Grand Old Perverts on borrowed time

For two straight days last week, The Daily Show effectively destroyed Republicans for the Mark Foley Sex Scandal. It's easier for you to watch the roundup than it is for me to write what these morons said, so take a look. The clip above is a little over nine minutes long, but trust me, it's soooo worth your time.

The video clip below isn't too bad, either. Watch them. Then, watch them again. This is the sad state of government in the United States today. Think that's hyperbole? People, Republicans control the White House, both Houses of Congress, and at an ever-increasing rate, the judicial branch, starting with the Supreme Court. And Republicans (and the pundits who parrot their views, including State TV, Fox News) will do or say just about anything to stay in power. About the only thing Republicans haven't done is use the military. Wait... Anyway, more after the video clip below.



Whether you like Jon Stewart or hate him, he does a remarkable job of skewering Republicans and exposing hypocrisy, and for that he should be commended. The best part about Stewart is that the show is well researched - nothing like clubbing Foley over the head with his own video tape from

It's just amazing how Republican lawmakers are running for cover in this scandal, which is a sickening disgrace. When I hear comments from some of these GOP legislators, I'm reminded of the Roman Cathlick Church and the sex scandals that have rocked it in the last 3-4 years. It's bad enough that altar boys were molested by the dozens (and probably hundreds) of priests in the first place, but what was worse was the church leadership that looked the other way for decades. Evidently, the same thing took place with Foley.

Even more laughable are the conservative pundits who are "analyzing" the whole incident. I can't possibly spell this out any clearer--

I fucking HATE Sean Hannity with every fiber of my being. Yes, I wrote hate - a word we are conditioned to shun, but what the hell is Fox spewing on state TV every day? Hate, but in slightly less overt forms. Insannity's comments and pathetic attempts at spin in the video clip at the very top (toward the end - approx. the last 1.5 minutes of the clip) about the Foley scandal are fodder for the bullshit cannon, and they run the risk of ruining his already useless reputation.

First, Hannity brings up a Democratic Congressman who was involved with a page 23 years ago. 23!! Nice. Then, *SURPRISE!* he brings up Clinton and Lewinsky, getting the latter's age wrong, saying she was 19 years old at the time of the affair. Well, Lewinsky was 22, and the affair was between consenting adults, but I'm sure Hannity made an honest mistake there, right?

I also get a kick out of how Hannity tries in vain to bring President Clinton into the scandal: "Now I don't mean to bring Clinton into this, but Monica was 19 years old." Besides getting her age wrong, Hannity lamely attempts to use an age-old trick - trying to hide behind your qualifier to absolve yourself of blame. Of course you meant to bring up Clinton, you dick! It reminds me of people who say, "No offense, but ________." Obviously they know it's going to offend you, or they wouldn't say that. Or people who say, "I'm not a racist, but ___________," and then say something racist.

The sad thing about Hannity is that there are people who actually think he speaks the truth (I'm friends with a few of them) and that the Democrats are behind all of this, and blah blah blah. Pathetic, sad and frightening, all in one human being. Impressive, really. Hannity's father, Rupert Murdoch, must be awfully proud.

The million dollar question about Dennis Hastert, the Speaker of the House, is what did he know and when did he know it? It seems like he's known about Foley's inappropriate behavior for some time; even conservative estimates place it at the beginning of 2006, at the latest, and I've read several other pieces which say Hastert has known about it for years. I'm not interested in a number, but if Hastert knew about it one week before it became public, swift and appropriate action should have been taken against Foley. Fair?

Since it appears that Hastert knew about Foley's misdeeds (crimes) ahead of time, that makes Hastert culpable, and at least partially responsible for allowing Foley's wildly unethical and inappropriate behavior to continue without consequences. Hastert should immediately resign. Considering his statements since the scandal erupted, I wonder if Dennis likes what he sees when he looks in the mirror every morning? You might be asking, am I referring to Hastert, President Bush, or Foley himself? Yes.

