On his nightly news show, Keith Olberman names the “worst person in the world” for transgressions against the human race. On October 2, 2006, he named as co-winners (losers?) in the category Bill O’Reilly and Matt Drudge. Mr. O’Reilly received the dubious honor for trying to turn Foley-gate/Predatorgate into a “gay issue”. Mr. Drudge tried another tack – he blamed the teenagers for leading Mr. Foley on. Beyond being incomprehensibly idiotic, the strategies used by Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Drudge to protect their own and deflect blame from anything inherently wrong within their favorite organization – the GOP – were despicably twisted. One recollects the uproar following the revelation that the Roman Catholic Church not only knew of the predatory behavior of some of its priests, but rather than seek to eliminate that element from within the organization, attempted to protect the offenders. (Shockingly, this pattern of behavior continues to be practiced to this day.) Some Republicans even stooped to the ridiculous depths of trying to lay the blame for the scandal at the feet of the Democrats – Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert blamed the Democrats and the media for the emergence of the information about Mr. Foley at a crucial point in the run up to the mid-term elections. Representative Patrick McHenry offered up some particularly tortured logic on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. The move is tantamount to blaming the referee for calling a flagrant foul in the waning moments of a tight game – they’re not disputing the foul itself but shifting the focus to the timing of it. Once again, the cover-up is worse than the crime.
The scandalous behavior in this story is partly the behavior of Mark Foley. But more disconcerting than the actions of one reprobate, are the knee-jerk reactions of the GOP and their mouthpieces in the right-wing media. They’ve become so entrenched in their skewed perception of reality that they can’t even respond to a scandal correctly. Immediately rushing into defense mode was a tactical mistake by the self-proclaimed kings of political strategy. Where was Karl Rove on this one? The populous isn’t so easily fooled that they will believe that the teenage pages who were the targets of Mr. Foley’s electronic conversations should bear the blame. Nor will they turn their anger towards the Democrats or the media for any strategic planning in the timing of this scandal. Incidentally, the evidence against Mr. Foley was turned over by a congressional aide who is now, and always has been, a registered Republican.
Mr. Foley, for his part, proved to be as media un-savvy as they come – odd for one who prided himself on running along the outskirts of Hollywood circles. His lawyer issued statements as if they were darts, hoping one of them would hit its target: sympathy and exoneration for his client despite the egregious nature of his actions. He provided the public with the information that: Foley is gay, Foley is an alcoholic, and Foley was abused by a priest as a child. The statements were appalling, not simply for the attempt by Mr. Foley and the Republicans to escape culpability (the former looking for a way out of bearing responsibility for his actions, the latter looking for a explanation as to how one of their own could commit such acts), but for the implication that anyone who is either gay, alcoholic, or had been abused as a child has a valid excuse for pedophilia. Combined with the statements that the Democrats and the media leaked the story weeks before Election Day in order to smear the Republicans, it would appear that the “personal responsibility” tenet of the Republicans’ beliefs applies only to those at the lower end of the economic scale who require help from the state.
The manner in which the GOP tried to weasel out of this scandal showed precisely how out of touch and off base they are. They immediately tried to equate Mr. Foley’s offenses with characteristics that their most conservative base would despise – as though Mr. Foley was one who slipped through their radar, one who does not conform to their moral ideal. They should have known better, given Mr. Foley’s excuse regarding his alleged molestation at the hands of a priest – the scandal involving Catholic priests was made much worse by the Roman Catholic Church when it tried to hide and protect the priests. It is clear that the Republicans have been aware for some time that Mr. Foley was problematic, to say the least. But rather than deal with the issue when they first knew about it, they allowed it to fester and protected him instead of his victims.
This situation now becomes doubly awkward for the Republicans. Apart from appearing to give safe harbor to an alleged pedophile, they have, in recent years, attempted to portray themselves as the morally superior political party. Based on nothing more than their close affiliation with right-leaning Christian groups, they have claimed in thinly veiled words to be next to god. They have long had an uncomfortable relationship with any minority group (racial, ethnic, gender, orientation) and while not overtly barring any of them from the party, they have not rushed to embrace them either. Now, all their hate-mongering has finally come back to haunt them. Their holier-than-thou attitude looks hypocritical in light of recent events and their inability to handle the scandal gracefully has compounded the problem.
Recent polling data has shown an interesting shift recently. If they want to win in November, the self-proclaimed party of god better start praying.