They blame it on teenagers...

[johnlal]

I'm getting really sick of Limbaugh and Drudge and the rest of them blaming the pages for this scandal. I know that teenagers are more responsible for their actions than are prepubescent victims of child abuse. But that's not why parents are horrified.

Congressional pages are supposed to be chosen from the best and the brightest of high school students. When proud parents send their teenagers to Washington, they send along all their hopes and dreams with their accomplished son or daughter. They realize that there is some temptation on being away from home, but they expect strict behavior codes of the pages and Congress members. They expect supervision of both groups. They don't send their honor student to Washington to cuddle with creepy old guys.

When they come home from Washington and start exchanging lurid e-mails and instant messages with a Congressman, it's not because they're bad. It's because they have been corrupted. No teenager would presume that he had that kind of access to a Congress member unless he was improperly granted that kind of access.

These pages were told that their reputations would be ruined if they ratted on Foley. That's what is happening now. Big mouths like Limbaugh and Drudge are putting the weight of an earth-shattering political scandal on the narrow shoulders of novices. These wide-eyed, hopeful, future political leaders are now being dragged down by the scandal. First, they got a dose of reality on experiencing the putrid side of Congressional excesses, and then when it is exposed, they have to take the blame.

Meanwhile, the broad shoulders of House leadership, the likes of Hastert, Boener, and the Congress itself, are too weak to bear even a little bit of the blame for the scandal.

As a parent, It is just horrible to hear Limbaugh and Drudge. I know that teenagers are susceptible to trouble. If I hear that my boy or girl is getting affectionate with a Congressman, I want him or her shipped home where I can protect them. I DON'T want it to be covered up, or kept a secret from me, while my child is still in harm's way.

[bryant69]

1. Well it's kind of horrible for anybody to hear limbaugh

I don't know what he's realy hoping to accomplish by trashing the page - Foley's gone and he's not coming back - but that's certainly what he's doing.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[bullimiami]

2. Limbaugh, Drudge and the rest of the hypocritical bastards

are driving the nails into their own credibility coffins.

theyve become so full of republican fake morality that they believe whatever they say will become truth.

[Generic Other]

3. As the mother of a kid who was once a page

I feel an incredible sense of outrage at their behavior. It is the same treatment female rape victims have faced for years.

It takes a great deal of courage for victims to come forward when this is the treatment they receive. Those boys will be doubly scarred by their experience thanks to the likes of Rush and Drudge. Those men are the true scum of the earth because they enable a predator like Foley to act with impunity.

[zbdent]

4. Wasn't an outcry going on about these adult female (and presumably

Dem) teachers "preying" on innocent children of 16 and 17?

Boy, they were tough on those "sexual predators", weren't they?

[Hav]

5. Well said

It's political suicide and despicable to put the blame even remotely on the pages and I think that the big majority of Americans, even Republicans and especially real Conservatives, will realize that the current way this is handled at the moment is just wrong.
When I look at those Limbaughs, O'Reillys or at Republicans like Reynolds who used children as a shield at his press conference, then it simply has to backfire big time.

[JohnnyLib2]

6. Parent power!

Marshall our forces. The votes are here; the time is now.

On edit: Limbaugh and Drudge don't have children; Limbaugh has repeatedly used the term "rugrats." Hmmmm.