In all likelihood, the Foley scandal will redound to the Democrats’ electoral benefit in a few short weeks — but it presents obstacles the Dems too must avoid, and not just a risky alliance with traditional homophobes, as John Dickerson suggests. There are also activists on the left who will promote the scandal with an intensity that would be unseemly for “responsible” Democrats to partake in. Take for instance, Mike Rogers, a DC-based activist notorious/celebrated for forcing gay Republicans out of the closet.
Some in the rightosphere see potential conspiracy in the fact that Rogers showed up early in the comment section (since removed) at the fake-but-accurate Stop Sex Predators blog. They shouldn’t; Rogers was only too glad to help get the word out, but by all appearances, he got scooped. Otherwise, it would have appeared first on his own blog, instead of an anonymous black ops blog. Here is a Rogers post at his own site, on Oct. 1:
Well the good news is that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is finally getting it. I called their Director of Communications, Bill Burton, before the Foley story broke to let him know about Foley (and another case) were coming down the pike. While Burton promised to have someone email or return my call and didn’t, I am glad he followed up on my call and was ready on Friday to come out of the gate running. The bad new is they are still not paying enough attention… There are others within reach… If the Democrats would only fight half as hard as the Republicans. I posted comments at the DCCC website on the Foley entry. Not only do their promises of returned calls and emails never come to fruition, but now they are deleting my comments from their blog, The Stakeholder.
Rogers seems genuinely puzzled that the DCCC would remove his comments — also referencing his contact with Burton — from their blog, which is amusing, really. Considering the hay Republicans made of user-generated Bush/Hitler comparisons on MoveOn’s website in 2004 and GOP campaign committees’ proven eagerness to publicize Democrats’ association with their over-enthusiastic and unpredictable supporters, it should come as no surprise that the DCCC would like to save themselves this press release attack.
Of course, the NRCC will probably let this one slide — it’s certainly not in their interest to keep the focus on ex-Rep. Foley’s behavior. Conservative bloggers, however, perhaps unmindful of who all they may cause headaches for, can be counted on to pursue the angle relentlessly.
P.S. Believe it or not, another post has appeared at Stop Sex Predators:
I’m thrilled that so many folks are looking at this simple blog. Please attempt to limit your comments to the purpose of this blog.
Pay no attention to the curtain (behind which there is surely some man)!
If you have any ideas that I should post, please let me know. I’m happy to pass along information about the current situation, but would much prefer to keep marching toward the large goal or stopping sex predators. I don’t think we’ll see it in the Congress anytime soon, so let’s focus our energy elsewhere.
Okay, now you’re just wasting your own time.
I like the way you think about this, but I’m not sure that I agree.
The assumption is that the Foley affair hurts Republicans generally–why? In a polarized political environment, we are dealing with ideology, not personalities. Republicans are still going to vote Republican and they will come out to vote because its pretty clear what the stakes are if the Democrats regain political power.
Mickey Kaus reports on some polls that put the lie to the idea that Foley’s district is a lost cause.
So the question is–if the Foley affair doesn’t hurt Republicans as much as the chattering classes and the Democrat leadership say it does, it is really NOT in the Republicans interest to keep the controversy going? Think about what else is going on at the moment that ISN’T getting media attention–namely Bob Woodward’s supposedly bomb-shell book. Iraq is a genuine vunerability for the Republicans and its been pushed off the front pages.
As usual, I think the Democrats shot their loads too early–note that the Republicans haven’t dropped their bombs yet (and you know they will). If Democrats had a brain, they would have outted Foley on October 31st…
Mick, you make some good points. Iraq probably is worse for the GOP than Foleygate. But Democrats have their own problems with Iraq, whereas the inadequate investigation and subsequent internecine fighting is a problem for the GOP and which the Dems are going to exploit. But it is interesting that it takes everyone off-message.
Besides, don’t you sense a great deal of disillusionment with the GOP right now? Everywhere you turn, it seems, there’s another Republican throwing his or her hands up in the air, declaring it would be better for the GOP to lose the House and get their priorities straight. If the Dems did win the House, they’d have responsibility but a thin majority and not much power — and it would allow the GOP to run as a reform movement again by 2008, both in the House and for the White House. That would hurt Hillary Clinton more than, say, John McCain.
And I’ve seen the Kausfiles post you mention. It’s an interesting point, though even he notes it may be a little too early yet. There’s also Kaus Faster Thesis (after all, he talks about it waaay more than Bruce Feiler ever did) to consider, so you’re right that for maximum national effect, it should have been dropped a few weeks ago. This is actually why I doubt the leakers of the Foley e-mails/IMs intended to take out anybody besides Foley. After all, who knew the GOP response would be this clumsy?