10/2: The Perfect Blogstorm

When righty blog hub Pajamas Media first described the ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) scandal as "The Perfect Blogstorm" 9/30, we were skeptical since, while the blogosphere had definitely run with the story, they mostly seemed to be following the MSM's lead on actual reporting. Upon further review, this is just the type of story that could only have broken in our new blog world, thus making it The Perfect Blogstorm.

The original emails read by GOP leadership last fall were also shopped by the same page to the MSM stalwart St. Petersburg Times, who despite putting two reporters onto the story, declined to print an item since the evidence available "didn't meet our standard for publication." But a previously unknown blog posted the emails 9/24 and they were quickly picked up by a DailyKos diarist (the diary was never promoted to DailyKos' front page and comments show some readers were skeptical). Then on 9/28 ABC News' blog The Blotter ran with the story including Foley's Democratic opponent businessman Tim Mahoney's (D) request for an investigation. It was not till then that the career killing IM's were turned over to ABC News' by an anonymous source. The rest, and Foley, are history.

Think Progress has the best timeline of Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus chairman Rep. Mark Foley's (R-FL) fall from grace (TPM Cafe's is a close second). Under the header "GOP = Grand Old Perverts" firedoglake's Jane Hamsher looks at Rep. John Boehner's (R-OH) morphing quotes on who knew about the original emails when in the Washington Post, as does AMERICAblog and Talking Points Memo

Many on the left are linking to this ABC News report on Page Alumni Association Matthew Loraditch's admission that his 2001-2002 page class was warned about Foley's "being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff" by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office to prove a "huge" GOP cover up.

Talking Points Memo reader DK notes the St. Petersburg Times had the same emails House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) did last fall. DK lauds the paper for putting two reporters on the story, but argues they should have done more: "The one thing the editor doesn't describe the paper trying to do was talk to anyone overseeing the congressional page program. Given the leadership's track record, a call from reporters might not have gotten much of a response. But given that we're talking about minors here, it seems like a call that should have been made."

Meanwhile, Atrios and Glenn Greenwald note that while actual sex between Foley and a 16-year-old page would have been perfectly legal in DC, legislation the Foley helped pass, makes his IMs a federal offense.

Many on the left are also eager to paint Foley's actions as typical GOP behavior:

• Matt Stoller at MyDD: "The religious right isn't religious, it is politically authoritarian. It is a movement of morally and ethically corrupted individuals who refuse to tell the difference between right and wrong."
• Paul Rosenberg at MyDD: "They hide liars. They hide torturers. They hide sexual predators. They are scum of the earth. THIS is the nationalization of the 2006 mid-terms. And much, much more.
• self-described conservative Andrew Sullivan: "Or think of it another way: what do the Vatican and the RNC have in common? Here's one potential list: entrenched homophobia, psychologically damaged closet cases, inappropriate behavior toward teens and minors ... and cover-ups designed entirely to retain power. The parallels are looking a little creepy. And the source is the same."

National Review Online's John J. Miller argues the Foley scandal could be much worse than previous GOP ethics issues: "Foley could become the new Jack Abramoff. Except that whereas the details of Abramoff's were always a bit complicated for the public to follow closely, the accusations now leveled at Foley are much simpler and more appalling. Foley is on the verge of becoming the poster child of a party that is concerned about little more than preserving its power."

Others on the right immediately smelled conspiracy. JustOneMinute follows the story's birth on the obscure Stop Sex Predators Now blog, over to DailyKos, where it languished before being picked up by ABC News' The Blotter . JOM speculates: " Maybe the blog author was an unwitting catspaw, but I would want some assurance that this was not simply a successful attempt to promote a story that wasn't quite ready for the Mainstream Media by laundering it through some blogs (and wasn't that Matt Drudge's ecological niche, back in the day?)."

American Thinker has similar thoughts and links ABC's efforts to the George Soros-backed Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). AT writes: "How likely is it that this site with virtually no readership, few posts and hardly any history or posts of interest suddenly receives this bombshell? I'd say slight." Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham follows a similar vein, guessing that Stop Sex Predators commenter michael rogers is the same Michael Rogers that "is the host and agent of a widely publicized 'outing campaign' at BlogActive.com targeting closeted gay Republicans."

