Irony Alert: Mark Foley's Successor Caught Up in Sex Scandal

A charter member of the Most Ethical Congress Ever joins the pantheon of luminaries along with William 'The Refrigerator' Jefferson and Charles Rangel.

Since the media went 24/7 on Mark Foley in 2006, I wonder how much attention his successor paying off a mistress will get?

Probably very little. After all, as we all know, adultery is a resume enhancer for Democrats.

West Palm Beach Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL), whose predecessor resigned in the wake of a sex scandal, agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him, according to current and former members of his staff who have been briefed on the settlement, which involved Mahoney and his campaign committee.

Mahoney, who is married, also promised the woman, Patricia Allen, a $50,000 a year job for two years at the agency that handles his campaign advertising, the staffers said.

A Mahoney spokesperson would not answer questions about the alleged affair or the settlement, but said Allen resigned of her own accord and "has not received any special payment from campaign funds."

Senior Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), the chair of the Democratic Caucus, have been working with Mahoney to keep the matter from hurting his re-election campaign, the Mahoney staffers said.

Of course, Emanuel should be finding a replacement for the guy, but since Emanuel is another Chicago hack, he'll ignore decency and common sense.

The affair between Mahoney and Allen began, according to the current and former staffers, in 2006 when Mahoney was campaigning for Congress against Foley, promising "a world that is safer, more moral."

At the time, Mahoney's campaign ads featured a picture of him with his wife, Terry, with the line, "Restoring America's Values Begins at Home."
...

Friends of Allen told ABC News that Allen sought to break off the affair when she learned Mahoney was allegedly involved in other extra-marital relationships at the same time.

Her friends say she told them Mahoney threatened that ending the relationship could cost her the job.

"You work at my pleasure," Congressman Mahoney told Allen on a January 20, 2008 telephone call that was recorded and played for Mahoney staffers. ABC News was provided a copy.

"If you do the job that I think you should do, you get to keep your job. Whenever I don't feel like you're doing your job, then you lose your job," Mahoney can be heard telling Allen.

"And guess what? The only person that matters is guess who? Me. You understand that. That is how life really is. That is how it works," Mahoney says on the call.

Sounds like quite the bully. A perfect Democrat.

Listen here to the bully fire his mistress.

More from The Hill.

Mahoney is involved in one of the toughest reelection campaigns in the country, thanks to the conservative bent of his south-central Florida district.

He defeated state Rep. Joe Negron (R) in 2006, thanks in part to the fact that Foley’s name couldn’t be removed from the ballot. In order to vote for Negron, people had to check Foley.

Were Mahoney to decide not to seek reelection, Democrats could be in the same situation as Republicans were two years ago, unable to remove him from the ballot. Foley announced he wouldn’t seek reelection at the end of September.

Mahoney’s 2008 challenger, Republican Tom Rooney, will be holding a press conference with National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) at 9:15 a.m. EST on Tuesday morning.

Republicans need to wrap this one around the necks of Pelosi and Emanuel. They knew the guy was screwing around and did nothing, just as Republicans took the fall for looking the other way with Foley.

I wonder if the Palm Beach Post is reconsidering their endorsement?

Still more here.

Just to emphasize the hypocrisy, the affair began when he was running against Foley.


Ed Morrissey has some thoughts.

That makes Mahoney’s problems all the worse. Voters might be able to forgive an affair; after all, they did with Bill Clinton. If Mahoney insults their intelligence by denying obvious reality, he may soon find himself with a lot more time to pursue “faith and family,” and might want to see if Mark Foley has any lines open on a private-sector job.

Update: Well, what do you know. A blogger had this story three weeks ago.

Where was the rest of the media since then?

Foley Investigation Concludes, No Charges Brought

What happened, did Mark Foley become an honorary Democrat? One can only figure that's how he avoided prosecution.

Former U.S. Representative Mark Foley is not expected to face charges following a lengthy investigation into lurid messages he sent to underage congressional pages. According to The Associated Press, two federal law enforcement officials said the results of a Florida state investigation would be announced Friday.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. They went on to say that while an FBI investigation has not been closed, they do not expect state or federal charges to be filed.

Foley represented parts of Palm Beach County for 12 years. He resigned in 2006 after being confronted with e-mails and instant messages he sent to mail pages. Foley's attorney, David Roth, acknowledges that Foley sent the messages to the teenagers, but insists the Florida Republican never had inappropriate contact with minors.

Since the incident, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI have been investigating Foley. He has kept a low profile since late last year, but has been seen occasionally around West Palm Beach.

Shortly after his resignation, Foley's attorney announced the former Representative was gay and was molested by a priest as a teenage altar boy. Foley checked himself into an Arizona treatment facility for what his attorneys described as "alcoholism and other behavioral problems."

