still does not explain why the entire committee was not informed. still have to cross that bridge.

As a Republican from Congressman Shimkus' district, I'm disappointed and disgusted. If Shimkus knew of this information in 2004, why didn't he notify any of the other congressmen on the Page board? That inaction, in my opinion, shows a cover up by the Republicans. Previously, I have never voted Democrat; however, the Republicans action/inaction shows a complete disregard for the american public. I don't want that attitude representing me. Please, Shimkus resign - I don't want you representing me, and you are casting a horrible light on our district.

This "excuse-making" is absolutely LAME. As a mother, I want to kick these guys sky high!
None of them showed ANY sincere concern for protecting the kids who were away from home & their responsibility. Get real...
They obviously could care less what goes on, as long as it does not cost them politically.
I hope every creep on BOTH sides ends up being "outed" by pages and former pages and that this publicity will scare the rest off!

Also as a constituent of Congressmen Shimkus, I am appalled from these actions. I hope my district strongly considers Dan Stover for Congress this year.

Is it true the lad was 18 when the IM you have reported was released? If so, why should we believe any other explanation you offer? Whether it be an 18 year old page or a 21 year old female intern, both have been taken advantadge of by people in authority, people they trused. Questions for Mr. Ross, when did you first know about the IM's? Was the supplier a political operative? Why did you not report it to the federal authorities when you found out? Should you not resign your position for failing to do so?

Is ABC still talking about this non-story? Other than the Dems trying to use this politically, what good does it do to keep talking about it. Foley is gone. Now lets move on and get on with dealing with some real issues like security, healthcare, social security, etc.I am so sick of seeing Dems like Pelosi in front of the camera whinning, "fire Hastert, fire Rumsfeld, fire Cheney, fire Bush...BLAH,BLAH,BLAH...Isn't there some legislating out there she could be doing?

I haven't done this much laughing in a long time.

The Republicans insist all of America, from sea to shining sea, is safe from terrorism on their watch. "You're safe in our hands," insists Bush.

But it turns out that teenage boys within a mile of the White House need to be careful of Republican hands. Bush can't protect even kids from even his own party, even on Capitol Hill.

I am just wondering why this Jeff Trandahl or any other person who told the Republican leadership about Foley's emails didn't go to the police if they were so concerned about a young boy's safety? I mean, Foley was wrong but it sounds more political than anything. There was no real concern about this boy but only concerned about themselves.

Anti-Bush fever causes otherwise reasonable people to lose the ability to understand plain English. Look at what Shimkus said: The PARENTS of the boy did not want the emails released and so NO ONE in Congress saw them initially. Shimkus and Hastert received a complaint from the PARENTS, who declined to reveal the exact content of the emails, but only non-sexual excerpts. Their complaint was that Foley was overly familiar and it made their son uncomfortable and the PARENTS wanted the behavior to stop. Shimkus,Hastert & Co. asked Foley if he contacted the page. He said "yes". They asked him to stop. He said he would. That's it. No allegations of any other improper contact. No evidence of the exact wording of the email which the PARENTS objected to.
Very reasonable explanation of what happened that will get lost in all the howling and Democrat dirty tricks, aided by a news media that loves hysteria (even Fox).
The real scandal would be if Hastert and the GOP are really hurt by lies and spin but I have faith in the American people to sort out the bs.

Now, as the rats desert the sinking congressional ship, it turns out that Foley, in a drunken state, had to be stopped by the Capital Police from entering the page dorm. I supposed this "hear no evil" congressman didn't know anything about that episode, either!

With every excuse these Members of Congress make it's becoming more and more obvious that priority was given to maintaining the congressional seat and not to protecting the most innocent constituency in our country, our children. This is arrogance and power run amuck and I pray that any remaining sense of decency these men have will reveal itself.

As a republican,I am now totaly appalled and embarrassed in all aspects of the conduct of the entire Bush administration. I am now convinced that the morals and beliefs of this party is in total shambles.

Right is right, and wrong is wrong. Take the politics out of this and you're left with an adult abusing children over a number of years. He, along with those who covered it up, should be punished by the law, just like any other US citizen would be.

The Republican Congress is now in the process of being de-Foley-ated. Of course that means that soon (hopefully) all forms of vegetation that have previously obscured the Republican Congress will be removed. There are two types of de-Foley-ation that can occur to the Republican Congress:

1. All of the Republican Congress's fig leafs are removed. This would allow the Republican Congress's private parts to be exposed. This process may have already begun.

2. The Republican Congress's laurel leaves are removed. These leaves are the laurel leaves that symbolize victory, such as the ones Caesar wore after conquering a foe. Once these are removed, Congress may have to revert to being a Democratic institution once again.