More standard GOP talking points include:

• National Review Online's Kathryn Jean Lopez: No one in leadership knew about the IMs. They did not surface until Friday. The family who contact Rep. Alexander about the e-mail correspondence did not want the e-mails shared. The leadership did an internal review immediately as they became aware of the instant messages on Friday.
• Townhall's Hugh Hewitt: "Democrats' shrill charges that the GOP leadership knew about the Foley IMs as opposed to the original e-mail also telegraph what their return to the majority in either House would mean: Endless hearings into fever swamp scandal-mongering."
• Townhall's Ham: "But can we really blame Hastert for not assuming that would be the case? The IMs reflect an entirely different story than the e-mails did, and it's easy for us to say, with the benefit of hindsight, that Hastert should have known, but I don't think I would have."
• Power Line's John Hinderaker: "Our younger readers may not be aware that House pages have figured in several scandals over the years. Congressman Gerry Studds (D-MA) had an affair with a teenage male page that, I believe, included sex within the precincts of the Capitol Building. ... Then there is Barney Frank, who was reprimanded by the House for using his Congressional office to intervene on behalf of his boyfriend, a homosexual prostitute, to dispose of at least 33 parking tickets. The boyfriend also ran a prostitution ring out of Frank's house. Today, Frank is one of the most powerful members of the Democrats' House caucus."

Not all on the right are on push-back mode. Captain's Quarters writes: "I cannot tell CQ readers how disgusted I am with Speaker Hastert. Reynolds is no fringe nutcase; he's the man Hastert trusted to run the midterm re-elections of the Republican caucus. He has no reason to lie, but Hastert apparently did. This also calls into question Boehner's earlier reversal, when he denied saying that he informed Hastert after Hastert denied knowing of Foley's activities."

Kausfiles also was ready to assign some blame to the GOP leadership: "It's slightly less unfair to blame the House Republican leadership--sure, the evidence in the first emails wasn't much. But did they really have no idea what Foley was up to? Don't these rumors get around the Hill pretty quickly?** It's not like Foley was co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Chil .... oh wait."

Lefty blogs were eager to impute Hastert with as much knowledge of Foley's perversions as possible. AMERICAblog's John Aravosis posts lengthy excerpts of the IM obtained late last week by ABC News and then writes: " I cannot believe that Denny Hastert knew about Foley using the Net to chat-up underage boys a year ago and DID NOTHING ... Whether or not the kid's parents were fine with letting it go, which the story says is the case, why did Republican House Speaker Denny Hastert permit Foley to remain in the House GOP leadership for almost a year after they knew he was having sex talk with minors online, minors he met on the job?" DemFromCT at DailyKos has similar thoughts and TPM Cafe's Stirling Newberry makes the case for Hastert to be charged with criminal conspiracy as a "accessory after the fact."

TPM Reader DK takes Hastert to task for only asking the Justice Dept. to investigate the IMs, not the GOP's response to the original emails and later argues the investigation is really just an effort to intimidate any other potential whistleblowers.

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas notes Hastert's "Upcoming Event"s page includes: "Keeping Kids Safe in Cyberspace Community Meeting Tuesday, August 29th" while DailyKos' Jeffrey Feldman writes: "Fifty years from now, when historians write about the social problem of sexual predators in early 21st Century America, they will put a photo of Cardinal Bernard Law next to a photo of Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. These are men who had the chance to protect our children, but chose to protect a predator instead.

GW Univ. Student Assoc. Pres. runner-up Alec Baldwin writes at The Huffington Post: "Forget about Mark Foley. He's toast. ... Focus on Hastert. That do-nothing, lap dog Speaker of the House, who knew Foley was compromised and knew it quite a long time ago and did nothing, purely to maintain political power."

REYNOLDS: Of No Relation To Glenn>

On 9/30 Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall noted a NRCC chair Rep. Tom Reynolds's (R-NY) statement contradicted Hastert aides assertion that the Speaker did not know of Foley's emails. Later, TPMReader DK speculates that Reynolds willingly threw "Denny from the train" to distance himself from the scandal so he could prevail in his own close election. Elsewhere AMERICAblog asks, "Mr. Reynolds, why is your chief of staff advising a child sex predator?" and Think Progress noted that Reynolds accepted $100K from in July.

