The Democrats may be on top of the heap politically, but when it comes to vice, Republicans have the market cornered. First, there was Jack Abramoff showering Republicans with Super Bowl tickets and free meals at his Kosher restaurant. Then there was Mark Foley IM’ing the boys a good time. Now, there’s Vito Fosella who lived a double life with a wife and three children at home on Staten Island, and a second family in Washington, D.C. The N.Y. Times notes:
His primary political patron was Guy V. Molinari, a former congressman and Staten Island borough president who once referred to Mr. Fossella as “my son.”
I hope Molinari didn’t mean that literally or he might have a similar problem on his hands.
Democrats look downright dull in comparison to this bunch. Not a single Wilbur Mills among ’em. One thing you can say for Fosella though, is that he carried on with a higher class of woman that Mills’s stripper Fanne Fox. The former at least was shacking up with a lieutenant colonel, doing his bit to support our men and women in uniform.
Why do Republicans get to have all the fun?? Lighten up Dems!
You seem to have forgotten Elliot Spitzer’s recent resignation, David Paterson’s affairs and — from earlier times– the sex-troubles of Gary Hart, Barney Frank, Adam Clayton Powell Jr and even — though not elected officials — Martin Luther King Jr. & Bayard Rustin. While I think Mr. Fossella’s political support for Mr. Bush’s war and torture programs is appalling, the issues in his personal life are, it seems to me, just that: personal. (PS wasn’t Wilbur Mills a Democrat, too?
Daniel: My wife just pointed Spitzer out to me as well. I wasn’t clear about this but I was thinking more about Congressional Dems than elected Dems in other jurisdictions. But your pt. is well taken. I hope it WAS clear that this was meant tongue in cheek & that I didn’t mean to say that Dems don’t have libidos or the human frailties that all the rest of us have.
I intended Wilbur Mills precisely as an example of the last Congressional Dem I could think of who had such a flagrant and public flame out over a sexual pecadillo.
Richard, my comments are not about this topic but about your thoughts and comments. My husband and I recently read the article The Petition in the April 14th issue of the New Yorker —that magazine does tend to pile up. Anyway, you have brightened our day. My husband is Lebanese and we have often looked for evenhanded reporting on the Israeli/Palestinian issue. In fact we have looked for any type of evenhanded reporting on the entire Middle East. We welcomed your participation in the Barnard tenure case. What amazed us was Alan Siegel’s comment that it was Nadia’s work that is troubling. He really means the topic of her book, not its validity, not its research, not its credibility. He doesn’t like the topic. I have often been vilified for merely asking for a recognition of the Palestinian perspective. We have seen what you call the Jewish Jihad attack many people for merely asking questions about Israeli politics. I wonder what damage their politics have done to the state of Israel – the moral and ethic state of its people. Thank you for your contribution to this seemingly unresolvable issue. How must the Palestinians feel on this anniversary of their expulsion from their homes? Bush certainly doesn’t care.
Pat Butler
Tom Maroun