UK Times Online
THE scandal over lewd messages sent by a closet gay politician to teenage boys in Congress has hit Republican support among “security moms” and evangelical voters — two groups that the party was counting on to win elections next month.
The sleaze surrounding Mark Foley, a Florida congressman and campaigner against internet paedophilia and child exploitation, has narrowed the “God gap” in politics between Republicans and Democrats.
A poll last week showed that 57% of white evangelicals are likely to vote Republican in the congressional elections, 21 points down on 2004.
Family values conservatives have led calls for the resignation of Dennis Hastert, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, for failing to take action against Foley before news of his predatory behaviour towards “pages” — schoolboys on work experience — became public.
“It is enough for me that Republican leaders knew that a parent and child had lodged a complaint. They should at a minimum have questioned other pages to find out if other boys had resigned,” said Maggie Gallagher of the Institute for American Values.
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