Coulter spinning on Foley scandal
SUMMARY: On Fox News' The Big Story Primetime, Ann Coulter claimed that reports that the House Republican leadership was previously aware of communications former Rep. Mark Foley allegedly had with underage congressional pages are "somewhat incredible," asking: "Why wait until right before the election to let it break?" and dismissing such reports as gossip, saying: "It's something you hear."
On the September 30 edition of Fox News' The Big Story Primetime, right-wing pundit Ann Coulter claimed that reports that the GOP leadership was previously aware of communications former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) allegedly had with underage congressional pages are "somewhat incredible," asking: "Why wait until right before the election to let it break?" and dismissing such reports as gossip, saying: "It's something you hear." In fact, Rep. Tom Reynolds (NY), head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, issued a statement confirming that he told House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) about the Foley situation months ago. House Republican Leader John Boehner (OH) reportedly acknowledged telling Hastert about the Foley situation months ago. (Boehner has also reportedly claimed he did not remember telling Hastert this, and later changed his story once again, claiming that he had not told Hastert anything.)
Also, host John Gibson and Coulter claimed that Foley has withdrawn from the race. In fact, Foley's name will have to remain on the ballot, although any votes cast for him will go to whomever Republicans choose to run in his stead.
From the September 30 edition of The Big Story Primetime:
GIBSON: What about the idea here that Republican leadership knew about this for months?
COULTER: Well, we don't know the details of that, but I find that somewhat incredible for a number of reasons, including the one you were mentioning before. Why wait until right before the election to let it break? But also, I mean, an instant message, for example, you can't just, you know, find that in somebody's computer files. It has to be the page himself who saved it. I don't think they saw the actual instant messages. And to say I had heard about this, well, you know, I had heard Foley was gay. It's something you hear.
GIBSON: Steve Murphy, what do you make of all this?
MURPHY: Why wait, Ann, until just before the election? They didn't reveal that this was going on. ABC News revealed it, and they were trying to cover it up until after the election at least so they could hold on to the congressional seat. That's very obvious.
COULTER: Well, we don't know that. We don't know that. These are just bald assertions.
MURHPY: We have Dennis Hastert -- John Boehner is the Republican leader of the House, and he said he told Dennis Hastert about this.
COULTER: About what, though?
MURPHY: He's a constitutional officer in charge of the House of Representatives, and he ordered no investigation. He said, "we're taking care of it." He assumed responsibility. He said he was going to take care of it, and he did nothing. He left this man, Mark Foley, in charge of the House caucus for taking care of missing and exploited children. They'll probably hire him to answer the page hot line.
[...]
COULTER: He [Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)] ran again! They were both [Franks and former Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA)] re-elected!
MURPHY: Hey, that's fine with me. Mark Foley should run again. His name --
COULTER: But a stern statement was made? That's your answer?
MURPHY: Mark Foley's name is on the ballot. You can -- people in Florida, your friends in Florida can vote for him.
COULTER: No, no, no. He has withdrawn. No, he has withdrawn because Republican voters wouldn't accept this.
GIBSON: Steve, are you saying that since there are a couple of Democrats who've admitted to more or less the same thing that Foley should've stayed on the ballot? Foley should've run?
MURPHY: Foley is on the ballot. It's up to Mark Foley whether he wants to run or not --
COULTER: He has withdrawn!
MURPHY: He has known all along that he was doing this.
Ever since she referred to the 9/11 widows as “harpies,” that is my new name for Coulter.
Once again, as MMFA pointed out, the Republican leadership knew about Foley for at least a year, and according to other news reports, the pages themselves were warning incoming pages to be "watchful" of Foley. As stated in a previous posting, it won’t be long before the Harpy and her ilk start putting some of the blame on the congressional pages.
