Tomorrow will be the day. We will know about November after tomorrow.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

You can see Rovian agents, trying to pick up 22 yr old stories and rehash them as though today's democrats were responsible for Gerry Studds' love life. You can see them blaming the Democrats and claim that they were the source of the IMs and the internets' tubes postings. You can see them claiming that Democrats delayed the story until October, shopping it around for maximum impact against the GOP.

Of course, we see this as a smokescreen, a slight of hand, another rovian play to misdirect, mislead, confuse, confound and convince the Great Unwashed that it was all Clinton's fault. Hillary's too, if they could figure out a way.

Sunday mourning sTalking shows will be populated by the agents of Karl tomorrow, each spewing the same story line. "It was the dems' fault!" If the GOP and Rovian plot succeeds, America will forget about Foley, Iraq and more, and blame us for all of this nation's ills.

This is the make it or break it time, folks. If our reps and sTalkers survive and push out the truth in a simple and convincing way, then we win in November. It is as simple as that. If we fold up, act contrite, or fail to defend against this Rovian atack, we lose.

And what is that truth? The beautiful part is that it is so simple, and therefore, easily cited, described and repeated. (Remember Goerring's advice that Rove learned so well): A Groping Old Pervert was caught stalking boys and young men. And apparently he was doing it for a decade. The leadership knew for at least 3 years, and most likely 9. And they hid it, took his money and protected him while he continued to stalk. Even worse, THEY EVEN TOLD HIM TO STOP WRITING A PAGE, but did nothing else.

One other simple truth. We can expect no realistic ethics investigation, not from this collection of hastert yesmen and neocon buttlickers.

So tomorrow, we shall see whether our leaders, our spokesmen and our representative have what it takes. Can they stand up to this Rovian attack tomorrow, even with all the odds in our favor, with the cards stacked in our direction and with the wind blowing at our backs?
I'm not so sure. We have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory too many times before. So, tomorrow morning, I will be glued to the TV and rating our performance. It might be the difference between survival or utter defeat of our nation.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. The difference between survival or utter defeat of our nation...

God, what an awful, sleazy business to have it hang on.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. It won't be that decisive. if we don't stand up to their assault, we lose

because Americans looking for leadership won't see it on the democratic side. Not unless we begin to show it.

[wake.up.america]

2. If I was that page's father, I would have gone to D.C., calling out

Foley to a man to man discussion. Disgusting individual is he.

[charlyvi]

3. Even if it were true that Dems withheld knowledge of Foley

until the opportune political tipping point, which we know they did not, it still does not absolve Republican House leaders from allowing Foley to hit on teen pages for five years. They were the ones in charge and the "great unwashed" know that.

Also, you mention that we've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory too many times. Exactly. Could a party with our track record honestly maintain the necessary discipline long enough to withhold knowledge of this scandal until precisely the right time? Not us, not the Democrats. They give us too much credit--we're not that Machiavellian.

[Critters2]

6. This is the truth

They sat on this info. If not for ABC News and whoever gave them the info, Foly would STILL be hitting on pages!! But I'm not sure the "great unwashed" know this. I still hear people--out here in Repug country--blaming the Dems, and repeating what they're hearing from Hastert, et al.

Otoh, I've had two interesting conversations with local repugs. Just a decent, political conversation which I thought was just friendly banter, when all of a sudden, the Repug is screaming about how I blame everything on Repugs and Fox News and Hastert and on and on. Twice. Both times, the Repug later called to apologize for getting overheated. And, honestly, until their outbursts, it was a perfectly civil discussion of current affairs. One with a local politician (former State's Attorney who'd like to be in the legislature), the other just an interested civilian.

I think they're starting to sweat. We can just sit back and watch.

And Machiavellian or not, we're not that well-organized.

[jimshoes]

4. The repubs right now are like

the the German warship, Bismarck. It's rudder stuck and unable to maneuver. They're practically sitting ducks. The only question is should we give them any quarter. I know if the situation were reversed, what they would do.

[conscious evolution]

10. No Quarter Whatsoever

Do you seriously think they would?They wouldn't if the sit was reversed.

[kenny blankenship]

7. I wonder if our side will be clearheaded enough to keep to the issue

which is primarily the issue of sexual harrassment. The fact that the victims are minors is just an aggravating circumstance.

An example of a Congressman having a CONSENSUAL affair with a 17 year old page is a case of something ethically improper, just because:
A) I'm sure the House rules forbid it--I've never actually read that rule but I can't imagine it didn't exist.

And because B) The relationship between Congressman and Congressional page makes it unclear to anyone outside what role power plays in starting the whole thing, hence the NEED for the rule against banging pages even if they're "of age".

Gerry Studs' former young lover had no trouble speaking up in defense of the Massachusetts Congressman years after their affair when Studds was being reprimanded for it, (no doubt because the Republicans were embarrassed by having one of their own in the same hotwater) Studs' younger flame asserted that their relationship had been mutual and consensual.

The present example is something far more troubling than violating a rule "for love". Congressman Feeley was having a kind of sexual contact--a degraded form of sexual contact but sexual contact nonetheless-- with pages WHETHER THEY CONSENTED OR NOT. There is no resemblance between what Feeley was up to and a mutual "romantic" attachment. There was no meeting in the middle or mutuality. It's just like a stranger sitting down next to a kid on a park bench and exposing himself and directing sexual commentary towards the minor--and in the case of Congressman-on-page attack like this the young victim may be "afraid to run or complain" because of the attacker's status. This is pretty much the definition of sexual harrassment: power extorting sex. On top of that we already know that Feeley was directing this sordid assault in an almost blanket fashion towards male House pages who caught his eye. The comparison or proposed equivalence between Feeley and Gerry Studs breaks down completely over this one-sidedness which marks Feeley's case, and which goes hand in glove with Feeley's reliance on his power over pages and over their hopes for a future in politics.

Unsurprisingly then and in contrast to Gerry Studs' lover, none of the targets of Congressman Feeley's "affections" have come forward to explain that his approaches were welcome and reciprocated. Complaints are all we've heard about Mark Foley, complaints from recent/present victims, and corroborating echoes of complaints from those who were too ashamed to make waves a decade ago, back when they were the victim du jour.

And the fact that Feeley himself wrote/pushed the law criminalizing his form of sexual contact with minors (under 18) over the internet should end all debate about whether his guilt can be washed away by "what Gerry Studs did". Feeley's hypocrisy makes a mockery of government and the cherished belief that this is a nation of laws and not of arbitrary powers wielded by a few men for their personal gratification and enrichment.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. Well, can't say they didn't try. They did. But

none of the talking heads were biting. That must have been a rude shock to the noeconmen.

And with that AZ congresscritter piling fuel on the fire, FoleyGate will only get worse.

[seemslikeadream]

9. Don't worry antifaschits

It is definitely going to get worse, much much worse!