New at Reason

Tim Cavanaugh predicts the future of Mark Foley, the congressman who yanked it like a pro.

Comments

VM | October 4, 2006, 4:26pm | #

Has anybody else seen/heard that Fox reported Foley as being "D-FLA" several times? Can anybody confirm/deny that? (No, I don't believe for minute that, if this were true, that it was a simple typeo)

If it's not true, then, good. Phew. And I'll yell at my sources.

thanks.

David Weigel | October 4, 2006, 4:28pm | #

'Tis true. Here's the video.

jf | October 4, 2006, 4:29pm | #

Funny how an article I didn't think would be worth reading ended up being rather interesting. Nice job, Tim.

Now, I gotta go spank it...

ed | October 4, 2006, 4:32pm | #

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that another alleged pedophile, John Mark Karr, was the talk of the town? Even Nancy Grace has stopped yapping about that one. All it will take is one cruise missile in a milk factory. Or a dildo to show up in Nancy Pelosi's carry-on scan. I'm hoping for the latter.

Jim Walsh | October 4, 2006, 4:36pm | #

Mark Foley, the congressman who yanked it like a pro.

Thanks a lot, Dave...I'll be weeks getting that sweet little image out of my head...

VM | October 4, 2006, 4:39pm | #

Thank you, David.

A great read, Tim!

K.T. | October 4, 2006, 4:39pm | #

and perhaps the plot thickens?

CNN Breaking News

-- Kirk Fordham, a former aide to ex-Rep. Mark Foley, said he alerted the office of the Republican leader of the House of Representatives two years ago about worrisome conduct by Foley with teenage pages, AP reports.

Pro Libertate | October 4, 2006, 4:40pm | #

Didn't the same "wrong party" thing happen with Gary Condit? All evil media intention theories aside, are reporters just unable to look up the correct party affiliation for these guys? Ye gods.

Lowdog | October 4, 2006, 4:40pm | #

What the fuck is Fox thinking, showing him as a Dem? Of course, they'll claim it was a typo, or they'll throw some poor intern under the bus or something, but I'm with the Moose, there's no way it wasn't intentional.

Unless it was a liberal plant in the operations room. :)

Shit, gotta put my tinfoil hat back on!

Some Farker | October 4, 2006, 4:43pm | #

AP did the same thing--but not three times...

Pro Libertate | October 4, 2006, 4:46pm | #

K.T.,

No telling who is lying about what (probably they all are lying to varying degrees), but Fordham was recently accused of covering up for Foley and is resigning as a result of that, I imagine. His credibility on this latest revelation will be rightfully questioned.

It would be nice if someone up there could be trusted to tell the truth about, well, anything.

John in Nashville | October 4, 2006, 4:47pm | #

It would appear that former Rep. Foley was a master debater, give or take a syllable.

I can't help but recall Woody Allen's comment about masturbation--"It's sex with someone I love."

MarkV | October 4, 2006, 5:06pm | #

It looks like, as a nation, we are no longer Masters Of Our Own Domain.

Pro Libertate | October 4, 2006, 5:09pm | #

There has been an increase of matriculation as of late. And I saw someone masticating in public just a few hours ago.

I also recently learned that Ronald Reagan was a thespian.

Paul | October 4, 2006, 5:35pm | #

I also recently learned that Ronald Reagan was a thespian.

And personally, I'm agin thespians bein' able to adopt youngins.

zoidburg | October 4, 2006, 5:49pm | #

there's no way it wasn't intentional.

yes, because the D and the R are nowhere near each other on the standard keyboard

Morat20 | October 4, 2006, 5:52pm | #

That "I just did it on the internet" thing is going to last exactly as long as it takes for someone to come forward and say "Except that time he had my dick in his mouth".

There is no way on God's green earth Foley was cruising jailbait "Just on the net". If he was, why the hell was he harassing House pages and not just hooking up with anonymous strangers and trading fake pics like everyone else?

Foley was after 15 and 16 year olds, and was grooming them in a very classic pattern. Taking them for rides in his sports car, to fancy resteraunts -- stuff in realy life.

You cannot be naive enough to think this was just about internet sex.

Channeling Fry | October 4, 2006, 6:10pm | #

Hey Zoid.

That's about as weak as the coffee in Juvie Hall.

You're as good with wit as your namesake is with surgery.

Godfrey | October 4, 2006, 6:22pm | #

I also recently learned that Ronald Reagan was a thespian.

And as such he is the only American president ever to wear a Nazi uniform in public...although I think Nixon may have worn one in private.

joe | October 4, 2006, 6:35pm | #

Zoidburg,

Left hand, forefinger: vbfgrt

Left hand, middle finder: edc

Just so you know, QED requires one stroke of the pinky, and two of the middle finger.

You're about to give me one stroke of the middle finger, aren't you?