The amazing thing in all of this is the lack of concern for the pages. The members of Congress - from both parties - are entrusted with the welfare of these high school students during their term in Washington. I have not heard anyone say "we failed to live up to the trust these students and their parents placed in us, we apologize for that failure, and we must insure we never fail that trust again". Have we become so partisan that we are more concerned with "our side" winning than with basic moral decency. You can ask what the media knew; ask what the Democrats knew; try to suggest the pages are of legal age and "beasts"; blame alcohol; and point fingers in every direction possible but at the end of the day you still have to face the fact that members of Congress failed to look out for the interests of these pages. Please take responsibility and tell us what you will do to insure this never happens again.

You have to ask yourself, if these guys can't protect a few undreage pages in the Capital of the United States, how are they supposed to protect the nation from external threats.

Oh, and I am a lifelong Republican who has never voted for a Democrat...until this coming November, that is.

These guys have been arrogant and entirely out of bounds for a long time now. The budget deficit, this disaster of a war, rubber stamping the executive with no oversight.

It's time to give the other side a try.

Page-gate is just the final straw.

Please let us not politicize this unacceptable event. Like Bruce says in his posting, "Now lets move on and get on with dealing with some real issues like security, healthcare, social security, etc". That would be fine but unfortunately, our "do nothing" Congress cannot even muster the willingness to address the aforementioned issues, much less, deal with the reality of child abuse. I think John Walsh should take on Congress and root out the immorality.

This is another example of the media confusing an email from an instant message. The emails were known about, but they DID NOT contain the disgusting content the IM's had. There is a very important difference between the two, and ABC and other media outlets are NOT telling the truth.

I am in Congressman Reynold's district and I am completely disgusted with how he, Shimkus, Hastert et al in the GOP have tried to cover up pedophilia in order to save their own political careers without regard to the children whose lives are permanently affected. I'm voting for morality and therefore NOT voting for Reynolds. Foley is a depraved individual who wrote disgusting emails but it's those in power in the GOP that put the IM in immoral majority.

Troy...in your comments you admit that Hasstert knew of the problem and tried to deal with it (by asking Foley to stop) while he told the public yesterday that he knew nothing of it. This is called lying and I am afraid he made a very unwise decision to say that.

The anti-gay republicans in the heartland are furious.

Salt:

Uh, what does notifying others about that pervert have to do with releasing the emails from the page? Absolutely nothing. The reason they are still talking about it is because it is an ongoing story. Why is it ongoing? Because Foley was not the only one involved is this major scandal. I'm sure you were happy go lucky when they tried to impeach Clinton, but when a real scandal comes up you want to put it into the closet as quickly as possible.

I believe ABC News stated Kirk Fordham, Foley & Reynolds Chief of Staff, was fired rather than he resigned. If so that should be corrected. Hastert is caught in numerous "misspokens" thus far with many more to come. It's that arrogance that gets them. The real tragedy are the innocent children who lost so much to the "powerful".

Why would Shimkus and Trandhal take such a tough stance with Foley? The emails under discussion are innocuous enough to deserve little more than a casual mention of the fact that the leadership is aware of them. The reason has to be that this were not the first signs that there was a problem. These congressmen reacted as if in the past they had had some evidence / suspicion, and these emails did little more than reinforce those convictions.

Hummm

"Is ABC still talking about this non-story? "
--Did someone say "non-issue"? This is a big issue especially if the FBI, the Justice Department, the Ethics Committee and others are investigating. THis is just the beginning.

"Now lets move on and get on with dealing with some real issues like security, healthcare, social security, etc.I am so sick of seeing Dems like Pelosi in front of the camera whinning, "fire Hastert, fire Rumsfeld, fire Cheney, fire Bush...BLAH,BLAH,BLAH...Isn't there some legislating out there she could be doing?"
--IF you haven't heard, there is no legislating going on. This Congress is being billed as the 'Do-nothing' Congress. With so many issues out there, the Republican-controlled Congress hasn't done anything, especially considering the number of vacation days they have allotted themselves.

Many more heads are going to roll before this is all over.

First, Hastert is an old fuddy duddy who doesn't use computers much at all, so how would he know to look for "red flags" of internet predators? I didn't recognize it myself recently, when a business acquaintance started stalking me online, and I'm VERY familiar with the internet and email. I stupidly sent the man a picture of myself!

Secondly, it's quite obvious that some of you are Democrats posing as Republicans, and saying you are fed up with the Republican party and now you're going to vote Democrat. How lame!

I am a lifelong Republican, and I am even more outraged than ever at the lack of decency of the Democrats for trying to drag innocent people into this who had nothing to do with Foley's abhorrent behavior.

THE BACKLASH HAS BEGUN!!

Oh Please....you Democrats need to get over this. It can be as bad as what Kennedy did and how it was covered up.

