The Foley Scandal (With Update)

Kos gives us some background on the Foley Scandal:

Foley represented a moderately conservative district, FL-16. In 2000, Bush beat Gore 53-47. In 2004, Bush beat Kerry 54-46. It was a district which Foley had represented since 1994, with his worst showing his first election with a 58% victory. In 2002 he won with 79%, in 2004 with 68%. This was a safe Republican district. Foley also raised a lot of money, and as the recent $100K gift from Foley to the NRCC attests, the party needed his fundraising skills.

Then 2006 rolls around. The GOP is facing a tough reelection with history, Bush, and their own incompetence weighing down their chances. The DCCC has had a banner fundraising and candidate recruitment year. And suddenly, Foley faces the GOP's worst nightmare in Tim Mahoney -- a Democratic challenger who 1) was a former Republican, and 2) is worth $8 gazillion and can self-fund his race. Mahoney announced his candidacy October 12, 2005, right around the time the House leadership was trying to figure out what to do about Foley's predatory practices.

Without Foley on the ticket, not only would the GOP suddenly face a competitive contest in a relatively safe district, but it would cost them $2-3 million to defend -- money that they no longer have available.

So they made a decision. They were going to look the other way despite knowing about Foley's predatory actions against the House's pages, and in return, Foley would keep them one seat closer to the majority and save them millions.

Forget about Foley. He's done. What's incredible about this scandal is the lengths this Republican Party will go to maintain their majorities. We already knew that power trumped everything for these guys. But coddling a child predator merely to save some cash and protect a single House seat.

They should've been protecting the kids working the House instead.

We already know how far the GOP will go to stay in power. After all, Bush lied this country into a war with Iraq. To me, the interesting part about this latest scandal is how it directly affects the GOP-run Congress. The failed presidency of George W. Bush was going to be the major issue in the run-up to the Mid-Terms, but now the voters will have something else to think about beyond whether the Republicans in Congress were too passive when it came to Bush.

Rove better have one hell of an October Surprise in his bag of tricks. If he doesn't, the GOP could be in a bit of trouble.

By the way, if you really want to see something funny, watch FauxNews. I always watch that channel when the GOP is in trouble, and this morning's segment on the Foley Scandal did not disappoint. It only took 15 seconds for the commentators to compare Bill Clinton's Lewinski Scandal to the situation with Foley. I have to admit that I didn't hear much of the rest of the segment after that point, given that the TV's audio was being drowned out by my laughter.

UPDATE: And speaking of FoxNews, it appears that the network is in a ratings slump. It's so bad, in fact, that Chris Wallace had to issue a response to Clinton's accusation that Wallace had never asked anyone in the Bush Regime whether they could have done more to stop Al Qaeda pre-911. He showed a single clip from an interview he did with Rumsfeld during the 9-11 Commission hearings a few years back.

I have no doubt that Rumsfeld wanted the question asked so he could respond to the drama that was occurring at the hearings. Who could forget the gasps from the audience when Condi Rice revealed that the title to the August 2001 Memo to Bush was "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S." Some major damage control was needed, and FoxNews was more than happy to provide the GOP with a forum.

The Clinton question, on the other hand, was clearly asked by Wallace as part of a coordinated GOP strategy to blame Clinton for 9-11 during the run-up to this year's Mid-Terms. The strategy was launched when ABC aired its ridiculous 9-11 mini-series in early September. I'm willing to bet that the Republican Party now wishes it had never gone down that path. The GOP is getting its ass kicked on this issue.