Ann Coulter Dives Deep For Dirt... Ends Up In Cess Pool

Ann Coulter: Who Knew Congressman Foley Was a Closeted Democrat?

Ann Coulter just can't seem to take the right side of any debate. In this case she criticizes the Democrats for being outraged at the predatory habits of a pedophile (or pedophile in the making) and the GOP leadership that stank up the halls of the Capital Building by covering up his predatory nature and behaviors for almost five years. Since she wrote this in the morning, one can only assume she did not get the news that a former aide to Foley, who is a current member of the staff of another Republican member of the House, resigned and revealed that the GOP leadership was indeed informed of these behaviors years ago.

At least liberals are finally exhibiting a moral compass about something. I am sure that they'd be equally outraged if Rep. Mark Foley were a Democrat.

From where I sit, the Dems are the only ones in congress that can claim the moral high ground in this situation.

The object lesson of Foley's inappropriate e-mails to male pages is that when a Republican congressman is caught in a sex scandal, he immediately resigns and crawls off into a hole in abject embarrassment. Democrats get snippy.

Yes, it is as it should be... disgrace.

Foley didn't claim he was the victim of a "witch-hunt." He didn't whine that he was a put-upon "gay American." He didn't stay in Congress and haughtily rebuke his critics. He didn't run for re-election. He certainly didn't claim he was "saving the Constitution." (Although his recent discovery that he has a drinking problem has a certain Democratic ring to it.)

No, he didn't claim he was a victim of a witch hunt, he claimed he was an alcoholic and has offered that--and a half sincere apology via his attorney--as his excuse for attempting to lure congressional pages into sexual congress with him. Of course, prior to these events and issues becoming public, he held himself out to be the hero that, like all Republicans, act on a morality that is based upon "family values" and what is best for all Americans. While I will admit that sexual abuse, incest, rape and drunkeness permeate a lot of American families, I don't know too many people that will call those crimes and diseases as valued among our families, communities or nation... and certainly not in our congress.

As for saving the Constitution, no Republican in America can make that claim after allowing the Bush administration to get away with violating the provisions of the Constitution without challenge. In fact, most GOP members of congress are duplicitous in allowing the provisions of the Bill of Rights to be cast aside as if they were merely words to be ignored in a time of threat to our security. Members of the GOP are the bastards that have bastardized our Constitution in favor of fascism and an almost semi-sorta-kinda dictatorship based on the values held by only a handful of Americans... the Christian Right.

So let us call a spade a spade... Foley is a criminal, a pervert and a pedophile. But Hastert and others in the GOP leadership are equally guilty because they did nothing to arrest his predatory behaviors and several pages are now victims by virtue of their failure to act in a prudent manner.

In 1983, Democratic congressman Gerry Studds was found to have sexually propositioned House pages and actually buggered a 17-year-old male page whom he took on a trip to Portugal. The 46-year-old Studds indignantly attacked those who criticized him for what he called a "mutually voluntary, private relationship between adults."

Yep... Studds was a disgrace and he should have resigned. And let's set the record straight with other members of the Democrats... Kennedy, Frank and Hart were also despicable characters and committed despicable acts while serving in congress as well. But that is the past... and not a pattern. The pattern served to us by the GOP is that of the cover-up. Let us list a few:

Joseph McCarthy was not only the leader of the Red Scare witch hunts, but was involved in a lot of dubious activities while serving as a GOP Senator;

Richard Nixon was involved in questionable campaign and financial activities while serving in congress, serving as Vice President, and running for President against JFK;

Richard Nixon led us into the Watergate Scandal and became the first President of the United States to resign in disgrace;

Gerald Ford then took the outrageous step of pardoning Nixon for any and all crimes he may have committed while serving in office, which was tantamount to giving approval to the crimes and covering it up with the pardon;

Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush were both deeply involved in the Iran-Contra Affair and allowed their subordinates (i.e. Oliver North and Admiral Poindexter) to bear the brunt of the fallout, all the while claiming that they had not violated the law and engaging in a cover-up;

Tom DeLay has not only committed acts that were improper, he has the audacity to suggest that he was the victim of "politics," which appears to be utterly ridiculous after the GOP staged the Whitewater investigation, Lewinski investigation and subsequent impeachment for Clinton receiving oral sex by a woman that was over the age of consent;

Jack Abramoff seems to have tainted not just a few members of congress, but the entire GOP, all of whom are still trying to run for cover and hide any involvement with Abramoff or anyone that had anything to do with Abramoff... and the coverup tactics go all the way to the White House (again);

The NSA Spying programs still remain largely a secret held by the GOP leadership, and the GOP leadership have not only tried to justify it, but have tried to grant ex post facto approval, immunity for any violations of existing law, and a rehashing of the rules to allow it to continue in a more aggressive and aggregious fashion;

Bush, his gang of fascist thugs, and members of the GOP (especially the leadership) have engaged our nation in torture, mistreatment and extraordinary rendition under the cover of classification, even to the extent of outright denial, only to have the thinly veiled cover-up fail and exposed via our media;

While this list could go on, suffice it to say that Ms. Coulter had to reach back 23 years to come up with her example of disgrace on the part of the Dems in congress. Why would she want to stay in the here and now and deal with what is happening under the leadership of her party? It is all too easy to bash the Democrats as a diversion tactic than admit that Foley, Hastert and anyone else involved is guilty as sin and should resign.

