ROVE Pressured Foley Into Staying In Congress

[kpete]

HOW ROVE TWISTED FOLEY'S ARM:

............

But when Foley's friend saw the Congressman again this spring, something had changed. To the source's surprise, Foley told him he would indeed be standing for re-election. What happened? Karl Rove intervened.

According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by "the White House and Rove gang," who insisted that Foley run. If he didn't, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career.

"He said, 'The White House made it very clear I have to run,'" explains Foley's friend, adding that Foley told him that the White House promised that if Foley served for two more years it would "enhance his success" as a lobbyist. "I said, 'I thought you wanted out of this?' And he said, 'I do, but they're scared of losing the House and the thought of two years of Congressional hearings, so I have two more years of duty.'"

The White House declined a request for comment on the matter, but obviously the plan hasn't worked out quite as Rove hoped it would.

--Ryan Lizza

more at:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=47854

[librechik]

1. Hello, Gorgeous! What beautiful legs you have

go out there and knock em dead!

[Fridays Child]

2. Well put!

[cui bono]

30. LOL... n/t

[station agent]

41. Yeah I've been waiting for this one.

more:

http://icestationtango.blogspot.com/2006/10/source-rove...

[Raster]

3. "...it might impact his lobbying career." It is HIGH time to remove the

stench of bribery and extortion from the halls of Congress. Every dollar a lobbyist spends to influence a Congressperson's vote, is a dollar spent against the will of the people.

[StClone]

8. One way

IS for Government financed elections.

[Raster]

31. That would definitely be a step in the right direction. We also heard

recently (here in DU) that approximately $200,000,000 (two hundred million dollars) A MONTH!!! is spent on lobbying members of Congress. I say again, $200-million A MONTH! That is downright obscene. In addition is the expectation that if a Congressperson plays the game and votes the way they're told, they can slide into a lucrative lobbying career once their "public service" gig is up. What a crock!

And I ask you, how many of our legislators approved this Iraq fiasco because it served the needs of the Petroleum lobby, the Armament and Weapons lobby, the Private Security lobby, etc.? I don't for one minute believe that the majority of Congress was simply "taken in" by bushco*'s lies and deceit. I ask you, whose best interests did Congress serve?

[StClone]

50. What kind of Toxic medicine cost 60 Million?

That is what Ken Mehlman (RNC) will spend against Howard Dean spending 12 million to get candidates messages out. If a product (the R's) is so bad that it takes five times as much money to influence the vote (and barely win while cheating) what kind of "unsafe at any speed" are the consumers (voters) falling for? Corporations and crooks are donating money to the RNC hand over fist to protect their activities -- what rotten influence they have over the Government.

[hippiechick]

15. Bingo!

[TexasLawyer]

4. if this can be double-sourced

by credible people, this is a huge development.

[hang a left]

14. It is heresay and would not stand up in court.

And shouldn't be believed UNLESS Foley says it. Sorry, lots of smelly stories around this morning. I don't doubt the WH hands down orders and it could be true that Rove wanted him to run but this is bs.

[TexasLawyer]

21. agree

I would be sceptical of stories like this.

But maybe Foley has sent some Instant Messages with this information! LOL He seems indiscrete sexually, so maybe he's indiscrete politically too!

[TankLV]

61. I don't doubt the story for a nanosecond.

Trust the worst about the repukes - you'll never be sorry.

So far, all the "but I have to have proof" crap has been PROVEN TO BE TRUE (to the accuser's favor) when is comes the the repuke party...

Better than house odds in Vegas...

[Swede Atlanta]

28. Missing the point?

I agree this would be hearsay in a court of law because it doesn't fit within any recognized exclusion from the hearsay rule. But the court we want to impact is not a court of law but the court of public opinion. I think if this could be confirmed by another source it just adds to the generally recognized belief that this WH is all about two things - MONEY and POWER. They will do anything to accrue and maintain as much of both as possible.

[Bake]

29. It's either hearsay or heresy but not both ...

Although I suppose that hearsay COULD be heresy ...

Actually, there are all sorts of exceptions to the hearsay rule that will get it into evidence in court -- e.g., an admission against one's interest, or a dying declaration, or an "excited utterance." It also depends on the purpose for which it is offered as evidence. Just because it's hearsay doesn't mean it's automatically excluded.

