The investigation is a little short on length, that is to say on how long every body had memos in the GOP circulating as to the predatory nature of Foley's homosexual behavior, it was noted in at least 1991 and possibly as early as 1989. I would love to see his travel and hotel records for all his "public service", wouldn't anyone else?

brian ross should be charged with impersonating a journalist.

Interesting how this was a breaking news story timed to influence the elections, and now it is pretty much off the radar screen. Looks like the timing of this story served its true purpose.

Oh so if you're 17 its ok? Let me guess Foley is now working on his big book tour, Oprah show, and overall combeback and we'll be just the suckers to line up and hear his sorry tale of deceit.

The man is a disgrace, an embarssment, a liar and a victim who passed on his pain to others to become new victims.

The sound I hear is the huge rug being lifted to sweep the mess under.

That carpet isn't big enough to bury Iraq mess under it.

How does this relate to Iraq again? I love how everything for liberals relates some how to Bush bashing or the war.
I do feel bad for the young men who were taken advantage of. However it would seem the liberal media including ABC here was quick to jump on a bandwagon of slander and mud slinging. Do not mince my words, what Foley did was disgusting. Sad situation.

It's good to see the Democrats' strategy of offering no plan of their own just destroying Republican's reputations worked to get them a majority. Too bad the facts weren't important to the media or the voters. Why aren't Gays upset that their chosen party abused one of their kind to win votes? It's good to be a liberal because standards mean nothing.

consider the following lesson in political ethics:

republican politician, behaves in slimy manner (speaks to underage pages in lewd language), commits no crime, but resigns in dishonor after the moral outrage from ensuing scandal broadcast on every news channel.

democratic politician, engages in actual illegal behavior (takes underage page out of country to actually have sex), receives standing ovation from fellow congressional slimeballs, continues in slimy political career.

To Real American:

Gay people were not upset that the Foley was 'abused' because he is NOT one of our own. Foley is a pedophile with very serious and terrible issues. Who knows how many kids he messed up and took advantage of. Of course, the republicans didnt really investigate so we'll never know. You should really become educated before you start posting things.

Sorry I had to respond.

What this group of Republicans (and I am a conservative) refuses to do is accept responsiblity for anything and to sweep criticsm and responsiblity under the carpet.

I note that anytime there is a criticism the reaction is to claim its the liberals or that someone is not supporting the war.

It is clear that the House Leadership failed to exercise proper stewardship of the Pages or take serious the actions of one of its members.

Worse, the Congress allowed itself to be made irrelevant by the Executive Branch, on the war, energy policy, and spending.

It is not a surprise that they want the Foley case to go away because it is a total embarrasement.

Even the President called this a do little Congress, one dominated by his own party who have pretended to be conservative but have proven otherwise.

The election went the way it did because of arrogance and not seeing things for the way they are, not what some pretend it to be.

The current Republican leadership just want this to go away, just like Iraq.

The election of a Republican Congress and President provided a unique opportunity to govern in the tradition of solid conservative values. Clearly that did not happen and the arrogance of power and the inability to accept responsiblity for anything is a huge dissapointment, and that is why the election went the way it did.

This President has caused huge damage to consevatives and our sense of values.

This so called "breaking news" story was released (timed) to influence the November elections. Timing is everything and it seems to have worked.

To Herb:

Foley IS a slimeball and he MAY have been a pedophile, but we do not know if he committed an illegal act. Does the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" mean anything to you?

I'm not excusing his behavior; I personally think that politicians need to act better than they do (on both sides of the aisle), but I don't think it's just to convict the man in the court of public opinion simply to win an election.

Did he commit a crime? At this point, it doesn't appear that way. Does it warrant investigation? Certainly. Should he continue to serve in Congress while fooling around with pages? No.

Everybody according to the law was a consenting adult? Is it because he's gay? If he had been drooling over britney spears when she broke out at what 16/17, that would be OK right? Instead of getting mad at somebody for obeying the law, change the law, or shut up about it.

Herb,

I'll take my Master's Degree in political science and MBA and sit down with you any time to discuss the hypocrisy of liberals. You're so blinded by your hatred of conservatives that you can't see how Democrats used Foley's homosexuality to turn off the Republican base. If you're not offended by that I don't believe you're Gay. You need to practice what you preach.

