Moral Hypocrisy? From the GOP?!

Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned Friday after an ABC news report revealed that he had engaged in inappropriate internet conversations with several male pages, dating back at least as far as 2001. Foley, a 6-term Congressman who considered a bid for the Senate in 2004, at first vehemently denied allegations of wrongdoing when the creepy yet relatively ambiguous emails were first published on Friday. A spokesman for the Congressman initially argued that the emails were merely taken out of context by his Democratic opponent, Tim Mahoney, and were part of a “political smear campaign of the worst sort…to smear a good man”.
Though the initial emails were relatively tame, the disturbing instant message conversations published a short time later left no doubt as to Foley’s intentions. Following are a few excerpts of conversations between Foley, writing under the screen name Maf54 (note the birthday – making him 52 years old) and a page whose identity is being protected:

Xxxxxxxxx (7:41:57 PM): ugh tomorrow i have the first day of lacrosse practice
Maf54 (7:42:27 PM): love to watch that
Maf54 (7:42:33 PM): those great legs running

Maf54 (8:03:47 PM): what you wearing
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:04 PM): normal clothes
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:09 PM): tshirt and shorts
Maf54 (8:04:17 PM): um so a big buldge
Maf54 (8:04:58 PM): love to slip them off of you

Maf54 (8:08:31 PM): get a ruler and measure it for me
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:38 PM): ive already told you that
Maf54 (8:08:47 PM): tell me again

Absolutely disgusting. But the fun doesn’t end there. As it turns out, Foley’s not only a pervert but also a hypocrite, having built a record in Congress around protecting children from sexual predators. He served as Co-chair of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus, sponsored the Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today’s Youth (SAFETY) Act, and wrote the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. Perhaps it was his in-depth research that allowed him to confidently warn, on Internet Safety Day in 2004, that the internet had become “a new medium for pedophiles to reach out to our most vulnerable citizens --America's children”. In a stroke of poetic justice, these same laws will likely now be used to put this internet predator in jail.
As if Foley hasn’t already done enough damage to the Republican Party by tarnishing its self-touted ‘family values’ image, his seat—which was considered a safe bet for Republicans—is now up for grabs. Since Election Day is only 5 weeks away, it is too late for Republicans to replace his name on the ballot. Sure, they can run another candidate, but in order to win that candidate will have to get 51% of his district to mark a spot with Foley’s name on it—an unlikely scenario. Furthermore, over the weekend reports surfaced that Republican leadership, including Speaker Dennis Hastert, House Majority Leader Jim Boehner, and RCCC Chairman Thomas Reynolds have known about a recent inappropriate relationship with a page since last spring.
It is too early to tell just how much damage this pervert is going to cause the Republican Party, but if you’ll allow me to conclude cynically, one thing is almost certain:

14 seats to go.