The Foley fiasco certainly helped contribute to the GOP losing control of the House of Representatives in 2006, although their ineptitude in many other areas certainly didn't help.

It's curious though how Democrats circle the wagons around their own when their members face far more serious legal and ethical problems.

In fact, ethical lapses seem to be a resume enhancer in some regards. How else would Barney Frank and Charles Rangel remain as committee chairmen? Not to mention the legal problems face by other luminaries such as William "The Refrigerator" Jefferson.

Democrats Shopped Foley Story

Shocking they would do this, isn't it? Trying to create a scandal? The Democrats? Well, it worked, as the compliant media kept the story alive for a good month leading up to the midterm elections.

Democratic campaign operatives pushed newspapers to write about then-Rep. Mark Foley's e-mails to teenage pages in the hope that a scandal would emerge before the midterm elections, according to a House ethics report.
The findings were bolstered when an aide to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Illinois Democrat, said the congressman also knew about the e-mails, which were dubbed "inappropriate" by the ethics panel. Mr. Emanuel, who was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) when Mr. Foley's sex scandal broke in late September, had denied knowledge of the Florida Republican's e-mails.
The House ethics panel, which is formally called the Standards of Official Conduct Committee, Friday released its final probe into Mr. Foley's behavior, scolding Republicans for failing to act on years of troubling signs and naming Democrats who knew about the e-mails.

Florida Dem Scored Federal Grant for Second Mistress, Now Under FBI Investigation and May Scuttle Re-election Bid

Lowlife Florida Democrat Tim Mahoney apparently is getting in way too deep now.

Current and former aides for Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL) say he was carrying on an affair with a county official from Florida at the same time he lobbied to help her county receive a $3.4 million federal grant.

Current and former aides for Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL) say he was carrying on an affair with a county official from Florida at the same time he lobbied to help her county receive a $3.4 million federal grant. Foley resigned his office amid charges he exchanged sexually explicit emails and instant messages on the internet with congressional pages.

One former top campaign aide says Mahoney acknowledged the woman had spent the week at his Washington apartment but shrugged off warnings such behavior could cause him political trouble. The aides said the woman was also seen with Mahoney at restaurants and at his Washington DC apartment late at night.

Based on interviews with a number of staffers, campaign workers and top Democratic officials in Congress, it appears Mahoney ignored warnings since last year about what now appears to have been multiple extra-marital relationships.

ABC News reported Monday that one former Congressional and campaign staff member, Patricia Allen was paid $121,000 by Mahoney to keep her from filing suit and going public about their alleged affair after she had been fired by Mahoney.

So let's briefly recap: That's at least two girlfriends, a wife, a payoff to one girlfriend and a federal grant for another. Busy guy. But remember, Nancy Pelosi knew nothing about this until Monday. Sure. She's either the dumbest person on the planet or she's lying through her teeth. I suspect the latter.

Well, it looks like lover boy has attracted the attention of the FBI, not a good thing heading into an election. While the Democrats have an amazing tolerance for corruption withing their ranks, it may be too much to protect this loser.

Especially since he's in a competitive district and now has bleak prospects.

Mahoney had so far survived saying that his job as a member of Congress wasn't the best job he's ever had, and his moderate voting record looked as if it would hold him in good stead. But a late-breaking scandal -- reported three weeks before the election -- involving a $121,000 payoff to a former mistress is the type of thing that gets one knocked out of office. Mahoney's re-election chances now appear doomed.

Charlie Rangel and Cold Cash Jefferson they can look the other way for, since they're shoo-ins every election.

Mahoney? He's expendable.

In fact, now it's reported he may not be seeking re-election. I guess Queen Bee Pelosi hates being kept in the dark.

Embattled Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney may not seek reelection in Florida next month after ABC News broke a story earlier this week that the congressman had paid a former aide to keep quiet about their alleged affair, according to a Democratic leadership aide with ties to his campaign.

Sounds to me like he's getting a nice push overboard. Tonight would be convenient timing what with all the debate coverage to overshadow it.

Don't forget when Mark Foley was forced out it was too late to take his name off the ballot. Let's see if the Democrats received special treatment here. It is Palm Beach County, after all.

Speaking of Foley, is it just me or is this story receiving an underwhelming amount of coverage as compared to that scandal?

Obama Snags Another Key GOP Endorsement; Update: Foley Denies Story

The guy who likely cost the GOP the House of Representatives in 2006 is now endorsing The Messiah.

He's all yours, Democrats.

What they both said was how great Foley looked, and he was particularly excited about Colin Powell's endorsement that morning of Obama. Foley said he also favors Obama.

