Cannon sounds exactly like the Bishops we sue for
not reporting child abuse. He just doesn't get it
even when he tries to make a retraction. This is
why they will continue to be sued.
Cannon jumps into Foley mess
'Precocious kids' comment triggers outburst
<mailto:[log in to unmask]:%20Cannon%20jumps%20into%20Foley%20mess>By
Thomas Burr
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:10/07/2006 02:00:03 AM MDT
<http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=4456550&siteId=297&startImage=1>Click
photo to enlarge<http://www.sltrib.com/contentlist/ci_4456550#>»
WASHINGTON - Rep. Chris Cannon on Friday
attempted to clarify public comments he made a
day earlier seeming to blame teenage
congressional pages in the unfolding scandal of
former Rep. Mark Foley of Florida.
"These kids are actually precocious kids,"
Cannon, R-Utah, told KSL Radio's "Nightside"
program. "It looks like, uh, maybe this one
e-mail is a prank where you had a bunch of kids
sitting [around] egging this guy on."
Cannon, who has defended House Speaker Dennis
Hastert's handling of the scandal, also said
Thursday that there is not much to do other than
educate kids to the dangers of going online.
"Frankly, this is the responsibility of the
parents," Cannon said. "If you get online, you
may find people who are creepy. There are creepy
people out there who will do and say creepy
things. Avoid them. That's what you have to do.
And maybe we can say that a little more to the pages."
Democrats reacted to the comments with disgust.
"It's outrageous and irresponsible," said
Christian Burridge, a Democrat challenging Cannon
in the 3rd Congressional District. "You have a
district here with the most children in the
United States in a congressional district and
we've got a congressman blaming absolutely
irresponsibly outrageous conduct that needs to be
investigated on the victims. That sends a
horrible message to the victims of sex crimes."
Cannon said Friday morning he was not trying
to blame the pages whatsoever in the scandal
where Foley is alleged to have had several
sexually explicit electronic conversations with
teenage boys. Foley resigned a week ago after ABC
News first reported the instant messages between Foley and a former page.
"The point of what I said is that
institutions can't protect kids in a day when you
have instant messaging and cell phones that do
texting but also take pictures," Cannon said in
an interview Friday. "Parents need to take some
responsibility and teach their kids what to do."
Cannon's statement about a "prank" echoed a
comment from conservative radio host Rush
Limbaugh, who said this week that maybe it was the
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kids "engaged in some kind of chicanery."
"Maybe they were laughing at Foley in the
page room," Limbaugh said. "Maybe Foley's making
advances and maybe you know [they said], 'Let's egg this guy on.' ''
Matt Drudge, conservative muckraker of the
Drudge Report, cited anonymous sources close to
one former page calling an initial e-mail a
"prank" and saying, "he goaded an unwitting Foley
to type embarrassing comments that were then
shared with a small group of young Hill
politicos." The outed page's attorney told the
Daily Oklahoman that the e-mail was not a prank.
Cannon, who again repeated in an interview
that "all kids" are precocious, said he doesn't
see his comments as blaming the victims.
"This is not about minimizing Mark Foley, who
really is creepy," Cannon said. This is "not
about blaming kids. It's about warning parents
and kids that they need to take responsibility in
a world full - or with an increasing number - of predators."
Cannon, later appearing on CNN's "Situation
Room," more squarely laid the blame on Foley.
"Foley is the guy who was the predator, and he's
who to blame here," Cannon said.
He didn't back off his ''precocious''
statement, adding that because of their
technological savvy, pages "may put themselves in more danger."
Steve Olsen, a Democratic candidate in
Utah's 1st Congressional District, said he was troubled by Cannon's comments.
"Minors do dumb things, it's almost to be
expected. But you expect adults to be responsible
- at the very least, not take advantage of a minor's lack of judgment."
State Democratic Party spokesman Jeff Bell
posted on his blog that Republicans have been
trying to blame Democrats for making the scandal political.
"Fine. Do it. I don't care," Bell wrote.
"And, you want to know why? Because one of Utah's
politicians said the most disgusting,
irresponsible and overwhelmingly partisan thing
about the Foley scandal: Chris Cannon blamed the pages, the children. . . ."
[log in to unmask]
SATURDAY, October 7, 2006
Cannon: Teens "egging on" Foley in online sex scandal
<mailto:[log in to unmask]:%20Cannon:%20Teens%20%22egging%20on%22%20Foley%20in%20online%20sex%20scandal>By
Thomas Burr
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:10/06/2006 11:20:32 AM MDT
Posted: 11:01 AM- WASHINGTON - Rep. Chris Cannon
today attempted to clarify public comments he
made last night seeming to blame teen-age
congressional pages in the unfolding scandal with
disgraced ex-Rep. Mark Foley.
"These kids are actually precocious kids,"
Cannon, R-Utah, told KSL Radio's Nightside. "It
looks like uh, maybe this one email is a prank
where you had a bunch of kids sitting [around] egging this guy on."
Cannon, who has defended House Speaker
Dennis Hastert's handling of the scandal, also
said Thursday that there's not much to do other
than educate kids to the dangers of going online.
"Frankly, this is the responsibility of the
parents," Cannon said. "If you get online you may
find people who are creepy. There are creepy
people out there who will do and say creepy
things. Avoid them. That's what you have to do.
And maybe we can say that a little more to the pages."
Democrats reacted to the comments with disgust.
"It's outrageous and irresponsible," said
Christian Burridge, a Democrat challenging Cannon
in the 3rd Congressional District. "You have a
district here with the most children in the
United States in a congressional district and
we've got a congressman blaming an absolutely
irresponsibly outrageous conduct that needs to be
investigated on the victims. That sends a
----------
Advertisement
----------
horrible message to the victims of sex crimes."
Cannon said Friday morning he was not trying
to blame the pages whatsoever in the scandal
where Foley is alleged to have had several
sexually explicit electronic conversations with
teen-age boys. Foley resigned a week ago after
ABC News first reported the instant messages between Foley and a former page.
"The point of what I said is that
institutions can't protect kids in a day when you
have instant messaging and cell phones that do
texting but also take pictures.," Cannon said in
an interview Friday. "Parents need to take some
responsibility and teach their kids what to do."
Cannon's remark about kids "egging on" Foley
refers to an unsubstantiated report by the online
Drudge Report that said an initial email cited in
the scandal was a "prank." No other news media
has confirmed that report, and since then three
other pages have come forward to say they received lurid messages from Foley.
Cannon, who again repeated in an interview
that "all kids" are precocious, said he doesn't
see his comments as blaming the victims, but that
parents need to be aware their children are
technologically advanced, and need to be warned
and trained in how to deal with online predators.
"This is not about minimizing Mark Foley,
who really is creepy," Cannon said. This is "not
about blaming kids. It's about warning parents
and kids that they need to take responsibility in
a world full or with an increasing number of predators."
State Democratic Party spokesman Jeff Bell
posted on his blog that Republicans have been
trying to blame Democrats for making the scandal political.
"Fine. Do it. I don't care," Bell wrote.
"And, you want to know why? Because one of Utah's
politicians said the most disgusting,
irresponsible and overwhelmingly partisan thing
about the Foley Scandal: Chris Cannon blamed the pages, the children..."
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