Talk Radio, Mark Foley Flap

THE BACKLASH BEGINS

And Libs Who Pushed Story Are Aiding Conservative Talk!





*** New at Bay State Showdown: after defending rapists and cop- killers, Democrat Deval Patrick's campaign begins to unravel ***



Late revelations that Mark Foley's primary accuser was in fact 18 at the time of the now- infamous IM exchanges initiated by the creepy ex- representative, in addition to news that a fishy blog was behind the strange timing of this entire mess, may well provide the ingredients for a backlash against Democrats and mainstream media outlets that have pushed this story to amazing extremes.

In the meantime, talk radio hosts are set to benefit from a major story having hit during what would have been a lackluster campaign season, with only a tiny percentage of the public paying attention.


While none of the new disclosures take anything away from former Rep Foley's deplorable behavior, there is an emerging sense that neither political party has clean hands in this situation.

Radar, for example, reports that a "bogus" blog was set up by unnamed individuals, complete with fake, backdated posts, just to "break" the Foley story. Is anyone to believe that this wasn't cooked up by somebody with a lot to gain in November? In particular, if opponents were aware of this mess months ago, why did they wait until October to launch their surprise?

In addition, one of the key accusations against Foley was that his disgusting, predatory behavior was aimed at children, yet we now know that at least one of those involved was 18 at the time of the instant message exchanges.

Another element of the emerging backlash has been within the conservative movement, where there is a heated debate over what to do about the mess, especially in regard to the future of the current House leadership and Speaker Dennis Hastert. Granted, many disaffected conservatives were already looking for an excuse to turn against the entrenched GOP establishment, but the case against Hastert is now weakening as we speak.


Between talk radio, Michelle Malkin and the Wall Street Journal, a surprisingly nasty internal debate has developed over the various positions taken by prominent conservatives over the past week. Judging by the glee with which mainstream media outlets have reported on this battle, it appears increasingly probable that this was the opposition's intent all along.

At the Washington Post, known partisan Dana Milbank was quick to jump on the idea that conservative talkers need to be reassured by Hastert that everything was okay:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert woke up yesterday morning to find his Republican conservatives in mid-mutiny.

"Resign, Mr. Speaker," advised the Wash- ington Times at the top of its editorial page. In the Mark Foley scandal, the conservative paper posited, Hastert either (a) "was grossly negligent" or (b) "deliberately looked the other way."

In the last few days, Hastert, a genial former wrestling coach from Illinois, is proving the axiom devised by former senator/philosopher Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.): "One day you're the toast of the town, the next day you're toast."

It was time for Hastert to take action to put down the mutiny. So he called Rush Limbaugh. And Sean Hannity. And Hugh Hewitt. And Lars Larson. And Roger Hedgecock. Even Neal Boortz, who said Hastert should find a "better excuse" for his inaction on Foley. "We're going to do them all," said Hastert aide Ron Bonjean.

Limbaugh, taking Hastert's call early in the afternoon, got right down to business. "The Washington Times' admittedly conservative editorial page has asked for you to step down," he pointed out.

"Well, yeah, I'm not going to do that," Hastert said casually, as if the Washington Times had suggested he order grapefruit for breakfast.

Limbaugh set about making the case for Hastert. Democrats and the media, he said, are making the speaker look more "interested in holding the House rather than protecting children."

"Yeah" was the entirety of Hastert's reply.

"I like what you said yesterday," Limbaugh continued, when Hastert "asked for an investigation into who knew what when."

"I don't think you could ask anybody better than the FBI," Hastert concurred. Limbaugh encouraged Hastert to change the subject to the economy and national security. Hastert dutifully responded with a few remarks about the economy and national security.

Eventually, Limbaugh closed with the warning that Democrats and the media would press the issue "even though you've dealt with it, even though he's gone, even though the mistake has been corrected."

Hastert again agreed. "They're trying to put us on defense," he said.

Even as Hastert was on the air with Limbaugh, ABC News was publishing more instant messages Foley had sent to former pages. Clearly, Hastert needed more help. Bush, traveling in California, told the cameras that Hastert "is a father, teacher, coach who cares about the children of this country."

When even that proved insufficient, Hastert turned at 5 p.m. to Hannity's radio show, "the last beacon of truth in a troubled time."

Hannity had spent two hours accusing the Democrats of "dirty tricks" and "hypocrisy" and taking issue with the Washington Times' call for Hastert's head.

"I was shocked at the Washington Times today," he told Hastert, then got down to the questioning. "As you said, this is all brand new to you as of Friday?"