And Foley also expressed some pleasure in watching the latest developments from his old Florida district: His successor, Democrat Tim Mahoney, is now in trouble for a series of extramarital affairs.

Been wondering why nobody has asked him about Mahoney.

Speaking of that lowlife Mahoney, to no surprise his wife has filed for divorce. We may see a rare GOP blowout in his district.

Private Republican and Democratic polls showed Mahoney with a comfortable lead over Republican challenger Tom Rooney early this month. But a post-scandal poll by the Rooney campaign last week showed the Republican with a 55-to-29 percent lead over Mahoney.

Still, outside of South Florida, the national media has zero interest in the story. They couldn't get enough of Foley's foibles in 2006.

What media double standard?

Hot Air links. Thanks!

Update: Rush Limbaugh read a statement from Foley denying he endorsed Obama, claimed he'd already voted early in Florida but wouldn't say who he voted for.

Thanks for clearing that up, Mark.

Shocker: Rumsfeld Resigned Before Announcement

For some reason, Reuters acts as if this is a breaking scandal.

Rumsfeld resigned before election, letter shows

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Rumsfeld, architect of the unpopular Iraq war, resigned as defense secretary before last year's November election but his decision was not announced until after the voting, according to his resignation letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

The letter was dated November 6, the day before voters, angered by Iraq, went to the polls and swept Republicans from power in Congress. According to a stamp on the letter, President George W. Bush saw it on election day.

Bush, however, did not announce that Rumsfeld would leave until the day after the election.

You can guarantee had President Bush rushed to the podium on election day to announce this, the media would have gone crazy, saying he's trying to influence the election. From what I recall, it was announced by 10 am the following day.

So what is the point of the story?

Allahpundit notes, so very accurately, what the reaction would have been.

Bush evidently didn’t find out until the day after and wisely chose to put it in his pocket lest an Election Day bombshell lead to nutroots screeching about the ultimate November surprise forever after.

Quite frankly, it wouldn't have made any difference. The GOP was doomed to fail in 2006, and it wasn't just displeasure with Iraq.

Had Rumsfeld left a week earlier, a month earlier or last summer, I just don't think it would have altered the outcome. Harken back to the weeks leading up to election day. It was Mark Foley all day, every day, and if it wasn't Foley, it was the infamous "macaca" moment.

I guess now they can concentrate on when exactly did Karl Rove pen his resignation letter.

Crazed Democrat Arrested for Threats Against Bloomberg

A recent story about a man who phoned threats to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn't seem to gain much notice.

A man from Philadelphia was arrested Monday on charges that he threatened to kill Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly in several calls made from Manhattan pay phones to 911 over the past seven months, the authorities said.

The man, Jeffrey Fisher, 48, traveled to New York from Philadelphia, making 10 calls from pay phones in Manhattan, the authorities said. The Manhattan district attorney’s office charged Mr. Fisher on Saturday with 10 counts of making a terrorist threat. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

The authorities did not say how Mr. Fisher was caught, but said he had admitted to detectives that he made the phone calls.

That New York Times story left out some rather curious details about Mr. Fisher. Guess with their army of reporters and layer upon layer of fact-checkers they couldn't unearth this.

The conspiracy-minded kook arrested for alleged death threats against Mayor Bloomberg once ran for Congress in Florida against disgraced former Republican pol Mark Foley, who stepped down following the page-boy e-mail scandal, records show.

Jeffrey Fisher, 48, of Philadelphia, ran a losing campaign against Foley in 2004 -- two years before he was forced out of office when sexually suggestive e-mails he wrote to young male congressional pages emerged.

Fisher was charged with 10 felony counts Monday of making terrorist threats for allegedly calling 911 with murderous messages for the mayor and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, authorities said.

The crazed wacko has uploaded numerous videos of himself on YouTube ranting about bizarre political conspiracies about 9/11 and nonsensical alliances between former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore and Israel.

Fisher also has a thing about optical scanners.

When I spoke with Jeff Fisher this morning (Saturday, November 06, 2004), the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 16th District said he was waiting for the FBI to show up. Fisher has evidence, he says, not only that the Florida election was hacked, but of who hacked it and how. And not just this year, he said, but that these same people had previously hacked the Democratic primary race in 2002 so that Jeb Bush would not have to run against Janet Reno, who presented a real threat to Jeb, but instead against Bill McBride, who Jeb beat.

"It was practice for a national effort," Fisher told me.

Looks like Fisher may well have the grounds to plead guilty by reason of insanity. Soak this in.



Endorsed by Hillary, hot for Al Gore and a full-blown Truther. Where do the Democrats find these loons?

More very strange material regarding Fisher.

Can it get weirder? Oh yes, it can.

