Looks like one more chapter in the Foley scandal. The House Ethics Committee released their report:

The report makes clear that while some in House leadership knew that e-mails existed since the fall of 2005, most didn't see the actual e-mails, and no one knew previously about the IMs that were made public later.

The committee's ruling that no ethics rules had been broken means no further action will be taken in the House in this matter.

The report also makes the stunning finding that political considerations played a role. For both parties. I'm sure that's a shocker.

Mark Foley's father was buried today, Saturday, November 18. This year he buried his career and his father. In a tearful eulogy he spoke of how much he had disappointed his father.

It takes events like this to realize that all politicians are human and they have entered a career that will destroy them personally when they make a mistake. The purpose of this story is not to say that what Mark Foley did was not bad. Instead, I wonder why anybody would enter the field of politics. As Foley's father was dying of cancer, he was made aware of his son's mistakes.

We are a nation that puts our politicians on a pedestal and when they fail, we destroy them. Should only perfect people run for political office? I would suggest that Franklin Roosevelt was less than perfect. His girl friend was a constant visitor to the White House and I am sure that he encouraged Eleanor to travel. At his death bed, Lucy Mercer was able to say a final goodbye to the man she could never marry.

There are many who believe that Roosevelt and his imagination, saved this country.

First Congress opened an internal investigation into whether Rep. Mark Foley abused his position when he sent "inappropriate" IMs to young pages. Then the FBI started its own case after it became clear that the six-term Republican's actions weren't just creepy but possibly illegal. Now the state of Florida is involved. The state Department of Law Enforcement announced Foley is the subject of a full criminal investigation.

(Spokeswoman Heather) Smith declined to discuss specific details of the investigation but said it centered on possible "inappropriate communications between Mr. Foley and house pages ... that may have occurred in our state."

You'll recall that in the days after the scandal broke, Foley claimed he had been molested by a clergyman as a teenager and entered alcohol rehab. Word is now he's planning on starring in a reality TV show with Pastor Ted Haggard. Okay, that last part was a joke.

After Mark Foley resigned for his egregious e-mails and instant messages, most political analysts assumed that the seat would automatically go to the Democrat, Tim Mahoney. Joe Negron, a well-respected Florida state representative, filled in as the Republican nominee, but Foley's name stayed on the ballot. Political commentators surmised that many voters wouldn't realize that a vote for Foley wouldn't actually go to Foley but to Negron, and so they would just overwhelming elect the Democrat. However, analysts underestimated the intelligence of those Florida.

Negron, despite his limited time, ran an excellent campaign. His educative and catchy campaign slogan, "Punch Foley for Negron" was perhaps the most effective in the country, and it seems to have worked. Though almost nobody would want to vote for Foley, Negron received a massive amount of support for his name not even appears on the ballot. The final tally, with Mahoney receiving 49% and Foley (Negron) receiving 48%, was shocking. Yes, Mahoney won, but it was one of the closest races in America, especially after being though a guaranteed Democratic pick-up.

If there is one lesson we can take from this it is that we can't assume populace is uneducated and uninterested in politics. Votes aren't just based on caprice or emotion, but rather information and facts, something I think many politicians have yet to fully realize.

I have a real problem with how media and political types apologize. If I ever attempted to apologize for something stupid I did the way John Kerry just did, or the way Mark Foley did (right after the apology release the info that he believed he had been molested as a child and was an alcoholic), or countless others - the apology wouldn't be accepted, and if I was apologizing to a woman I'd promptly get slapped.

I was just over at National Review Online's The Corner blog, and a reader sent in the following to Jonah Goldberg. We could all learn from it:

Real apologies

1. Never contain the phrases "my words were misinterpreted" (to make it or "any [one] who was offended." These are weasel words. Nothing is an apology which attempts offload blame or place blame anywhere but on the person making the apology. Such "apologies" should never be accepted.
2. Never transition to an attempt to balance the scales by showing any other party is wrong in any way. Such "apologies" should never be accepted. Indeed, they should be condemned not just as unmitigating excuses, but as abuses in their own right.

