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 to help minimize the damage.
Except, in the Foley disaster, the GOP is reeling. They’re blaming each other, they’re contradicting each other, and they just don’t know what to say.
The Democratic National Committee seized on the scandal, sending out a scathing statement that raised pointed questions about Mr. Hastert and other Republican leaders. In bold red type, the dispatch asked: “What did Coach H and his buddies know and when did they know it?”
It was a rare instance in this fierce political season that Republicans were not quick to respond. The Republican National Committee has not commented on the scandal, and nearly a dozen Republican members of Congress either declined to be interviewed or did not return telephone calls about the matter on Sunday.
None of the usual conservative rhetorical tricks work. They can’t exploit 9/11; they can’t come up with some inane bumper-sticker slogan that smears Democrats; and they can’t twist this into some kind of bi-partisan affair in which Republicans are just as bad as Dems. Indeed, they can’t even sufficiently defend, or even explain, their own conduct.
It’s practically the political equivalent of a perfect-storm scandal: it hits the GOP at an awful time (just as Congress is adjourning and candidates hit the campaign trail in earnest); on key issues (protecting innocent kids and moral superiority); and with no real defense. There’s a half-hearted attempt to suggest Dems shouldn’t try to score political points off this scandal, but no one’s buying it: even Republicans concede they’d be doing the same thing if the IM messages were on the other foot.
If you haven’t been glued to the news over the last 24 hours, here are the updates you’ll need to know:
* Republicans have known about Foley’s page problem for several years, but did little to intervene. ABC News reported yesterday that a Republican staff member warned congressional pages five years ago to watch out for Foley. This makes it harder for GOP leaders to suggest the party was somehow in the dark about the sexual predator in their midst.
* While Republican teenagers were warned about Foley, young Democratic pages were not. Apparently, under-age Dems were supposed to fend for themselves.
* GOP leaders can’t keep their story straight about who saw the Foley emails and when.
* National Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds, who was inexplicably alerted to the scandal early on, continued to take large donations from Foley, including a $100,000 check, even after he learned of Foley’s “problem.” It suggests that perhaps Reynolds stayed quiet because Foley was buying his silence.
* Reynolds and Hastert appear anxious to pin the blame on one another. Reynolds, in particular, singled out Hastert when the Speaker’s office appeared willing to let Reynolds take the fall. A House GOP leadership aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said that Reynolds realizes he has taken a shot at his leader but that it is understandable. “This is what happens when one member tries to throw another member under a bus,” the aide said. Josh Marshall added, “When you see Majority Leaders and Speakers and Committee chairs calling each other liars in public you know that the underlying story is very bad, that the system of coordination and hierarchy has broken down and that each player believes he’s in a fight for his life.”
* Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) became the first House Republican to suggest that this scandal could bring down the House leadership, and publicly said any leader who had been aware of Foley’s behavior and failed to take action should step down. “If they knew or should have known the extent of this problem, they should not serve in leadership,” Shays said.
* ABC News’ report last night is rather devastating, referring to this as a “metastasizing” scandal, and noting that the number of pages targeted by Foley continues to grow.
Stay tuned.