Washington Times continues to misrepresent Jennings comments to compare him to Mark Foley
September 29, 2009 7:36 am ET by Media Matters staff
From the September 29 Washington Times editorial, titled "Sex scandal double standard":
When Republican Rep. Mark Foley was caught chasing congressional pages, he got exactly what was coming to him. In a blizzard of coverage (1,400 stories, according to Google news), Mr. Foley's creepy behavior was examined from every possible angle. Nobody wanted to hear that the congressman's stupid and objectionable behavior was confined to e-mails and text messages. His immediate resignation didn't quiet the furor. When two years of investigations found no crime, the results got barely a peep.
Whether the press feeding frenzy around Mr. Foley's disgrace was justified or not, the explosion of coverage was certainly understandable, even predictable. That reality is what makes coverage of Kevin Jennings, President Obama's "safe school czar" something of a mystery.
Mr. Jennings brings all the sleaze of Mr. Foley. Sex and the underaged? Check. An older man? Check. Potential misbehavior by a government official? Check.
And the Jennings case brings a lot more: A "safe schools czar" who failed to report a statutory rape? An education leader who encouraged a 15-year-old student to be comfortable with sexual abuse? A federal official who ignored a law requiring him to report even the possibility of a crime?
And it is not just sex, there's a political angle, too. Since taking office, the Obama administration has been hammered by repeated breakdowns in its vetting process. Appointees who don't pay taxes. An appointee who signed on to accusations that the previous administration was complicit in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. And now an appointee who thinks sex between an adult and a 15-year-old is no big deal.
Previously:
Palin's book and Obama's bow: a media week to forget
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
The Friday Rush: A series of conflicts
------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's some sanity...
Mr. Jennings brings all the sleaze of Mr. Foley. Sex and the underaged? Check. An older man? Check. Potential misbehavior by a government official? Check.
Nope. Congressman Foley used his position as an elected official in Washington DC to get his sexual pleasure from interacting with young men he met as underage Congressional Pages! That behavior and Mr Jennings behavior have no comparison. Former Rep Mark Foley knew the law - heck, he was in a leadership position for many years dealing with abuse of children online! So, he knew what lines he couldn't officially cross with kids, and he stayed just this side of that line, but still used his position of authority with Congressional Pages in a totally inappropriate way!
Mr Jennings wasn't 'the older man'. Foley was THE older man.
And then the "potential" misbehavior thing. There wasn't any "potential" misbehavior on Foley's part. There was clear-cut misbehavior, and that's why as soon as it became widely-known, he resigned and ran away rather than stay and actually get punished for his misdeeds!
And the comparison here that's appropriate would be for us to compare the responsibility of Mr Jennings to report potential statutory rape to the responsibility of the HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP to report, monitor and stop Mark Foley's behavior, which they didn't do! That's the fair comparison, but the Washington Times never even mentions that fair analogy!