Sometimes It's Good To Be Hard

When the scandal involving Congressman Mark Foley's emails to a 16 year old boy first broke, top Republican leaders in the House made it seem like the whole thing was a surprise to them. But in true Washington tradition, there is plenty of finger pointing yet to be done.

For example, the leadership initially said that while they were aware of some emails having been sent by Foley, it was their understanding that there was nothing questionable about them. Now it turns out that both Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John A. Boehner were aware of the true nature of the messages as early as last spring.

If so, that raises the question of why they didn't act sooner. After all, Doesn't Congress have an obligation to protect the teens that work as pages and interns on Capitol Hill? And if it appears that an elected official is using his position of power to take advantage of kids that are barely old enough for high school, shouldn't that same leadership move quickly to remove that threat?

Indeed, aren't these the same Republicans that--among all the other charges--accused Bill Clinton of using his high office to take advantage of a girl barely out of college? Or are the Republicans saying that it's okay to sexually prey on those younger than you only if they are BELOW the age of consent?

Finally, why is the Republican leadership so opposed to gay marriage between adults, yet so accepting of having male members of Congress ask 16 year old boys if their dicks are hard?