Anyone who thinks there is some element of dirty tricks by Democrats in this is deluded.
The bottom line is that when the inappropriate conduct and emails were first brought to the attention of Republican leadership, they should have had a real investigation - i.e. demanding copies of all emails, IM's and anything else between Foley and pages. They took the easy route of telling him "don't be inappropriate" and pretended that was enough. A grown man with these tendencies is not going to stop because someone said be careful how you interact with the pages.
Plain and simple the Republican leadership wanted to keep this quiet instead of having a real investigation.

1: Foley is sick and gone;
2: Change leadership after the election, not now.

Conservatives, Moderates and Libertarians must realize what is at stake. If the Dems take over either house of Congress, there will be two solid years of Clintonian attacks of personal destruction. Every Dem in line for a leadership position is a left-wing, America hating, soak-the-rich Socialist ignoramus who does not even realize the danger their ideas pose to the Republic and the world. (Murtha, Conyers, Waters, Frank, Rangel,Waxman, ad nauseum.)

As distasteful as it is for some, there must be a get-out-the-GOP-vote tidal wave and they must remain in the majority or Iraq will be abandoned, Jihadists will be emboldened, Bush will be impeached, the economy will tank, Madeline Albright types will run foreign policy and the US and the civilized world will be in big trouble.

Can we all admit the TRUTH here as it applies to all of us?
If these Foley related activities had happened in ANY place of employment across the US, those involved would have been investigated and then held responsible. Do us working mortals not live in this kind of work environment daily ? I hope and believe the answer is YES !
Why are members of Congress (our "trusted" employees) not held to those same standards? The sad truth is that the page program may now be recended because the pages can not be protected from OUR congressmen! That's the answer..remove the "candy" from the beasts.

Why is it that when a democrat is caught in the act of lying it equals impeachment, but when a Republican is caught lying, as it now appears, it is somehow a grand conspiracy by the liberal media against them? If this all started more than two years ago and the Republican leadership and staff had known, at whatever level, it should have been dealt with immediately. I do believe the Republicans are missing the point on why so many people are upset and asking for heads to roll. This kind of behavior should never be tolerated under any circumstance.

As usual, another big wig gets a slap on the wrist. Whether or not the parents wanted to persue the issue any further, Foley should have been out of there.

It is disgusting and unforgivable the manner in which Mr. Foley's behavior was not immediately addressed in 2004. The lack of Republican Leadership action, foreign policy debacle, Iraq War, cover ups, and lack of honesty with the American people, should be acted upon come election day.

As another Shimkus constituent, I am amazed that he neither sought the council of the other two board members nor sought to go beyond a brief question or two with Foley. If he took his job seriously, he would have known that these emails smelled like predator conversation and would have known that this needed to be investigated further. After all, Foley's contact with pages had been questioned for a decade. Pretty much a hush-hush deal to keep the party from looking bad.

Well, yes, Shimkus may not have been told about those specific emails before the dates he states. But that is a very narrow denial indeed.

Can Shimkus also claim he knew nothing about Foley's reputation with young boys prior to those emails? As Chairman of the House Page Board that would be either surprising or sad given the reports of how much discussion there was on the subject among Republican House staff and many many pages.

Danny Mittleman
House Republican Page 1974

In Florida maybe the Department of Children and Family should get involved to help protect the children!

Right wingers, just keep talking. Every denial is a nail in your coffins. Step 10 of the 12 steps has now been changed to: "..and when we were wrong, we promptly blamed Bill and Hillary Clinton."

Where is Margaret Mitchell? Does Gonzales' wife have a conscience, because he's the story the right wingers are scared to death of? I'm reminded of the last days of the politburo, just a smug as these right wingers when they had already become irrelevant.

We just need a third party to go in and clean up the government. I'm a life long Democrat and I even get fed up with my party. But this "Moral Majority" Republican Party is now left with egg on it's face. We need to incorporate a third party, maybe if we do, the Dems and Republicans will start to clean up their act. I can't believe the leadership of Congress let this lie and did NOTHING about it. It's sickening.

I was was going to sit this election out. I used to be a Democrat as was my family. Then I grew up and started checking things out instead of just buying into them.
After all of this I plan on voting and voting Repulican for everything and telling all my friend to do the same. We've had some interesting discussion about this whole thing. Democrats are bashing a gay man for something they normally think is fine. Also, if this kid was not smart enough to not IM or e-mail back be not smart enough to be a Page!

For the sake of God Almighty

The Democrats are not bashing a gay man! We are outraged that a congressman (who is a lawmaker)is sexually molesting children. How dare him! Mark Foley should go to jail for his evil doings.

This can't be overlooked anymore. We as parents are outraged that our children are abused at the very hands of those who are put in office to protect them. Shame on you Chery T for closing your eyes to this problem. Shame on you!

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