Thu
Oct 5 2006
12:37 pm
Insty Links to Weblog Outing Foley Page
By: Eleanor A

According to Think Progress, Instapundit linked to a weblog outing one of the teens harrassed by former Rep. Mark Foley...Nice work. Nothing like exposing a young person to even yet still more harrassment at the hands of right-wing fanatics in a lather over what this scandal's going to do to the GOP's electoral hopes this November.

(link...)

(Somebody go confirm the Insty post so I don't have to, willya? I'd feel like I had to soak my keyboard in Lysol after...)

Topics:
Number9's picture

Why did you post that?

Submitted by Number9 on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 12:40pm.

Why did you post that?

SayUncle's picture

'Insty Links to Weblog

Submitted by SayUncle on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 12:47pm.

'Insty Links to Weblog Outing Foley Page'

Really, where? Show me the link on instapundit.

---
SayUncle
Can't we all just get a long gun?

SayUncle's picture

'Somebody go confirm the

Submitted by SayUncle on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 12:51pm.

'Somebody go confirm the Insty post so I don't have to, willya? I'd feel like I had to soak my keyboard in Lysol after...'

It doesn't exist. He linked to a guy who linked to the guy.

---
SayUncle
Can't we all just get a long gun?

Johnny Ringo's picture

The only link I see on Instapundit...

Submitted by Johnny Ringo on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 12:56pm.

...is a link to Drudge, who has a story that "Wild Bill" scoped out the identity of one of Foley's accusers because ABC failed to redact the name of the kid in one of the emails it published on the ABC website.

Eleanor A's picture

What's it say?

Submitted by Eleanor A on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 12:59pm.

The Drudge link...I would assume IP links to Drudge every day about everything. Is this more than just a bare hyperlink sitting there in the middle of a blank page?

Johnny Ringo's picture

Drudge Story

Submitted by Johnny Ringo on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 1:06pm.

ABC ONLINE GLITCH LEADS TO IDENTITY OF FOLEY ACCUSER

FAMOUS IM EXCHANGE WAS WITH 18 YEAR OLD

**UPDATE Thu Oct 05 2006 11:54:13 ET

A posting on ABCNEWS.COM of an unredacted instant message sessions between Rep. Mark Foley and a former congressional page has exposed the identity of the now 21 year-old accuser.

The website PASSIONATE AMERICA detailed the startling exposure late Wednesday.

MORE

The PASSIONATE AMERICA webmaster tells the OKLAHOMAN that "he stumbled onto the former page's AOL screen name when looking at transcripts of the instant messages on ABC's Web site on Saturday. He said he typed a slightly-different Web address into his browser and found a version of the transcript with the screen name.

The AOL name of the young man was kept unredacted and housed on ABCNEWS.COM servers for 5 days!

The information could be publicly accessed.

ABC explains in a statement: "On Friday, ABC News published instant messages between a former page and Congressman Foley with the IM screen name of the teenage victim redacted. Immediately, we discovered that in one instance, the screen name of the teen on one IM exchange had not been properly redacted. ABC News immediately took down the posting [version 1], redacted the screen name and re-published the posting [version 2]. We certainly believed that we had taken care of the issue quickly. Last evening, after an inquiry from Matt Drudge, it came to our attention that a blogger was able to access our deleted file [version 1] by typing in a slightly modified web address. To be clear, no one visiting our website would have simply stumbled on the old version."

Les Jones's picture

Judge for yourself:

Submitted by Les Jones on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 1:21pm.

Here's the Insty post:

A BIG FOLEYGATE MASTURGATE ROUNDUP, at Pajamas Media.

Plus, an open secret? And a look at the GOP playbook: "Gerry Studds (D-MA) had sex with a 17-year-old male page. In 1983*, he was reprimanded. Republicans wanted to censure him. But 79 Dems voted against upgrading the condemnation. The GOP wants you to know that some in the Democratic Party, in 1983, apparently did not find Studds's conduct to be deserving of a full censure, which carries significant penalties."

And a look at the blog that started it all. Dirty tricks are dirty, sure -- but does this really help the Republicans given that the charges seem to be true?

