Tom Foley

It's ironic that notorious Republican closet case and child molester Mark Foley of Florida helped destroy the GOP House majority in 2006, considering that that majority was built with a lie about another Foley, Democratic Speaker Tom Foley. That Foley was a decent, if conventional, politician from Spokane, Washington. In 1964 Foley had defeated Republican Congressman Walt Horan and ably represented eastern Washington in Congress for 30 years, working his way up the ladder to become Democratic Whip in 1981, Majority Leader in 1987 and then House Speaker in 1989.

Rahm's revolting stench is still the only smell at DCCC headquartersI'm going to start talking about a rule of Beltway politics by immediately pointing to an exception: Elizabeth Warren, who today-- along with men and women like Bernie Sanders, Ted Lieu, Pramila Jayapal, Raul Grijalva, and Jeff Merkley-- defines what it means to be a real Democrat, was once an Oklahoma Republican!

In 1994, the Republican slime machine went after the wrong Foley-- purposefullyTom Foley, age 84, died Friday at his Washington, DC home. He was elected to Congress in 1965, succeeded John Brademas as Majority Whip in 1981, then Jim Wright as Majority Leader in 1987 and then Wright in 1989 as Speaker of the House. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Heather, who was at his bedside when he died. Wife, you ask? Don't be stunned.