I am very embarrassed that my party used a gay man to further their political careers. They knew that the Republicans would react badly to one of their own being a homosexual, so they did whatever to win and in the process set back gay rights. I expect the Right to be hypocrites, but I didn't expect the Dems to be so blatant about it. I guess it just goes to show they're all slimy politicians.

Let's get on with throwing the searchlight on corruption in congress.

How about ColdCash Jefferson next? Gonna do an expose on that?

I mean we all saw him fly home in that helicopter during Katrina. He should have been helping those poor people - or at least not tying up a CG helicopter to go home and hide his evidence.

Why does no one ever mention the fact that the age of sexual consent in the District of Columbia is 16. I'm no prude, but I question whether it SHOULD be legal for a 50-year-old to have sex with a 16 year old. But because it IS legal under current law, doesn't that make Foley just a sleazebag, but not a criminal?

As a retired Coast Guard veteren I am personally offended that someone like this was ever put in a position of authority. My current wife came from Viet Nam and even there things like this Foley business would be considered beneath contempt.

does any one remember Congressman Gary Studds. He did what the news media accused Foley of trying to do.

Interesting how law enforcement suddenly backed off after Foley poured millions into digging up dirt on them. This Republican corruption and pedo ring is so sick that it is beyond disgusting. The cover up is even worse. Why are the Christian Right-Wing 'family values' freaks so sexually deranged?

To the "Foley was a pedophile" crowd:

Nothing Foley was accused of falls under the range of pedophilia. A pedophile is someone who is attracted to pre-pubescent children. That's not the case with Foley. It's normal for any adult to find post-pubescent people sexually attractive. Whether you like it or not, about 97% of modern American boys can be considered post-pubescent by age 16.

What he did was unethical and, because of his position of authority, immoral. Nothing I've seen alleged was illegal. Only in a totalitarian government would everything that's immoral be illegal - part of liberty is the freedom to exhibit poor taste.

Both parties behaved poorly in the handling of the Foley matter. No gay person should be surprised to see homosexual subjects exploited for political gain by either party. Big politics is about winning, not loyalty to an ideal.

BILLYBOY ASKS: "Oh so if you're 17 its ok? "

"Okay" is not the same thing as criminal. Something can be horrible and immoral and damaging and yet not against a criminal law.

"Not criminal" DOES NOT make it okay

I love it how the Democrats are all upset.

Even though one of their own actually had sex with a minor in the 80's and was re-elected.

Unlike Foley...who went into a dark hole to hide...forevor.

The City of New Orleans and theState of Lousiana had the responsibility the responsibility of first responders. The school buses were left unused and shown in the flood. The National Guard was gathered North of New Orleans to avoid being in the storm. When they tried to enter the area, the roads had to be cleared. stuborn and uninformed residents were left to ride the storm out. Then the finger pointing from the Governor and Mayor began to cover their behinds. Hospital and Nursing home patients left unmoved give a hint of the lack of preparation by State and City in my opinion. Why did they not call Gov Jeb Bush in Fl for an idea of what to do in this situation. He has handeled various Hurricanes with honor.

Isn't it obvious what needs to be done? You need to change the law to protect children under 18. Sixteen is too low a threshold.

Hmmm, Drudge links to an article and instantly a bunch of GOP true-believers start posting comments ranting about "Bush-bashing" and "liberals" and other assorted Fox News buzzwords and talking points. Go figure.

Face it folks, The GOP DESERVED to take a hit over the Foley scandal. For years they systematically covered up for a guy they knew had a sweet tooth for young boys. What Foley did might not technically be a felony, but a forty-something-year-old elected official playing tiddlywinks with teenage high-school students working for him IS a matter that should be brought to the voters' attention. Did the Democrats capitalize on the scandal? Sure, they tried, and they had every right to. It's not their fault the GOP has taken no responsibility whatsoever for its actions over the past ten years, and it is certainly not their fault that every time the country turns around they discover another closeted homosexual hiding in the GOP, a party that enshrines homophobia in its platform and calls the most rabid gay-haters in the country its "base".

For those of you making comparisons between how the GOP dealt with corruption in its ranks and how the Democrats dealt with corruption in their ranks over the past year, consider: News breaks that the FBI has just discovered close to $100 thousand in William Jefferson's freezer. Democrat leaders respond by holding a meeting and asking Jefferson to resign his committee seat. Jefferson refuses, and the Democratic Caucus subsequently votes to strip him of his seat. Compare to: News breaks that Tom DeLay has finally been indicted after myriad allegations of corruption. Republican leaders respond by holding a midnight meeting and rewriting party rules so that indicted politicians can retain their leadership positions.

