Cone of Silence --By Howard Kurtz WaPo

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/10/03/BL2006100300329.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email


Among the many depressing aspects of the downfall of Mark Foley--who has now done the inevitable checking-into-rehab thing--is that a number of young people could have blown the whistle on this deceptive congressman in recent years, but didn't....The Washington Post tracked down a couple of them. Former page Patrick McDonald said that at a 2003 reunion he learned of sexual messages that Foley sent three or four ex-classmates and thought, "if this gets out, it will destroy him."
Matthew Loraditch says he has known for years about the "creepy" messages the Florida Republican sent three of his 2002 classmates. But no one wanted to come forward. "You take down a Congress member, and you can't end up trying to do something later," Loraditch said.

Now I don't want to come down on 16-year-old kids (though some are now as old as 21) who must have been intimidated by the whole thing. Indeed, the power imbalance between a big-shot member of Congress and a lowly page is part of what makes this infuriating....But did they really think that if they told the outside world that the co-chair of the Exploited Children's Caucus was sending them, or their friends, graphic sexual messages, that their future careers would be ruined? That they would be washed up in politics? Isn't it more likely that they would be hailed as brave for doing the right thing?

And by the way, now that I've looked at the Foley IMs--they're on various Web sites, including Slate--I really wish journalists would stop using weasel words like "inappropriate" to describe them. They're not inappropriate, they're sickening. "Get a ruler and measure it for me." That sort of thing. So let's not pretty up something that is clearly ugly....course, the kids who didn't say anything were just part of a cone of silence that protected Foley. The question now is to what extent House Republican leaders stayed under that cone when they should have been taking action.

Liberal bloggers are in full cry over this scandal, but most conservatives aren't defending Foley either, just questioning the timing and resurrecting some past Democratic scandals...."Even my eyes glaze over a bit when I try to remember everything that was going on with Jack Abramoff or even Duke Cunningham. But Foley? That's easy. He was preying on teenage pages, and the Republican leadership looked the other way and allowed it to continue for nearly a year. It doesn't get much easier than that...This scandal may not expose systemic corruption the way the Abramoff scandal did, but it has plenty of legs. It involves sex, it involves coverups, it involves powerful players turning on each other to protect their own skins, and it involves lots of documentary evidence. Unlike the Abramoff scandal, this one is going to get covered in People magazine and the National Enquirer. It may finally be the GOP's Waterloo."

Once it hits People, apparently, you're toast.


YES, I DO BELIEVE THE KIDS ARE RIGHT--IF THEIR NAMES BECAME ATTACHED TO THIS SCANDAL AS BEING THE INSTIGATORS OF A GOP DOWNFALL, THE ELEPHANT THAT HAS NO NAME WOULD NEVER EVER FORGIVE OR FORGET.

[Captain Hilts]

1. They'd be labelled 'malcontents'. Notice the dig to "liberal bloggers?"

I hate Kurtz.

[ShortnFiery]

2. Kurtz is a premiere WHORE for the RW Washington Elite.

Kurtz is a putz because he THINKS that he's so damn witty and bright.

He's really just a two bit M$M whore who serves the MONEY brokers of the Corporate Elite.

Kurtz is lower than monkey vomit and camel snot. :puke:

On Edit: This smarmy bastard is BLAMING THE VICTIMS! Oh yeah, I despise this horse's ass. :grr:

[Captain Hilts]

5. His wife is an RNC fundraiser I've been told. nt

[roguevalley]

3. How many things are you sitting on, Howie, that you're too chicken

shit to write about? What's your excuse? You aren't 15 or 16.

[thingfisher]

4. Did they really think?

But did they really think that if they told the outside world
that the co-chair of the Exploited Children's Caucus was
sending them, or their friends, graphic sexual messages, that
their future careers would be ruined? That they would be
washed up in politics? 

Apparently that is exactly what they thought! Congressional
pages are getting an up close and personal lesson in
"realpolitick". Going to Washington as a page is
supposed to be a great experience for American youth, right?
Give the kids a chance to see how the government really runs
on a day to day basis, right? These are supposedly the creme
of the crop of American youth or at least the offspriing of
politically advantaged parents, right? 
It would be interesting to see what kind of screen treatment
Frank Capra could come up with on this theme. What does it say
about the kind of lessons that our young pages are learning in
DC? -  It's never to early to compromise your personal
integrity for any political advantage you may qualify for,
either now or in the future?!! 
Time to get on your knees and _____________________. (You can
fill in the blank yourself based on your political/religious
affiliation and/or sexual orientation/proclivities).