Mark Foley on Faith and Values

Mark Foley on Faith and Values September 29, 2006

Mark Foley — who just resigned from Congress in disgrace after it was discovered he was sending sexually explicit messages to minors — hasn't shied away from proclaiming his faith and values.

Disgraced Congressman Mark Foley — who resigned barely two hours ago amid revelations that he sent sexually explicit instant messages to underage congressional pages — turns out to be more than a sicko.  He's a religious hypocrite.

 

Claiming to be a man of deep Catholic faith, Foley hasn't shied away from proclaiming his rectitude.  "At
Sacred Heart, I was taught how to be a better citizen because of their focus on
discipline and moral values," he said, referring to the school he attended in Lake Worth, Florida.

 

Foley also received an 84% approval rating from the Christian Coalition in 2004, the most recent year we could find spur of the moment. 

 

Indeed, Foley made
get-tough laws on sexually exploited children — particularly
exploitation over the Internet — one of his primary crusades in
Congress.  He was even Co-Chair of the Missing and Exploited Children
Caucus.

 

He also introduced a bill to ban online "child modeling" sites, claiming they are "nothing more than a fix for pedophiles."

 

"They don't sell products,
they don't sell services," he said.  "All they serve are young children on a
platter for America's most depraved. These sites sell child erotica and
they should be banned."

 

On Bill O'Reilly's show this May, he said, "Our kids are precious. Their lives are
vulnerable. The predators are winning as we speak."

 

Rarely has there been a clearer case of the kind of religious
hypocrisy that Jesus condemned so passionately in the Gospels. 

 

Foley rails against the depraved; he is the depraved.  Foley attacks the predators; he is a predator.

 

Our question: where are the denunciations from the religious right? 
Where is Focus on the Family?  Where is the Family Research Council? 
Do they only care about sexual misconduct when it's committed by a
Democrat?  The hypocrisy doesn't belong to Foley alone.  The hypocrisy
belongs to everyone who rails against sexual sin for political purposes
then delivers a sermon of silence when the sinner happens to advance a
right-wing, Republican agenda.

 

Using the login name Maf54, Foley said this (among other things that can't be printed) to several underage congressional pages and high school students:

 

Maf54: Do I make you a little horny ?
Teen:  A little.

Maf54: Cool."

 

Another: 

Maf54: You in your boxers, too?
Teen:  Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late.
Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed.

 

And another:

Maf54: What ya wearing?
Teen: tshirt and shorts
Maf54: Love to slip them off of you.

 

Meanwhile, Foley's opponent, Tim Mahoney, is a member of a United Methodist church and is walking the walk of values by proposing serious ethics reform and understanding the importance of protecting social security.

 

Give Mahoney some support right now and help make this "safe seat" into one the Democrats might win back this year in our effort to retake Congress. 


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