Wednesday, December 13, 2006

The Page Scandel: What did Emanuel know and when did he know it?

Gateway Pundit writes Swamp Politics: The Democratic Coverup of the Foley Affair.

Update: Here's a Progressive Bloggers take on the story. Here's a taste of it but read the whole thing,

This is a story I have been looking at since Dave Lutrin started telling me how Emanuel and his bullyboys were trying to drive him out of the Democratic primary. At the time I was very aware that the entrenched incumbent in a very Republican south-central Florida district was gay. But it was no secret from anyone, except of course the suckers and rubes who vote in the district, that Foley was a flaming homosexual who was out of control and couldn't keep his hands off young men. It was over a year ago I started writing about Foley and young military boys. What I didn't know at the time-- but, we now find out (despite his earlier public denials on TV)-- is that DCCC head Rahm Emanuel was aware at least since 2005 that Foley was molesting young male pages. Emanuel, every bit as bad a scumbag as Foley and the GOP leadership who covered up for Foley, did nothing to protect the young pages from predators like Foley and Arizona Republican Jim Kolbe (who was also preying on them). Instead he decided to use the info as ammo in his partisan war to win a seat from the Republicans.
Update: Also check Dick Polman: Rahm Emanuel gets Clintonesque about Mark Foley
I started to wonder about Emanuel when I reached page 45 of the report, and read that some of Foley’s emails had been forwarded, in autumn 2005, to a staffer on the House Democratic Caucus, who in turn shared them with Matt Miller, the communications director of the House Democratic Caucus, who in turn shared them with the communications director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. As Miller testified, “I gave them to him…with the understanding that [the DCCC communications director] is someone that talks to reporters all day….maybe there's a way that he could get the - you know, that he could give them to a reporter.”

Rahm Emanuel was the DCCC flak’s boss. Emanuel’s name does not appear in the Ethics Committee Report, but it strained credulity to believe that the DCCC flak would not give a heads-up to the top DCCC honcho. Which, it turns out, is exactly what happened – as evidenced by this report the other day on the CNN website:
Check the link for the rest.

20 comments:

Anonymous,  12:39 PM  

Rahm knew and should of done something a year ago. But he was cynical and wanted to exploit the issue, not care about kids, and fears of homosexuals.

Anonymous,  3:29 PM  

What, Bill, no attempt to tar every Democrat in existence with the ignoble acts of a politician that many Democrats don't like very much anyway? You must be off your game today.

Bill Baar 3:36 PM  

Just the facts anon, just the facts,

The man who ran the Democratic effort to retake the House apparently knew about the Mark Foley e-mails in the fall of 2005 — despite his statements to the contrary when the scandal broke this September.

Published reports say Rahm Emanuel learned about the e-mails from a staffer. But when asked by ABC's George Stephanopoulos if he or his staff knew about the messages, Emanuel said, "No, we never saw them. No involvement."

North Carolina Republican Patrick McHenry called the revelation "stunning" and told The Washington Times that Emanuel had let a "predator roam free" for "cold, calculated political advantage."

The Times also reports that a House ethics committee report says Democratic operatives pushed newspapers to write about the Foley e-mails in hopes of sparking a scandal before the midterm elections.

Anonymous,  4:14 PM  

The real issue is what did the Page board know?

Come on, it was the page boards JOB!

Even the speaker of the house has a ex effieo membership to the page board. What did the speaker do?

What else could be done? The speaker and Shimkus were blocking everything!

The only way to do something is via politics. Shimkus and Hastert are rotten. They did not care about those, kids.

As Bay Buchanan said Foley Email Had ‘Predator Stamped All Over It’

Bill Baar 4:50 PM  

What else could be done?

Call the police, call the press, call a blogger.... not save it until the end of the session before the election.

Anonymous,  6:54 PM  

Have you no shame Bill? How can you really waste your time spreading this garbage.

I love this quote from above, it so perfectly captures the GOP's utter denial and refusal to accept accountability:

"North Carolina Republican Patrick McHenry called the revelation "stunning" and told The Washington Times that Emanuel had let a "predator roam free" for "cold, calculated political advantage."

Yes, that's exactly what Emanuel did. Shimkus, Hastert, Trandahl and Foley are the real victims here. Right.

And Bill, you said they should have called the press. Well, from the same quote you posted, it sure looks like they did:

"The Times also reports that a House ethics committee report says Democratic operatives pushed newspapers to write about the Foley e-mails in hopes of sparking a scandal before the midterm elections."

And did you hear, Nancy Pelosi refused to take a polygraph! OMG!

I wish the GOP would spare me this disingenuous indignation and accept responsibility for their inactions that truly (let a "predator roam free" for "cold, calculated political advantage.")

Anonymous,  9:44 PM  

I must add you, Bill to list of
Washington Times, The New York Post, Talk Radio, Fox News, these internet news sites NewsMax etc are not interested in disseminating the truth. That is not what they are for. They are an indispensable component of the right wing machine that has taken over our country.

Nice job with the GOP talking points. I wonder if this is what this blog has turned into.

Where is the fact that Illinois own Shimkus also said Democrat "Dale (Rep. Kildee) is a nice guy, but he's a Democrat and I was afraid that it would be blown out of proportion."

Several times, Shimkus asked reporters Monday whether they'd read the entire report, saying that the full picture had not been captured in summaries.

Shimkus, who has said he saw only excerpts of the 2005 e-mails.

Okay, but according to you it Raum Emanuel choice.

I love the idea of calling the capitol police. Shall we have Terry Gainer investigate it?

