Paging Republicans : Troubled Times Ahead

The political temperature at Capitol Hill in Washington has been red-hot since the revelations of former Congressman from Florida, Mark Foley’s child abuse scandal and charges of pedophilia surfaced on ABC News service a few weeks back. The charges against Foley relate to him sending obscene and sexually suggestive instant messages to pages in the Congress. Pages are teens employed as interns at Capitol Hill for them to carry out courier services and also to expose these young minds to how the legislative government machinery of the world oldest democracy works. As it turns out, if the charges are proven, the Page system itself will need an overhauling to avoid teens from becoming victims of prying eyes and thoughts of Senators and Congressman. What has been most appalling in the Foley scandal, has been the fact that Foley himself was a ‘champion’ against child abuse and was on various sub-committee’s to introduce legislation to ensure child safety against domestic violence and sex crimes. Foley’s own involvement in the crime he was trusted to prevent augurs very badly for all politicians on both sides of the divide on how to tackle the menace of child abuse in this day and age of the internet and unsupervised web exposure by children.

But like all scandals this too has taken a political hue. Understandably, the Democrats have been accused of raking up this issue when the House of Representatives is to undergo mid-term elections on November 5th. Republicans, with their backs against the wall are hitting back at the Democrats by accusing them of having prior information of Foley’s outrageous behaviour but keeping a lid on it till election fever sweeps the country, thereby, exposing more Page’s to further possible abuse by Foley. Democrats, now sensing that they can wrestle back the Congress from the Republicans have found another pet issue of moral values that the Republicans champion and are turning the tables with the Foley fallout. They have also insisted that the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert knew about the instant messages and salacious e-mails prior to its expose by ABC. They are also demanding that the speaker owe up to his oversight and resign. Hastert, the longest serving speaker, is himself in a bind, for if he resigns it is a tacit acceptance of his guilt, on the other hand, if he stays the issue remains at the forefront of national debate and media attention. The sitting Congressman and Senators who are fighting to save their seats are avoiding the controversy and detaching themselves from any knowledge of the alleged crime. Some have asked for Hastert to resign, if found guilty of complicity or abetting, charges which are far from proven at the moment. But for Hastert, the former wrestling coach, these are testing times.

President George Bush has been vocal in condemning the Foley scandal and has been quick to distance himself from the politics of Capitol Hill. But he too knows that the scandal will have leave a mark on the mid-term polls and it is likely that the core support base of the Republicans – evangelical Christians and Christian conservatives will have doubts on the high moral ground the republicans talk about during election but fail to live up to those values once in office. Also as Democratic Senator Joe Biden, articulated on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, even without the Foley scandal, the Republicans were in trouble with the War in Iraq, the Iran nuclear issue, North Korea and on domestic issues of rising gun-related crime in schools and oil prices. President Bush has been hitting back at critics of the Iraq war and have accused Democrats of advocating a policy of “cutting and running”, he insists, that the American Marines should stay the course and get the job finished. While, one would not advocate an immediate pullout of the quagmire that has become Iraq, a change in policy is urgently required. Former Secretary of State, James Baker, who has just returned from a fact-finding mission in Iraq, has painted a grim picture about the country’s future and its present sectarian strife. Baker’s report echoes what analysts and politicians alike have been saying for the better half of this year, that Iraq is in a low-grade civil war. Increased troop levels or the division of Iraq on sectarian autonomous zones remain the two credible options. While the former is the needed to save the country from breaking-up the latter offers a more long-term peace prospect. Both these notions have been ignored by the Bush White House, and with a lack of an alternative strategy Bush’s own political standing has been severely diminished. With talks on the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue seeming further from resolving Bush’s foreign policy will have a severe effect on the Republican party’s chances.

Moreover, Bush has always painted himself and the Republicans as the moral lighthouse of America. Bush’s tough line on abortion and on embryonic stem cell research have won him accolades from the Christian right. But, with the Foley scandal severely eroding the party’s moral standing, it seems that the last bastion of the Republicans that has remained their stronghold in the Presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, finally seems to have been breached. It is unlikely that the Republicans will hold on to the House of Representatives and that can severely effect the maneuvering space the new Democrats controlled Congress will offer to Bush. There are tough times ahead for the Republicans and the Congress who are wondering whom to blame – Foley, the current whipping boy or Bush, the perennial one.