Foley's Fiasco

I don't know much about recently disgraced Republican Mark Foley or what he did in cyberspace with teenagers. It's clear, though, that he did some things that are inappropriate at best and disturbing and illegal at worst. At the end of the day, he's clearly not fit to serve the people of the state of Florida.

But as bad as what Foley did is (and it is bad), what have we learned since the story broke? We've learned some disturbing things about high-ranking members of the Republican House and what they knew, and we relearned that Democrats have no idea what's going on but try to cash in whenever a Republican is in the crosshairs.

Let's be clear: Speaker Hastert must resign. It's clear that he either knew or his direct subordinates knew. Either way, he covered it up. And because of that he needs to go. I've never really been a big fan of Hastert. He speaks cutely about conservative causes, but the reality is he's the leader of a reckless-spending group of hucksters. So, if this is what causes his departure as Speaker of the House (3rd in command of the country...) I'm all for it. And I really don't care if he actually knew. It sure seems like he did, but it could very well be he told his people to keep him in the dark about stuff like this. Sayonara, Denny.

Democrats, on the other hand, make me laugh. As always. Here we have a congressman with some degree of sexual deviancy considering he was soliciting minors on the internet for seedy sex chats. Not a good pastime. On cue the Democrats rose with righteous indignation and demanded Foley's head on a platter. Where was this indignation when the rape accusations against Clinton surfaced? Or the laundry list of sexual harassment charges against Bill? Or when he defiled his intern's blue dress? Or creatively utilized a cigar? Hypocrisy runs deeply through the veins of this once-proud party.

What's it all about though? Power. Plain and simple. The Republicans covered it up to hold onto power and the Democrats demanded Foley's head to put his seat in play. Look, Foley obviously has some problems and needs help. There's a human being we're shoving under the bus in the name of keeping or acquiring power. This is what our government of the people, by the people and for the people has become. This is what our laziness hath wrought.

If we choose to continue down the same path, electing the same type of people and excusing all of this behavior we deserve exactly what we get.