I knew it! I knew it! This story started stinking almost the instant it broke. I've raised a boy, I've been the guardian of several, I worked for a Member of Congress and dealt closely with young interns and college Republicans, and I know that politically active and astute young people are not innocents. We had a 19 year old working for our office as a driver and he was the biggest political wheeler dealer I've come across ... a junior Karl Rove.
So we learn this as of this morning:
Drudge has a world exclusive:
According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal… Developing…
UPDATE:
According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.
According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, goaded an unwitting Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats.
The primary source, an ally of Edmund, adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund. Both are fearful that their political careers will be affected if they are publicly brought into the investigation.
The prank scenario only applies to the Edmund IM sessions and does not necessarily apply to any other exchanges between the former congressman and others.
The news come on the heels that Edmund has hired former Timothy McVeigh attorney, Stephen Jones.
An online prank. A prank that cost a man his job, took the election out of the hands of the electorate and put it into the hands of teenagers pulling a prank! Enabled by militant gay activists who have made it their calling to out any gay who doesn't follow the militant party line. And everyone was calling Mark Foley disgusting for engaging in some virtual sex. Who is really disgusting here?
Betsy Newmark, in an online podcast predicted this yesterday:
When I did the GOPUSA podcast on Tuesday evening with Lorie Byrd, John Hawkins, and Ed Morrissey, I ventured a guess about the circumstances of the dirty IM conversations that Mark Foley had participated in. I said that, based on my experience teaching teenagers, that the dialogue really seemed to be to sound like a kid sitting around with his buddies having a good ol’ giggle about leading on the perverted Congressman. I’d been talking with a couple of other teachers about this whole scandal and we’d all agreed that that was what it sounded like to us. The kid was definitely leading Foley on. It just had the ring of a kid playing a prank that he could share with other kids and laugh at. Thanks to John Hawkins for transcribing my comment.
“Foley is a complete sleaze, he has got a real problem, but let me say, this kid is not an innocent kid. You read those things, he’s leading him on. He’s like a little Lolita. And what I picture, I picture this kid, he’s in his dorm room, or wherever he is, and he has got 3 or 4 friends on and they’re just giggling themselves silly. “Look what I got this Congressman to say.” That’s why he saved these IM messages, so he could send it around to all his friends and they could laugh at this poor, middle-aged Congressman who is so pitiful and has got some real sick problems. It just seems to be the type of thing that teenaged boys would have thought was so funny. This isn’t some kid who is innocently appalled at what he’s getting. He’s leading that guy on.”
Spot on Betsy.
Mark Foley is in a hospital. God knows what they have done to his mental state. What about his family, his friends, his supporters, his contituents?
Yesterday, we told you how the young man in Louisiana was being threatened. His parents have issued a statement and removed any doubt as to how they and their son have been made victims of unscrupulous Washington media and democratic operatirves:
Family of Monroe Page Issues Statement
MONROE (TV8) - The Monroe family of the former Congressional page who received overly friendly e-mails from disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley issued the following statement Thursday to CNN: "We would like to express our support for our congressman, Rodney Alexander, whose office sponsored our son's position as a House page. As far as we know, Congressman Alexander's conduct in this matter has been beyond reproach. He has tried his best to do what we have asked him to do from the very beginning: Namely, to protect the privacy of our son and family from the intense media scrutiny we are now having to endure.
In the fall of 2005, as soon as Congressman Alexander became aware of the e-mails received by our son, he called us. He explained that his office had been made aware of these e-mails by our son and that while he thought the e-mails were overly friendly, he did not think, nor did we think, that they were offensive enough to warrant an investigation.
Rather, we asked him to see that Congressman Foley stop e-mailing or contacting our son and to otherwise drop the matter in order to avoid a media frenzy. He did so. If we had any other knowledge or evidence of potential impropriety, we would have asked for the matter to be treated differently. For instance, we were not aware of the instant messages that have come to light in the past few days.
These instant messages, which have only recently surfaced as a result of the news of the ambiguous e-mails received by our son, are separate matters.
As a young man with integrity who had the courage to question the intention of the e-mails, we respect and honor our son as a hero. Despite his courageous actions, he is becoming a victim due to the harassment by some of the media. Please honor our request that we be left alone. There is nothing more that we can contribute to this ongoing matter. He is not the story, and we feel this intense media scrutiny could endanger our son and family.
Kid Set Foley Up - Democrats Dream (Planned) Scandal Fizzles
Wow. We live in interesting times.
Posted by: Don | 05 October 2006 at 03:54 PM