No Foley, No Fooling

Incidents like the Foley matter alienate me from other politicos. Clearly, I'm disgusted by the behavior of Representative Foley, and I wonder what his world was like. Certainly, he knew he was on a tightrope of sickness over an abyss of self-loathing and humiliation. It's a sadly familiar tale of human weakness and hypocrisy - such an extreme case that it's hard not to feel a little sympathy.

For the politicos, though, it's been an opportunity. The Republicans have shown themselves as willing to spin ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING, as they claim any nonsensical bullshit whatsoever that will shift attention away from the moral degeneracy of one of their own. Yes, there have even been those who have tried to blame Clinton. It's sad, really. And those who spread the identity of the victim have proven themselves to be vacuums of decency. How low can they sink?

On my side of the aisle, there are those who quickly saw past the human sadness of the situation and sought to push the envelope of political damage. The entire Republican leadership must resign in disgrace, and anyone who heard a whisper of a rumor that Foley was not a straight arrow is a virtual child molester if they didn't drop everything and devote themselves to responding to the rumors.

Guess what? Foley's issues with pages do not change the rightness or wrongness of the Iraq war. They don't change the morality of repealing the estate tax to favor dead millionaires and their apoiled children. They don't really have anything to do with the serious issues our political system is dealing with. They are simply a distraction, and a voyeuristic, tut-tutting display of all that is wrong with those of us entranced by politics.