Ky. Democrat says Republicans who knew about Foley are "very liberal"

Republican leaders who might have known about disgraced former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's explicit sexual messages to underage male pages "are very liberal people" because they did not expose Foley's actions, Democratic congressional candidate Mike Weaver said in an interview with the Herald-Leader on Monday night.

"They have tolerated things that they should not have tolerated," Weaver said. "And it is far worse than what Bill Clinton wanted to do with Don't Ask, Don't Tell because this has to do with 16-year-old boys. So they covered that up, and that showed a very liberal tendency from some of the leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives."

When asked to clarify whether he was equating predatory behavior toward children with being liberal, Weaver said that had Foley been a Democrat, the entire party would have been branded as liberals.
...
At one point, his campaign manager, Robert Kellar, interrupted the interview to interject that Weaver was "not saying liberals are pedophiles."
...
(Republican U.S. Rep. Ron) Lewis said he rejected any idea that liberals are more apt to be socially deviant or to cover up such activity. "I have liberal friends who are very decent human beings," he said.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/15725423.htm

oh dear, I think Wes campaigned for him too.

At least I hope that's all that lies behind this. Playing to what he assumes is a home crowd anti-liberal bias. But rebuilding our Party from the bottom up in areas that the Democratic Party has grown weak involves taking some gambles with people who are raw at times. I'm sorry he said that, whether he knows it or not it was a mistake. I'm betting he knows it now.

It didn't take a liberal to blow the whistle on Foley; it only took someone who knew the difference between right and wrong.

Oh...thx I guess.
Another one of those "What the hell?!?" moments. So that's a Democrat in Kentucky ;).

After all, child brides are in "the" Bible.

I know a number of Democrats who also make that mistake. Kids need to be treated with respect and human dignity. Those who put down kids or try to prevent them from acquiring rights at young ages are not liberals. They are child abusers.

Talking about "a liberal dollop of jam" doesn't mean that the condiment votes Democratic.

I think this is slightly odd/poor use of language, but no more than that.

I cringe anytime anyone calls someone "liberal" because it's nearly always meant to be a put down in some form and it always points to the left.

Personally, I think we ought to just quit using the word altogether to describe someone's political persuasion. The word liberal has gone to the dogs.

It doesn't work to run from honorable labels after they have been smeared, it just encourages more of the same. We simply can not allow Republicans to define us. Wes Clark got it right when he appeared on bill Maher's show in late 2003 and Bill tried to chide him by saying that Democrats always run away from being called a "liberal". Clark immediately shot back that he wasn't afraid to be called a Liberal, he was one, and then he followed that with this quote:

"We live in a liberal democracy. That's what we created in this
country. It's in our constitution! We should be very clear on this...
this country was founded on the principles of the enlightenment. It was
the idea that people could talk, have reasonable dialogue and discuss
the issues. It wasn't founded on the idea that someone would get struck
by a divine inspiration and know everything, right from wrong. People
who founded this country had religion, they had strong beliefs, but they
believed in reason, and dialogue, and civil discourse. We can't lose
that in this country. We've got to get it back."

If the Dems want to stand proudly and take back the word I'm all for it. But seeing this KY Dem using the word "liberal" to chastise Republicans --- that's flipping insane. I hope it's an isolated incident.... because once the liberals start calling others "liberal" as though it's a bad thing, I think we've officially lost our marbles.

for the rubber stamp Lewis. Sighhhhh.

It's good enough for the Catholic church. What's the big deal?

That was an incredibly stupid thing to say.

"I have liberal friends who are very decent human beings" - thanks a bunch!

"not saying liberals are pedophiles." WTF!!!!


WHAT HAS LIBERALISM TO DO WITH PEDOPHILIA!!! Either this man is seriously verbally challenged and doesn't know the meaning of the word, or he has very poisonous views.

And he's a Democrat??? Blimey!