Is it really any wonder that people were tired of the GOP?

Slaphappy, your comment makes no sense.

I agree that Brian Ross should be prosecuted for impersonating a reporter.

The Foley case has been used as a political tool to bash the opposition. If there was real outrage over a "crime" then Mr. Ross should be in high dungeon about the miscarriage of justice that occurred when the late Rep. Gerry Stubbs' abuse of a minor was left unpunished.

"How does this relate to Iraq again? I love how everything for liberals relates some how to Bush bashing or the war."

Get used to it. We've got years of 'but Clinton had oral sex' and 'that stained blue dress' to make up for.

Many confused people posting here.

1) Foley is unquestionably guilty of engaging in suggestive internet messaging with pages younger than 18. Whether or not these actions constitute a Federal crime, the subject of this posting, is unclear, but Foley unquestionably did exchange these messages. The national response seems to be a collective, "Ugh. Gross."

2) This collective, "Ugh. Gross" did not turn off the Republican's base. So called values voters, turned out in approximately the same numbers and voted approximately as heavily for Republicans as they have in the past 3 congressional elections.

3) From 2) it follows that if Democrats attempted to use the Foley scandal, they did so unsuccessfully. In particular, Congressional representatives associated with the scandal, Tom Reynolds and Dennis Hastert, managed to be reelected.

4) The reason the Republicans lost congress, from Fox News: "Voters across the nation said they disapprove of the job President Bush is doing and many said their vote for Congress was to express opposition to him. A clear majority said they disapprove of the war in Iraq, and most said they do not believe it has improved the long-term security of the country."

It's the war in Iraq. That Foley guy is a creep, but Republicans lost because of Iraq.

Foley is not a pedophile. Pedophile's are attracted, sometimes soley, to prepubescent children, not post pubescent adolescents. It's a misnomer to call it that. all the men attracted to 16/17 year old Britney Spears were not pedophiles.

From the beginning, the analysis was there was likely no crime here, as distasteful as it may be for there to be an old man into young people. Further, even if he had slept with the, they were all legal age, at least everything that was revealed, depending in which state it happened.

(and the fact that there are different ages shows the lack of consensus).

I never did see any of the evidence against Foley that showed a crime had been committed other than a few emails. I'm glad Foley, unlike Barney Franks and Bill Clinton, had enough honor left in him to resign. That was the right thing to do. As far as the major news networks, they continue to go down the path of biased reporting to gain a political advantage for their liberal views, then they will continue to lose credibility. There's plenty of places on the internet to get the real facts so folks can make up their own minds. The days of being spoonfed what the press wants to feed the public is over. Now lets see some reporting on how this new Congress is the most corrupt Congress there has ever been. And report some truth out of Iraq and the good things happening there for a change. Report on this democrat plan they said they had for Iraq. Where is it? Let's see it!

realamerican,

Thanks for the offer. Unfortunately it would take far too much time and energy for us to explain to you the hypocrisy of the conservatives.

You think the Swift Boaters were somehow noble in their endeavors?

Question for all the conservatives who bitch about the timing of the release of this info; given that Foley's behaviour was well known insider gossip for about a decade why did they not "expose" Foley on their own a year and a half ago? They could have bumped their credentials with their religious wacko base and gay bashed their way to another win.

Maybe because they realized they would be hypocrites as they do same thing from time to time? Or maybe they think letting pages resolve this issue on their own builds character? Or maybe it's a good way to drive out those young Republicans with honor and integrity so the party will stay slimmy and corrupt? HMMMM

The bottom line is 17 is the age limit. If you dont like the law, have it changed.

Foley abused his position and when caught he resigned and we have not heard from him since.

The only people who have made this something political were the Democrats. The GOP quickly disowned Foley and were highly critical. While the Democrats sat on the information, let him continue to have these inappropriate relationships, until they felt it would be most damaging.
This was not about political party until the Democrats made it this way. Foley and the Democrats really are disgusting.

hey realamerican, regardless of how Herb put it, your "Master's Degree in political science and MBA" still can't remove the fact that Foley deserved all the negative spotlight he got. The man is a pervert and I would hope anyone who is expect to represent our country to be subjected to the same scrutiny regardless of their political affiliation.

