So, Republican Bob Ney is forced to resign after taking bribes from lobbyist Jack Abramoff. His excuse: I am an alcoholic and will seek rehab.
Now, Republican Mark Foley is caught soliciting 16 year-old male pages for sexual exploits. Now, he is checking into rehab and is stating that he isn’t a pedophile but an alcoholic.
I didn’t know that the members of the “Family Values” party hit the sauce so hard. Maybe that explains their Iraq exit strategy as well.
This is a bi partisan problem with polticians entering rehab to try and control further political damage. Just look at the recent events of Patrick Kennedy crashing a vehicle into a barrier near Capital Hill because he was plastered.
The Patrick Kennedy incident had to do with prescription drugs and the drug in question has documented cases of sleepwalking, sleepeating and sleepdriving. Rush Limbaugh certainly knows of the dangers of presciption drug addication.
That all said, its not like Patrick Kennedy preyed on teenage boys and asked them to measure the size of their privates and send pictures of themselves. This isn’t a bi-partisan problem Allen; it’s a personal one that Mark Foley has.
What makes this a partisan problem however is the fact that the Republican leadership in the House chose to cover it up. The Speaker’s story changes daily and reminds me of statements made by Cardinal Mahoney and Cardinal Law in defending pedophile priests.
By all means, bring up every Democratic sex scandal and I will dig up every Republican one. The problem is that your party is so intolerant of gays and lesbians that Republicans who are gay have to live in the closet. ABC is reporting that other pages are preparing to “out” other Congressmen (and perhaps there is a Democrat in the pond; and if there is, I’m sure Fox News will villanize that member more than Foley).
I hope you will join me in condeming such behavior regardless of party affilitation.
It does appear that Ney and Foley are making weak attempts to excuse their behavior by claiming they were under the influence at the time.
And Mr. Bartlett:
Did Patrick Kennedy everinterrupt a House vote to HAVE CYBERSEX??!!!
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2522378&page=1
I’m sorry, but your party’s just screwed (no pun intended).
Like Dan said earlier Andrew, I don’t think we want to get into a pissing contest about who has the worst sex offenders in their respective parties. There are plenty in both parties to go around through the years.
HT to our friends as Daily KOS. And this is a partial list.
Robert Bauman, Republican congressman and anti-gay activist, was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
Jim Bunn Congressman of Oregon: With his success due in great part to support from the Christian Coalition, Bunn won his congressional seat, then immediately ditched his wife (and mother of his five children), married a staffer, and put his new wife on the state payroll for the unheard-of salary of $97,500
Dan Burton, Republican Congressman who, while married, fathered a child by another woman.
Ken Calvert, Congressman (R-Ca), champion of the Christian Coalition and its “family values.” Sued as an alimony deadbeat by his ex-wife. Said “We can’t forgive what occurred between the President and Lewinsky.” In 1993 he was caught by police receiving oral sex from a prostitute and attempted to flee the scene.
Charles Canady, Congressman (R-Florida), Judiciary Committee member. Lied to his constituents about his adulterous affair with Sharon Becker, which caused her divorce.
Helen Chenoweth, Congresswoman (R-Id.). In 1995, Chenoweth had denied having an affair when asked about it by The Spokane Spokesman-Review. In 1998 she called (in a campaign ad) for Bill Clintons resignation saying “I beleive that personal conduct and integrity do matter”. Days laters she admitted to a six-year adulterous affair with a married associate.
Dan Crane, Republican Congressman, married, father of six. Received a 100% “Morality Rating” from Christian Voice. Had sex with a minor working as a congressional page. Salon.com article On July 20, the House voted for censure Crane, the first time that censure had been imposed for sexual misconduct.
Thomas B. Evans, Jr. -R Congressman from Delaware may have had an afair with Paula Parkinson
Newt Gingrich, married three times. Gingrich campaign worker Anne Manning admitted that she gave Newt oral sex while he was still married to his first wife. Informed one wife he was filing for divorce while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer treatments.
