Warner Todd Huston
Dem leaders knew of Massa's sexual misconduct
Will Dems be held accountable like GOP was over Mark Foley?
By Warner Todd Huston
Remember when Florida Congressman Mark Foley was outed for sexual misconduct with male pages in the House of Representatives in 2006? You'll recall that the Democrats and the Old Media and the left were in some high dudgeon over the claim that Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert knew all about it before the scandal erupted and played the story endlessly for months on end.
Well now with Congressman Eric Massa from New York we have a Democrat also accused of sexual misconduct with a male staffer and we similarly find out that the Democratic leadership knew all about it. Will the Old Media make as much about Dem. Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer's knowledge of Massa's sexual misconduct as it did about the Republican leadership's supposed knowledge of Foley's?
Here is a small sampling of the treatment of the story by The New York Times as an example:
Back in 2006 The New York Times had a field day with Foley's disgusting behavior. Even a year after the incident the Times was still indulging outrage over the "shameful cover-up in the halls of Congress" that was the Foley scandal.
As Dennis Hastert lost his Speakership in Nov. of 2006, The Times pinned it all to his "role in the Mark Foley scandal" because it "became a Democratic talking point and severely limited his effectiveness as an advocate for House candidates."
The Times even took a break from moralizing about those evil Republicans to poke some fun with a story about a satirical online game about Foley's actions. The game was described as an, "online game in which Mr. Foley's head is maneuvered through a Pac-Man-like maze as it tries to outrun Congressional pages."
The Times wasn't the only one, of course. Just for a few examples: ABCNews was on the case; so was the Chicago Sun-Times; and CNN also hit the story up for months on end. Any web search of Hastert and Foley's names linked together will search out hours of reading.
And the left was happy to add to the din. The lefty website Think Progress, for instance, was virtually salivating over the Foley situation and quickly posted an extensive "Foley Coverup Timeline."
Mary Katherine Ham did a great post tracing the emergence of the story back in 2006 to reveal its race through the Old Media. Patterico also had a good post talking about how the left and Old Media began to beat the Hastert-knew-it-all drum before any facts were ascertained.
In any case, the story was a mainstay in the OId Media for months and has occasionally been brought up in the years since.
Now on March 3 comes the story that first-term Congressman Eric Massa, Democrat from New York, is retiring. He claims it is for health reasons but it looks more like he's trying to get out ahead of charges that he sexually harassed a male Congressional staffer. Facts are a bit scarce yet, though, so there is no way to judge if the accusations seem plausible. Not that a lack of facts prevented the Old Media from launching a full court press for Foley, mind you.
To add to the news of Massa's retirement and possible sex scandal, we are also told that Democrat House Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer knew of the accusations against Massa at least as far back as February 8, almost a month ago. Will we see rabid calls of what did Hoyer know it and when did he know it from the press?
Is this any sort of defense of Mark Foley? Certainly not. But as the Massa story develops and we learn more about what charges against him are true, and what aren't let us pause to judge whether the Old Media rakes Democrat Eric Massa over the coals in the same way it did Republican Mark Foley.
© Warner Todd Huston
March 4, 2010
Remember when Florida Congressman Mark Foley was outed for sexual misconduct with male pages in the House of Representatives in 2006? You'll recall that the Democrats and the Old Media and the left were in some high dudgeon over the claim that Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert knew all about it before the scandal erupted and played the story endlessly for months on end.
Well now with Congressman Eric Massa from New York we have a Democrat also accused of sexual misconduct with a male staffer and we similarly find out that the Democratic leadership knew all about it. Will the Old Media make as much about Dem. Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer's knowledge of Massa's sexual misconduct as it did about the Republican leadership's supposed knowledge of Foley's?Here is a small sampling of the treatment of the story by The New York Times as an example:
Back in 2006 The New York Times had a field day with Foley's disgusting behavior. Even a year after the incident the Times was still indulging outrage over the "shameful cover-up in the halls of Congress" that was the Foley scandal.
As Dennis Hastert lost his Speakership in Nov. of 2006, The Times pinned it all to his "role in the Mark Foley scandal" because it "became a Democratic talking point and severely limited his effectiveness as an advocate for House candidates."
The Times even took a break from moralizing about those evil Republicans to poke some fun with a story about a satirical online game about Foley's actions. The game was described as an, "online game in which Mr. Foley's head is maneuvered through a Pac-Man-like maze as it tries to outrun Congressional pages."
The Times wasn't the only one, of course. Just for a few examples: ABCNews was on the case; so was the Chicago Sun-Times; and CNN also hit the story up for months on end. Any web search of Hastert and Foley's names linked together will search out hours of reading.
And the left was happy to add to the din. The lefty website Think Progress, for instance, was virtually salivating over the Foley situation and quickly posted an extensive "Foley Coverup Timeline."
Mary Katherine Ham did a great post tracing the emergence of the story back in 2006 to reveal its race through the Old Media. Patterico also had a good post talking about how the left and Old Media began to beat the Hastert-knew-it-all drum before any facts were ascertained.
In any case, the story was a mainstay in the OId Media for months and has occasionally been brought up in the years since.
Now on March 3 comes the story that first-term Congressman Eric Massa, Democrat from New York, is retiring. He claims it is for health reasons but it looks more like he's trying to get out ahead of charges that he sexually harassed a male Congressional staffer. Facts are a bit scarce yet, though, so there is no way to judge if the accusations seem plausible. Not that a lack of facts prevented the Old Media from launching a full court press for Foley, mind you.
To add to the news of Massa's retirement and possible sex scandal, we are also told that Democrat House Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer knew of the accusations against Massa at least as far back as February 8, almost a month ago. Will we see rabid calls of what did Hoyer know it and when did he know it from the press?
Is this any sort of defense of Mark Foley? Certainly not. But as the Massa story develops and we learn more about what charges against him are true, and what aren't let us pause to judge whether the Old Media rakes Democrat Eric Massa over the coals in the same way it did Republican Mark Foley.
© Warner Todd Huston
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