in re Foley.....

So we have a Republican house member who seems to have a propensity for chasing pages around the Capital. A truly disgusting deed. Caught with his, er, pants down, he enters a rehab clinic stating he's an alcholic. Cause apparently that's the "right thing to do" when you have a problem. Unfortunately, Mr. Foley does not have a drinking probelm. What he has is a who is he drinking with problem. Best of luck to him in the treatment for his "drinking problem", just tell me when he is going to get some help with his "chasing boys around the Capital" problem".

Of course, the DemonCrats are howling about failed leadership...Hastert must go!....yada, yada, yada. I, however, note that the tenor of their protestations seem to be somewhat , shall we say, lacking. Causes me to wonder how many other "open secrets" there are in ole Foggy Bottom. Remember not to long ago the DemonCrats were barking about Jack Abramoff until someone pointed out that many of them had taken some of Jack's cash. Mention Abramoff now and you get a hearty "No Comment" from the distinguished DemonCrats. How long until we hear the plantive "No Comments" in the Foley matter.

I just don't see this issue getting any traction as an election item, yet. Hastert should stay the course and let the ill wind blow, for now.

Update 10/4/06 Still looking for traction?

The Washington Post today has an in depth look at escapades of the political kind.

In recent years, for the most part, Democrats have been able to survive their sordid escapades while Republicans have paid with their political lives…
That’s how it usually turns out for members of the conservative, traditional-family-values party. Just ask Bob Livingston, Jack Ryan, Bob Packwood, Dan Crane or others in the GOP who’ve watched their careers go pffft! with salacious disclosures. Or ask Bill Clinton, Gerry Studds, Barney Frank and other Democrats who’ve withstood embarrassing revelations to govern another day…
“The reality is that Democrats seem to get away with more,” says Chuck Todd, editor in chief of the Hotline, a daily political journal. “They can have an affair and bail [themselves] out. There’s a lower threshold for Republicans. I guess it’s more of a hypocrisy thing,” he adds, because such scandals put Republicans at odds with the party’s socially conservative image.
Todd thinks he knows who’s to blame for this: “It’s the media, to be honest. What is the standard ‘gotcha’ story in the media? It’s hypocrisy. If we can prove hypocrisy, we have a story. . . . So in a sex scandal, the bar for Republicans is lower.”

or higher...depending on your perspective.