Shalom,

--- Prof. Leland Milton Goldblatt

Bill Baar 9:54 PM  

I love the idea of calling the capitol police. Shall we have Terry Gainer investigate it?

Isn't it a duty to call the police if you suspect a sex crime?

Bill Baar 9:58 PM  

Look at our Progressive Bloggers conclusion...

I'm hardly parading GOP talking points,

Nancy Pelosi, properly, moved against Jefferson as soon as the $90,000 was discovered. Let's see what she does against her boy Rahm now. He should, at the very minimum, be immediately removed from any kind of leadership position inside the Democratic caucus. He should also resign from Congress, but I don't expect to see that until he's eventually caught for many more crimes than those just involving the Foley scandal. Emanuel is worse for the Democratic Party than anything the Republicans can throw our way.

Unknown 10:28 PM  

Question for Bill Baar , Did Shimkus and Hastert fail if so how and what could they have done?

Bridget 10:43 PM  

I agree that this has the GOP looking to place blame for Foleygate elsewhere written all over it.

However, if it is true that Rahm knew and sat on the info until it was most politically advantageous for it to get out, this is a no-brainer.

If it is true that he did this, he damn well should be stripped of his committee assignments, caucus leadership position and be asked to resign by the party.

It's a no-brainer, people. If you know about a sexual predator hurting kids and you let it go on for political gain you're a piece of shit no matter what party you're from.

Anonymous,  10:57 PM  

Of course Rahm knew. Of course he is as guitly as the rest. But he was sure damn effective at exploiting it.

Terry Gainer is a joke by the way. Another Thompson guy--like Jeremy Margolis.

Anonymous,  11:07 PM  

Just like Rahm didn't know about Don Tomczak or HDO.

Bill Baar 6:35 AM  

Bridget,

Hastert and Shimkus did something dumb. When a family presented with a compliant and asked it be delt with discretely, they agreed.

You can't do that today. Somebody drops this in your lap, you tell them they have to tell the Police, Shimkus has to tell the full page board... you can't limit it to discrete.

Rahm withheld for pure politics.

There's a diff in my book.

I'd prefer the old discrete way, but it doesn't work with a guy like Foley and modern technology makes it too easy with these IMs

I still think Camille Paglia got it right with this scandal... and she sure wasn't reading from GOP talking points... From Gay Patriot,

After three or four days of it, as soon as I heard Foley's name, I turned the sound off or switched channels. It was gargantuan overkill, and I felt the Democrats were shooting themselves in the foot. I was especially repulsed by the manipulative use of a gay issue for political purposes by my own party. I think it was not only poor judgment but positively evil. Whatever short-term political gain there is, it can only have a negative impact on gay men. When a moralistic, buttoned-up Republican like Foley is revealed to have a secret, seamy gay life, it simply casts all gay men under a shadow and makes people distrust them. Why don't the Democratic strategists see this? These tactics are extremely foolish.

Not only has the public image of gay men been tarnished by the over-promotion of the Foley scandal, but they have actually been put into physical danger. It's already starting with news items about teenage boys using online sites to lure gay men on dates to attack and rob them. What in the world are the Democrats thinking? We saw the beginning of this in that grotesque moment in the last presidential debates when John Kerry came out with that clearly prefab line identifying Mary Cheney as a lesbian. Since when does the Democratic Party use any gay issue in this coldblooded way as a token on the chessboard? You'd expect this stuff from right-wing ideologues, not progressives.

Anonymous,  8:50 AM  

"What I didn't know at the time-- but, we now find out (despite his earlier public denials on TV)-- is that DCCC head Rahm Emanuel was aware at least since 2005 that Foley was molesting young male pages."

WTF? We still don't know anything other than Foley sent creepy and sexually explicit e-mails to pages. Did I miss the part where Foley was accused of actually molesting pages?

Bill, just because you cite a "progressive" source doesn't mean it's a credible source and this quote proves it. Nobody with half a brain believes this BS.

Again, please stop trying to re-write the facts to make this about Rahm. It is, was, and always will be about Foley, Shimkus, Hastert and Trandahl. And good riddance to the GOP "leadership."

Bridget 8:51 AM  

Bill,

I don't believe for a second that Hastert and Shimkus kept this under the radar because one of the families asked them to. Even if that conversation ever took place (I don't believe it), they knew what they doing. They evaded their responsibilities on several levels and were complicit in prolonging Mark Foley's predatory behavior. They knew and they let it continue. Downplaying their behavior as a "stupid mistake" is just ridiculous.

Bill Baar 9:08 AM  

47th said ...just because you cite a "progressive" source doesn't mean it's a credible source ...

It means I'm not quoting GOP talking points.

Bridget said ...I don't believe for a second that Hastert and Shimkus kept this under the radar because one of the families asked them to.

The family did ask. I would have told them no way. Sure Shimkus and Hastert had a political concern, but the had a human one too... more then RE can say.

Consider this... RE recruits a ...self-described Reagan Republican, Mahoney only became a Democrat two years before running for Congress on the party's ticket from Aurora Illinois to defeat a closeted Foley.

Hastert and especially Shimkus fumbled. RE was slick as a Pol can get.

Progressives get a ex-Reagan Republican elected beholden to RE.

Who are the dupes in this story?

Anonymous,  8:30 PM  

"47th said ...just because you cite a "progressive" source doesn't mean it's a credible source ...

It means I'm not quoting GOP talking points."

Yes, Bill. But it's still means you're spreading bullshit. I thought you were better than this.

Anonymous,  10:56 AM  

Shimkus admitted, he withheld for because of democrat on the board.

Anonymous,  5:13 PM  

Another negative post by Baar. Two for two.

Didn't you people learn from the last election?

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