Democrats have been attempting to block Florida'a secretary of state from posting notices in Congressional District 16 polling places that say a vote for Mark Foley will actually be a vote for Joe Negron. Negron replaced Foley as the Republican candidate at the beginning of October - too late to have the ballots changed. Today the First District Court of Appeals overruled a recent circuit court decision that that barred such a notice from being placed (Appeals Court ruling here - caution pdf).

The notice at all CD 16 polling places is ordered to read:

IN THE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 16 RACE

• A VOTE FOR MARK FOLEY (REP) WILL BE COUNTED FOR JOE NEGRON (REP), THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE.

• A VOTE FOR TIM MAHONEY (DEM) WILL BE COUNTED FOR TIM MAHONEY (DEM), THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE.

• A VOTE FOR EMMIE ROSS (NPA) WILL BE COUNTED FOR EMMIE ROSS (NPA), THE NO PARTY AFFILIATION CANDIDATE.

Big victory for Republicans.

A little good news for Joe Negron:

The First District Court of Appeal ruled that signs can go up saying a vote for Foley is a vote for Negron, if they also say a vote for Mahoney is a vote for Mahoney.

...

The order prohibits the Secretary of State from posting its signs, which only mention Negron for Foley. The Judges said those signs "suggest favoritism on behalf of the Republican candidate."

Mahoney is Mahoney and Foley is Negron. Everyone got that?

Last polling indicates that Mahoney was still 7 points up but with enough undecideds to tip the election.

I also think Byron York has an excellent slogan for the Negron Campaign: "Punch Foley for Joe"

I have made it a policy NOT to comment on my colleague bloggers' posts. It is a courtesy of extending out the right of free political expression and opinion. But this blog is just too damn much.

"If the Democrats were consistent about 'protecting the children,' they would demand that Strickland resign from the race. Obviously that's not going to happen. This is not a big issue for me except that it highlights and exposes Democrat hypocrisy on the Mark Foley issue.

"Think about it. If Deb Pryce is culpable for merely associating with a guy who chatted up teenagers on IM (whether she knew it or not). Ted Strickland should be equally culpable for actually hiring one."

As I reported in my piece on Strickland, and the campaign aide who remains unidentified due to an expunged record for a 4th-degree misdemeanor, it was clear from all the investigation done on Strickland's relationship to the aide that while there may have been a sloppy background done on the man but that there was never knowledge of the nature of that misdemeanor. Nor was there any evidence that anything other than a collegial relationship exited between the two.

It turns out that when Republican Rep. Mark Foley wasn't sending "overly friendly" e-mail messages and queries to teenage boys he had other things on his mind. It seems that when the congressman had temporarily rid himself of his personal urges he found the time to feel slighted. By President Bush.

This AP wire story reports that the ex-Congressman complained to the presidents brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, he felt he was "being ignored by President Bush on his trips to Florida" after several hurricanes.

The article states the ex-congressman and the brother of the president "had maintained a regular dialog" via e-mail. On September 29th, 2004 Foley asks Jeb to to intercede with the president on some perceived slights. Foley asks Jeb, "Have I done something to offend the White House? I am always getting the shaft."

Jeb responded (less than three hours later according to the AP story) with an e-mail telling the Republican Congressman that the president was busy preparing for his debate with Senator Kerry and the 2004 re-election campaign. Said Jeb, "I know it is nothing you have done."

It comes to light now that Marc Foley's sexual orientation was an open secret -- as was his "overly friendly" interest in teenage boys -- as early as 2003. The question though is this: Was George Bush and his political ferret, Karl Rove, as well as brother Jeb, aware of Foley's sexual advances toward teenage male pages in 2004 and, if so, did they engage a willful attempt to prevent and or block an investigation!!?

Just a thought...MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD ASK W.

Last night I blogged on the bizarre Inglis-Griffith debate down here in the 4th congressional district of South Carolina.

Since then, both candidate Griffith and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have responded to Inglis' near-rabid accusation that the San Francisco-based Pelosi (and, by fiat, the Democratic Party) knew of Foley's pedophilic behaviors and hid them until now - just in time to upset the GOP re-e campaigns. Read more on their responses below.

