Tribune-Review Editorial – 10/6/06

This page was last updated on October 7, 2006.

The Foley scandal: RESIGN, MR. HASTERT; Editorial; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; October 6, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Reports of the death of the speakership of Dennis Hastert may have been premature. But that doesn’t mean he should keep his job.

“Shortly after word broke that e-mails, instant messages or cell phone text messages sent to House pages, of age or under, by then-Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., were far more than ‘overly friendly’ missives, the speaker of the House said his office’s knowledge of the depth of the sludge was limited.

“But as usually happens with posterior-covering politicians in pre-election panic, an alternative version of the ‘truth’ surfaced.

“On Wednesday, Mr. Foley’s former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, said he informed Mr. Hastert’s chief of staff of Foley’s behavior before 2004. Hastert’s office previously said it knew of concerns regarding Foley last fall -- but not of the explicit sexual nature of some of the contacts until Friday last, when Foley resigned.

“Hastert’s chief of staff, Scott Palmer, denies earlier knowledge.

“Earlier Wednesday on a Cincinnati radio station, House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, threw Hastert under the bus: The speaker previously had told him the Foley matter ‘had been taken care of.’ Later, other high-ranking Republicans said they warned Hastert in the spring.

“If not a fumbling attempt at a cover-up mere weeks before a critical midterm election (and we doubt that it was), Hastert, a hugely ineffectual speaker, is guilty of gross ineptitude. And that’s not ‘leadership.’

“During a Thursday news conference, and after spending 24 hours blaming everyone but himself, the Illinois Republican said the buck stops with his office. Admitting no missteps, he said he was ‘sorry,’ an apology or sorts to the American people.

“But Dennis Hastert stopped short of doing what he must do -- resign the speakership.

“Do the right thing, Mr. Speaker.”

[RWC] Just as the Beaver County Times and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it appears the Trib suffers from knee-jerkitis.

As just about everyone, 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. Beyond this, however, all we have are sound bites and accusations and certainly not enough information to make further judgments, either about Mr. Foley or House leadership. The truth is, I don’t believe anyone knows the full story yet and probably won’t for a while.

I expect the Times and the PG to jump to conclusions before all the facts are in. I expected better from the Trib.