Why does there have to be a pedophile scandal for Dems to win?

Question

OK, for once this is actually an honest question, just one of those snarky non-questions you find all the time in the politics section. I'm a big liberal, and while pleased with tonight's outcome, I'm concerned that it took a pedophile scandal (Mark Foley) to put Dems over the top (at least I *think* that's what happened). But what if Foley never did anything wrong? What if there were no headline-grabbing sex scandals just before the election? I'm concerned that voters just can't understand liberals and what we stand for. Maybe all the people understand are sex scandals. It's more than a little disconcerting.

Answer 1

The election was such a blowout Foley had little to do with it. It was a referendum on Monkey's war, that's about it.

But like the little pedophile that he is, Foley's hypocrisy is just icing on the cake.

Answer 2

I don't think that Foley had much to do with it. After Barney Frank is still in the Congress and he had a male prostitute running his business out of Barney's apartment. The voters in his district don't care. Over the years there have been lots more sex scandels among the Democrats. Democrats don't care, no the party or the voters. When a Republican makes a raunchy phone call , it is career ending. Rebublicans attempt to uphold a higher moral standard, but when a Republican comes into a weak position, everyone screams. Foley had already resigned!

There was also the sex-in-the-cloak-room scandel. It made headlines, but I don't think the people involved were run down as hard as Foley has been. That scandel involved hardcore, bath house type all out sex in the cloak room in the Congress building.
It was just plain wrong behavior.

Governments aren't made up of perfect people, but there ought to be a consistent astandard for both parties and I don't see it. I see pervey people running in local elections and national elections. I want to see some good policies . Stuff like that never even gets coverage. Energy policy is still stuck in congress by regional demands. Coal states want us to use coal. Corn States want us to use ethanol. It's all still just driven by regional opportunities enriched with subsidies.
It isn't a cohesive policy that benefits all of us.
I am a conservative and I have a Honda Insight. I recycle, raise some of my own food, etc.

Answer 3

I am sorry to tell you, but the Foley scandal was just a tiny microchip of the reason the Democrats won today. It was high time for a change in direction. I am speaking only for myself, I do a lot of reading between the lines. The problems with the former administration were too many for the people to stand by and watch another election stolen.
Voting today, was just my answer to the Stay the Course ideals that have been crammed down our throats for the last 6 years. Stay the Course, to me, was practiced not only for the Iraq war, but for every tough issue that faced the former Republican controlled government, and very little was solved. The winds of change are upon us. In the coming months we will see if they act like spoiled brats, or if they will be willing to work with a bipartisan Congress, to get problems solved. We must all hope for the latter.

Answer 4

I had nothing to do with Foley. People want a change! Most people have the common sense to know that just because Foley is a sick F**k doesn't mean that the whole party is that way. They are ready for a change. I mean come on; to you think the Dems will have the house forever? They won't! Neither will the republicans, its back and forth and has always been that way. People get tired of seeing Bush's face on TV, or the Iraq war. Its just the idea of being sick and tired of what we see everyday.

Answer 5

I think that the scandal was more like icing on the cake rather than a last straw. All in all it was the over reaching for power by the Bush administration that turned the tide and brought about the results of this election. We've been fed bull on a fear colored platter. People woke up to that.
It's one thing to have fear of an enemy half way around the world and another to have fear of your own government. This is a fear that the American people can deal with directly at the polls. And we have spoken.

Answer 6

So now you get a taste of what the 1950s was like. The Repubs were so desperate they were claiming 1 in 1,000 Americans was a "communist". Careers were ruined, people went to the electric chair and a new politician from California wanted to build concentration camps -- Richard M. Nixon.

The strategy worked and we got 50 years build-up in the FBI and the military.

Sex scandals make better television stories than stories about Americans with ideological differences.

Answer 7

Politics is exactly that: social interactions that involve deal making to acheive certain goals (passage or defeat of laws or bills). In many cases, such "deal makings" involve degrees of personal blackmail.

Political figures all have on staff discreetly hired professionals who spy on other political figures in ways the FBI / CIA and Homeland Security could all learn new lessons in.

If a political figure won't tow the party line, then his OR her (and there are a plenty), scandalous secrets are let out.

Answer 8

It is the media who makes this into a (repetitive) scandal. People have stuff to talk about when this happens.

The people are waking up!!! They have been slowly and I hope to God it shows this year. I really don't think this priest had anything to do with it.

I wonder what led you to that conclusion? I live in Los Angeles. Maybe we are use to the media BS here. Is this the consensus opinion of it where you live?

Answer 9

The candidate running in Foleys place barely lost this election. This was much more an indictment of Bush's policies than it was of Foley or any other Republican candidates morals.

Answer 10

i think the democrats just stepped up their game because they were really mad they lost the presidential election. however, i also think the scandals helped them and there is so much democratic propaganda.. i mean a lot! i think some, some ignorant young kids vote democrat only b/c their favorite celebrity is saying vote democrat! vote democrat! a lot of people vote without knowing what they're voting for.

i won't mind them winning the next presidential election but i hope kerry doesn't run again.

oh, the war in iraq. i think most can agree we need some new minds to figure out a way out of that.