The White Man's Medicine
Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne/Hodulgee Muscogee) on the common thread in nearly all political scandals: a lust for power, or even just the proximity to power. I think her point is well-taken, and it emphasizes why I cannot let the late Cong. Gerry Studds off the hook for precisely the same offense as Mark Foley. Yes, Foley was more hypocritical, but both of them abused their positions of power to gain influence over children and both deserve condemnation for it.
Labels: Congress, Mark Foley
posted by The Local Crank | 12:49 AM
2 Comments:
Hey Crank, thanks for this and for your comment over at my place. Please don't think I'm letting Studds off the hook for his behavior. Getting involved with an inappropriately younger page at work is unacceptable behavior whether done by a Republican or Democrat. I am not supporting Studds' behavior. He was censured by the House for what he did. Apparently no one in the Democratic House leadership covered up his behavior or looked the other way once it was discovered. And it appears that Studds did not have a long history of hitting on a great number of pages over many years while his bosses looked the other way.
I'm absolutely disgusted by Sean Hannity holding up Studds as an example that a Democrat did the "same thing" as Foley. That makes the "crime" Foley and Studds committed "being gay," which it absolutely is not. I'm sorry the Repubs have, in general, less tolerance and much more embarrassment than Dems for gays in their ranks. That's their problem. But Foley's (and Studd's) problems with the American public had far more to do with on-the-job behavior and very little to do with being gay.
Your point is well-taken re: the Repubs trying to shift the issue from "pedophilia" to "gay." In fact, I just got back from a debate between my congressman (Chet Edwards, last of the Blue Dogs) and his opponent, Van Taylor, and Taylor must've accused Chet of supporting "homosexual adoption" half a dozen times. I expect we'll see a call for a constitutional amendment on that before too long.
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