Stephen F. Kislock, III – 10/8/06

This page was last updated on October 8, 2006.

Republicans are to blame; Stephen F. Kislock, III; Beaver County Times; October 8, 2006.

Most of Mr. Kislock’s minimum of 15 letters over the last two+ years have been Republican-bashing exercises.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“In response to Republican Congressman Foley’s actions in the U.S. House of Representatives, I believe the Republican prosecution of an anti-gay, anti-lesbian agenda is a smokescreen to protect pedophiles masquerading as anti-gay, anti-lesbian zealots in this Republican-controlled Congress.”

[RWC] Yep, Congressional Republicans are on a mission “to protect pedophiles.” How stupid does Mr. Kislock believe we are?

We have some terminology problems in the first paragraph.

First, why does Mr. Kislock use both “anti-gay” and “anti-lesbian?” I’m not an expert in homosexual lingo, but I thought “gay” is a PC synonym for homosexual. Assuming that’s correct, why didn’t Mr. Kislock just write “anti-homosexual?”

Second, where did the comment about “pedophiles” come from? Based on what we know to date, the youngest boy we Mr. Foley communicated with was 16 and Mr. Foley had no sexual contact with him. To be a pedophile, you need to have a sexual interest in prepubescent children, not adolescents. Ephebophile – a sexual attraction to adolescents – would have been more correct, though to date we have no indication Mr. Foley had sexual contact with any of these boys.

Stating the obvious, I find the alleged actions of Mr. Foley pretty disturbing. Given what we know so far, he was right to resign and should have been booted out of Congress if he hadn’t resigned. That said, did Mr. Foley do anything illegal? First, to date it appears Mr. Foley never had sexual contact with any of the boys. Second, the age of consent in most states is 16. Therefore, even if Mr. Foley had sexual contact with any the boys, it’s possible he did nothing illegal.

By the way, Mr. Kislock doesn’t tell us what he considers “an anti-gay, anti-lesbian agenda.”

“The Republican House leadership hates gays and lesbians, but will gladly sacrifice children (congressional pages) to Republican pedophiles in Congress to maintain a majority vote.”

[RWC] Again, Mr. Kislock differentiates between “gays” and “lesbians.” Why? Again, Mr. Kislock doesn’t appear to know the definition of “pedophile.”

“Republican House leadership hates gays and lesbians?” This makes no sense. Mr. Foley is a homosexual and was himself a part of “Republican House leadership” as its Deputy Whip.

Did you notice Mr. Kislock never tells us Mr. Foley is a homosexual? That’s because if he did, Mr. Kislock knows he couldn’t include all the “Republicans hate homosexuals” BS in his letter.

“I guess anything is OK to keep power?

“I’m sure Congresswoman Hart will do what is right for the Republican Party, and that means teenage pages will be hunted with impunity, again.”

[RWC] Yeah, right.

“The only ones to blame for this travesty is the Republican House leadership.”

[RWC] I guess Mr. Kislock expects us to forget the likes of Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA) and Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-IL) and how Democrats treated them.

Mr. Studds had sex (not just electronic conversations) with a 17-year-old male page (not former) in the 1970s. Mr. Studds was only censured by the House, not forced to resign. He expressed no remorse for his behavior and claimed it was no one’s business but his. Further, Democrats continued to reelect Mr. Studds for six more terms.

Mr. Reynolds had sex with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer and was convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice, and solicitation of child pornography. While Mr. Reynolds served his full term for these charges, then-President Clinton commuted his sentence on other charges. Subsequently, Jesse Jackson hired Mr. Reynolds to work with youth to cut the number of young blacks turning to crime.

Before Mr. Kislock rants about Republicans, perhaps he should look at how his own party treats representatives who actually had sex with 16 and 17-year-old children.