Republicans: Seduced by Power

There are creepy goings-on in the darkened corridors of America's capitol. This city, where temptation lies around every corner, is used to the telling of lies, the peddling of influence, and the robust pursuit of money and power at the expense of honor and integrity. But now new depths of depravity have been plumbed, even for this most corrupting of cities.

Power, the most effective of aphrodisiacs, has long been used by the unscrupulous to prey upon the naive. But this is not new to Washington, a city quite used to sexual scandal. But now children
are not safe from the advances of sexual predators even in the hallowed halls of freedom.

Mark Foley, the congressman from Florida, has been exposed as one such predator. But even now that he has been driven out of Washington, he is scheming to avoid the consequences of his deplorable actions. He has checked himself into a rehab facility, according to his lawyer, and is undergoing treatment for behavior disorders brought about by alcoholism. Also, according to his lawyer, Mr. Foley has declared that he himself was molested as a teenager by a member of the clergy. In other words...Mr Foley is a victim and we should pity him rather than punish him. I believe that he is setting up a defense of the indefensible. He is setting up the spin in order to escape justice.

Elsewhere the few who knew about Foley's despicable behavior are scrambling to defend their own actions and inactions over the matter. Who knew what, and when did they know it, and what did they do about it? These are the questions that are being asked of the few who admit to knowledge of the crime. But it would appear that, in all the time they knew, they were more concerned with maintaining power than with the welfare of the children entrusted to them by families from all across America. The Republican party leadership has been involved in cover-ups before, mostly about influence peddling and monetary misdealings, but nothing as insidious as this. They seem to have fallen so far under the seductive influence of power themselves that they were willing to allow this level of corruption to win out over their duty of care to the children of America. So much for the self-proclaimed protectors of morality and freedom.