American politics is becomming a lame version of pro-wrestling without the tights. We actually have a cartoon like Coulter given a platform for anything as if she was even the least bit credible.
coulter just stated that those weren't the "actual" instant messages, implying that the page in question is making this all up. damn pages accusing the moral majority pedophilia for partisan purposes. who's the real victim here?
It's one thing to be a partisan ideologue but this is disgraceful.
"conservatives for pedophiles" should be the title of her next book
is dragged out of the woodwork to comment on this subject. Interesting that she stated that the Repubs wouldn't stand for this...I am glad she told me because I wasn't sure. They put up with Jeff Gannon in the White House didn't they??
her mouth wide open with nothing of substance coming out.
... going in!
Networks continue to have her on as a guest for the conservative voice dispite her numerous instances of spewing hatred and bigotry. Apparently, they feel her opinion is worth something to their viewers. At least we know where they stand. The GOP places party before country. Here we have just another example. Hastert knew but said nothing. They'd rather have a pedophile in their ranks than risk losing a seat in congress. Party before country. Savage supports pedophilia and now Coulter is on the record as well. Wasn't it about a month ago we heard Coulter suggest that B. Clinton has homosexual traits and A. Gore was "a total expletive deleted"? Now she supports a person who fits her criteria AND is a pedophile.
And the networks keep asking her back.
The GOP has been getting wollaped this week. This is great for Dems, so lets sit back and watch the republicans burn out. November is looking pretty good...
It's either whining that they are being mistreated or viciously smearing the other guy. This is the face of this neocon madness. The Dems need to pounce on this absurd behviour before the Republicans lie their way out of this one too.
defense of Foley does not compare to Frank, Clinton or any number of previous sex-focused allegations and infractions. Why? Because neither Frank or Clinton are predators. Stupid in what they did, yes, but not sexual predators.
This guy should be charged tried and with the evidence known thus far he will be convicted and serve time and be forever classified as a sexual predator.
Those who knew and looked the other way, also listed as accomplices and be tried.
Shame on those who hid this thinking that warning the pages would be satisfactory action to prevent.
Anyone who would take a defensive stand for Foley is digging a hole in the backyard of allamericanfamilies, stating that, somehow, 'it's ok' that your children are being propositioned by the Congressional Committee's Chief of Child Exploitations and Abuse for Personal Gradification. My advice for Ann Coulter is 'Keep diggin!'
Even in the face of the strong moral values that the new Conservative movement has been founded on, the moral outrage of the masses isn't echoed through their media outlets.
By the time this story is clarified not to be "false" or "speculation", they'll be saying that it doesn't matter because it happened a long time ago.
uhm ... yes you can read the original instant messages. On MSN Messenger and probably on Yahoo! Messenger you can log, and save, conversations for later viewing. You can log them on their servers or on your own computer. If that 16 year old was smart, he did just that.
I've learned soooo very much from these guys. When you behave badly, you just lie and lie and lie until the subpoenas start coming. Then you lie some more. Then, abruptly, you resign/quit/get indicted/pardoned without EVER admitting any wrongdoing, while all your colleagues/media specialists defend you and your actions by comparing them to something someone else (pick any Democrat) has done.
Here's the REALLY crappy part. These very same criminals will serve little prison time, then reappear in some later Republican administration while getting paid an insane amount of money. These guys are only good at taking care of themselves and each other.
It's sick.
or you would have noticed that half the population is "consultants" making $400/hr. after having held political office or having been part of a politician's staff.
You don't want to hear this, but believe it or not, there are as many Dems as their are Republicans, maybe more.
The salaries paid to them previously as office-holders or members of the staff(s) is a pittance in comparison.
You might want to check "your facts". Have you ever heard of the K-Street Project?
"The K Street Project is an effort by the Republican Party to pressure Washington lobbying firms to hire Republicans in top positions, and to reward loyal GOP lobbyists with access to influential officials. It was launched in 1995 by Republican strategist Grover Norquist and then-House majority whip Tom DeLay. It has been criticized as being part of a "coziness" between the GOP and large corporations which has allegedly allowed business to rewrite government regulations affecting their own industries in many cases (see Dick Cheney energy task force)."
above taken from: [link to en.wikipedia.org]
Apologies to David Byrne for the title of post.
