WP: Foley Built Career as Protector of Children, Fought Sex Crimes

[DeepModem Mom]

Foley Built Career as Protector of Children
He Gained Attention by Fighting Sex Crimes
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 1, 2006; Page A04

The Republican congressman who resigned Friday following the discovery of sexually explicit Internet messages he sent to teenage boys was a gregarious and charismatic lawmaker who built his political career in large measure on legislative proposals meant to halt the sexual predation of children and others.

Beginning with his 1993 sponsorship of a measure in the Florida state legislature to seize the cars of men who solicited prostitutes, former restaurant owner and real estate agent Mark Foley repeatedly attracted a flattering political spotlight by inveighing against those involved in sexual crimes and presenting himself as a protector of exploited children.

A well-liked member of the class of conservatives elected to Congress in 1994, Foley was until two days ago a deputy whip for the House Republicans and a co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus. A Web site for the bipartisan group states that it was formed to "create a voice within Congress" on that issue and to operate a hotline for tips about "online child sexual exploitation" that could be passed to law enforcement agencies.

At a White House Rose Garden ceremony on July 27, President Bush hailed Foley and some other House and Senate lawmakers as members of a "SWAT team for kids." Bush spoke while signing into law a broad child protection measure that included a Foley-sponsored provision requiring sex offenders to register in every state where they live, work or attend school.

Foley's abrupt exit from Capitol Hill on Friday, shortly after ABC News journalists confronted him with excerpts of his Internet messages to male youths, stunned his congressional staff. They had dismissed an ABC report earlier last week about e-mails Foley, 52, sent to an underage, male House page as an exaggerated report stemming from an innocent attempt to be friendly....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093001177.html

[1932]

1. I guess you could say he had an obsession.

[Beetwasher]

2. In His Position He Probably Had Access To All Sorts Of Stuff

You know, doing research on his pet project and all that.

[Human Torch]

3. Looks like he'll be fighting himself, since he's a sex criminal.

The whole fake-ass rotten GOP "family values" melon is finally caving in. Couldn't happen to a nicer political party. I'm sure there are plenty of seats in hell for all of them.

:patriot:

[kestrel91316]

4. Wrong-o, WP!!! He PRETENDED to fight sex crimes, while

ACTUALLY engaging in them.

He was a fake. A phony. A fox guarding the henhouse for only one reason: COVER.

You know? Wolf in sheep's clothing?

IMHO that's what ALL these creeps are.

[Ksec]

5. He defines the word , Hypocrite

Just ask any reicht winger if they would trust Foley with their children. And you could also ask them if it were their children being solicited, would you think the boner hastert coverup was OK?

[DemoTex]

6. A damn good lesson here, that most gay men understand.

My gay brother and his wonderful partner talk about it all the time: the mouth-frothing homophobes. The louder they denounce gays, the queerer they are. It is almost axiomatic. Same mechanism working with Foley. And factions of Bu$hco. Maybe even Fred Phelps.