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September 28, 2009 NBC Jay Leno

Yes. Really. Disgraced Republican, and former Florida Rep. Mark Foley has his own radio talk show! I thought this was a parody at first, but according to ABC, it's true and the name of his show will floor you -- "Inside The Mind of Mark Foley"

Nearly three years after then-Congressman Mark Foley, R-FLA, saw his political career crumble following the revelation of his sexually explicit emails with underage congressional pages, he's garnering the spotlight once again: as a radio talk show host.

Foley, who resigned after ABC News' The Blotter broke the story before going to rehab in Arizona, is set to debut his radio show entitled "Inside the Mind of Mark Foley" on Sept. 22 on West Palm Beach radio station WSVU 960am.

When the page scandal broke, Foley was the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. He resigned hours after ABC News questioned him about the instant messages with former congressional pages, some of whom were under the age of 18 at the time of the exchanges. Officials in Florida announced a year ago that Foley would not face criminal charges because of "insufficient evidence." Read on...

Yikes! I'm not sure many people really want to know what's going on "inside the mind of Mark Foley." Once you get past the fantasies of sipping chocolatinis with young boys in their underwear, it's a good bet that all that's left in Foley's mind that could possibly be worked into a radio show are the same old, worn out right wing talking points. Because we need another right wing talk show.

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If you are a follower of Maher's Real Time or have watched him during some of his interviews on cable television after the Sanford sex scandal broke, you already know that Bill seems to think that Mark Sanford wasn't just experiencing some kind of mid-life crisis where he's reverted mentally back to the state of a teen with a very bad crush. He was really in love with his mistress. Okay Bill. Whatever you say. So nice to see you and the Kathleen and Peggy show are on the same page with that. I don't agree, but movin' on here.

What follows is actually very, very funny. Family values party, cheating on your wife, love struck by your Argentinian mistress emails, vs closeted homosexual, under age page chasing Mark Foley emails. These family values hypocrites continue to make Maher and other comedians' lives way too easy with material for their jokes. It's like shooting fish in a barrel these days.

Video warning...Not safe for work.

It makes it way too easy for someone to document their crimes.

An internet agitprop artist publishing the website "Republican Offenders dot com" has produced a list of 272 Republicans charged with criminal activity, 60 of which are pedophiles. Each name is linked to a group heading of the type of crime alleged or convicted. (Among the categories are rape, bribery and "assorted felonies".)

The list really has to be seen to be appreciated.

Howard Dean his own self could not have thought the culture of corruption ran this wide and deep. h/t Contextual Criticism.

Raw Story: [photoshop by The Aristocrats]

According to ABC, Florida laws may spare the congressman because of the state's three-year statute of limitations....

Who's to blame?

House Republican leadership, for one, who had knowledge of Foley's inappropriate behavior for years. The emails originally leaked out of the office of Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), a Democrat-cum-Republican [Oh they didn't write that. Oh yes they did. -eds] who changed parties in 2004. But the untold story is that the media, too, had a hand in protecting Foley.

"It added up to this conclusion," [St. Petersburg Times Executive Editor] Brown added. "To print what we had seemed to be a shortcut to taint [Oh he didn't say that. Oh yes he did. -eds] a member of Congress without actually having the goods."

Read more...

Air America Radio talk show host Rachel Maddow's newest Campaign Asylum video covers the numerous Republican hooker scandals that have plagued the party over the past couple of years. After the massive Republican defeat in the 2006 elections, Karl Rove claimed that it wasn't Iraq, Katrina or any of the other failures of the Bush administration that brought down the Republicans, it was Mark Foley and other sex scandals that were to blame. As Dr. Maddow points out, if that truly was the reason for the Democratic sweep last year, the post-'06 Republican sex scandals, which are connected to a few GOP presidential campaigns, might pose a big problem for the Republican party in the 2008 elections. Another fine video from Rachel...

AP Via Yahoo:

Rep. Dennis Hastert, who was speaker of the House longer than any Republican, announced Friday morning he will not seek another term in Congress.

"It was a great personal privilege and honor for this former teacher and wrestling coach to have been elected and to have served the American people," Hastert said in a news release.

Hastert was scheduled to speak publicly about his decision at an event for supporters outside the Kendall County courthouse.

Retirement speculation has circulated since he forfeited the powerful speaker's post when Republicans lost control of the House in last year's elections. Hastert, 65, declined to run for minority leader, taking on a role as elder statesman among Republicans. Read more...

Hastert is just one of many rats jumping ship. It's not surprising he didn't retire after the huge loss to the Democrats in '06, these thugs don't let go of power easily. It's a damn shame, after all that time served in Congress this elder statesman's lasting legacy will be one of scandal and failure as he protected child predator and fellow Republican, Mark Foley. Not to worry, Denny has made sure he'll be quite comfortable in his civilian life. These lucrative land deals should net him enough money to make sure he and his family are provided for, for years to come. CQ has more on the Republican retirement wave...

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Now that the Congressional Ethics Committee has declined to find any blame for how Hastert & Co. handled the Foley scandal, Vanity Fair has published a long article that finds that Foley's predilections were an open secret in D.C. and paints the very ambitious Foley as a political scandal waiting to happen:

The half-open closet in which Mark Foley spent his life was a recipe for disaster, say those few who tried to intervene. Investigating Foley's pre-teen seduction by a priest, the "ladies' man" mask he wore in Palm Beach society, and his love-hate relationship with the gay community, the authors uncover the ambition, delusion, and hypocrisy that corroded both the politician and his party.

Everyone knew Mark Foley was gay. Everyone. And everyone who had a stake in his success-party, press, parents, staff, supporters, and pages-conspired for their own purposes to keep the closet half closed.

Read full article here

While the Ethics Panel had some scathing (at least, for Washington DC wonks) words for the Congress in their investigation of improprieties by former Congressman Mark Foley, the panel concluded that no rules had been broken.

On NPR's All Things Considered, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones discusses the Foley scandal. 

Houston Chronicle :

Former Rep. Mark Foley was described as a "ticking time bomb" for his sexual come-ons to male pages, but Republican lawmakers and aides for a decade failed to protect the teenagers vulnerable to his advances, the House ethics committee concluded Friday. Despite that finding, the panel said no rules had been broken and no one should be punished.

The committee harshly criticized Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., saying the evidence showed he was told of the problem months before he acknowledged learning of Foley's questionable e-mails to a former Louisiana page. It rejected Hastert's contention that he couldn't recall separate warnings from two House Republican leaders.

[..]Overall, the evidence shows that "concerns began to arise about Rep. Foley's interactions with pages or other young male staff members" shortly after he took office in 1995, according to the committee report.

The report, prepared by a four-member subcommittee, described "a disconcerting unwillingness to take responsibility for resolving issues regarding Foley's conduct."

Lawmakers and aides "failed to exercise appropriate diligence and oversight" regarding the interactions between Foley and pages, the report said.

Although the committee recommended no punishments, it said the evidence would have subjected Foley to discipline if the Florida Republican had not resigned -- taking himself out of the House's jurisdiction.  Read on..