The Foley scandal is getting a lot of attention, pushing just about everything else off the front page. Details of his IMs are the topic of conversation everywhere. (The despicable transcripts are here, but be warned that these explicit transcripts are not work-safe.) Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is under fire.
The timing of the release of this information is curious, especially if the information was known to the press earlier, as has been intimated. So who stands to gain from this?
The wingnuts who think homosexual=pedophile/sexual predator have been out in force, prompting a response from a Reformed Jewish leader, in a letter to Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. The intro:
Dear Mr. Perkins:
I urge you to apologize publicly for the disturbing article you wrote for the Family Research Council titled “Pro-Homosexual Political Correctness Sowed Seeds for Foley Scandal,” claiming that the “real issue” in the scandal surrounding Rep. Foley’s resignation is the “link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse.” (read the rest)
Consider this:
- Marriage amendments are on the ballots of eight states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin
- Bush’s approval numbers are quite low
- Congress’ approval ratings are quite low
- Democrats are poised to take control of the House, and possibly the Senate
So here’s the question: was this leak timed to rev up the religious conservative base and improve the chances of Republicans?
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VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I doubt the intention leak theory, but I fear this will hurt the Marriage Amendment opponents. As long as the story focuses on Foley’s sexual predatory proclivities, there may be some (especially guys and moms) who fall back on that old fear of their — or their children — being attacked by gays in bathrooms and vote for the amendment as a precaution, even though the amendment will do nothing to curb pedophiles.
One more time…slower and louder. IT ISN”T BEING A GAY PERSON THAT IS THE PROBLEM HERE; IT’S THAT FOLEY IS A PEDOPHILE AND THE REPUBLICONS HAVE FAILED TO LEAD. Got it now?
“there may be some (especially guys and moms) who fall back on that old fear of their — or their children — being attacked by gays in bathrooms.”
I know that wasn’t intended to be funny… but please, take a minute to visuale being attacked by the gay of your choice in a bathroom. It brings to mind an old Margaret Cho sketch, I believe from her second movie, where she talks about how she’d love to have a gay child, and then concocted and described an incredibly outlandish plan to ensure that her child would be born homosexual. It involved pretty much the same idea, but in reverse. 😉