Dems 0 Reps 0 Dems win | October 4, 2006, 6:36pm | #

[Entire Ann Coulter column copied and pasted, which you can read here]

jHn | October 4, 2006, 6:48pm | #

If we're going to draw a distinction between pedophilia and pedarasty, let's get it right.

Pedophilia: Having sexual feelings towards children. Gross, but not illegal.

Pederasty: Engaging in sexual acts with children. Gross, AND illegal.

The Hon. Congressman Foley was most certainly a pedophile, and probably not a pederast.

I must point out en passant that sexual attraction to teenage girls (as opposed to teenage boys) is rarely called pedophilia. We tend to reserve the term for pre-pubescent girls. With teenage girls, joking terms like "jailbait" are used. When it comes to males, though, pedophilia extends right up to the day before the 18th birthday.

Tim Cavanaugh | October 4, 2006, 6:50pm | #

That "I just did it on the internet" thing is going to last exactly as long as it takes for someone to come forward and say "Except that time he had my dick in his mouth".

True dat, Morat.

biologist | October 4, 2006, 6:55pm | #

Tim, good article, despite the confusion re: pedophilia and pederasty. congrats, though on working the terms pederast and catamite into the article.

as to whoever posted the Ann Coulter article (probably Ann herself): that's just the kind of stupidity I expect from an Ann Coulter article, which is why I never read her. she's just as guilty of "repubs always right, dems always wrong" as she accuses those dirty liberal democrats of being. she's the type of person for which the phrase "pot calling the kettle black" was coined

James Kabala | October 4, 2006, 7:03pm | #

As a native Bay Stater (though not from Studds's district), I do feel shamed by Studds's repeated re-election, but, sheesh, Ann, Martha's Vineyard has a population of about 15,000 people and is only a tiny portion of Studds's former district. Take a course in basic geography.

GILMORE | October 4, 2006, 7:14pm | #

Pedophilia: Having sexual feelings towards children. Gross, but not illegal.

Pederasty: Engaging in sexual acts with children. Gross, AND illegal.

You know, I made this same point to Tim in direct email, based on recent reference to dictionary to clarify differences...

But subsequently decided that it's actually correct the way he employs it =

See this -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pederasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophilia

I had assumed the principal difference was based on 'the act' vs. the 'psychological fetish'... but it's also a distinction the age difference - pederasty being specific to adoloscent males with adults, and pedophilia being act/desire for pre-pube kids.

Hope that helps.

And I will now leave you all with my favorite poem

Roses are red
and ready for plucking
You're sixteen
And ready for High School

JG

Tim Cavanaugh | October 4, 2006, 7:18pm | #

Well, to avoid even the appearance of confusion, I changed "pederasty" to "jailbait," though that probably creates new confusions.

jHn | October 4, 2006, 7:29pm | #

While "pedarasty" might be confined to sexual acts with adolescent males, I am not convinced that "pedophilia" refers to anything other than the desire. No doubt, the act often accompanies desire. Maybe we are at a loss for a single word to describe pedophilic acts generally.

But the use of "pedophilia" to refer to the desire and not the acts is a very useful distinction. We don't want to lock up a pedophile who through effort of will refrains from pedophilic acts (and does not posess child pornography) based on his confession to a close friend who turns him in, for instance.

Awesome poem, Gilmore. And now we should all go watch the Brasseye special on Pedophilia. It's on Youtube. "Pedophiles don't need punishment. They need GUNISHMENT!"

Pro Libertate | October 4, 2006, 8:36pm | #

I, too, think we'll find fire beneath the smoke here.

crymethink | October 4, 2006, 9:12pm | #

Left hand, forefinger: vbfgrt

Left hand, middle finder: edc

Please tell me, O Mastur Typist, that this was intentional. Also please refrain from making references to finger strokes.

Of course, my question was why we don't see more people identified as being from the E or F (or 4 if the typist has sick fingernails) parties if it's just a case of careless typing...

crimethink | October 4, 2006, 9:25pm | #

A review of Hastert's autobiography from the archives of Reason past, without further comment:

Hastert writes that one of his fellow coaches would tell players with injured fingers or feet to "spit on it and rub it." If Hastert had offered that same advice to some of his fellow congressmen, he might never have become speaker.

jkII the taxpayer | October 4, 2006, 10:53pm | #

A bit off topic, but what is the job description of a page? I have the sense that this job, at one time, involved being a messenger and had some value. If a congressman has a PDA with internet access, why does he need a (nubile young) page?

Tim Cavanaugh | October 4, 2006, 11:02pm | #

The hell with it: I changed it back, with a clarification. Pederasty for all!

Catal Hyuk Hyuk Hyuk | October 5, 2006, 10:30pm | #

why does he need a (nubile young) page?

To turn over.