A small-but-vocal element of the GOP — let’s call them the “unhinged right” — have decided that the way out of the Mark Foley fiasco is to go give up on reality.
Some are publicly identifying the names of pages who had been anonymous (much of the “pro-family” crowd seems to have no qualms about attacking minors who were subjected to advances from a sexual predator). Many more are going after gays with a vengeance. Drudge and Limbaugh are forcefully pushing the line that Foley’s predatory comments were part of a prank gone horribly awry.
In case that third one struck any gullible people as a plausible explanation, it’s not.
Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal what they call “sexual approaches” over the Internet from former Congressman Mark Foley.
The pages served in the classes of 1998, 2000 and 2002. They independently approached ABC News after the Foley resignation through the Brian Ross & the Investigative Team’s tip line on ABCNews.com. None wanted their names used because of the sensitive nature of the communications.
“I was seventeen years old and just returned to [my home state] when Foley began to e-mail me, asking if I had ever seen my page roommates naked and how big their penises were,” said the page in the 2002 class.
The former page also said Foley told him that if he happened to be in Washington, D.C., he could stay at Foley’s home if he “would engage in oral sex” with Foley.
“This was no prank,” said one of the three former pages who talked to ABC News yesterday.
It’s not just those three, either.
A fourth talked to the AP.
A former congressional page said Thursday he received sexually suggestive messages from then-Rep. Mark Foley in 1997.
Tyson Vivyan’s account appears to show the earliest exchange of suggestive messages reported so far between Foley and teens who had served in the Capitol page program. Previous accounts placed the earliest contacts in 2003.
Vivyan, 26, told The Associated Press that Foley began sending him instant messages about a month or two after his nine-month stint as a page ended in June 1997.
It’s worth noting that all of these revelations, while obviously disturbing, are secondary when it comes to the political scandal. Whether Foley pursued seven pages or 700 pages won’t change the fact that the House GOP leadership apparently tried to cover up the whole sordid affair and did nothing to protect other minors in their care.
I mention it anyway, however, because some sadly foolish people are inclined to believe that Drudge and Limbaugh are raising a legitimate point. It just goes to show you really can fool some of the people all of the time.
And just as an aside, it’s also worth noting how conservatives have broken up into two camps over the last week — one that’s disgusted with the GOP’s handling of the scandal and believes the party needs responsible leadership for a change, and another that will embrace fantastical conspiracy theories involving Dems, Soros, the media, and the “velvet mafia.”
For the latter, I’m afraid there is no hope.