Bake, Esq.

[hang a left]

37. I guess you missed my point then

Just because someone said someone said something doesn't mean they said it. For me anyway, there needs to be a little more confirmation before I would accept it as a fact. Even if I WANT to believe it. So that is the standard to which I am holding the comments.

I could say something like "dbaker41 is a friend of mine, and he told me that so and so told him>___________________(<insert what you want to hear, here). Doesn't mean it is true.

[Bake]

42. Actually, I did get your point (and I tend to agree)

I was simply addressing the hearsay reference in a perhaps snarky manner. People often think that hearsay never gets into court, but in fact it can.

Bake

[npincus]

5. kpete has the best goodies!

[Land Shark]

70. she does have some uncanny luck or skills in that area, does she not?

[Stephanie]

6. That's straight-out bribery.

There's a promise of future renumeration. That's actionable. Rove should be prosecuted for bribing a Congressman.

[Plaid Adder]

12. It's also blackmail.

My guess is that Foley only reported the bribery half of the conversation.

C'mon, everyone in the GOP Congressional chain of command appears to have known about Foley's thing for pages. There's no way Rove wouldn't use that against Foley if he thought it was necessary.

I'm telling you, when this all comes out in the wash you will find out that blackmail was what greased the wheels of the whole Republican machine.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[tex-wyo-dem]

26. I don't doubt this for a moment...

although a lot of cases would be hard to prove in a court of law unless the affected came forward, what is obvious is the pattern of decete by so many including some Dems...the most plausable explanation is sort of behavior is some form of blackmail.

[Raster]

40. I don't doubt it for one moment. Too many rethuglicans think lock-step

and walk jack-booted, almost as if choreographed. Blackmail and extortion have long been the weapons of choice and intimidation of a repressive culture. The bush* regime has ALL the hallmarks.

[hunter]

53. If we're looking for anologies, it's not grease, it's the nuts & bolts

The entire machine is held together by dirty secrets.

[Supersedeas]

54. Oh, the twist and turns!!!!

[Leopolds Ghost]

57. Plaid Adder, I agree but Foley was not the target... he was the bait.

If his transgressions ever came out -- and we have no reason to believe Rove wanted them to come out -- anyone who ever so much as held hands with Foley -- and there were many pages recruited to become staffers on the basis of Foley's casting couch, according to David Brock -- would be tarred and feathered.

Mutually assured destruction.

Fear will keep the House staffers in line -- the people that run our government -- fear of association with this congressman. No need to release such damaging info to the public. Then you can no longer use those people to control Congress. Why do you think they were all in the senior leadership?

[symbolman]

7. I LOVE IT

Oh BABY.. now if we can just spread this far and wide.. that ROVE SUPPORTED a pederast for POLITICAL GAIN

LOVE them LONG LEGS, yeah, you said it

If this ain't QUID PRO QUO I don't know what is..

BRING IT ON!

[farmbo]

9. Don't worry, Foley, we'll control the religious Nuts and...you'll still..

...have all the Pageboys you desire.

Just don't give up that Congressional seat

[gasperc]

10. Let's push the hell out of the Rove angle

till we're blue in the face, the farther we push Rove in the corner the nastier he'll be, the nastier the more mistakes the lunatic will make.

Also, we add to the internal rage in the conservative movement about the cover up. And for Rove to insist that Foley run again throws gas on a raging fire

[malaise]

11. What a bunch of criminals

Thanks Kpete. I'm loving it!

[Tarc]

13. Not quite a newsbuster yet

On its face now, there honestly isn't much to run with here. The average person isn't really going to care all that much if all it is is Rove wanting Foley to run again back in March, regardless of the lobbyist strong-arming.

What would set this angle into maximum overdrive is IF it can be shown that Karl Rove knew about Foley's sexual predator activity AT THE TIME he pressured Foley into running again. Prove that, and the Bush administration comes tumbling down, Nixon-style.

[Bandit]

16. it might impact his lobbying career.

Whoop..there it is..

