Last week, the New York Daily News highlighted what appeared to be one of the most important revelations in [tag]Bob Woodward[/tag]’s new book, “[tag]State of Denial[/tag].” As the paper noted, on July 10, 2001, almost exactly two months before 9/11, CIA Director George Tenet and his counterterrorism head Cofer Black sought an urgent meeting with […]
Nearly all of the questions about neglect in the Mark Foley scandal relate to the House GOP leadership and what some are calling The Foley Five — House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), and Reps. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), John Shimkus (R-Ill.), and Rodney Alexander (R-La.) — all of whom were […]
I realize that the Mark Foley scandal is a tough one to spin. If I’m a GOP communications aide this morning, I’m urging everyone in the party to condemn Foley’s conduct in the strongest possible terms. I would not, for example, dismiss Foley’s predatory notes to minors as “simply naughty emails.” And yet, that’s exactly […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Florida’s Republican leadership will meet in Orlando in about an hour to pick a replacement candidate for former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), but whomever they choose has to hope voters in Florida’s […]
Yesterday afternoon, a TPM reader asked what may soon be the most common question of the campaign season: “If the GOP can’t even keep a bunch of 15 year olds safe, how can they keep America safe?” As a substantive matter, there’s a qualitative difference between counter-terrorism and covering up a congressman/sexual predator’s “problem,” but […]
Digby offers a key reminder to all of us: “In the midst of all the excitement over the GOP congress’s under-age cyberstalking, I hope that we don’t lose sight of the other white meat — Woodward’s astonishing revelations in his new book ‘State of Denial.’” It’s an important point. At least as far as public […]
Given the circumstances of the [tag]Mark Foley[/tag] scandal, I naively assumed Republicans would want literally nothing to do with him for the rest of their lives. But then this tidbit from the New York Times caught my eye. Mr. Foley, who served on the House Ways and Means Committee, was a prolific fund-raiser. His campaign […]
The revelations about the Mark Foley sex scandal, and the possible cover-up by congressional Republicans, have been coming at a near-constant clip over the last three days. Today’s Republican Party has, in general, become rather accustomed to dealing with serious and embarrassing scandals, and their vaunted political/communications machine is supposed to kick in rather quickly […]
Let’s take a moment to consider what Americans learned about their government over the last six days. On Sunday, we learned that the National Intelligence Estimate, the most complete intelligence report completed by all available agencies, argues, in the words of one American intelligence official, “[T]he Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse.” […]
Roll Call has the scoop: National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (N.Y.) issued a statement Saturday in which he said that he had informed Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) of allegations of improper contacts between then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and at least one former male page, contradicting earlier statements from Hastert. GOP sources said Reynolds […]