"Right," Hastert agreed.

Hannity asked if Hastert's foes had the Foley messages but "sat on them for political reasons."

"I just think it's awful strange," the speaker agreed.

Hannity, invoking Democratic sex scandals involving then-Massachusetts Rep. Gerry Studds (1983), Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank (1990) and President Bill Clinton (1998), asked: "Do you think there's a double standard?"

"Yes, it appears there's a double standard," the speaker agreed.

Hannity was not finished. "In all seriousness, how would you be responsible for what another congressman does on an instant message? How could you possibly know this kind of thing was going on?"

"We don't know," the speaker agreed.

In addition, the Post's media critic Howard Kurtz added more, here.


With the right distracted, there's little time to put out a unified, coherent message before election day. But many conservatives were already so disillusioned by this Republican Congress that they had already intended to sit out this November's contest.

Limbaugh, for his part, refuses to believe that GOP voter turnout will be low as a result of this mess. From yesterday's official transcript:

RUSH: (story) "Newt Gingrich said yesterday that Denny Hastert handled this whole situation appropriately and dismissed a call for Hastert's resignation by the Washington Times. 'I don't agree with that,' Newt said. 'I think it's very premature, very inappropriate.' Gingrich was in Lexington, Kentucky, to give a speech to the University of Kentucky Sanders Brown Center On Aging Foundation." Hastert's getting some support someplace.

LA Times story today: "Foley Scandal Shakes GOP." This is by Janet Hook and Ronald Brownstein. "Hastert, who was elevated to his post during the turmoil caused by the sex scandal involving President Clinton on Tuesday shrugged off calls to quit. 'I'm not going to do that,' he said, during an appearance on conservative commentary Rush Limbaugh's radio show, but there was no consensus among conservative leaders that Hastert or other House GOP leaders should step down."

Notice how the template just easily gets placed out there. Somebody says Hastert should go, and it becomes the whole focus of the day of the Drive-By Media. "Limbaugh, during his show Tuesday, charged that much of the furor over Hastert was fueled by Democrats who wanted to suppress conservative turnout in November." Yes, I did "charge that," but it's true. There is no question that that's all this is about: suppressing conservative turnout.

That's the only way the Democrats have any hope of winning. "Other prominent conservative voices, including Focus on the Family, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, rejected the idea that any GOP leader should resign." Mr. Snerdley told me today that he thinks I was the driving force yesterday that kept a parade of weak-kneed conservative organizations from jumping on board the Hastert resignation message.

See, Republicans and conservatives are conflicted over this, and the conflict derives from only looking at it in one way, and that is: "Oh, my God! We have a creep and a pervert in our party and we stand for what? He's gotta go, and anybody that had even the slightest knowledge, clear 'em out of there. We can't afford this," and that's understandable.

But they fail or don't attach enough importance to the political tactics, the strategy, the tactical effort that this is by Democrats to take out Republican leaders -- and every time somebody demands a Republican resign, if we're going to say, "Yep, yep, yep! Okay. We'll quit," it's just bad. I mean, Foley's gone! Foley's been gone since Friday and yet this story survives. The story survives because it's only about using this to continue to get Republicans to quit and get out of there, on the basis of "doing the right thing" or what have you.

The right thing has been done. Foley is gone! Denny Hastert didn't send any instant messages that I know of. Denny Hastert didn't send any of these e-mails. Denny Hastert didn't do any of this! As Hastert himself as said, somebody's known about this for a number of years. He didn't, but somebody has and all these holier-than-thou people stepping forward saying they do this for the children couldn't have cared less against possible sex crimes against children.

Here's a story by Charlotte Raab from the French News Agency: "A roiling sex scandal that led to the resignation of a prominent Republican lawmaker has left the party fearing conservative voters may sit out next month's crucial midterm elections, as President George W. Bush said he was 'disgusted' by the affair."

With Republicans clearly damaged by the scandal and new indications that Democrats may not benefit from it either, given their unclean hands, talk radio may emerge as the only winner in this ugly mess.

The irony, of course, is that the very liberal partisans who pushed this story will be kicking themselves when they realize that Limbaugh, Hannity and the others have been handed a huge ratings boost at a key time: during the all- important fall Arbitron ratings book.


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Technorati tags: Mark Foley michelle malkin washington post dana milbank rush limbaugh sean hannity lars larson talk radio dennis hastert gop elections republican party

Hastert, Limbaugh images: Rush Limbaugh.com, Lars Larson: Lars Larson.com