The Observer | Foley scandal highlights abuse of trust by Republicans

Zachary Kaye Columnist

Faced with admitted allegations of misconduct with pages, Congressman Mark Foley recently gave up his seat in Congress and checked himself into a rehabilitation facility.

Foley acted shamefully, disgracing his office and himself. What is not yet clear is the extent to which the Congressional Republican leadership, particularly House Speaker Dennis Hastert, was aware of Foley’s conduct.

Congressional Aide Kirk Fordham claims he informed Hastert’s Chief of Staff Scott Palmer that Foley was “acting inappropriately with pages well before the first e-mail surfaced.” If Hastert was aware of Foley’s actions and chose to ignore the complaints or conceal the scandal, he too should resign.

If Hastert knew and did indeed conceal Foley’s transgressions, as I am inclined to believe he did, the Speaker of the House will have acted utterly contemptibly. Members of Congress are, of course, human. But the American public should expect and receive a degree of decency and honor from its representatives that transcends partisan politics. I am quite certain that if Hastert were to be informed of a similar incident involving a Democratic representative, a barrage of familiar rhetoric would be hurled at the Democrat.

That hypocritical and false rhetoric, which has been part and parcel of the Republican Party since 1994, has been once again exposed. They claim to be a party of values, of compassion, and of morality, but neither Foley nor Hastert exemplify these traits.

Instead, Hastert and many other Republicans have shown themselves to be the paradigm of the archetypal untrustworthy politician.

However, the Foley scandal is merely indicative of the true willingness of Republicans to lie, conceal, mislead, and ignore to achieve their own ends.

We live under an administration that attempted to deceive the American public from the start on the threat posed by Iraq, that continues to exist in a self-imposed denial of the reality of the outcome of that invasion, and that has consistently misled the people about the effects of its actions in defending the country against terrorism. If the party is willing to combine politics with national security and American lives, it is not shocking that Republicans are willing to lie, or at the very least, “mislead” the public about a congressman’s sexual approaches to a minor.

The Republicans have demonstrated that one thing matters to them and one thing only—achieving their own ends. If that means brushing over the fact that one of their own Representatives tried to solicit sex from minors, fine for them. That is a small matter compared to the lies that have cost thousands and thousands of lives.

America is faced with a party that does not care for truth, for justice, or for respect. They care for their own policies, and are willing to sacrifice every last modicum of respectability to carry them out. The Foley scandal and Hastert’s complicity are just another in an all-too-long series of examples of their contemptibility. The Republicans have had too long to show their true colors. They must be voted out come November.