The IMs That Sunk The GOP
The fallout over Foley continues.
WaPo is reporting that the FBI knew about Foley’s e-mails in July, and had not begun an investigation. So it appears that the benefits of being a Congressman extend to having investigations into your scuzziness swept under a rug. The same article references the ABC discovery of further communications indicating Foley had tried to arrange dates with these kids.
All of this leads to the other intriguing WaPo piece – indicating the GOP could well lose Congress as a result of this. Honestly, I fully expect us to, and I would not be terribly unhappy at this point. Our leadership in the House and Senate have led us nowhere this year, and based on the Foley scandal, appear interested only in keeping their jobs.
Social Security reform went nowhere. Comprehensive tax reform went nowhere. Immigration reform went nowhere. Those are the three things the President campaigned on and our leaders in Congress accomplished none of them. They did, however, find time to hide a sexual predator from public view and enable his attempts to hit on young boys.
What’s sad in all of this is the fact that the Pages knew about Foley for years, and were warning each other, yet everyone in the leadership claims they had no idea. How is it that the high school kid who is only here for a few months knows more about things than the guys who are supposed to be running the place?
WaPo quotes a bunch of people fretting over the possibility that religious conservatives will stay home rather than returning the GOP to power. Honestly, that’s not my biggest fear. I’m more afraid that the religious conservatives are the only ones that will vote for us.
We’ve given fiscal conservatives no reason to vote for the GOP. We’ve given moderates no reason to vote for the GOP. Now Foley and the inept response of the leadership have taken away any reason a normal human would want to keep us in power. If all we care about is protecting our turf, and are willing to let a member of Congress prey on kids to do it, we deserve to lose.
Add to that the fact that somehow we overlooked a member of Congress printing bribery menus on Congressional note cards; Abramoff offering to buy Congressional offices at low, low bargain prices; and then staged a completely ineffectual response to any of it, and you’ve removed almost any reason for anyone to support the GOP.
If the social conservatives turn out, but nobody else does – or worse, the rest turn out and vote Democrat – that will cost us Congress. It will also lead the GOP to do even more to alienate mainstream America by pandering to those that did show up – the religious zealots.
If that happens, which I think is more likely, the GOP will move even further to the religious right and squeeze out those of us still willing to fight for them on the theory that eventually they’ll pay attention to the fiscal conservatives again.
Share Tags