Last night he was seen blogging and dancing at 767 Fifth Avenue in New York City also. Jeff Fisher is now we just learned telling everyone that Al Gore and Jeff Fisher loves Apple computer and will be creating many jobs in America very soon. Jeff was overheard saying he admires Steve Jobs and loves the I Phone. He has been using one to call the man who is attached to Al Gore, Tom Heneghan.

I can see Jeff myself right now because I flew back from overseas to just watch him dance and sing. Jeff does not see me though and I am not going to let him see me. I am now in disguise as a woman. I am very good at my job and with so many agents from the Mossad in New York City I have to take certain precautions.

I am not like Jeff Fisher and just be outright about who I am. Jeff Fisher has Christ in him so much that he is seen all around NYC helping anyone he happens to want to get the message about BayPoint School to.

He is part of what we call the Dream Team. That team is Al Gore, Cynthia McKinney, Jeff Fisher of course, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel and Ron Paul.

Jeff Fisher also made contact with a FBI agent that told Bootstraps Fisher to keep blogging and never give up on blogging and Jesus Christ. Jeff then continued greeting about twenty more people telling them to just Google "Jeff Fisher Al Gore" he then did a little dance that reminded us of James Brown. Jeff Fisher then went across the Street and told everyone about an assault that took place yesterday on his person at 76th and Lexington. That is St Jean Baptist Church.

Pelosi Plays Dumb: 'I Just Learned Today About the Serious Allegations Concerning Congressman Tim Mahoney'

Of course, acting dumb is a role that comes naturally to the Speaker of the Most Ethical Congress Ever.

We're supposed to believe one of her persons of hench, Rahm Emanuel, knew about this almost two years ago and just today is the first she's hearing of it?

You know, I'll forgive her if she isn't reading Gateway Pundit (she should, though), but does she think we're all as dumb as her constituents?

Apparently so.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday called for an investigation into claims that Rep. Tim Mahoney paid $121,000 to a former mistress who worked on his staff and sued him after he threatened her job when she tried to end the relationship.

Mahoney, D-Fla., also called for the probe into his own activities.

Former and current staff aides made the claims to ABC News on Monday. Mahoney won his congressional seat in 2006 after Rep. Mark Foley, a Republican, was forced to resign in the wake of a scandal involving a congressional page.

"I just learned today about the serious allegations concerning Congressman Tim Mahoney," Pelosi said in a statement. "These charges must be immediately and thoroughly investigated by the House Ethics Committee."

According to ABC News, Mahoney, who is married, started an affair with Patricia Allen while campaigning against Foley on a morality platform. Allen came on to his staff after he won the election in 2006, but when complaints about the alleged affair surfaced, Mahoney moved Allen to the campaign staff, aides told the broadcast network.

ABC reported Allen tried to break off the affair after learning Mahoney was supposedly cheating on her and his wife with other women. In response, he threatened her job, ABC reported.

"You work at my pleasure," Mahoney told Allen in a taped Jan. 20, 2008, telephone call played for Mahoney staffers, ABC reported.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel spoke to Mahoney in early 2007 about his personal conduct, FOX News confirmed Monday. Emanuel formerly headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the panel charged with electing Democrats to Congress.

Oh no, not the House Ethics Committee!

Why, they're the same outfit that "investigated" Charlie Rangel ... and Pelosi did nothing.

Why, it was also the same group that "investigated" William 'The Refrigerator' Jefferson ... and Pelosi did nothing.

I'm sure Mahoney is just quaking in his shoes having to come before the vaunted House Ethics Committee.

What a joke.

Previously.

And Now, The Aftermath

OK, so we've had the better part of a day to digest the results from last night. Opinions vary wildly, and I'm of the mind the Democrats were smart to target vulnerable GOP seats held by moderates/RINO's, running perceived moderate candidates who in some cases ran to the right of the Republican.

The Democrats generally have no use whatsoever for pro-lifers, except when they can use them to further advance their agenda.

They're Democrats, they use people. Nothing new there. However, those pro-life candidates who won better not expect to have their voices heard once they get to Washington. They owe their victory to the party, and they better tow the party line or they'll be back home in two years.

Over at NRO, The Editorial suggests a number of things that went wrong could have been prevented.

Republicans lost roughly 29 seats in the House. If party leaders had forced Don Sherwood, Bob Ney, and Mark Foley out in 2005 or early 2006, they would have cut that total by three and been able to spend more resources turning narrow defeats into narrow victories. Tom DeLay and Curt Weldon should have left earlier, too. In the Senate, Conrad Burns should have been forced out. Had Ohio governor Bob Taft been pressured to resign early, a number of races there might have turned out differently.

