Update III (3:13 p.m.): Were Foleygate IM messages part of a prank??? Regardless, nobody forced Foley to write them…
Update II: Thanks for the bone, Mr. Speaker.
One of my “blog children” has this to say about the scandal: “I’ve been purposely maintaining silence on the Mark Foley debacle until it started to die down a little. To be blunt, I’m sick of hearing about it, and I’m sure everyone else is too. As a result, I’m not going to link to any outside material, and this post is the last I’ll have to say about it.”
Update: Welcome to the Internet, A Tutorial for Reporters
In other news: Oooooooh…
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The blogosphere can be a fun and heady place. It can also be backbiting and libelous terrain. However humble were blogging’s beginnings, the medium has morphed into a powerful display of citizen journalism, capturing the essence of free speech.
The blogosphere is like a massive organism, a global publication teeming with millions of “pajama” reporters breaking stories and connecting people. It’s no wonder legacy media organizations like ABC News added blogs to their online offerings. Under the old model, they couldn’t keep up.
Thanks to cable television, the world is in a 24-hour news cycle rhythm, and the old days of morning and evening news cycles are over. We’re news junkies, and we want our news on demand. If we can’t find it, we now have the power to make it ourselves. With a low entry threshold and open source software (Blogger.com) and fast and relatively cheap tools and connections (computers; digital cameras; digital recorders; broadband), so-called citizen journalists have sprung up everywhere.
The blogosphere is still unruly, but that will change. Bloggers — and anyone else who publishes information — are held accountable for their words. Some are being sued for defamation. And losing. With power comes responsibility.
Because people can go after whatever story they want and pursue whatever angle they wish, that’s exactly what they do. Some conservative bloggers are keeping the focus on “our yard,” while others are going after the media and the Democrats. I frankly don’t care what part Democrats played in all this. Mark Foley is a predator, and it doesn’t matter who exposed him or that a “fake blog” was set up for that purpose. Foley’s perversion — and Republican House leaders’ complicity in sweeping it under the rug so they could hold on to House seats — are the only things I care about.
Pictured above are Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of Representatives (flash of integrity?); John Boehner, House Majority Leader; Tom Reynolds, Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee; and John Shimkus, House Page Board chair. Each of these men hold leadership positions, and each knew about Foley. ALL FOUR SHOULD RESIGN.
For details on who know what and when, see Mr. Speaker, You Must Resign.
Some bloggers are busily gathering information on the man behind a homosexual outing blog. It’s exciting, in a sometimes perverse way, to dig and expose the shenanigans of the other side. But I wish more conservative bloggers would concentrate on holding House leaders accountable and less on what leftist bloggers knew.
Well, it turns out that Democrats may not have been behind this after all. The Hill reports that a Republican aide passed on the e-mails to a member of the media.
Other developments:
- Someone’s alleged that Foley showed up drunk outside the page dorm.
- Foley’s former chief of staff Kirk Fordham, who recently resigned as Tom Reynolds’s chief of staff, says he warned Republican House leaders about Foley in 2003.
- Apparently, there’s some sort of “gay list” of Republicans floating around.
Those are the major revelations. More to come, I’m sure.
Addendum: A blogger, who I won’t link to, publicized the name of one of the pages. (Why???)The page has hired a lawyer. Will he sue the blogger for invasion of privacy? As I said, power and responsibility…
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Bloggers: JustOneMinute, Macsmind, Strata-Sphere (and here), Wizbang, Hot Air, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Riehl World View…