[soothsayer]

17. Two years of Congressional hearings---music to my ears!

[Auggie]

18. How fitting that it blows up in their face.

[bklyncowgirl]

19. Rove would run Charles Manson if he thought he'd win the district

What did Rove know and when did he know it?

[robinlynne]

20. This I like!

[Avalux]

22. Well that's good to know - "scared of losing the House"

Gives me a bit of hope the machines aren't entirely under their control and we may be able to win.

[bearfan454]

32. My thoughts exactly

Probably too many different races to be able to hack.

[formercia]

23. Hubris will get them in the end...

Oh,the humanity!!...

[ArmchairMeme]

24. Win for Rove

How it might play in Rove's playbook is he knew about Foley and he kept Foley until it was a convenient time to unleash it to the MSM. Rove will make it into a win for the Repugs.

[Imagevision]

46. The plan hasn't worked out quite as Rove hoped it would.

[Leopolds Ghost]

56. Oh For God's sake... see post #55

The purpose of blackmail info is to withold it, not release it.

Once you release it you can no longer use it to keep gay staffers in line.

Foley was damaged goods. He was being kept in office to blackmail other people.

[Mr_Scarecrow]

25. The Repedophans ...

always looking out for each other.

[femrap]

27. Great news...I have been waiting for Rove's name

to enter this story. Rove knew all about Foley's sexual history...and he blackmailed him into staying in Congress so the repugs could keep the House and not face Justice.

Scream it from the rooftops! This is campaign season and we gotta win so to keep our Democracy!

Tell Keith Olbermann!!!

Thx kpete!

[cui bono]

34. this should be sent by everyone to the members of the Ethics Committee

so they can try to get Rove and Foley to testify about this under oath.

http://www.house.gov/ethics/CommitteeMembers.htm

[im10ashus]

33. Not surprising.

K&R!

Keep this in the news.

[MorningGlow]

35. If true, can we now please admit

that Rove is not the all-knowing evil genius we give him credit as being? If he were, he wouldn't take the chance of keeping a pedophile around just to pad the number of Repubs in the House. Wouldn't he have turned to some other Congresscritter instead?

Hm. Then again...maybe he likes perverts...

[Fleshdancer]

36. Can DU now get over it's "Rove is an evil genius" bs?

Rove isn't a genius, he's just an unethical opportunist at best. Now the question begs to be asked: Did Rove know about Foley's page problem when he pressured Foley to stay?

[Straight Shooter]

38. My BS meter is registering at "high" right now.

I consider The New Republic to be a reliable media source, but it's all too plum-perfect to create a backlash setup. Anonymous sources just don't cut it for something which has the potential for this much damage. Pox News gets away with it all the time, but their audience is gullible with a capital G.

The White House declined to comment, which means either it's true or they don't think it's even worthy of a comment.

It doesn't matter to most people what Rove did or said. He isn't up for election. He will be in the cross-hairs if we take over the House, but most Americans just don't realize his influence and don't care what he said or didn't say to Foley.

[fob]

39. Mine too. I think Tom Hartman was having a contest to name the Repuke's

October Surprise and I was of the mind that the Foley thing WAS the repukes OS. I figured rove did the leaking and it appears he had a little more to do with this than it would at first seem.


NOTE: I am not saying it was a GOOD plan or that it is working out as INTENDED, just that rove wanted to abuse the gay part of the god/guns/gays card one more time.

[Kingofalldems]

43. Kick this one

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

44. Thanks Kpete...

Keep them coming!

[Imagevision]

45. Question, Is there any reason Rove won't be called to testify under oath?

[davepc]

47. This isn't so hard to believe

Rove wanted to blackmail Foley into keeping his seat. One less open seat to have to defend and spend money on.

Foley wanted to leave, so Rove went about a campaign to destroy his beltway rep to deny him the ability to become a good K street citizen.

Unfortunately for Rove his controlled burn of Foley's reputation turned into a full fledged forest fire when the story gained enough credibility and legs to make it to the mainstream media.

[catzies]

65. That's a very interesting take on it.

[opihimoimoi]

48. With the GOP and ROVE: Party before the People. Its so Obvious

[kentuck]

49. If Karl Rove knew about it, George W Bush knew about it...

If George W Bush knew about it, it has not been said.

