On Wednesday, Donald Trump slammed Hillary Clinton for allowing Seddique Mateen, father of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, to sit behind her at a recent rally while himself standing in front of disgraced congressman Mark Foley, who resigned amid allegations that he sent sexually explicit messages to teenage boys.
Tonight on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart issued an equal opportunity slap on the wrist to members on both sides of the Congressional aisle for their party-driven, hypocritical responses to the sex scandals of colleagues. Inside, video of Stewart's remarks.
They never learn, do they? Not to have sex with people you are not married to, that is. That is what they (elected officials) did not learn, in the 2000s. Who were they trying to have sex with? Literally everyone.
The 10-year-old boy that refuses to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in Arkansas because of gay marriage has been all over the news recently. This brave kid is (predictably) being harassed at school. No more!
• A long list of media luminaries and politicians, including President Obama and former president Clinton, turned out for this afternoon for a memorial service at Avery Fisher Hall in honor of Walter Cronkite. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter taken hostage by militants in Afghanistan, was freed early this morning following a raid by British commandos; his Afghan interpreter, however, was killed. [NYT, E&P]
• The McKinsey consultants who have been reviewing operations at Condé Nast are finishing up their work and will be submitting their findings shortly. So what changes are in store for the magazine conglomerate? No one knows for sure, but further budget cuts and a closure or two are entirely likely. [NYO]
• McGraw-Hill, the parent company of BusinessWeek, reports that 93 different buyers have expressed an interest in acquiring the struggling magazine. [BN]
Editor Bonnie Fuller turns 53 today. David Carr of the New York Times is turning 53, too. Real estate mogul Howard Lorber is 61. Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Bobby Kennedy and ex-wife of Andrew Cuomo, is 50. Pink turns 30. David Arquette is turning 38. Singer Aimee Mann is 49. Swimsuit model and former E! host Brooke Burke is 38. Ex-NBA star Latrell Sprewell turns 39. Food writer Amanda Hesser is 38. Former Congressman Mark Foley turns 55. And '90s teen heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas turns 28 today.
Dennis Hof sure is a generous man. The owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Nevada plans to offer hundreds of elected politicians across the country a little pick-me-up with a "government assistance program," which involves him mailing out what he calls "good time party passes" to every senator, congressman and governor in America.
The election is over, so bring on last season's political liabilities! Remember Mark Foley? He was the Republican Congressman from Florida who liked steamroom, and also young male congressional pages. Some, uh, inappropriate instant messenger exchanges with one of those young men came to light, and then the Republicans lost the 2006 mid-term elections. Foley said he was an alcoholic who'd been turned gay by a molesting priest as a child, resigned, and checked into rehab, never to be heard from again, until after the 2008 elections were safely over. Now he's opening up to the Associated Press, because he needs to tell his side of the story. His side of the story is sad and creepy.
Upon discovering that page-pampering, disgraced former Congressman's Mark Foley's checkered past included a cameo in the unfathomably cheesy action flick Strike Force, our friends at Radar made it their mission to obtain a copy of the movie and post a clip from it, allowing us to appreciate how utterly convincing Foley was in portraying "Republican Fairchild," a politician "who hires a band of violent, jet-setting vigilantes to rescue his kidnapped daughter." It's not hard to see how the heady experience of honing his acting chops alongside dramatic powerhouse William Forsythe or making small talk at the craft services table with straight-to-video ubiquity Erika Eleniak nurtured a love of cinema that once made him one of the Hollywood's most valuable allies in Congress. And it's tragic, really, that Foley never got the chance to fully transition from a job in politics to one in the entertainment industry, where a healthy appetite for teenage boys has never been a barrier to one's career ambitions.
James Taranto, who anchors the web component of the Wall Street Journal's nuthouse editorial page, offers the best explanation yet for House Republican leaders' shocking failure to protect the pages in their charge during the whole Mark Foley thing:
• In yet another installment of a series of just unbelievable coincidences, Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist critical of President Vladimir Putin, was gunned down this weekend. Politkovskaya becomes the thirteenth reporter to so perish during Putin's tenure. But we're sure it was an accidental, brutal execution-style contract killing. [Guardian]
• Just what we need: A hip-hop Cookie! [WWD]
• How sick, depraved, and out-of-control was Mark Foley? He tried to fuck a Post reporter. [NYP]
Radar nabs another exclusive, this time using obscure internet research tool Google Maps to show that Rep. Mark Foley lived in some sort of proximity to the pages he may or may not have molested. We can't wait until they discover WebMD and reveal the distance between the anus and scrotum commonly referred to as "the taint," an area Rep. Foley no doubt fantasized about in his many IMs.
• NB to Jessica Simpson: Might we suggest a new top coat? Some sort of Sally Hansen extra-life type product? [OAN]
• No plans tonight? Go check out Observer founder and editorial director Arthur Carter's sculpture show, and see what's so much more important than his little peach paper. Bring a recorder, and make sure you get tape of Jared Kushner dissing the art. [Salander]
• Oh, this is rich: Are Mark Foley and Eve Ensler all that different? You challenge us so, David Brooks. [TimesSelect]
• Speaking of Foley: JUST KIDDING! IT WAS ALL A BIG JOKE! [Wonkette]
• Actress Sharon Stone, best known for her role in Police Academy 4, is rumored to be canoodling with Jared Leto. We're not sure we buy it, but the mental picture is amusing enough. [LSE]
• Won't someone help Julia Allison have a threesome? If only so she can stop using her Silver Bullet vibrator? [Glamour]
• Vanity Fair defies rumor and, instead of Borat, puts George Clooney on the cover. To be fair, they're both equally ridiculous characters. [FishbowlNY]
• We know that "Britney Spears Loses Custody of Child to 'In Touch' Magazine" is an Onion headline, but we fail to see the parody. [The Onion]
Let's be honest, is there anyone who didn't know that Randy Jackson was somehow connected to all this?
