Excuses, ExcusesThe ink wasn't even dry on Mark Foley's resignation when he shot off a series of lame excuses. Let's examine each:
1)
I'm an alcoholic. So what? There are plenty of boozers in our midst; most, thankfully, don't prey on children as a result of alcoholism.
2)
I was molested as a teenager. So what? Sadly there are many adults who were molested when they were children. But most didn't evolve into child molesters.
3)
I'm gay. So what? A homosexual is as likely to molest a child as a heterosexual. Two relevant examples are both former congressmen, Dan Crane and Mel Reynolds. Crane had sex with an underage female congressional page and Reynolds did the deed with an underage female campaign volunteer. (Though Crane issued a tearful apology after being censured by the House, voters didn't buy it and tossed his sorry ass out of office. And Mel Reynolds' prison sentence on other campaign related crimes was eventually
commuted by President Bill Clinton to time served. Reynolds was then hired by Jesse Jackson as a Rainbow Coalition youth counselor. Seriously.)
Even if the congressional page at the receiving end of Mark Foley's now infamous instant messages was 18-years-old at the time, it changes nothing. A congressman flirting or having sex with a congressional page is wrong, and should not be tolerated.
Mark Foley has no excuse. But there is a reason for what he did -- he's a bad person. Good riddance.