The big point is who cares about the timing. This guy needed to be taken out of power. Imagine if you had a son working as a page in washington and lets see if your opinion changes.

Foley is gay, not a pedophile. A pedophile is someone who is attracted to pre-pubecent children, that is not who foley was going after.

Tempest in a teapot.
One remedy for those concerned about this and more serious recent page scandals:
Switch from high school age to college age pages.
If properly designed it would be more cost effective, as well.

Foley gets accused in the press, with solid evidence, he immediately resigns.

William Jefferson is found with $92,000 cash in his freezer, Democrats re-elect him.

Culture of corruption, anyone?

Amazing, There was enough evidence posted on the Internet to convict Foley much less probable cause for an investigation. And that is not saying what an actual real life investigation would show up.

Do they celebrate that yet another of their Gang Of Perverts gets a free pass? No! They slime Democrats who had nothing to do with it and blame Clinton! Heck of a job!

Perhaps Newt will pick him to run as his Vice President on their march for traditional Republican values ticket.

People are just assuming the young pages were taken advantage of. The young men were gay and knew what they were doing.

The USA needs to stop the victim mentality slant to every thing and realize even a 17 year old makes their own decisions. These males pages were not little boys.

Foley resigned so quickly to avoid a real investigation. The Senate can only investigate current members.

The way should be clear for civil and criminal charges brought by the families of the boys. I hope that happens.

Some facts about the media and liberal hypocrisy during this past mid-term election:

The Center for Media and Public Affairs conducted a study of The Big-Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) broadcast media stories from September 5 to October 22 of this year. Their findings:

Of the 167 mid-term election stories from The Big-Three, 88 percent were negative stories about the Republicans.

Of the 167 mid-term election stories from The Big-Three, 77 percent were positive stories about the democrats.

The Mark Foley story (which now is a non-story since no charges will be filed) had garnered nearly as much coverage as the Iraq war and terrorism combined (59 on Foley, compared to 33 on Iraq and 31 on terrorism/national security).

No other story, including a record-high Dow, a steadily falling unemployment rate, the deficit cut in half, falling gas prices, or any other administration success had been covered more than 6 times.

Now, consider this:

Foley got 152 stories about his accusation in 19 days, while Mel Reynolds (accused, formally charged, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced) got a sum total of 19 stories in 365 days.

Give me a break.
Do you really think these pages are so naive and unable to take care of
themselves.
Has anyone really shown that any of
them was hurt.
Young people these days do not grow up in a bubble, like those folks in Congress. The MTV generation cannot
be seduced by politicians. They have
already been seduced by MTV.

One LAST comment on the Clinton oral sex debate. When was the last time you could have oral sex in YOUR office without getting fired. I know where I work it would not be tolerated. That is the real problem. We wern't paying him to have sex with interns. We were paying him to run the country.

Interesting how the Democrat party suddenly appears concerned about teens and their exploitation from potential molesters. "Grandmother" Nancy Pelosi has promised legislation to protect them. Lets see if they outlaw NAMBLA whose stated purpose is child molestation.

Some have suggested that none of the activities Foley was accused of doing were illegal and that the individuals could all give consent as they were over 16. However, it was Foley himself who was instumental in passing a Federal law making what he did illegal if the recipients were under 18. So what part of this in addition to the repulsiveness of the activities of a child predator doesn't everyone understand?

Another homosexual goofing with minors. When will the public wise up?

Foley was extremely inapproiate......no doubt. No boy/young man was harmed in any way thankfully. In addition, ABCNEWS and BRIAN ROSS were/are low life slimes in using this story to help the liberals win in the election. There are so many double standards with the MSM today as mentioned throughout the comments that it is disgusting and disgraceful to America.
Mike, California

What really angers me is the Republicans who only care that it may have affected the elections and not the lives of the young man this predator hurt.

The age of consent in W.DC.is 16
years of age.
Do a search and you all will suprised at the no. of states 16 is legal.
Remember he never had sex whith any one.
Dem.Gerry Studds had sex with a page and the only censoered him and he was reelected till 1994.
Nancy Pelois voted I believe 3 or 5 times for committee chairs.

