RUSH: The Drive-By Media is now breathlessly reporting -- I was watching Fox News at the top of the hour -- the FBI, the justice department has now formally launched its investigation, and they are demanding that every Foley record be preserved. All of these Drive-By Media organizations are now breathlessly reporting that the FBI is actually now investigating. By the way, just as Hastert asked that they do, and this would be the same FBI which in July, when presented with the e-mails -- not the instant messages, but with the e-mails -- apparently decided not to pursue the case, and nobody seems to remember that.
Nobody seems to remember that when the first little couple of e-mails came out and they were shown the FBI, they said, "Ah, nothing to investigate here." Brian Ross, ABC, a brilliant investigative journalist, said, (lib journo impression) "No, I didn't see a Pulitzer here. Why should I investigate this? Why, no, we've got the anniversary of Katrina to destroy the Bush administration again with. We've got the anniversary of 9/11 to build up the Clinton administration. I don't have time for a bunch of little seedy e-mails from a third-rate congressman from Florida that I never heard of." No one seems to remember all that, though. Now, I'm assuming, ladies and gentlemen, that the FBI will look into who had these instant messages for all this time.
Now, when they say they're going to preserve all Foley records, I assume that means all the records on Foley's computer, but there are a whole lot of other Foley records out there that are on computers of other people, and I wonder how far this investigation will go in upturning or turning up, down-turning, whatever, information about Foley on other people's computers, like Democrats, perhaps. Grab audio sound bite 3-A, if you will, Mike. This is Dick Morris who was on Hannity & Colmes last night, and Hannity said to him, "When innocent people are smeared, Dick, I've gotta believe that people would tend to side with the people that are being smeared, and I see that this is happening more and more in this scandal."
MORRIS: And that's going to backfire on the Democrats by focusing on what did Hastert know because you know that some of the Democratic congressmen new. I had a reporter that told me today that she knows that one very prominent member of the Democratic leadership knew about this for months, and came out --
HANNITY: It's a big story.
MORRIS: Came out -- yeah, but it's up to her to break it.
RUSH: Yeah, see, that's the thing. Dick knows but it's up to her to break it, meaning the info babe. But he says he knows from a reporter that the Democratic congressman leadership knew about this for months. Isn't it interesting that that story hasn't been broken, isn't it? In the process of trying to destroy Hastert, in the process of trying to destroy Hastert over all this, in the process of getting duped conservatives to go along with the notion that Hastert ought to quit, that Hastert ought to step down, here's Dick Morris on television last night say, yeah, I talked to a reporter. There's a Democrat member of the leadership that's known about this for a long time. Nobody's interested in that.
RUSH: The Drive-By Media is now breathlessly reporting -- I was watching Fox News at the top of the hour -- the FBI, the justice department has now formally launched its investigation, and they are demanding that every Foley record be preserved. All of these Drive-By Media organizations are now breathlessly reporting that the FBI is actually now investigating. By the way, just as Hastert asked that they do, and this would be the same FBI which in July, when presented with the e-mails -- not the instant messages, but with the e-mails -- apparently decided not to pursue the case, and nobody seems to remember that.
Nobody seems to remember that when the first little couple of e-mails came out and they were shown the FBI, they said, "Ah, nothing to investigate here." Brian Ross, ABC, a brilliant investigative journalist, said, (lib journo impression) "No, I didn't see a Pulitzer here. Why should I investigate this? Why, no, we've got the anniversary of Katrina to destroy the Bush administration again with. We've got the anniversary of 9/11 to build up the Clinton administration. I don't have time for a bunch of little seedy e-mails from a third-rate congressman from Florida that I never heard of." No one seems to remember all that, though. Now, I'm assuming, ladies and gentlemen, that the FBI will look into who had these instant messages for all this time.
Now, when they say they're going to preserve all Foley records, I assume that means all the records on Foley's computer, but there are a whole lot of other Foley records out there that are on computers of other people, and I wonder how far this investigation will go in upturning or turning up, down-turning, whatever, information about Foley on other people's computers, like Democrats, perhaps. Grab audio sound bite 3-A, if you will, Mike. This is Dick Morris who was on Hannity & Colmes last night, and Hannity said to him, "When innocent people are smeared, Dick, I've gotta believe that people would tend to side with the people that are being smeared, and I see that this is happening more and more in this scandal."
MORRIS: And that's going to backfire on the Democrats by focusing on what did Hastert know because you know that some of the Democratic congressmen new. I had a reporter that told me today that she knows that one very prominent member of the Democratic leadership knew about this for months, and came out --
HANNITY: It's a big story.
MORRIS: Came out -- yeah, but it's up to her to break it.
