It seems just too good to be true - a Congressman caught exchanging some highly salacious and quite inappropriate E-mails with teenage pages. And he made a name for himself loudly denouncing the very sort of behavior in which he engaged. And the House leadership knew of his, er, activities long before it became public but kept it quiet, not only from the authorities but also from other Congressmen on the Page Board, which oversees the page program.
Once the story broke and it became clear that he had protected Mark Foley for months if not years, House Speaker Dennis Hastert floundered about, blaming everyone except himself. The Democrats did it! George Soros did it! ABC News did it! Matt Drudge floated the theory that the pages themselves had conspired to trap Foley, and Newt Gingrich actually claimed that Foley had been allowed to get away with it for as long as he did because the GOP leadership didn't want to be accused of gay-bashing.
It all adds up to the best free entertainment in town, with more acrobatics than Cirque de Soleil.
Not to be outdone, Fox News promptly dredged up the tale of one Gerry Studds, a Congressman who actually slept with a page. Of course, the story was from a quarter-century ago, and Studds was most definitely not protected by the leadership, but hey, who cares? Sex is sex.
The fiasco has demolished the GOP's standing in the polls. Voters are deserting the party in droves, from "security moms" dismayed at how the party has made a hash of the War on Terror to evangelical "values voters" disgusted that the leadership shielded a known stalker purely for political reasons. Current projections have the GOP losing as many as thirty House seats in next month's midterm elections, with significant hits in the Senate as well.
Life is sweet.
Once the story broke and it became clear that he had protected Mark Foley for months if not years, House Speaker Dennis Hastert floundered about, blaming everyone except himself. The Democrats did it! George Soros did it! ABC News did it! Matt Drudge floated the theory that the pages themselves had conspired to trap Foley, and Newt Gingrich actually claimed that Foley had been allowed to get away with it for as long as he did because the GOP leadership didn't want to be accused of gay-bashing.
It all adds up to the best free entertainment in town, with more acrobatics than Cirque de Soleil.
Not to be outdone, Fox News promptly dredged up the tale of one Gerry Studds, a Congressman who actually slept with a page. Of course, the story was from a quarter-century ago, and Studds was most definitely not protected by the leadership, but hey, who cares? Sex is sex.
The fiasco has demolished the GOP's standing in the polls. Voters are deserting the party in droves, from "security moms" dismayed at how the party has made a hash of the War on Terror to evangelical "values voters" disgusted that the leadership shielded a known stalker purely for political reasons. Current projections have the GOP losing as many as thirty House seats in next month's midterm elections, with significant hits in the Senate as well.
Life is sweet.
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