More on Congressman Mark Foley...

I've had an opportunity to think a little more about the scandal involving Congressman Mark Foley.

First, I now realize that this is not really a partisan scandal. Foley's behavior is not the result of his conservative politics but of his own flawed personality.

My second comment has to do with how people around Foley responded to his behavior. It seems his tendencies were well known to associates in Congress but nobody intervened. This is reminiscent of what happened in the many cases of clergy abuse that were revealed in recent years. Denial seems to be a typical response to this problem.

What I don't understand is why Congressman Foley would put himself forward as an advocate of protecting children against abuse while he was at the same time trying to cultivate inappropriate relationships with the teenage pages who work in the House of Representatives.


Update:

After posting the comments above I realized that a Massachusetts Congressman was censured by the House of Representatives about ten years ago because of an inappropriate relationship with a House page. His name was Garry Studds and he was a Democrat.