Thursday, October 05, 2006

A Daily Dose

I am an avid watcher of "The Daily Show". Their "special reports" are good, but not what keeps me coming back. It is, in part, due to the guests that Jon Stewart interviews, but mostly it is the political satire. At present I am loving the coverage of Republican Mark Foley and the scandal he finds himself facing. His attempts at cyber-sex with teenage Whitehouse Page's while maintaining to be a "defender of kids from predators and a supporter of traditional family values" is yet just one more chapter in the present administrations epic novel of immoral "errors in judgment". Now more than ever the Fox News channel is showing its complete bias for the Republican party. Sean Hannity of Hannity and Combes decided a trip down memory lane was required citing the 1983 Democratic scandal of Congressman Jerry Studds having sex with a Page. Hannity went on to say "That's not that long ago". I guess the Democratic party hasn't changed at all in 23 years and besides, those Dems are way more perverted than the Reps. He also went on to "report" that the Dems had knowledge of these allegations long before it came out into the open which of course places the blame squarely on the shoulders of the more liberal of the two parties. To top it off (just to add the proverbial cherry on top), Hannity went on to mention former Prez Bill Clinton and his scandal with Monica Lewinsky "You know something, I don't want to bring Clinton into it, you're gonna say that Monica was 19, but hold on a minute...". Monica was actually 22, but why split hairs right. I mean 22 is awfully close to 16 accepting that 22 is a legal age of consent whereas 16 is statutory rape, but why should that concern anyone especially government officials who right the laws. The crown jewel in Fox's coverage had to be the story they ran about the allegations showing footage of Foley answering questions in a media scrum with a subheader that included the Fox logo and the title "MARK FOLEY (D-FL). That's right people; Mark Foley is now officially a Democrat according to Fox News.
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2 comments:

Krista said...

In the wake of all the other horrible stories in the news that week about victimized children I was surprised at how angry the "Foley scandal" and its subsequent coverage made me. What pissed me off most I think was the attempt by the right wing media to re-victimize the victims by stating on many occasions the time period of a year before anyone came forward. It just smacked of the culture of silence that continues to allow adults to prey on children. Also, the immediate scapegoating of the Gay community "Mark Foley is Gay."
Or "Mark Foley was victimized by clergy." Holy fuck, 1 in 7 children (now adults) in north america have been sexually victimized in some manner, but most have acknowledged the pain and made a choice not to vicitimize others...Mark Foley is an adult and held the balance of power. Why didn't those boys come forward earlier? This was an actual question posed by the knuckle dragging, mouth breathers at both Fox and CNN. Most of us with half a brain cell to rub together know the answer instrinsically...fear.
The shameless attempts at trying to somehow link all of this to the democrats is repugnant.
We lost our free cable last week, so I've been missing out on Jon Stewart and Colbert...so thanks for writing about this.

1:16 PM
Troubles Braids said...

It is a sick situation all around. When the story came to light, Foley checked into rehab for alleged alcohol abuse. Then when the discussion turned to his homosexuality he was quoted as saying he had been raped by a clergyman. In other words, none of this was his fault. And by all the news coverage you have to ask yourself who the hell the victim(s) is/are here. Not only is there a continuation of the culture of silence, but also a treatment of a group of people (children) that is a humans right violation. There is no concern about the real victims who are submerged below the damage control yard spinning of the government.

3:51 PM

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