TPM Cafe's Greg Sargent urges First Lady Laura Bush to call off her 10/4 luncheon honoring Reynolds and on the right Instapundit felt the need to point out: "And I should note that I'm no relation to Tom Reynolds, in case anyone wonders."

SHIMKUS: And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'

Writing that the scandal "just gets better and better" TPM Reader DK looks at a St. Louis Post-Dispatch interview with Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), chairman of the board which oversees the congressional page program, claiming Shimkus shared emails with GOP leadership despite assertions from Hastert's office that Rep. Rodney Alexander's (R-LA) office declined to provide the emails in "question out of respect for the page and his family, who desired privacy."

Over at AMERICAblog, Aravosis posts the transcript of Shimkus introducing Foley to 2002 pages as "someone who spends a lot of time with you also." Foley then "gets up in front of Shimkus and tells a special little story of how he took one male page to a private dinner in downtown Washington, DC. Put the page in his BMW and "cruised" - Foley's word - to dinner."

ELECTION '06 FALLOUT: Money For Nothing, And House Seats For Free

TPM Cafe's Greg Sargent takes a short look at Foley's likely replacement on the ballot: "The frontrunner right now ... is Florida State Rep. Joe Negron, a 45-year-old lawyer and aggressive fundraiser. Who is Negron? Negron full-throatedly supported Gov. Jeb Bush's efforts to intervene and prevent doctors from allowing the death of Terry Schiavo."

MyDD's Jerome Armstrong doesn't see how the GOP could rescue Foley's seat: "The notion that a Republican can replace Foley is absurd. Any politician that is willing to be associated with Mark Foley's name on the ballot has stupid written on their back. What's the slogan going to be? A vote for the pedophile is a vote for me?" While Chris Bowersargues that FL-16 demonstrates again why Dems need a 50 state strategy.

TPM Reader DK looks at Foley's relative fundraising prowess, Chris Carney calls on Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA) to cancel all fundraiser's with the GOP leadership, and Martin Lewis has a photo of Pres. Bush with Foley at The Huffington Post.

VA SEN: 156 To 1 Blowout

Washington Post, in a 9/29 editorial: "We hope the present discussion won't drown out a broader debate about what each candidate would seek to accomplish as a senator." AllenHQ: "Yes, if only there was some sort of media outlet -- I don't know, a newspaper or something -- who could tell us about the important issues." The site notes WaPo has done 156 stories about 'Macaca' in the past 60 days and 1 on Sen. George Allen's (R) "major energy policy proposal." The A-Team piles on.

Meanwhile, over at TPM Cafe, Matt Corley notes that Allen recently sponsored a bill helping African-American farmers collect funds from a civil rights lawsuit. But according to one group's pres., they've been on Allen to drop the bill "since he's been in [the Senate]."

On the Dem side, Kos notes that ex-Navy Sec. Jim Webb (D) will report having raised $3M in the last quarter alone. MyDD's Jonathan Singer: "The RNC could surely move some money into the race, but that would make it even more difficult for them to reach the $60 million they had promised for Republican turnout efforts -- an amount that already appeared unreachable when it was first announced."

Lowell finds some unintentional comedy in a planned Allen TV appearance, while Mark Foley pops up for having given Allen a contribution. The race also showed up on this week's SNL, and YouTube has video.

CLINTON: Unco-optable

As USA Today takes a look at Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) use of her husband to better her relationship with the blogosphere, TalkLeft's Jeralyn Merritt looks at HRC's three options (ignore them, attack them or co-opt them): "It's not that simple. The first and second suggested options would be fruitless. The third is not possible. Politicans as astute as the Clintons surely know this."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Arch-Capitalist Market Deification

Progressive activist Chris Bowers at MyDD notices "a huge upswing" in "diarists insisting that election futures trading is an accurate predictor of election outcomes." Bowers argues such tools are "hogwash" and little more than "arch-capitalist, libertarian, market deification." Bowers goes on to list recent faulty predictions including a Dem takeover of the Senate in '02, Howard Dean winning the IA caucus, and Pres. Bush winning the popular vote in '00.

LEST WE FOGET: Not A Good Sign For John McCain

Extreme Mortman notes the sad record of Pres. Teddy Roosevelt -- in the RFK Stadium races during Nationals Games. Heading into the final weekend, Lincoln and Jefferson were tied with 14 wins, followed by Washington with 7. Poor TR, well, he never won a race.