Foley artistic sound-off.

Fo‧ley  /fo~li/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[foh-lee] –adjective :
of or pertaining to motion-picture sound effects or soundtracks: a Foley artist; the Foley editor.

Apparently the Mark Foley scandal has become a mirror to the media. While many in the American public are standing on the sidelines gasping for the various reasons that they find this scandal offensive, the media is using it for catharsis.

The true political leanings of a newspaper have always been broadcast on the editorial pages, and it is interesting to see the variety of perspectives being taken by papers nationwide. Here is Philadelphia, the opinions range from utter disgust and accusations of hypocracy (The Philadelphia Inquirer), to anger at the fact that Foley is hiding behind "gay" and defaming the gay community (Philadelphia Gay News).

Nationwide, the opinion is even more diverse than that.
Media Matters gave an impressive, comprehensive rundown of what the papers are saying.

Whatever the stance on the Foley scandal is, the fact that these papers are taking a hardline approach on it proves that the public has a plethora of hardline opinions as well. Remember that a paper dies without circulation, and therefore, it will not print material that scares the public away. People are prone to read the papers that they agree with... at least that's the way its supposed to work. In the case of Foley, many issues that divide this country have come to the surface:
-Gay Marriage, the weapon of mass distraction.
-Government corruption, the conspiracy theorists never go away they merely gain different supporters.
-Child pornography, we can't leave out the Catholic Church.
-Obsession with scandal, what will one day be the death of us all.

Now, take a look at that slate. Do you see any real political issues? Anything that shakes the earth? Any discussions of war, Iraq, people dying, soldiers doing multiple tours in at Fort Sandbox, or how the Bush Administration and Congress lied to the American public about its intellegence in order to create a conflict with an old foe? No. Not here.

My dad always says, "The best play in baseball is the sqeeze." (For clarification on the sqeeze, click here.) Mark Foley has laid down the best bunt in recent history, and the Republican Party is giving is on its way to sqeezing the media to another Democratic defeat. Although they are trying to spin it as the "rank hypocrisy" of "GOP leaders" in a scandal that has served as a "hard lesson for a party in which 'family values' has been a political mantra," (Lebanon Daily News) the truth is that the massive amount of attention being paid to Mark Foley is only a distraction from the real issues facing this country in the midst of election season.

Mark Foley. The greatest Foley artist of them all. Creating background music for the Bush Administrations cover of an unfounded war. God forbid that be a topic for election debate.