At a local Republican event last week, Mark Souder told the crowd "That story you heard about Mark Foley that broke last night is gonna get worse".
I'll skip the bulk of his remaining comments, they are available on Fort Wayne Observed, and get to the heart of things.
Souder said Republicans are handling the scandal differently than Democrats have in the past. He brought up the 1983 Studds sex scandal, Ted Kennedy, and William Jefferson, and noted that they were all re-elected. He added, "At least we force our crooks out. Not really what we want to run on, but it shows a difference, and we need to communicate this."
Having said that, we here at Fort Wayne Left are curious as to why it took the righteous, honest members of the "morality party" so long to take action on this matter. Reports were made to GOP members from as far back as 1995 warning of Mr.Foley's inappropriate behaviour towards young male pages. Indeed, Speaker Dennis Hastert has been aware of actual evidence of wrongdoing (IM records) for over a year now.
Mr.Foley is only being "forced out" because ABC News broke this story. The GOP leadership chose to keep Foley's behaviour under wraps to serve it's own purposes, namely holding on to power. This story would still be buried if Mr.Souder and his compatriots had any say about it. So please don't bore us with your spin about Republicans "taking the high road" on moral issues, the facts here bear out a different conclusion: The GOP is the party of moral values, when it serves them or when it can bring in the religious vote, but only for as long as the rug stays in place over their indiscretions.
Souder cautioned that things could get nasty in the days leading up to the election, but held out hope that Republicans could do well on Election Day.
Which leads us to wonder: Is there anything else lurking in the shadows of the Republican machine that he hopes that voters will remain ignorant of?
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That's an interesting question. It IS a most unusual situation, particulary with all of the bad news that Republican congressmen have been dished up this week. You would certaintly think they'd have more pressing concerns regarding their own skins. . . My thoughts are that somebody is worried. Whether that somebody is Fries, or Souder, remains the question to be answered. . .
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