I feel compelled to make it known that this piece is not meant to excuse Congressman Mark Foley.
I have to say that because I know that somewhere some liberal is going to try to claim that the words that follow are somehow meant to do just that.
It doesn't matter how many times I bluntly say that Foley is correctly out of Congress and that he is "scum" and that if he committed a crime and he ever harmed a child under his care he should be thrown into jail for a long time and the key "lost".
Some moonbat somewhere always seems to ignore that and will go straight into their standardissue talking points.
But what really happened with Mark Foley?I mean besides the fact that he was scoping out young male pages for possible sexual relationships both in the flesh and in cyberspace?Really when you get right down to it what Mark Foley really did was he forgot to disclose his actions for everyone to see.
That's it.
If he had stood up and said "While in Congress I plan on getting me some action with those young male pages" the voters could have exercised their ability to not vote for him and keep him away from children sent to Washington by their parents.
So look at what happened.
When disclosure was made outrage rightfully ensued and Mark Foley was condemned.
And just for good measure liberals and Democrats piled on.
Some did do seriously while many simply mustered as much faux outrage as they could for political gain.
Not only was Mr.
Foley condemned but so was everyone from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert to the entire Republican Party.
From the left resignations and heads of Republican leadership were demanded before there was any evidence beyond some loosely verifiable "he said" "she said" conversations among staff members about Foley.
You even had publications like the Washington Times inexplicably jumping into that fray.
Presumably it was to keep their invitation to that night's beltway shindig from being revoked from the political elite in Washington.
So might I suggest a solution?Might I suggest that Mark Foley simply be allowed to be able to go back and amend his disclosures?He could just append a little note to his file that says "I think young boys are hot!" and "I have to get me some of that!"Then everything can be forgiven.
After all, that is exactly how Senator Harry Reid proposes to get out of potential trouble over his windfall profit in a shady land deal.
In fact he seems calm and confident that simply amending his statements about owning a piece of property which he sold but didn't sell but kind of sold will make any potential problems for him simply vanish into thin air.
For some reason the outrage has not been quite as loud from the same people that demanded Hastert's resignation.
There haven't been any calls for other Democrats to resign over what they knew and when they knew it with regards to Reid's dealings.
Rather when they are speaking they are decrying revelations about Reid's actions as simply a distraction from Mark Foley.
All because Senator Reid has suggested that he should be quietly allowed to amend his filings to avoid a nuisance known as "the law".
So what do you say?How about letting Foley amend his disclosures?Then we can get on to the really important issues rather than trying to figure out which of two corrupt parties has more corrupt scumbag members.
Because we already know exist in both and we can deal with them as they are exposed.