UPDATE: Hmm: "Meanwhile, does anyone think it is ironic that so-called progressives who excoriated eavesdropping on terrorists are feasting on the publication of supposedly confidential email and IMs? You can forget about privacy. It no longer exists, if it ever did."

That last link goes to a Roger L. Simon post discussing how privacy is over, and that post then links to a blogger who explains how he found out who the page was.

MediaMatters seems to be blowing this way out of proportion. Even if Instapundit linked to the final site (which he didn't) and said "click here to see the page's identity" (which he didn't), so what? The horse was out of the barn. The information was out there on the Internet and within a day or two the right Google search would have found that Web site. Does MediaMatters really think the genie would have stayed in the bottle if only Instapundit hadn't linked to a site that linked to the site with the information?

Hey, Les, why don't we just call each other assholes and get it over with. - Somebody on the old Southknoxbubba.net (if that was you, claim your quote and win net.fame!)

Andy Axel's picture

I'm sure Instapundit will

Submitted by Andy Axel on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 3:17pm.

I'm sure Instapundit will sleep well, no matter what happens to the person whose identity (and sexual orientation) is now a matter of public record.

Roger Simon and Pajamas Media damned well better hope that this kid doesn't wind up the victim of death threats or a gaybashing. Seriously.

so-called progressives who excoriated eavesdropping on terrorists are feasting on the publication of supposedly confidential email and IMs?

If the transaction of this information took place on a government computer, I don't know that there's an express expectation of privacy.

I know there's not at my office. My employer makes it very clear that all of my internet activity is logged as is the property of my employer. FYI. Same rule might apply in the House.

____________________________

On tops of mountains, as everywhere to hopeful souls, it is always morning. --H. Thoreau

Les Jones's picture

Give me a break

Submitted by Les Jones on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 3:54pm.

More people found out about Wild Bill's Web site because of ThinkProgress than because of Instapundit or Roger L. Simon. ThinkProgress is the one taking cheap political potshots in this ruckus.

Hey, Les, why don't we just call each other assholes and get it over with. - Somebody on the old Southknoxbubba.net (if that was you, claim your quote and win net.fame!)

Andy Axel's picture

Oh, the "mom, he hit me

Submitted by Andy Axel on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 3:57pm.

Oh, the "mom, he hit me first" standard.

OK.

Never mind that it was clearly Pajamas Media's intent to out Foley's accuser. Instapundit and Simon are the real victims here, huh?

____________________________

On tops of mountains, as everywhere to hopeful souls, it is always morning. --H. Thoreau

Les Jones's picture

Neither Insty or Simon

Submitted by Les Jones on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 4:21pm.

Neither Insty or Simon suggested in any way that they were linking to a site where the page's identity was revealed. ThinkProgress is the one who called attention to the site by name.

Here's a Google News search for "wild bill":

 

That Forbes story is an AP wire. The AP must hate gay people, huh?

Also notice that thumbnail graphic. ThinkProgress originally had a picture of Roger Simon from Newsweek, rather than Roger L. Simon. Sticklers for accuracy, those guys.

Hey, Les, why don't we just call each other assholes and get it over with. - Somebody on the old Southknoxbubba.net (if that was you, claim your quote and win net.fame!)

Andy Axel's picture

Of course they wouldn't

Submitted by Andy Axel on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 4:25pm.

Of course they wouldn't deign to "suggest" anything of the sort.

Instapundit just links stuff. He doesn't support or believe any of it.

Uh huh.

____________________________

On tops of mountains, as everywhere to hopeful souls, it is always morning. --H. Thoreau

Eleanor A's picture

What a fat pack of

Submitted by Eleanor A on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 4:35pm.

What a fat pack of hypocrisy, not that I'm surprised. You guys know damn well what a veiled attack looks like, and this is it. You might have a shred of credibility had Rush Limbaugh and Mike Savage, Bill Kristol, and a slew of others not already gone on national media to blame these kids for 'leading Foley on,' suggesting they are impostors, Democrats, or what have you. I suppose you're going to try to convince us next that Instapundit somehow blindly linked to that story without having read it, and had no inkling of the contents.

Nobody I know has a problem with eavesdropping on terrorists. Only on regular folks who haven't done a goddamn thing wrong, who now could face trial without having an opportunity to view the material against them or face their accusers. I suppose you'll claim you never heard a thing about Nixon's enemies list, or anything about Dick Cheney having had some dude arrested for telling him off on the Iraq war.

