Foley’s Resignation Poses GOP Morals Problem

The social conservative vote in November 2004 kept Mr. Bush in the White House. Those who worry more about school prayer and the morning-after pill than about taxes and war are Republican to the core. With the resignation of Congressman Mark Foley under a cloud of inappropriate e-mails to more than one young man, the SoCons may just stay home, sinking the GOP’s hopes.

Congressman Foley (R-FL) resigned abruptly on Friday after charges that he sent “overly-friendly” e-mails to an ex-page in Congress. Pages are youths who act as messengers and go-fers in Congress; the purpose is to teach them a bit about the legislature. It would seem Mr. Foley’s exceptional interest in a couple of these young men (there are female pages, but Mr. Foley hasn’t seen fit to be excessively friendly with them) went beyond this. According to media reports, Mr. Foley is in rehab for alcoholism this morning, and one wishes him well.

Were that the end of the story, it would merit no attention beyond a bit of tooth-sucking and head shaking. However, the FBI is investigating the matter, and the House has asked the Justice Department to investigate not only the e-mails but the actions of GOP leaders once they found out about the situation – back in 2003.

If there was a cover-up, then Mr. Foley is the only person who has done the right thing. Enablers on the Hill may have exposed some of the pages to unwanted homosexual advances. While Speaker Hastert has prevented the Democrats from really teeing off on this one by putting it all under investigation (an investigation that won’t be over until after the election, by the way), he has given the SoCons a big reason to stay home.

E-mails to a 16-year-old boy/man from Mr. Foley is qualitatively different from the degenerate waiting outside the school to kidnap 6-year-olds. However, the SoCons don’t like homosexuality of any kind and may not believe that 16 is old enough to make mistakes of one’s own. They still don’t have the judges they want, the 10 Commandments in the courthouses, there’s no prayer in school, and the Plan B contraceptive pill is now sold over-the-counter. They don’t have much to show for voting Republican in the last 6 years. A Congressional cover-up of “gay child-molesters” in the House might just keep them home in November. If that happens, the GOP could lose both chambers.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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