Wiser folks have said this already, but it is worth reiterating, but the reason this is so damaging to the Republican party is that it resonates with people, pure and simple.
There are a lot of facts to this case we don’t know, and the Republicans and the spinmeisters are going to do their level best to muddy the waters with ambiguity and uncertainties. We really don’t know who “WHINTERNOW” is and why the website that leaked the emails exists or whether it was a hit job or a dirty trick.
But it doesn’t matter.
We really don’t know what exactly the House leadership knew and when they knew it, and I am sure that will all be sanitized and put in the best possible light over the next few weeks.
But it doesn’t matter.
We really don’t know if there was anything the House leadership could have done to stop him based on the vague emails- my guess is there was, but that will be spun away over the next few weeks.
But it doesn’t matter.
We really don’t know if Foley actually had sex with any underage teens.
But it doesn’t matter.
But what we do know, and what the American public now knows, is that the party that has spent the past few years demagoguing safety and security and law and order is now known as the party that has screwed up the Iraq war, that has codified torture, that has been filled to the rim with criminals and crooks fleecing the treasury (and who knows what else), and is now known as the party that at its most basic can’t be trusted, because they are the party that has middle age perverts trying to bugger your kids. And even better, the Republican House Leadership didn’t give enough of a shit to do anything about it because it might get messy or it might get in the way of their desires for power and actively hid the information from the oppostion party and the puBlic (or, as we might say, PEOPLE WHO MIGHT HAVE DONE THE RIGHT THING).
And that matters. People understand that. You can’t get around it, like you can the other issues. Iraq is complicated, and there can be some leeway for mistakes. National security is important, and you can talk away some of the distastrous decisions made by the GOP as simple disagreements. People are jaded and cynical, and when you point to Abramoff and Cunningham and other crooks, people are inclined to throw up their hands and say “All politicans are crooks.”
But when it comes to messing with people’s kids, it is a whole different ball game. It is hard for voters to get past the idea that their kid might be upstairs on his computer getting perved on by middle-aged Republicans while the leadership of the party (the party of values, mind you), informed of this man’s predilections, was just too busy to be bothered. Ask your neighbor what they think of the party that harbors a man who, in his spare time, spends hours IMing teenagers to measure their penis.
People understand that, and it should scare the shit out of the GOP.
It does. Here’s a major right wing blogger who says he has "decided to vote Democratic this fall." Here’s another.
Not a surprise. The GOP self-implosion is astounding to watch. For example, NRCC chairman Tom Reynolds used a couple dozen small children as props in a press conference in an apparent attempt to discourage reporters from asking him explicit questions about Foley. Can damage control get any more damaging?
And the "Condi Lies" thing is not just a slogan; it’s reality. Too much to keep up with, so if you’re not following the scandal follies, here’s the latest.