I suppose you think darkening Ford's complexion on a campaign ad is totally innocuous. Not that I care much, since there's no reasoning with a few folks who post here regularly, and whose views on morality are hardly what I'd use to light my way in the darkness.

For the record, I posted it because I felt like it. It's a free country, barely, and I've had an account on here for a few months. Not everyone around here has the social viewpoint of a pack of jackals and I'm interested in what a few of them have to say about it.

Eleanor A's picture

Wish I'd seen this

Submitted by Eleanor A on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 4:51pm.

before I posted that, because I think it's pretty obvious what's happening here:

Apparently quite a few more pages have come forward with allegations against Foley.

(link...)

An official page tip line, similar to Crime Stoppers, was activated Thursday by House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

The phone line can be called to report any concerns about the congressional page program.
Officials would also like any information regarding former Rep. Mark Foley, who quit in a scandal over e-mails and text messages to teen pages.

Go ahead and leave your name and other personal information. So you can have it disseminated to the national media by a bunch of right-wing scavengers looking to turn this scandal into somebody else's problem. You don't really think Hastert won't pick up the phone and call his buddy Drudge once a few more tips come in, do you?

Andy Axel's picture

Of course, there's another

Submitted by Andy Axel on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 5:11pm.

Of course, there's another possible angle here.

According to Eleanor's post, there's a tip line out asking for people to come forward with information relevant to this investigation.

Now that it's apparent that the "Wild Bills" of the world will be out cyber-stalking the cyber-victims of Foley's cyber-crimes to wrest away their anonymity, that provides a significant disincentive for more people to come forward. Out of fear of being intimidated by gaybashing nutjob cyber-stalkers trying to protect Republican electoral margins, that is.

Can you say "obstruction of justice?"

____________________________

Forget patriotism. Instapundit.com is the last refuge of scoundrels.

Andy Axel's picture

And so it begins.

Submitted by Andy Axel on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 9:16pm.

And so it begins.

Threats and intimidation are following the Louisiana teen outed by Republican surrogates.

The FBI is investigating.

____________________________

Forget patriotism. Instapundit.com is the last refuge of scoundrels.

Number9's picture

What a fat pack of

Submitted by Number9 on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 4:54pm.

What a fat pack of hypocrisy, not that I'm surprised.

You condemn others for a post that reveals the identity of a former page, then you post the same information. Then you smugly call everyone else hypocrites. You must be very happy.

Thomas Nephew's picture

Does MediaMatters really

Submitted by Thomas Nephew on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 10:13pm.

Does MediaMatters really think the genie would have stayed in the bottle if only Instapundit hadn't linked to a site that linked to the site with the information?

"Hmm." No, of course not.  If Simon and Reynolds had resisted the temptation, the "lookee! lookee here!" would just have been done by someone else of lower moral fiber than they.  And it wouldn't have been an "Instalanche," and Simon and Reynolds would have had nothing but the pleasure of not contributing to a boy's outing.

Instead, however, it was Simon and Reynolds who decided to hurry up and win the "how low can you go" contest.  They knew exactly what they were doing, and they knew they could count on you and other allies to back them up in the "hey, I'm just linking" m.o. that's especially Reynolds' stock in trade. 

The whole "hypocritical progressives" thing is just the usual (slanderous) ideological icing on the cake.  (Progressives aren't against eavesdropping on terrorists, they're against warrantless eavesdropping on an area code.)

This is the other shoe dropping in the Drudge "they're teenage beasts" counterattack -- i.e., we'll be happy to help make your lives miserable as quickly as we can, boys, if we get half a chance.  Not saying it's a conspiracy -- more like it's instinctive.  A nice day's work for all of them, I'll warrant.

Number9's picture

Nice work. Nothing like

Submitted by Number9 on Thu, 2006/10/05 - 1:18pm.

Nice work. Nothing like exposing a young person to even yet still more harrassment at the hands of right-wing fanatics in a lather over what this scandal's going to do to the GOP's electoral hopes this November.

So why did you out this guy? Kinda hypocritical wasn't it?

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