When the House censured Studds for his sex romp with a male page, Studds -- not one to be shy about presenting his backside to a large group of men -- defiantly turned his back on the House during the vote. He ran for re-election and was happily returned to office six more times by liberal Democratic voters in his Martha's Vineyard district. (They really liked his campaign slogan: "It's the outfit, stupid.")

Washington Post columnist Colman McCarthy referred to Studds' affair with a teenage page as "a brief consenting homosexual relationship" and denounced Studds' detractors for engaging in a "witch-hunt" against gays: "New England witch trials belong to the past, or so it is thought. This summer on Cape Cod, the reputation of Rep. Gerry Studds was burned at the stake by a large number of his constituents determined to torch the congressman for his private life."

What Coulter doesn't say is that at the time, the age of consent for sexual behaviors was 17... and while Studds' behavior was despicable, and he should have resigned, at least Studds didn't hide in the closet or blame his behavior on drinking.

Meanwhile, Foley is hiding in a hole someplace.

Studds should have hidden in a hole... of that I agree with Coulter. But how does she add two wrongs together and arrive at a right?

No one demanded to know why the Democratic speaker of the House, Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, took one full decade to figure out that Studds was propositioning male pages.

Did anyone tell Tip O'Neill that such activities were occuring? We must remember that not only someone, but several someones, told Hastert and other GOP leaders.

But now, the same Democrats who are incensed that Bush's National Security Agency was listening in on al-Qaida phone calls are incensed that Republicans were not reading a gay congressman's instant messages.

No, the Dems are incensed that the GOP President made a grab for powers that he did not have in accordance with the Constitution; that he exercised those powers by spying on Americans without authorization by congress and in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment; that he operates in the dark, secret corners of government in such a way that he reminds everyone (except for his cronies and GOP power-brokers) of such fascists as Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and Nixon; and that he has demonstrated utter incompetence in almost everything he and the GOP has undertaken since he was first elected.

When Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee found unprotected e-mails from the Democrats about their plan to oppose Miguel Estrada's judicial nomination because he was Hispanic, Democrats erupted in rage that their e-mails were being read. The Republican staffer responsible was forced to resign.

The issue in the Estrada case was that there was no probable cause of a crime and that spying in such a case is the furtherance of a fascist regime. In the Foley case, there was probable cause, but the GOP leadership failed to respond to the reports of wrong doing in a legitimate manner, chose to cover it up and now want to listen to Coulter rant and rave about how unfair it all is... and the only unfair acts in this case are those that failed to protect teenagers serving our nation as pages for congress.

But Democrats are on their high horses because Republicans in the House did not immediately wiretap Foley's phones when they found out he was engaging in e-mail chitchat with a former page about what the kid wanted for his birthday.

Here we catch Ms. Coulter not only in an exaggeration, but an outright lie. The Dems did not want Foley's e-mails and IMs tapped right away... they wanted the FBI and Capital Police notified right away and a warrant application filed based on the evidence of probable cause.

The Democrats say the Republicans should have done all the things Democrats won't let us do to al Qaeda -- solely because Foley was rumored to be gay. Maybe we could get Democrats to support the NSA wiretapping program if we tell them the terrorists are gay.

Yet another exaggeration, lie and a red herring argument. Coulter should have paid more attention to her courses in forensics, debate and logic. All anyone has asked of the GOPs is to adhere to the law regarding wiretaps of any kind... but Coulter is too busy bashing the Dems to remember that she once studied the law... and was mostly absent-minded when her law professors discussed the Constitution.

On Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes" Monday night, Democrat Bob Beckel said a gay man should be kept away from male pages the same way Willie Sutton should have been kept away from banks. "If Willie Sutton is around some place where a bank is robbed," Beckel said, "then you're probably going to say, 'Willie, stay away from the robbery.'"

When anyone uses Fox (and I refuse to call it news) or Hannity and Colmes as a reference, the scholar in me cringes in disgust. Why is it that Coulter refuses to use legitimate references?

Hmmmm, let's search the memory bank. In July 2000, the New York Times "ethicist" Randy Cohen advised a reader that pulling her son out of the Cub Scouts because they exclude gay scoutmasters was "the ethical thing to do." The "ethicist" explained: "Just as one is honor bound to quit an organization that excludes African-Americans, so you should withdraw from scouting as long as it rejects homosexuals."

I am still trying to figure how this fits into the discussion. We have gone from discussing the predatory pedophile behaviors of a congressman and the cover-up perpetrated by the GOP leadership to a discussion on homosexuality. Just because Foley has outed his homosexuality as an after thought to his being discovered as a predator doesn't require a discourse on homosexuality in any manner.

This is the very definition of political opportunism. If Republicans had decided to spy on Foley for sending overly friendly e-mails to pages, Democrats would have been screaming about a Republican witch-hunt against gays. But if they don't, they're enabling a sexual predator.

From where I sit all I see is inconsistency after inconsistency from the GOP and ultra-conservative entertainers like Coulter and Limbaugh. Once again Coulter has revealed herself as being a weak-minded ultra-conservative that cannot focus on the issues at hand without resorting to ideology and partisanship as her only defense. My advice, Ms. Coulter, is that you and the GOP ought to wipe the fecal material off your brow and get real.