What if it had been a female page, or for that matter, a female rep?

[KamaAina]

You just know lots of that has to be going on up there. Would this still be top news days later if there weren't a gay angle to titillate one and all?

Well, would it?

[Bonobo]

1. IMO, it would be BIGGER if it was a 16 y.o. girl.

[ThomCat]

2. Yes, I think so. If the page was a white girl.

Perverts going after little white girls always get a huge amount of attention.

Now if she was not white, well, then I think it would never have received any attention at all.

[Kittycat]

3. Little Tramp.

That's how they would play it out. That she was using sexual advances to get in favor of the congressmen.

[TornadoTN]

5. Important Distinction, However

If this was a Democrat, it would be Monicagate all over again.

It its still a Republican, bitch was asking for it.

[MadMaddie]

6. I agree with you....they would have blamed the female victim....

[kiahzero]

11. They're blaming the male victim right now, though.

It is interesting that there's an undercurrent that somehow it's more obscene because it was homosexual rather than heterosexual, though.

[TornadoTN]

12. It's not that its more obscene in reality

Because it isn't any more obscene that hetero sex, it's that its been perpretrated by a man who is a member and advocate of a party that tries to cut all rights of homosexuals to live a normal, happy life. They preach about how it is "wrong" and "tears at the moral fabric of our nation", yet they are the ones that are seen as hypocrits because they are the ones practicing it. A "do as I say, not as I do" type of situation.

[kiahzero]

13. Yeah, there's the hypocrisy angle

But that's not what I'm talking about. The best example that comes to mind immediately was on Hardball last night, when Matthews was talking about Foley taking advantage of the page. The shading of his comments was that it would have been less of a violation to the page if either Foley or the page had been female (in other words, that homosexual abuse of power is somehow worse than heterosexual abuse of power).

[TornadoTN]

14. Ah, I see your point

That's sensationalism I would guess. While we are all excited that this looks good for our side, I don't feel like it's going to do anything positive for the homosexual community. They may be the "collateral damage" in this whole affair, but we have to get out there and illustrate that this isn't a "GAY" issue, it's a "ILLEGAL" issue that is an "ABUSE OF POWER" and is "PEDOPHILIA".

[ecstatic]

4. the congressman would be relieved of all responsibility

The female page would be declared a dirty little slut.

[QuestionAll...]

8. yes, it would have been her fault.

what's a red blooded 52 year old guy to do when tempted like that? It's not his fault, it's just the way that bitch mother nature built him.

:(

[Demobrat]

7. The ONLY reason this is considered newsworthy at all

is that homosexuality is involved. If it were young girls being harassed it would be business as usual - in other words their fault for wearing their skirts too short.

[Demit]

9. It would probably rate a little lower on the Republican hypocrisy meter,

yes. To get the same ding-ding-ding in a scandal involving a female, the story would have to be something like, "Republican Crusader Against Teenage Girls Having Abortions Shown to Have Paid for Abortions for Several of His Teenaged Girlfriends."

[cynatnite]

10. The repukes would trash the female...

They would blame it all on her...say she did the seducing and all that. In other words..'she asked for it'.

[sweetheart]

15. What if they made her pregnant

What if mark foley made the page pregnant, an underaged baby from a pervert,
fathered in the house of congress, to an unwed single mother, how republican.

[Fleshdancer]

16. It's like the quote goes:

"The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy." - Edwin W. Edwards.

As a side note, after reading this quote it makes sense why Joe Scarborough would stick up for Rep. Foley.