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CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE CHATS WERE PAGE 'PRANK GONE AWRY'
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**

According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.

According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, goaded an unwitting Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats.

The primary source, an ally of Edmund, adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund. Both are fearful that their political careers will be affected if they are publicly brought into the investigation.

The prank scenario only applies to the Edmund IM sessions and does not necessarily apply to any other exchanges between the former congressman and others.

The news come on the heels that Edmund has hired former Timothy McVeigh attorney, Stephen Jones.

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Originally posted by Hero:
Unfortunately the media, the Democratic Party, and the liberals on this board don't seem to understand that there are two sides to every story.

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For six years I've watched the Democrats launch attack after attack on Republicans. They've been political, professional, and often personal, but not matter how long they've always backfired. My personal favorite was Rather and the phony memos in 2006 or maybe the Wellstone funeral rants in '02.

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Earlier today it was revealed that Democratic operatives have been sitting on those e-mails and IM's for months just to release them on the final day of the session and a few weeks before election...also right in the midst of a Republican rally in the polls. This explains why the story broke one day and the nationwide attack adds were on the air less then 24 hours later.

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CLAIM: FILTHY FOLEY ONLINE CHATS WERE PAGE 'PRANK GONE AWRY'
**World Exclusive**
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**

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Drudge edited his headline by referring to the allegation as a "claim" after RAW STORY teased this piece.

He also added the following pieces of clarification to his story: "The prank scenario only applies to the [aforementioned] IM sessions and does not necessarily apply to any other exchanges between the former congressman and others."

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My professional political analysis

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is that the Democrats need to offer viable policy alternatives rather then defeatism, hate, and scandal mongering.

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Originally posted by SignyM:
It's the DEMOCRAT'S FAULT! Or Clinton's... Soros'... homosexual's. If only liberals didn't defend perversion. And he was an alcoholic.

Poor Foley. He really is just a victim.



---------------------------------
Reality sucks. Especially when it contradicts our cherished ideas.

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Originally posted by Hero:
Earlier today it was revealed that Democratic operatives have been sitting on those e-mails and IM's for months just to release them on the final day of the session and a few weeks before election...

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Originally posted by SevenPercent:

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Originally posted by Hero:
Earlier today it was revealed that Democratic operatives have been sitting on those e-mails and IM's for months just to release them on the final day of the session and a few weeks before election...also right in the midst of a Republican rally in the polls. This explains why the story broke one day and the nationwide attack adds were on the air less then 24 hours later.

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And that makes this about them how, exactly? How does that excuse Foley, Hastert, or Shimkus? It doesn't.

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Now the FBI is saying that the e-mails and IMs provided by the liberal interest group were edited for content.

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I don't think the point was to excuse Foley, Hastert, or Shimkus. I think the point was that no matter how long and loud the Dem's talk about protecting America's youth, That was not their real motive.

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"And lets not forget a certain Democratic congressman who was given a standing ovation on the House floor by Pelosi and her Democrats after being censured for having sex with a 17 year-old page."

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when the House voted to censure Studds, on July 20, 1983, by a vote of 420-3 as the House read its censure motion aloud, Studds turned his back on the speaker and members in the chamber and ignored them. In addition to the censure, the Democratic leadership stripped Studds of his chairmanship of the House Merchant Marine subcommittee.

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Originally posted by Hero:
For six years I've watched the Democrats launch attack after attack on Republicans. They've been political, professional, and often personal,

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In short, that's what politics is these days, one side finds ALL the dirt on the other, because, they can't find ACTUAL issues to calmly discuss.

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Originally posted by jossisagod:
In short, that's what politics is these days, one side finds ALL the dirt on the other, because, they can't find ACTUAL issues to calmly discuss.

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Earlier today it was revealed that Democratic operatives have been sitting on those e-mails and IM's for months just to release them on the final day of the session and a few weeks before election...also right in the midst of a Republican rally in the polls. This explains why the story broke one day and the nationwide attack adds were on the air less then 24 hours later.

