archy

One down
Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) just resigned from Congress, effective immediately, after some inappropriate e-mails he wrote to a former male page were published. Foley's seat was considered a safe one for the Republican Party.

Normally I enjoy a good sex scandal mixing things up during the election season, but Foley makes my skin crawl. Foley is not just a gay Republican or a middle-aged guy hitting on someone less than a third his age; Foley is the co-chair of the US House Missing and Exploited Children Caucus. This is someone engaging the very actiity he is supposed to be in charge of fighting. Since "hypocritical" has been watered down through overuse it no longer has the power to describe how contemptable this is. This is betrayal of the worst sort.

The down side of this easy pick up of a seat in the House for our side is that the religious right is going to jump all over this as evidence for their "all homosexuals are pedophiles" narrative. It will give them ammunition to hurt a lot of innocent people. The responsibility for that pain will also rest on Foley's shoulders.