Today's Great American: Mark Foley

So by now everyone has heard about the great American Mark Foley. And make no mistake, by "Great American" we mean terrible man. While we are busy by declaring him guilty at the least and fileting him over an open fire at the most, one has to think, why exactly are we acting so shocked? Have we forgotten Rep. Foley's esteemed colleagues such as Barney Frank, Gary Condit, Jerry Studds, and Mel Reynolds? Those are just the sex scandals; that does not include corrupt members of Congress Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Tom Delay, William Jefferson, Conrad Burns, Jack Murtha, Harry Reid or the addicts like Patrick Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and Porter Goss. How is it possible that this would shock us? After all, the nation collectively shrugged off President Bill Clinton's Oval Office shenanigans. Is it because it is a young boy involved this time? Well, if that shocked the populace, then Jerry Studds would have resigned in shame as well (he did not). If it shocked us, then the media outlets and members of Congress who knew about this matter with Mr. Foley would not have shrugged off the story last year. Anyone truly surprised by this development is merely naive. Yes you should be appalled; surprised, no.
The telling thing here is that Democratic politicians are accusing everyone left and right of being involved, keeping knowledge of it to themselves, and being essentially complicit in the entire matter. And, to be honest, whoever knew the full extent of the situation and did not immediately break the story is not fit to serve and should resign. That includes everyone who knew, regardless of party affiliation. If this means the House returns in January with 435 new members, then so be it. There is no place in America for those who would sit on this story until 40 days out from an election, just to make political gains either. As we are now finding out, Rep. Foley's philandering was just about common knowledge, so I put very little stock in the supposed outrage by most Democrats about this. If they were truly pissed off, then they would have come forward long ago. After all, the alleged incidents occurred last year.
Make no mistake, Mark Foley screwed up. What is really screwed up, though, is that we are caught by surprise and that it took almost a year for anyone to speak up.