Step Away from the SEND Button!

Mark Foley

I hope no one reading this had as bad a week as now Ex-Congressman Mark Foley had. He is at the epicenter of a scandal that has ruined his political career (and, presumably, his life).

Rep. Foley (R-FL) was caught sending salacious instant messages and emails to teenage congressional pages. While it is unclear at this time if he had any sexual contact with the underage boys, the resulting scandal has dimmed republican hopes that they will retain their majority in the House of Representatives and increases the possibility that the Democrats could win back the Senate as well. Meantime, Foley has resigned from office, publicly announced that he is gay, a victim of childhood sexual abuse, and an alcoholic. He has entered rehab, but it's unclear whether it is because his alcohol use is out of control or if he just wants to get away from the media. Meantime, media scrutiny has begun to focus on whether the House Republican leadership knew about Foley's misbehavior but failed to do anything about it.

A recent National Public Radio story pointed out that some news organizations knew about Rep. Foley's questionable communications with teenage pages almost a year ago, but felt the messages did not warrant a story because they were not sexually explicit. ABC News dug deeper and posted a story on the Internet. This caused others to come forward with incriminating tales about Rep. Foley, which led to a story on "World News Tonight" and Foley's hasty resignation from public office.