It is congressional Republicans, more than the president, who are responsible for the loss of the party’s reformist credentials. Republicans were perceived not just as the party in government, but as the party of government. That perception, deadly for the relatively conservative party in our politics, was accurate. When it came to earmarks, or Social Security reform, or the Foley scandal, or lobbying reform, the Republican Congress seemed more interested in preserving its own power — or sticking with dysfunctional Hill traditions — than in the public good. The Senate inexplicably dropped the issue of judges. There will, and should, be changes in the Republican leadership now, starting with Denny Hastert’s departure.

And of course, they blame the war and the myriad mistakes made there. I can't disagree with much they say, and recommend reading the rest.

Meanwhile, for all the drivel about congeniality and a moderate tone coming from Pelosi and her cabal, don't buy any of it. We know what they want, and it's going to get ugly, and fast.

Halliburton, the CIA and big tobacco companies are among the early targets identified by top Democratic staff to ABC News as likely targets for investigation once the Democrats take control of the House at the beginning of next year.

The staffers say Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), now expected to become speaker, has told top Democratic donors there is a "100-hour agenda" she wants to push through -- taking on the minimum wage, drug and energy prices and corruption.

Defense contractors, including Halliburton, the intelligence rationale for the war in Iraq and CIA secret prisons are what one staffer called "uninvestigated scandals."

This isn't necessarily what people voted for, but that's what they'll get.

It's a dilemma for them. They're beholden to the nutroots who fantasize about frogmarches, Bush and Cheney in jail, and all sorts of oddball stuff. So they have to throw them a bone. Besides, their hatred for all things Republican clouds their better judgment, so they'll move straight ahead with investigations, aided by their willing accomplices in the drive-by media.

Though the quandary it presents, not grasped by them, is such behavior will blow back on them fiercely, and their heady glory of the 100 hours had better be savored, because it will be over quickly.

Two years is a short time, and Pelosi and her minions will have to fight for facetime with Her Thighness, who will be fawned over by the slavish media. Before Nancy realizes it, her ratings, currently at 24%, may be in single digits, as the GOP plots their return, chastened by their defeat.

Charlie Rangel, Payola King

You may have noticed Nancy Pelosi last night during the snake-oil salesman's pitch for his health-care abomination. She was the one on the the right blinking furiously as Obama lied his way through a meandering speech that may mark the end of any perceived notion the guy is some great orator. Anyway, while Obama is deservedly a target of ridicule and scorn today and should make for some good campaign fodder in 2010, it's Pelosi who carries more baggage to exploit next year and her continued protection of the painfully corrupt Charlie Rangel should be target No. 1.

Wonder how Rangel has managed to survive and endless series of scandals in this, the most ethical Congress ever?

Why, by paying for protection, of course.

Rep. Charles Rangel has donated more campaign cash to the House Democrats than virtually any other member of Congress -- and critics charge that's bought him protection from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Federal Election Commission reports show Rangel's campaign committee has forked over $2 million to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since 1995.

Only Pelosi (Calif.), Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer (Maryland) and Democratic Whip James Clyburn (SC) have been more generous.

Rangel also has donated $3.8 million from his campaign and leadership committees to Democratic candidates directly since 1999, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

"Rangel's seven-figure contribution to the Democrats' campaign committee seems to be money well spent. It looks like it has earned Rangel Pelosi's unyielding loyalty," said National Republican Campaign Committee spokesman Tory Mazzola.

Rangel spokesman Emile Milne said, "Throughout his time in office, Congressman Rangel has worked tirelessly to elect and maintain Democratic majorities in Congress and will continue to do so. No one owes him anything, and he's happy and proud to support Democrats in Congress."

Rangel has defied calls from other politicians and more than a dozen newspaper editorial boards to step down from his post as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, considered one of the most powerful panels in Congress, since ethical charges against him began to stack up last summer.

Pelosi has also refused to publicly cross Rangel.

His money has helped the re-election efforts of 119 members currently serving in Congress and three members who sit on the ethics committee.

No conflict of interest there, right?

While it's nice to see there are actually 12 newspaper editorial boards that maintain their dignity, where are all the others? Where are the television talking heads pursuing this on a nightly basis? Where are all the good government types on the left who honed their netroots skills dragging down Republicans for offenses far more insignificant in scope?

Oh, they're silent. I suspect they'd have much more to say if Rangel's name was Tom DeLay or Newt Gingrich, to name just a couple of GOP bogeymen who were hounded out of office. Rangel is infinitely more corrupt than either of these men were ever even suspected of being and they at least had the dignity to leave office than to further embarrass their party.

The Democrats? They can be bought off with campaign cash and their leader who professed to be the most ethical ever turns her head and blinks in another direction.