While accusing Pelosi and the Democrats of holding this knowledge for political gain, Inglis personally attacked Pelosi's competence, character and demeanor, and her sudden calm and collected appearance as proof of her knowing culpability.

What Inglis said in body language to slander Pelosi. and to send a clear message to his reactionary base, can be read below and seen in this video.

Today's Washington Post is running a story about a tried and true campaign strategy: Paint the opposing party as philanderers and drunks. You'll remember this refrain from the mudslinging contests in 1994, 2000, and 2004, when Republicans seemed to have a lock on so-called "Values Voters." Well, you know what they say, what comes around goes around. The prized quote of the Post article comes from an unnamed Democratic aide said to be "familiar with the party's plan to take advantage of the Foley affair,"

"...anybody who had a personal vulnerability before this is totally [at risk] with the spotlight on the scandal. Frankly it is a tough environment out there if you have a problem with the bottle or the zipper."

But hold your applause. Relishing in the comeuppance of the Republican Party is one thing, but orchestrating a political takeover based the sordid personal lives of the opposition is not what this country needs. True, if you sell yourself as a pro-family candidate and it turns out you've been cheating on your wife, this is a contradiction. But let's not go that extra mile and dig up every stupid open-container violation, or high school prank gone awry when deciding who should govern. That values question is nothing but a revolving door, and always has been.

In a Thursday night campaign debate with Democratic contender William Griffith, GOP Rep. Bob Inglis accused House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of withholding knowledge of Mark Foley's pedophile acts, thus leaving the Pages in harms way.

In the most bizarre of bizarre scenarios the usually calm, moderate-appearing 4th District congressperson became strident.

Narrowed eyes glinting, stretched neck, veins pulsing, pointing fingers at his Democratic contender, Inglis accused Pelosi of holding back the truth about Foley's stalking of Pages. Her alleged purpose: Democratic political advantage in the 2006 midterm elections.

Shays Invokes Chappaquiddick

This is NOT about the person Mark Foley -- homosexual transmuted into a alcohol soused Internet stalker. It's NOT about Gary Hart. Or Wild Bill Clinton. And it's certainly NOT about Sen. Ted Kennedy, contrary to GOP Rep. Christopher Shays' malicious miscast of Kennedy's tragedy at Chappaquiddick.

It's about this: Shays is facing the loss of his congressional seat to Democrat Diane Farrell.

WorldNetDaily reports on an old controversial vote by Ted Strickland that could cause him problems in Ohio in light of the Foley scandal.

The issue surfaced Dec. 15, 2005, when the left-leaning Athens News reported on an anonymous letter-writing campaign to Democratic voters citing Strickland's vote as "present" and not in support of the 1999 House Concurrent Resolution 107 that condemned an American Psychological Association study supporting "nonnegative sexual interactions between adults and adolescents."
...
Strickland's refusal to vote "yea" has been interpreted as implicit support for pedophilia, as he was given a chance to join an overwhelming congressional bipartisan majority voting to condemn the APA study.

I'm sure that Strickland would rather that the Democrats had not kicked up quite so much fuss over the Foley thing. There is much more here at local Ohio blog bizzyblog.com. Other local bloggers, (like me) wonder if Ted still stands by his vote or, now that he's had time to think about it, agrees with the resolution.

It is amazing to watch the Bush administration and the Republican Party at work. From the people who once proclaimed they would usher in a new era of personal responsibility, we've witnessed a litany of excuses in recent days. "Talking points" have replaced substance, creating a leadership vacuum. What follows is but a small sampling of this point-the-finger strategy.

Fact: North Korea may now be testing nuclear weapons.
Response: Bill Clinton didn't stop them, either.

Fact: Osama Bin Laden remains at large, more than five years after 9/11.
Response: Bill Clinton didn't kill him when he had the chance.

Fact: Republican House leaders knew of Mark Foley's disturbing e-mails with Pages as early as 2000, but failed to take meaningful action.
Response: Bill Clinton did much worse by lying while in office.

Again and again, the GOP seems incapable of doing anything but pointing at its little brother and crying, "But he did it first!" Ah, the era of personal responsibility. Enjoy it while it lasts.