RUSH: Yeah, see, that's the thing. Dick knows but it's up to her to break it, meaning the info babe. But he says he knows from a reporter that the Democratic congressman leadership knew about this for months. Isn't it interesting that that story hasn't been broken, isn't it? In the process of trying to destroy Hastert, in the process of trying to destroy Hastert over all this, in the process of getting duped conservatives to go along with the notion that Hastert ought to quit, that Hastert ought to step down, here's Dick Morris on television last night say, yeah, I talked to a reporter. There's a Democrat member of the leadership that's known about this for a long time. Nobody's interested in that. That would be a good title of a book: "Perverted with Pages." Regardless, we're just supposed to let that go, Howard, that that's not relevant, Howard? It's only relevant when Democrats can turn up such stuff about Republicans, but when the Republicans do it in response, it's just nothing? "Democrats are focusing for now on Hastert’s fate, and the 'who knew what when' angle, but will soon get back to Foley himself—and those excruciatingly explicit instant messages." Okay, what that means is this: If Hastert refuses to step down, they're going to go back tomorrow, tonight, the next day, whatever, and dribble-drabble, squirt out some more Foley instant messages that just seem to be popping up here automatically, at random, and so forth. So that's where we are, FBI, official investigation underway. Foley's records impounded and ordered preserved.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: There has been a resignation, ladies and gentlemen, involving the Foley case. (story) "A top aide to Representative Thomas Reynolds last week approached ABC News to try to get its investigative unit," Brian Ross, "to withhold sexually explicit instant messages that now disgraced Representative Mark Foley sent to teenaged boys who worked as pages. Kirk Fordham, Reynolds' chief of staff, acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that he approached ABC News Brian Ross last Friday with an offer: Ross would get the exclusive story on Foley's resignation from Congress in exchange for withholding those salacious instant messages. Fordham said he never discussed the offer with his boss Reynolds. Instead, Fordham said he acted in an effort to shield Foley's family, especially his elderly parents from the lurid contents of the instant messages."
Fordham has just resigned. I think Fordham might have served as his chief of staff. Yes, he did. Fordham worked for Foley for ten years until early 2004, has rained in touch with his former boss, purely figuratively, of course. Kirk Fordham has resigned because of his attempt to get ABC not to run the news of the instant messages, without telling his boss. So a Republican has fallen on the sword, or has been thrown overboard or under the bus. Interesting story here in the Washington Post: "Some Say They Felt Uneasy About Representative's Attention -- In 1995, male House pages were warned to steer clear of a freshman Republican from Florida, who was already learning the names of the teenagers, dashing off notes, letters and e-mails to them, and asking them to join him for ice cream, according to a former page."
That must be the silk-and-swirl technique there being practiced. "Mark Beck-Heyman, now a graduate student in clinical psychology at George Washington University, and more than a dozen other former House pages said in interviews and via e-mail that Rep. Mark Foley was known to be extraordinarily friendly in a way that made some of them uncomfortable." This is in 1995 when Foley just got there. This is 11 years ago! Now, stick welcome on this. Eleven years ago, Foley is elected to Congress in 1994. A freshman Republican, Foley, part of the 1994 class -- of which I am an honorary member, by the way; I am honorary member, freshman class, 1994. So 1995, Foley's been there whatever length of time, not much, not even, you know, just a few months.
I don't know when the pages start. Foley could have been there just a week or two, and already his M.O. was known? Who sat on this? Eleven years! It's been known for 11 years. This is a former page who worked at the Clinton White House and for the Kerry campaign. "Mark Beck-Heyman, who was a Republican page and is now a Democrat, said the attention was 'weird,' and he provided a handwritten letter that Foley sent him after the page left Washington to return home to California. The note suggested that they get together during the Republican National Convention in San Diego in 1996. The e-mail exchanges that have become public in recent days are between Foley and male former pages. None of those..."
No, no, that's instant messages! They keep confusing these. None of those interviewed said they had received a sexual or a suggestive overtone from him during their time on Capitol Hill, only when they were away from town. Only when they were out of town. "'Mark Foley knew that he could get away with this type of behavior with male pages because he was a congressman,' said Beck-Heyman, who later worked in the Clinton White House and on Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign. 'But many people on Capitol Hill,' including many Republican staffers, 'have known for over 11 years about what was going on and chose to do nothing,' he said." Hey, Mr. Mark Beck-Heyman, if this is all true, why didn't you guys use this in 2000? Why didn't you use it in 2002?
Why didn't you use it in 2004? Why didn't you use it in '96? Why didn't you use it in '98? If you knew this guy is out there acting as a predator against you and other male pages in the House, why did you hold and sit on this for 11 years? So this guy who was a Republican page, now a Democrat, worked in the Clinton White House, and on Kerry's campaign, says that this has been known for 11 years. Yes, Foley was a skunk for 11 years. Get the last line of the story. "After one all-night work session, Beck-Heyman's girlfriend -- another page -- offered to bring him breakfast. Foley asked if she was his girlfriend. 'It was an odd conversation,' Beck-Heyman said." Now, what's odd? I mean, you're sitting there with Foley, girlfriend brings him breakfast, Foley says is that your girlfriend? That's odd. Why would he ask me that?
