On the October 4 edition of MSNBC News Live, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan claimed that the scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), who resigned from Congress on September 29 amid allegations he sent sexually explicit messages to underage male former congressional pages, will “boomerang on the Democrats” because “the consensual age for sex in Washington, D.C., is 16 years old,” and "[o]ne of the reasons the age of consent has been reduced is the gay rights movement, which is holy inside the Democratic Party."

From the October 4 edition of MSNBC News Live, which also featured anchor Milissa Rehberger and Air America Radio host Mike Papantonio:

PAPANTONIO: Yeah, I think the only thing the Republicans have left, Milissa, is the issue on terrorism. This takes them away from that argument. Going into November, they lose on all the poll numbers. They lose on the economy, on the war in Iraq. They now lose on honesty and believability. They lose on health care. You have 60 percent of the American public that are unhappy about the direction that this country's going. Now, to have to take this focus away from terrorism and talk about this Republican predator, this Republican pedophile, this Republican conspiracy to cover up this Republican pedophile, is a big problem for the Republicans.

REHBERGER: Pat, do you agree? Do you see this as an embarrassment across the board for the GOP? Do you see it as a black eye on them?

BUCHANAN: Well, look, what this is going to do -- certainly for Republicans it is, but let me disagree with Mike. I'll tell you, this is going to boomerang on the Democrats for the simple reason of this. You know, the consensual age for sex in Washington, D.C., is 16 years old, which means if this congressman had gone off to a motel with this kid, it'd have been no crime committed, although conservatives would be outraged. One of the reasons the age of consent has been reduced is the gay rights movement, which is holy inside the Democratic Party.