Rudy Giuliani, had an adulterous affair. Pocketed $80,000 for speaking at a charity benefit for tsunami aid which raised only $60,000 for the victims themselves (Feb 2005).
Tim Hutchinson, divorced his wife of 29 years to marry a congressional aide he was having an affair with.
Henry Hyde, Judge who oversaw Clinton’s impeachment proceedings, prominent opponent of reproductive rights, who had an extramarital affair with a woman who was married and had three children, during the course of which she and her husband were divorced.
Bob Livingston, former Congressman (R-La.) resigned from the House in the wake of revelations about his past adultery.
Donald Lukens, Republican Congressman, was found guilty of having sex with a minor – a girl he was accused of sleeping with since she was 13.
Jeff Miller, (R-Cleveland), Senate Republican Caucus Chairman in Tennessee and the sponsor of Tennessee’s Marriage Protection act, getting divorced (as of April 2005) because of an affair he was having with an office aid. Miller described the Tennessee Marriage Protection Act as a means of preserving the sanctity of marriage. He opposed an amendment, however, which stated that “Adultery is deemed to be a threat to the institution of marriage and contrary to public policy in Tennessee.â€Â
Sue Myrick, Congresswoman (R-NC), describes herself as a “devout Christian.” Committed adultery with a married man.
Bob Packwood, Senator (R-Ore.), resigned in 1995 under a threat of public senate hearings related to 10 female ex-staffers accusing him of sexual harassment.
John Peterson, Congressman (R-Pa), accused of sexual harassment and creation of a hostile work environment by six women. Peterson has refused to admit a crime, saying only “I may have been an excessive hugger.”
Ed Schrock, two-term republican congressman, with a 92% approval rating from the Christian Coalition. Cosponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, consistently opposed gay rights. Married, with wife and kids. Withdrew his candidacy for a third term after tapes of him soliciting for gay sex were circulated.
John Scmitz, right-wing republican congressman, who had had his committee chairship taken away from him in the California State Senate after issuing a press release attacking Jews, feminists and gays. Forced out of office in 1982 for having an adulterous affair and fathering two children out of wedlock with one of his students. He was caught because his baby was admitted to hospital for having hair tied so tightly around his penis that it was almost severed.
Don Sherwood, Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Eventually admitted to an affar with a woman 30 years younger than him, after she accused him of physical abuse and attempting to choke her. Post-Gazette article
Bill Thomas Republican congressman, had an affair with Deborah Steelman, a health care lobbyist who steered huge campaign gifts to Thomas’ war chest.
Strom Thurmond, republican senator and racist, raped and impregnanted a 15-year old African American maid.
J.C. Watts, Representative (R-Oklahoma), loud champion of “moral values.” Has out-of-wedlock children.
Prosecutors are investigating allegations Congressman/Felon Randy Cunningham was periodically supplied with prositutes.
John Schmitz represented Orange County in the State Senate and in Congress.
He was also the father of Mary Kay Le Tourneau, the Washington teacher who had the baby of a teenage student.
Two babies, actually.
In fairness, I only posted the list because of Mike Shelton’s cartoon. It is a partial list which has many others of it. I did type “Democratic Sex Scandal” into Google and it returned less than 100 hits and mostly old stuff on Barney Frank and Gerry Studds. Of course, there’s Bill Clinton and JFK and RFK. But its mostly a fidelity issue and very seldom gets into pedophilia. I will say there seems to be far greater arrest for Republican sex scandals than Demcoratic ones.
That’s a PARTIAL list?
Damn.
I need to go lie down. My head hurts.
On the local front – don’t forget Chris Norby who involved the county in a sexual harrassment case a couple of years ago.
I will ignore the rumor mill concerning a few Republican Officials in Orange County.
I will add that alcohol does not cause pedophilia. It just lowers the inhibition.