Predictably, with an election around the corner, Republican leaders are running for cover and calling the two plays they know best from their playbook: scare tactics and distraction.

Think about the Karl Rove playbook that we are so used to by now.

First off, the election year scare tactics:

Notice how in 2004 and 2006, the wedge issues "mysteriously" came to the forefront? Every speech that Bush gives has to talk about the War on Terror, but we get others, too, in election years: gay marriage, immigration, tax cuts, steroids in baseball, Terri Schiavo, you name it.

I also find is super mysterious that gas prices are suddenly dramatically dropping leading up to this election, too. (It takes shockingly little digging to discover which party is in bed with big oil.)

Now, we're treated with lame-assed attempts by Republicans to scare the shit out of voters - Dick 'n W are running around the country, overtly saying that Democrats can't keep us safe from the terrorists. The scary part is that some people actually believe this shit.

Here's President George W. Bush on CNN last week (10/4/06): "Vote Republican for the safety of the United States of America." The bastard has balls, I'll give him that.

I'll bet my bile duct that there will be some sort of terror alert just before the election, too, or maybe the president will declassify information telling us that a major plot had just been foiled, but that they "can't give us any details due to national security."

Last week Hastert implored House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to agree to have former FBI Director Louis Freeh look into the whole Foley scandal. When I read that, I almost spit up my stromboli. Freeh, a partisan GOP scumbag, would have just been another GOP mouthpiece. His record during the Clinton years is a disgrace - one of Clinton's biggest mistakes was not firing the bastard, but Clinton hesitated to because it would have looked like he was firing Freeh because Freeh didn't agree with him politically.

Also very amusing to me is Hastert (and other Republicans) blaming the whole Foley scandal on billionaire liberal activist George Soros. What a laugh. How stupid does Hastert think we are? It wasn't that long ago that Mellon Bank heir Richard Mellon Scaife was behind so much of the Clinton trash that was bandied about in the 1990s - most it lies reported as news. Think I'm bullshitting? Read about the Arkansas Project and who funded it. At least with Scaife, there's proof. Hastert is just throwing Soros out there, hoping people will just automatically buy into it without doing any reading of their own. Sadly, some will.

Since 1979, Scaife has donated over $407,000 to Republican candidates, and $2,500 to Democrats. Read about that Here. Scaife had strong ties to Kenneth W. Starr and he also funded the American Spectator, but later defunded the magazine when it was critical of him and wouldn't go along with campaign to call Vince Foster's death a suicide.

Lastly, I find it wildly entertaining that some GOP sycophants and politicians alike are accusing the Democrats of gay bashing. Democrats are doing nothing of the sort, and it's another half-baked attempt at distracting from the real issue, which is an adult, in a position of power, making sexual advances on an minor. It doesn't matter if the perpetrator is male or female, nor does it matter if the victim is male or female. And do Republicans honestly believe anyone who is gay will now turn on the Democrats? You've gotta be kidding. Anyone remember the proposed Constitutional Amendment by Republicans that would define marriage as something between a man and a woman?

It's the sign of an increasingly desperate party - now the GOP is even courting the gay vote! Amazing. I'll say it over and over - the party will do just about anything to stay in power.

Even prominent Republicans are recommending that Hastert step down, including Thomas Kean Jr., GOP Senatorial candidate in New Jersey.

Anyway, one more video clip worth watching...



The clip above is so money. How do the idiots on Fox even say this shit with a straight face? A few thoughts: 1. Where was all of this "investigating" about who is behind a scandal during the Clinton impeachment fiasco? Funny how Fox News all of a sudden now has investigative skills, but in the 1990s when Clinton was in office, the "network" would report any rumor as fact. 2. Even if it proves true that Soros is behind it, (and I'm far from that, considering it's from State TV), so what? If this stuff about Foley is true, I don't give a damn how it came out.

It's scary how inept our country's leadership is. We must have dramatic change in November. I pray it's coming.