Perhaps this idea has some merit; term limits in the House of Representatives are unworkable since only through seniority can less populated states gain any mesure of power. Otherwise a dozen mega states would run the nation.

However since each state is equally representated in the Senate, a single six year term per Senator would still allow equal power sharing amongst the states, large and small. It would also have the effect of removing the need to be a millionaire to be a member of the Senate and get rid of some of the drunken dinosuares

Gerry Studds admitted to having sex with a page, refused to apologize and the Dems gave him a standing ovation and then made him chair of a committee 10 years later. No one said they should resign failing to protect pages.

Plus real journalists would bring up the last page scandal for comparison when talking about this scandal if they weren't partisan hacks!

Shocking!!! It wasn't illegal and the Dems knew all about it in advance but bludgoned a "gay" with the MSM media acting like a partner. My god! We thought they were protecting our children. The Dems act I get...but the MSM wonders why there is an alternative media. They are so-o-o pathetic.

It's interesting that the pages who accused Foley were not demonized, in fact they were called brave and even courageous by the left - as always happens when the Right is accused. On the other hand, Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky were hounded and demonized by the old news media when Slick was accused.

Does it matter now? Of course there will be no legal charges, because Foley did not break the law. Hate to disappoint you all. And ABC, you did what you were told anyway..by the way, what exactly was your gift from Speaker-ess Pelosi? Just curious. ABCCBSNBCCNNMSNBC must all be in mourning as this news broke, then again, they did get what they were looking for; didn't they? A Democrat in the Speaker Chair..

Nixon-burglary/wiretapping-impeachment
B. Clinton-Monica-impeachment
"W"-WMD, Big Oil, Halliburton/Cheney, ,Katrina, Foley coverup, Abramhoff-?

The whole Foley case is just Gay Bashing pure and simple, from soccer the left to the right.
If a 54 year old congress Woman got frisky with a legal 16 year old adult male, it would be a national joke. The male would live off the reputation for the rest of his life.

When will democrats realize that their party is all about class envy, racial divide, hypocrisy in all its vile forms, adding subgroup after subgroup to their government largesse then forgetting about them - content with one more slice of the dependency culture ?
The media of course does all it can to support this democrat culture of narcissm, free speech intolerance, and isolationism.
The democrat party stands for nothing except entitlements, preferences, defeatism, dependency, and death. If truth be told the democrats do not trust the people and use the courts to force their agenda on the country.

Foley did the right thing by resigning. Representatives should be held to a higher standard. Democrats never resign, and are never pressured to by the media. Neither have any morals with which I want to be associated.
At least as a gay partnered libertarian who votes republican because of its individualistic and freedom-loving values, I don't have to sludge through all the slime democrats, and their media co-horts, are up to their eyeballs in every day.

hey, how about an in-depth interview on abc with barney frank about what he did right and what foley did wrong?

If it had been my 16 yr. old son Foley hit on, I would have been absolutely mad as hell. But those very "conservative???" republicans can break any & all laws & get away with it. There's always an excuse-- Youthful indiscressions, Law not quite broken, etc. Just look at our great conservative president. Shock & awe. smash & destroy, laws, everything in his path. Only God can straighten this mess now that he brought dignity back to the whitehouse.

Clearly there are other statutes they can prosecute on...they just don't want to.

hmmm. not that i paid terribly close attention to the im's (or this story for that matter). but weren't there references to serving alcohol? is that also legal at age 16 in dc? if so, there's going to be lots of teenagers hanging about there.

As an ex-Republican, Republicans are so pathetic these days.

Foley resigned. So be it.

It's somehow the Democrats' fault for standing around watching with delight at Foley's utter hypocrisy?
It's the msm's fault for reporting Foley's utter hypocrisy?
It's Gerry Studds' fault because HE didn't resign?

Do you Republicans seriously believe you lost the election over a guy named Mark Foley?!!?
YOU LOST THE ELECTION OVER A GUY NAMED GEORGE BUSH!

YOU GOT A THUMPIN' OVER BUSH'S FAILED POLICIES IN IRAQ!

What I don't get is what his alcoholism, rehab, and the Priest who supposedly molested him decades earlier has anything to do with what he has done? If it were me (a gay man), I would have already been thrown in jail...

Robert - Thrown in jail on what charge?

Even had he consumated the relationship, thanks(?) to the homosexual activists, sodomy is legal!