in essence the GOP investigating themselves. Surely you didn't expect them to uphold the law?

[central scrutinizer]

5. parsing to help the GOP

<>

[hijinx87]

6. I'll say it again. there was a simple solution to this one.

delay the ethics committee report until democrats took control
of congress. it seems relatively simple. why it didn't happen
is beyond me.

[katsy]

8. Maybe the Democrats will reopen the case.

One can hope.

[hijinx87]

9. nah. this one is over.

the democrats had a chance to make major points on rethug
corruption, destroy their pretense to be the party of "family
values", and consign them to minority status for a generation.

unless there is some congressional requirement that the report
be released during this congress, I am afraid we have just blown
a major opportunity.

[katsy]

10. What a shame. n/t

[hughee99]

19. I don't see it this way...

They made their point already. As far as political benefits go, I don't see them getting anything out of having a congressional investigation for someone who isn't in office anymore. I think Foley's reputation has bottomed out, and I don't think that hearings into it would make him look any worse. I think that on this matter, the repukes in general don't have much left (realistically) to lose, and the Democrats do not have much left to gain, since whatever short term benefits they could possibly experience for routing out corruption would be forgotten by the next election.

[Zenlitened]

11. Delay the report.... how?

:shrug:

[hijinx87]

12. the report can't be released without a vote of the ethics committee

surely the vote could have been postponed. it happens all the
time.

[Zenlitened]

17. But the Democrats are/were the minority on the committee, for now.

Are you sure they would have had the power to delay it?

And, honestly, the report itself does seem pretty damning, despite the media's attempt to bury the lead.

I just don't think it's fair to blame Democrats for a lost opportunity on this one.

[hijinx87]

18. no, quite honestly I'm not sure if it was possible.

but with as many loopholes as there are in the ethics
committee's proceedings, it certainly isn't an outlandish
assumption.

the rethugs rushed this through in this congress so it
wouldn't get a thorough examination in the next congress.
that's my theory. and if rushing it is possible, stalling
should also be possible.

on edit: call more witnesses. demand more documentation.
issue subpoenas. the possibilities for delaying this white
washed report are endless.

[Zenlitened]

21. I dunno. I'd be surprised if the minority party on a committee...

... especially in the climate where the pukes rewrote rules as needed to suit their own whims... I'd be surprised if they could issue subpoenas, schedule witnesses, etc. But I'm no expert on this stuff, either. Maybe, as others in the thread have suggested, they'll find a reason to re-open the case next month? :shrug:

[hijinx87]

22. I guess for openers

they could have insisted on interviewing foley himself. since the rethugs hid
him away until after the election (and beyond, now, as it turns out), that would
have been a perfectly reasonable means of pushing this into the next congress.

[stillcool]

13. They generally do follow the rules...

after they change them to be more to their liking...take Tom Delay! Any suggestion of wrong-doing is really just partisan politics...the democrats are trying to criminalize politics.

[AndyA]

14. The Democrats should have another look at it in January.

Expecting anything to be done properly when you have an entity investigating itself on its own behalf and the actions that it took or didn't take is ridiculous.

The Democrats need to look at this again, and I'll bet they find some violations.

But here's a message to all the Republicans: Your leaders are willing to allow children to be molested, and they will do nothing to stop it because of the bad press it would generate for the GOP.

Aren't you proud to be a Republican?

REPUBLICANS: The party of child molesters.
The party of torture.
The party of lies.
The party of cronyism.
The party of out of control deficit.
The party that allowed 9/11 to happen.
The party of Bush, Cheney, DeLay, Frist, Cunningham, Ney, and Harris.
The party of bringing ill will on the United States.

Couldn't do much worse if you tried.

[rapallos]

15. The MSN lied to start a war

You think they give a crap about your kids or any others.

[partylessinOhio]

16. My Congresswoman, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, is a Democrat and was

on the House ethics committee. She did exactly what she was expected to do, exonerate Hastert and his cronies.

The media shut the cameras down in mid-introduction. I would have liked to have seen the entire PC and questions answered IF the white-washers took any.

Time to move on, nothing to see here! :sarcasm:

[LynneSin]

20. Last day of the republican majority - figures they'd clean this mess up before they go

I say we reopen the case after the first of the year