I had stayed away from this story because I thought it was too odd - and disgusting - to be true. But a resignation is an omission of guilt. Now this story is unavoidable.
Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) planned to resign today, hours after ABC questioned him about sexually explicit internet messages with current and former Congressional pages under the age of 18.A spokesman for Foley, the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, said the congressman submitted his resignation in a letter late this afternoon to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.
Hours earlier, ABC News had read excerpts of instant messages provided by former pages who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.
The full details will be included in a report tonight on ABC World News with Charles Gibson.
As David over at dKos points out, Foley was co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus.
Fortunately, there is not as of this point any evidence that any of this went beyond IM and email. I pray that it stays that way.
UPDATE: This scandal may be much bigger than it first appears. According to the AP, and first noticed by Josh at TPM, House Republican leadership knew about this almost a year ago but did nothing. They knew they had a child predator in their midst, one responsible for co-chairing the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus no less, and they did nothing.
That cannot possibly be true, can it? Can it?
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When I first heard about a potential scandal involving a Republican Congressman and a 16-year old male page, I stayed entirely away from the subject. Before I would comment I wanted proof; speculating on this one just seemed wrong. Then Congressman Mar... Read More
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