Congressional Quarterly suggests it's time to go. So does U.S. News and World Report. More thoughts from Victor Davis Hanson.

After the Republican scandals involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) and Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to "drain the swamp," to end the Republican "culture of corruption" and to create "the most ethical Congress ever." Proclaiming ethical reform apparently means you have already enacted it.

In reality, by her tolerance for the ethically challenged like Rangel, John Murtha (D-PA), and others, Speaker Pelosi only reminds Americans that influence peddling and corruption are bipartisan sins: those out of power allege them, those in power commit them.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

'He's a Pig'

Calling Anthony Weiner a pig seems to be the mildest reaction in the aftermath of his pathetic press conference yesterday where the once brash and belligerent New York Congressman was reduced to a blubbering mess. The forthcoming days may not be so pleasant for Weiner if some of his constituents are to be the judge, as he claims they will be.

"He's a pig," said Danielle Cione, 35, a teacher who succinctly summed up the feelings of many of Weiner's former supporters.

"Yuck!" said Rae Sankar, a Kew Gardens Democrat who has voted for Weiner in the past.

"It is so disgusting how he would say and do such things like that to women. It's so disrespectful and gross."

Given how derelict the media was last week, we wonder if these women even knew about Weiner's lewd string of double-entendres during a presser last week? We doubt it.

"He didn't come across as sincere at all. I just didn't buy it," said Gladys Staats, 76.

She's voted for Weiner before -- but said she never will again.

The men are also jumping ship.

"Those little girls are my daughter's age," said Sean Stephans, 41, who had voted for Weiner repeatedly.

"He took full advantage of his powers to another level, like he wouldn't get caught."

Andrea Peyser muses on the absence of Huma Abedin during Weiner's crybaby performance.

It was clear yesterday from her staunch refusal to play along with the sham that is her marriage that Huma, unlike her husband, is in no mood to lie about the state of her union.

Some women accept their husbands' quirky habits. Mine likes to watch football. Weiner gets his jollies sexting with women, including one to whom he wrote he had a "ridiculous bulge in my shorts now. wanna see?"

But being publicly outed as a woman scorned, whether it be online, in the flesh or on the phone, is too much to take.

See ya, lover.

From John Podhoretz:

People tell me Weiner is a smart guy. But unless he unconsciously sought to get caught, which I doubt, what he has done over the past week should forever retire the notion that he is anything but a colossal boob of the highest order.

Let's be honest. Many elected officials the world over are colossal boobs. But here's the thing: Most colossal boobs in politics tend to comport themselves with a certain surprising modesty.

There's a reason you probably hadn't heard of Reps. Chris Lee and Mark Foley or Sens. Larry Craig and David Vitter before their careers were derailed by sex-related scandals that suggested a comparable degree of idiocy. You hadn't, because they kept a low profile.

Not Weiner. He is as allergic to a low profile as he is, evidently, to boxer shorts.

Being a colossal boob isn't a crime, of course. Nor is being a liar. Nor is being a 46-year-old man who sends suggestive photos to a woman 25 years younger than you -- a crime against elementary decency, of course, but not a violation of statute. (Assuming she was, in fact, the youngest . . .)

He says he's not resigning. We'll see about that, too.

Let's go and give the Post the Headline of the Day while we're at it.

Reaction from the Democrats isn't pretty.

"The only question is how soon he realizes he has to go," a prominent Democratic strategist said. "He's finished. He should have resigned."

Weiner claims he never used government resources to send his lurid photos.

Sure.

Take a victory lap, Andrew Breitbart, as your pathetic enemies snivel like babies. Others, notably the low-rated cable networks talked over Breitbart. How weak is that?

Recognition still proved hard to come by for Mr. Breitbart on Monday. Fox News was the only cable channel to carry extended footage of his remarks at the Weiner press conference. CNN and MSNBC played the video but talked over Mr. Breitbart.

These people implied Breitbart was behind the "hack," yet when he comes to defend himself they talk over him.

One huge upside to this whole affair is the fact the most brazenly obnoxious punk in the Congress and his political mentor have been rendered near silent. Give thanks for small favors.

The National Republican Congressional Committee distributed a memo to reporters with a series of quotes from top Democrats in which they gave Mr. Weiner the benefit of the doubt when the scandal first erupted a week ago.

A spokesman for the committee, Paul Lindsay, said, “It’s time for Democratic leadership to explain why Congressman Weiner’s actions never aroused any suspicion, and why they rushed to his defense while so many Americans were shocked and confused by his bizarre and disturbing behavior.”

In the Senate, Republicans went after Mr. Weiner’s political mentor, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, noting that Mr. Schumer had defended him in the early days of the controversy.