[Imagevision]

51. MSM scared sh*tless to approach Rove for a statement!!!!!! damn it!!

[Jeanette in FL]

52. Keeping Foley around until they need a major deflection

I think now we can connect a few a dots here. Karl convinces Foley he has to run, yet they keep their distance from Foley as Foley complains to Jeb that Bush is ignoring him. On the day that the Torture Bill is passed in congress the news of Foley is leaked. It appears to me that they kept Foley around knowing what he had been up to and when they needed a major deflection they let loose with the Foley news and the talking heads run with it. I just don't think that they calculated how many Republicans would be taken down with the story.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Foley's e-mail to governor voices fear White House snubbed him
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Thursday, October 12, 2006

TALLAHASSEE — E-mails from former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley to Gov. Jeb Bush reveal that Foley feared two years ago the White House was shunning him, and he called on the governor, President Bush's brother, to intercede.

Foley wrote to Gov. Bush on Sept. 29, 2004: "Have I done something to offend the White House ... I am always getting the shaft ... they came to ft pierce a few weeks ago and said I was not allowed to attend ... yet joe negron is there ...

"Tomorrow Potus is in Martin County and I am told I am not allowed to be there either. I can't quite figure what I have done but this is a continuing pattern of slights ... I have constantly put the President in the best possible light on everything from haiti to hurricanes ... sorry to trouble you ... and I wouldn't if this wasn't so frequent ..."

POTUS is an acronym for president of the United States. Foley's message referred to President Bush's visits to Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Jeanne.

Bush responded that day: "I will try to help. I know it is nothing you have done. Promise. I think it relates to debate prep time. Jeb."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/nation/epaper...

[Leopolds Ghost]

60. Foley was damaged goods. They kept him as bait, NOT for public consumption

Why do you think red-light districts are allowed to flourish for decades? They are kept around because they are a great treasure trove of political blackmail.

The situation with Foley is even worse because the pages who slept with him, who were simply closeted gays, were being actively promoted.

[wordpix]

62. bwahahaha, "debate prep time" =we know you're a perv & we're done with you

[Leopolds Ghost]

55. I posted this on the BLACKMAIL threads a week ago. Very few of you replied

Apparently the preposterous notion (preposterous to everyone except David Brock and the Washington Monthly) that Rove and DeLay were using Foley to blackmail gay staffers is just too far out for some folks. You must first get confirmation from the neoliberal New Republic.

Wake me up when y'all get around to questioning whether Foley went on Marianas junkets with DeLay and dozens of staffers.

Heck, wake me up when you get around to reading what David Brock, Lawrence O'Donnell and Ana Marie Cox were saying about "The Velvet Mafia" and hioow it was run out of DeLay's office.

You remember DeLay? The person Newt assigned to blackmail "moderate" Republican staffers BEFORE Rove came along? The only reason people hated him to begin with? Oh, how memories are short.

Rove's connection to the "Velvet Mafia" (named after Tom "Velvet Glove" DeLay, who was assigned in 1995 to use blackmail if necessary to keep House staffers in line):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Why Rove needed Foley to remain (who occupied a safe Republican district) in order to blackmail staffers (many of whom were former pages) by association with Foley (said info to be kept safely in Rove's desk):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Did Foley attend DeLay's Marianas junkets with staffers in tow? Yes or no? Thread still active, researchers needed!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Summary of the BLACKMAIL threads on DU:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Leopolds Ghost]

59. Still no replies..if folks understand anything about blackmail PLEASE READ

Help us out. See this thread, it is still active.

House staffers were the ones being blackmailed. Some of them were having, or had had sex with Foley as a page. These people were later promoted. The only way to disrupt such a scheme is to get to the heart of it.

So... I ask again, did Foley go on junkets with congressmen, pages or staffers?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[marmar]

58. Rove is like a mob boss...

This man is just pure evil.

[Imagevision]

63. MSM is giving Rove a free pass

[donheld]

64. Kpete I just love you!

You always find the best things to post!

[kpete]

68. Thanks and loving all of you back!!!

[autorank]

66. Good God...will it never end. KR for kpete

[Synnical]

67. .

[Tom Joad]

69. NO, the plan hasn't worked out.

Best laid plans of mice and men....