Kos on the Foley Scandal

I know a lot of people don't particularly like Kos. I have my issues with him but when his analysis is spot on, you can't ignore it just because you don't like him personally. Here's most of his post on the Foley scandal. (Please don't sue me, Kos!)

Via Daily Kos:

Foley represented a moderately conservative district, FL-16. In 2000, Bush beat Gore 53-47. In 2004, Bush beat Kerry 54-46. It was a district which Foley had represented since 1994, with his worst showing his first election with a 58% victory. In 2002 he won with 79%, in 2004 with 68%. This was a safe Republican district. Foley also raised a lot of money, and as the recent $100K gift from Foley to the NRCC attests, the party needed his fundraising skills.

Then 2006 rolls around. The GOP is facing a tough reelection with history, Bush, and their own incompetence weighing down their chances. The DCCC has had a banner fundraising and candidate recruitment year. And suddenly, Foley faces the GOP's worst nightmare in Tim Mahoney -- a Democratic challenger who 1) was a former Republican, and 2) is worth $8 gazillion and can self-fund his race. Mahoney announced his candidacy October 12, 2005, right around the time the House leadership was trying to figure out what to do about Foley's predatory practices.

Without Foley on the ticket, not only would the GOP suddenly face a competitive contest in a relatively safe district, but it would cost them $2-3 million to defend -- money that they no longer have available.

So they made a decision. They were going to look the other way despite knowing about Foley's predatory actions against the House's pages, and in return, Foley would keep them one seat closer to the majority and save them millions.

Kos concludes that the Republican powers-that-be decided it was better to have a predator of young boys in their caucus than to try to defend one House seat.

That bears repeating. The 'values' party decided it was better to knowingly allow Foley to represent the people of Florida, to raise money for the GOP election efforts, to chair the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, to have a leadership position in their party and to continue to interact with Congressional pages than to face a tough election battle in Florida.

Foley is small potatoes in this scandal. I hope that a victim speaks up. I hope a victim sues the Republican Party for failure to alert the proper authorities. It worked against the Catholic Church. This isn't any different.

Mark Foley Daily Kos Republicans Corruption