“Given Senator Schumer’s firm defense of Mr. Weiner, we look forward to hearing what the senator has to say now,” said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. “Does Senator Schumer believe no ethics rules were broken?”

Mr. Schumer issued his own statement late Monday saying he was “deeply pained and saddened” by the day’s news.

Only issued a statement? What, no rush to the cameras, Chuckie?

Down the Memory Hole: Media Glosses Over Cantwell Aide Story

One would think a United States Senate staffer who tries to arrange a sexual encounter with a 13-year old boy would merit a bit more attention, but the mainstream media has done a pitiful job covering this story. In fact, were it not for The Smoking Gun bringing the story to light, it's doubtful we'd have even heard about it.

What's even more pathetic is the accounts we locate in the nation's major newspapers today are all single paragraph items using the misleading AP account that labels James McHaney a former aide, which technically is true; but he was working in Senator Cantwell's office when he was busted.

The New York Times, in a blog post, devotes a paragraph to the story, which is the original AP dispatch with the misleading intro "A former aide to Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington..."

The Washington Post, also in a blog post, downplays Haney as "only a low-level staffer," as if that minimizes his desire to have sex with a 13year-old boy.

The Boston Globe also devotes a single paragraph, with the same AP dispatch.

The New York Post relegates it to a Page Six item.

I'm not trying to play a game of gotcha here because this is a Democrat. Lord knows I have no use for any Republicans who engage in odd sexual behavior (Mark Foley, Larry Craig), and McHaney is not an elected official.

But the lack of coverage and misleading reporting where it is covered is really a shame. Child molestation is one of the more heinous crimes plaguing this country and the fact such a story is glossed over and barely reported leads me to believe the media just doesn't seem to care that there are child predators working in our government.

Of course, if McHaney's boss had an "R" behind her name, I suspect we'd see a bit more coverage.

60 Minutes Shocker: Rove Sought Dirt on Criminal Democrat

Stop the presses! The sleuths at 60 Minutes have uncovered what they claim is a most nefarious plot by the evil Karl Rove to--get this--actually get some dirt on a now-imprisoned Democrat.

Clearly, this earth-shaking revelation will rock the foundations of political circles everywhere.

I mean, can you believe how low Rove would go? Imagine political operatives actually snooping into the background of political opponents.

We must have change. Such dirty, underhanded tactics cannot be condoned in America.

Whatever the case, Rove denies it anyway.

Heh.

Oh, and a memo to Scott Pelley. This is old news.

A Republican operative in Alabama says Karl Rove asked her to try to prove the state’s Democratic governor was unfaithful to his wife in an effort to thwart the highly successful politician’s re-election.

Rove’s attempt to smear Don Siegelman was part of a Republican campaign to ruin him that finally succeeded in imprisoning him, says the operative, Jill Simpson.

Simpson speaks to Scott Pelley in her first television interview, to be broadcast on 60 Minutes Sunday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Simpson spoke to Pelley because, she says, Siegelman’s seven-year sentence for bribery bothers her. She recalls what Rove, then President Bush’s senior political adviser, asked her to do at a 2001 meeting in this exchange from Sunday’s report.

"Karl Rove asked you to take pictures of Siegelman?" asks Pelley.

"Yes," replies Simpson.

"In a compromising, sexual position with one of his aides," clarifies Pelley.

"Yes, if I could," says Simpson.

Simpson says she found no evidence of infidelity despite months of observation. She tells Pelley that Rove, who had been a top Republican strategist in Alabama, had made requests for information from her before in her capacity as an "opposition researcher" for Republicans running for office.

Rove would not speak to 60 Minutes, but elsewhere has denied being involved in efforts to discredit Siegelman.

Naturally, the fever swamps are in full freakout mode, Rove Derangement Syndrome in full bloom.

Rove is certainly an unamerikkkan TRAITOR and a scumbag, just like MURDERER Bush the COXUCKER punk TRAITOR to the USA.

Comment by Arn Gunnutes — February 21, 2008 @ 9:05 pm

Rove = Lying, RePugniScum, useless, scumbag POS!! Nothing new here!

Comment by dixie blood — February 21, 2008 @ 9:09 pm

Well, give Rover the benefit of the thing, perhaps he just wanted to hetro sex instead of the old boy on boy thing.

Old Rover would never do anything uncopestic, now, would he?

Comment by natisman — February 21, 2008 @ 9:29 pm

Old mushy butt Karl just needed a new challenge. A new opportunity to ruin someone’s life again. He was getting tired of the kiddie porn Mark Foley was sending him.

Comment by Mr. Evil — February 21, 2008 @ 9:44 pm

I hope he gets fed to some hungry dogs.