Others in the past have suggested that Anne should just keep her big mouth flapping, and that will do her and the neocons in eventually. Despite how utterly offensive she is, let's just let her dig her own grave!
GIBSON: Steve, are you saying that since there are a couple of Democrats who've admitted to more or less the same thing that Foley should've stayed on the ballot? Foley should've run?
As Bill Maher has stated on many occassions, Republicans aew very good at taking a scandal which is soley their own and dragging Democrats into it as well so they can so that both sides are equally guilty. Newt even tried to make this into a gay/striahgt issue. There's nothing they won't do or say to keep power.
he didn't try the same thing on her when she was a boy.
"keep it up annie
Others in the past have suggested that Anne should just keep her big mouth flapping, and that will do her and the neocons in eventually. Despite how utterly offensive she is, let's just let her dig her own grave!
- bartonim"
I'm afraid not. She is the poster girl for all those who have brought this Country down to its present state.
The Plutocracy and its Media Stooges who harvest The Dupes are doing very well. On November 7th, especially those in Dupedom South will jump into their unreliable flivvers adorned with Bush-Cheney and with Jesus Saves bumper stickers and proceed to economically, politically and socially fornicate themselves and all the rest of us by sending to Congress the contemptible and shameless ultra-Right Stooges who will continue waging war against dissent and against the middle class.
"COULTER: He [Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)] ran again! They were both [Franks and former Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA)] re-elected!"
Yes. Neither of them is a pedophile.
Remember when Ann Coulter was arguing that consensual sex between adults was an impeachable offense? Sure Foley has stepped down, but those who protected him have not.
There have been Republican scandals coming to light every week (see TPMMuckraker.com). The media just happened to pick this one up. I don't know if it's superior to the others because of it's extra salatious or whether the media likes to play up the election "horserace."
Or, like all news stories, it might be getting extra attention because it's sucking up the oxygen from more important news stories.
I just heard on the Boortz show this afternoon, someone call into his program and say something along the lines of (paraphrasing here), "Well, it sounds like to me that the pages set this guy up, and we're probably just trying to make fun of him."
In defense of Boortz though (I can't believe I just wrote that), he did say it didn't matter, it is still disgusting, he was the adult, and he should have known better even if he was indeed "set-up".
Would Harpo Marx marry a harpy? And would she marry anyone named Marx?
Well....at least the black cocktail dress isn't back...
She wouldn't marry a man, period. She's a mouthpiece for those who want to ban gay marriage. :P
Gee, you know, the GOP pushed the ISPs to keep detailed records of emails, and IMs for 18 months. They claimed they were doing it 'For The Children'...and I guess they were right!
is a mindless nabob who needs to spend more time on her knees than on the air making an ass of herself.
Based on Fox's use of Col. Ollie North, Gingrich, Dick Morris and Mark Fuhrman, Foley (once he's been rehabilitated) is headed for a regular spot in the lineup of usual suspects known as Fox Contributors.
If Bible interpeters ever theorize that the Anti-Christ might be female, I nominate A.C. -- Annie Coulter. The initials are right there.
Another clue: Her undying support for turmoil in the Middle East. I believe it stems from her last visit to the area when she dropped in on the Garden of Eden and was overheard mumbling to Eve about an apple as she slithered down a tree.
Coulter shows her ignorance anout IT issues related to the Foley case. She mentions you can't just get IM's from a persons "computer files like email". In fact that is exactly how IM's are monitored and saved (the ISP/Network Admin save evetthing! Trust me.). I do admire her ability to fill in her knowledge gaps with made up BS.
-DS
I don't understand how anyone can take this women seriously. I can hardly believe that she has a law degree