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excerpted from http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2006/10/usual-suspects.html
Seven days since the Foley scandal broke, and the list of GOP-designated Official Scapegoats is already almost a dozen strong and still growing. So far, the list of possible fall guys and gals includes all the usual suspects, plus a few original ones:

The Democrats
CREW
The GOP Gay Cabal
The Catholic Church
Nancy Pelosi
Eve Ensler
Bill Clinton (yes, it's a stretch, but they couldn't walk away from it on a bet)
Booze
Porn
Tolerance and diversity training
The pages themselves

Or maybe it's nobody's fault. Apparently, if you're a Republican, this behavior can simply be considered normal. In that case: what's all the fuss about, anyway?

So far, they're only missing evolution, abortion, Al Qaida, and the International Zionist Conspiracy. Oh, yeah, and Denny Hastert and Tom Reynolds. But deflecting blame from them is the whole point of the exercise, so I doubt we'll be hearing much about them.

If you come across any more Usual Suspects to add to this list, drop 'em in the comments.

Update: Our inquiring commenters have added:

The Liberal Media and
George Soros who not only counts for himself but also the International Zionist Conspiracy.

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Originally posted by Hero:
Earlier today it was revealed that Democratic operatives have been sitting on those e-mails and IM's for months just to release them on the final day of the session and a few weeks before election...also right in the midst of a Republican rally in the polls. This explains why the story broke one day and the nationwide attack adds were on the air less then 24 hours later.

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A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally confronted Foley about his communications.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) confirmed yesterday that a former page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the youth feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Fla.) was taking their e-mail relationship.

...The revelation pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley's behavior with former pages.

A source with direct knowledge of Kolbe's involvement said the messages shared with Kolbe were sexually explicit, and he read the contents to The Washington Post under the condition that they not be reprinted...

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Originally posted by FellowTraveler:

"Lawmaker Saw Foley Messages In 2000"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/08/AR2006
100800855.html

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A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally confronted Foley about his communications.

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Just waiting to see if Hero grows a set and answers back...

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Originally posted by Storymark:
Bump.

Hero's been off the board for 4 days now. This thread has turned into idiot-repellant.

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Originally posted by SevenPercent:
Which means it couldn't be the GOP's fault.

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Originally posted by FellowTraveler:


And it's pretty amusing to me that these Republicans here will not admit defeat. Every piece of information that has been released thus far clearly demonstrates that members of the GOP leadership and caucus were aware of Foley's behavior. But the Republicans here don't address that. They just ignore the topic. They pretend nothing happened and hope the electorate will forget.

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Originally posted by Hero:
So, what were we talking about...

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Originally posted by Causal:
I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank the participants in this discussion for reminding me why I don't frequent these boards anymore.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An ex-congressional aide testified to a House ethics panel Thursday about concerns he had regarding former Rep. Mark Foley's Internet exchanges with teen congressional pages.

...However, a source familiar with the ex-aide's account said earlier Thursday that Fordham was to tell the panel that he delivered warnings to House Speaker Dennis Hastert's top aide years ago.

Fordham also planned to testify under oath that he warned more than one congressional official several times about Foley's inappropriate behavior, the source said.

Fordham, who finished his testimony Thursday afternoon, has said he issued the warnings earlier than Republican leaders have reported.

The source said Fordham was to say he notified Scott Palmer, Hastert's chief of staff, three or four years ago about a report that Foley had shown up drunk at the dormitory that houses the teenage messengers

Rep. Alexander brought the e-mail from his constituent to the attention of Hastert's office, resulting in a private warning to Foley from then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl and Shimkus, the House Page Board chairman. Both Alexander and the teen's family have said that they did not want the issue made public and wanted the contact to stop.

Hastert and other top GOP lawmakers have said they were not previously aware of the sexually explicit instant messages between Foley and other pages. But sources familiar with the situation told CNN that Trandahl had raised alarms about Foley's contacts with the teens long before he resigned his post in November 2005.

And in a statement Tuesday, Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Arizona, said that a young man he had appointed as a page told his office that he had received an e-mail from Foley "that made him uncomfortable." Kolbe's office said the complaint was from 2000 or 2001.

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HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Republican Rep. Christopher Shays defended the House speaker's handling of a congressional page scandal, saying no one died like during the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident involving Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy.

"I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day," the embattled Connecticut congressman told The Hartford Courant in remarks published Wednesday.

"Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody," he added

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