Comment by give me conveniance or give me death — February 21, 2008 @ 9:58 pm

Rove is the antichrist. He’s beyond evil. He’s a pathological sociopath.

Comment by Ms_Joanne — February 21, 2008 @ 10:22 pm

The time for this criminal to go to prison os long overdue!

Comment by sacopenapa — February 22, 2008 @ 3:39 am


Are these the same criminal bastards who have been tapping America’s phones, reading their e-mails and opening the mails. We are supposed to believe fascist political criminals like rove, alberto gonzales and prick cheney would never listen in on members of the Democratic Party to gather some political damaging dirt ? Any doubt as to why or the reason the Democratic Party is always behind the eight-ball ? This type of illegal conduct to use the DoJ attorneys general to maliciously prosecute political opponents was the key to the rovian scheme of 100 year Republican Party majority rule.

Comment by araratararat — February 22, 2008 @ 5:26 am

I want ROVE dangling from a noose.

Comment by 99Luf Balloons — February 22, 2008 @ 8:58 am

This Mutherfuker needs to be the poster child forwhat we are going to do to all of the neocons.

Hang you mutherfukers, hang.

Comment by 99Luf Balloons — February 22, 2008 @ 9:00 am

You think these people might have some emotional issues?

Congressional Page Program More Popular

Go figure. There's a surge in interest, even after the Mark Foley non-scandal scandal.

No such thing as bad publicity.

Democrats Arrive in Promised Land, Start Attacking Each Other

Ah yes, they've reached the promised land. The only problem is it's beginning to look like a cross between Gary, Indiana and Camden, New Jersey. You've got the Steny Hoyer Bloods faction
doing drive-bys with the John Murtha Crips posse. As the old adage goes, "when you're enemy is busy destroying himself, don't do anything to stop them." Or something along the lines. Anyway, get the porcorn ready. This should be fun.

We begin with today's Opinion Journal, where John Fund delves deep into John Murtha and Congress's "culture of corruption,", and what a fetid cesspool it is.

House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi's endorsement of Rep. John Murtha for majority leader, the No. 2 position in the Democratic leaderhsip, has roiled her caucus. "She will ensure that they [Mr. Murtha and his allies] win. This is hardball politics," Rep. Jim Moran, a top Murtha ally, told the Hill, a congressional newspaper. "We are entering an era where when the speaker instructs you what to do, you do it."

But several members are privately aghast that Mr. Murtha, a pork-barreling opponent of most House ethics reforms, could become the second most visible symbol of the new Democratic rule. "We are supposed to change business as usual, not put the fox in charge of the henhouse," one Democratic member told me. "It's not just the Abscam scandal of the 1980s that he barely dodged, he's a disaster waiting to happen because of his current behavior," another told me.

As for Abscam, a recent book by George Crile, a producer for CBS's "60 Minutes," provides damning evidence that Mr. Murtha escaped severe punishment for his role in the scandal only because then-Speaker Tip O'Neill arranged for the House Ethics Committee to drop the charges, over the objections of the committee's outside prosecutor. The prosecutor quickly resigned in protest.

Outside observers are equally aghast that Mr. Murtha could win tomorrow's election. Thomas Mann, a Brookings Institution scholar who is co-author of "The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track," told the Los Angeles Times that "John Murtha is not the right poster child" for a Democratic House that says it wants to sweep away corruption.

Melanie Sloan, the liberal head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, was cheered on by Democrats six weeks ago when she helped reveal the Mark Foley scandal. Now she says that "Ms. Pelosi"s endorsement of Rep. Murtha, one of the most unethical members of Congress, show that she may have prioritized ethics reform merely to win votes with no real commitment to changing the culture of corruption."

Read the rest. An exhaustive piece on the rampant corruption of the Democrats and the rank hypocrisy of the media for turning a blind eye.

Meanwhile, the battle between Murtha and Steny Hoyer is bubbling. More from The Hill

Another House Democrat supporting Hoyer was incensed that Pelosi was exerting her influence in the caucus, asserting that it will further divide House Democrats.


"It's an incredible display of hubris," the member said, using a phrase Pelosi herself sometimes employs. "It's incredibly egotistical. We all got us here. We all got us to the promised land and Steny's not going to the promised land?"

The member said regardless of who ultimately wins the Thursday election, the effect of Pelosi actively getting involved in the race would reverberate for some time.

"Either way, it's damaging," the member said. "She will have a tremendous road to hoe to repair the damage she's done."

They've reached the vaunted promised land and the internecine warfare is just beginning.

Have at it, boys and girls.

Update 3:45 11/15

More fun to come as Carville takes on the Nutroots:

Carville Says Dems Should Dump Dean over “Rumsfeldian” Incompetence