Former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) is in big trouble for his alleged inappropriate (at best) emails to underage congressional pages. As if the story isn't shocking enough, it just keeps getting worse.
This morning Good Morning America's Chris Cuomo reported that there is a chance that Republican Leadership has been aware of Rep. Foley's issues for the last 5 years and that Congressional leaders had reported inappropriate behavior as recent as 2005.
The anchors, reporters and contributors of GMA seemed almost giddy when reporting that this case might have negative political implications for Republican leadership, the President and that it could cause the Democrats to win control of both the House and the Senate when the people go to the polls in 36 days. It seems that the Dems are going to milk this crisis for all the political capital that it is worth in an attempt to win seats.
Regardless of who knew what and when, this is about wrong vs. right. Rep. Foley has a problem that is far bigger than his public office or whether or not this will hurt his fellow Republicans at the polls in November. Shame on GMA, Democrats and Republicans alike for even thinking about politics at a time like this. That is disgusting.
Rep. Foley is accused of attempting to molest children---possibly having succeeded in his attempt(s). Pedophilia is a sickness that needs to be addressed in our over sexed culture. If Rep. Foley is found guilty of these charges then he needs to go to jail and to seek therapy.
If Republican leadership did indeed know of Rep. Foley's past indiscretions then they should also resign and face charges for withholding information on crimes against children. If that means Republicans lose seats this year or even the White House in 2008 then so be it. Children come first. End of discussion.
Lastly, this morning I was reading a gay weblog where the blogger "hoped" that Foley was innocent because being found guilty might not bode well for the GLBT community. As with the Dems and Republicans, who cares how this affects the GLBT community or any other group for that matter. How about hoping that Foley is innocent for the sole purpose that it means children weren't hurt.
