I’ve been struggling with the Mark Foley/House Republican leadership scandal as I have watched it unfold. In part, my reservations are reflected in the execrable Allahpundit’s tepid defense of Dennis Hastert. There are, indeed, two strands of evidence that are being conflated. There is no question that Hastert, Boehner, Reynolds, and others were aware of a creepy email exchange between Foley and an underage former page. There is no question that Hastert has been lying about his awareness of this email. It’s stunning that he did nothing. It’s stunning that he left Foley as chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.
But, there is no evidence, as of yet, that Hastert and others were aware of any sexually explicit exchanges. It appears that Foley was confronted and told to cut off all contact with the boy. It appears that, when confronted, Foley misrepresentated his intentions.
So, where does that leave us?
I think it leaves us with the need for a thorough investigation to discover exactly what the House leadership knew. If all they knew was that Foley had written a creepy email or two, then their actions appear to have been understandable. Their biggest shortcoming would be in taking Foley’s explanation at face value without launching an internal investigation. They should have taken extra precautions because of Foley’s position as chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.
However, even if this is the extent of their mistake, that is no excuse for Dennis Hastert to lie to the American people about what he knew. The Republicans would be wise to find a speaker that doesn’t lie about pederasty within his ranks.
And if an investigation shows that Republican leaders were aware of sexually explicit communications and did nothing? That’s a whole other ball of wax. In that case, we have a scandal of the highest magnitude.
