If you’ve been watching the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, you’ve seen a whole lot of posturing. Along with that, you’ve seen a lot of discussion about morals. Jackson came under partisan fire for her work on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz discussed criminal penalties, and why we don’t throw the book at anyone who commits such crimes! They should all be locked away! I want to say upfront that child pornography is a horror, and Congress needs to look at better ways to address the situation.
But for all the concern Republicans are showing now, I am stuck here wondering what the hell these people are going on about while child abuse and pornography infects their own party, and they do and say absolutely nothing. I think we have to go back and look at a bit of history to talk about this.
It was 2006. Mark Foley, a Republican congressman from Florida who served as chairman of the House Committee on Missing and Exploited Children, was exposed for messaging house pages with lurid content and exploiting them sexually. It gets worse: Republicans in the House may have known about his proclivities for over a decade, and done absolutely nothing. Don’t worry though, they still had his back and no one mentioned what he was doing with young men who were his subordinates.
It all came to a conclusion when Speaker Dennis Hastert presided but apparently did not directly ask for resignation, and Foley resigned. You would think that is where the story would end, right? Except for the fact that years later, Republicans were more than willing to honor and revere Foley at various Republican Party-linked events and fundraisers. So much for locking up child abusers and “throwing away the key,” Josh Hawley.
Well, then we have to talk about Dennis Hastert, the same man who told Foley to resign.
You see, Dennis Hastert, Republican speaker of the House, was later found to have been molesting 14-year-old boys. Hastert admitted in court that he molested four high school boys. His sentence: 13 months. Was the judge too lenient? He was an older man who coached a high school team and abused young boys. Did the judge not do enough?
Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman from Florida, is currently tied up in a scandal where his friend admitted to paying for and helping transport an underage minor for sex. But sex trafficking is apparently is not enough to make Republicans say: “Not cool, bro. We expect you to sit down and leave our party to protect our moral code.”
Don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.
I could continue the list. Pat Meehan? Roy Moore? Jim Jordan? Current candidates like Herschel Walker?
But don’t worry, pervy Republicans. I’m pretty sure that your party has your back.
But for all the concern Republicans are showing now, I am stuck here wondering what the hell these people are going on about while child abuse and pornography infects their own party, and they do and say absolutely nothing. I think we have to go back and look at a bit of history to talk about this.
It was 2006. Mark Foley, a Republican congressman from Florida who served as chairman of the House Committee on Missing and Exploited Children, was exposed for messaging house pages with lurid content and exploiting them sexually. It gets worse: Republicans in the House may have known about his proclivities for over a decade, and done absolutely nothing. Don’t worry though, they still had his back and no one mentioned what he was doing with young men who were his subordinates.
It all came to a conclusion when Speaker Dennis Hastert presided but apparently did not directly ask for resignation, and Foley resigned. You would think that is where the story would end, right? Except for the fact that years later, Republicans were more than willing to honor and revere Foley at various Republican Party-linked events and fundraisers. So much for locking up child abusers and “throwing away the key,” Josh Hawley.
Well, then we have to talk about Dennis Hastert, the same man who told Foley to resign.
You see, Dennis Hastert, Republican speaker of the House, was later found to have been molesting 14-year-old boys. Hastert admitted in court that he molested four high school boys. His sentence: 13 months. Was the judge too lenient? He was an older man who coached a high school team and abused young boys. Did the judge not do enough?
Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman from Florida, is currently tied up in a scandal where his friend admitted to paying for and helping transport an underage minor for sex. But sex trafficking is apparently is not enough to make Republicans say: “Not cool, bro. We expect you to sit down and leave our party to protect our moral code.”
Don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.
I could continue the list. Pat Meehan? Roy Moore? Jim Jordan? Current candidates like Herschel Walker?
But don’t worry, pervy Republicans. I’m pretty sure that your party has your back.