So now that Rep. Mark Foley is a disgraced pervert, what will the Democrats do? According to Investors Business Daily, they better not over play their trump:
If anything, the episode reveals the Democrats' hypocrisy about their own behavior. The fact that Foley resigned virtually within minutes of being told that ABC News had copies of his salacious e-mails and text messages indicates he at least felt shame for his actions. Can the same be said for Democrats?
Answer: no. Three examples -- Mel Reynolds, Barney Frank, Gerry Stubbs. As IBD notes:
In 1983, then-Democratic Rep. Gerry Studds . . . had sex with a male teenage page -- something Foley hasn't been charged with.
Did Studds express contrition? Resign? Quite the contrary. He rejected Congress' censure of him and continued to represent his district until his retirement in 1996.
In 1989, Rep. Barney Frank, also of Massachusetts, admitted he'd lived with Steve Gobie, a male prostitute who ran a gay sex-for-hire ring out of Frank's apartment. Frank, it was later discovered, used his position to fix 33 parking tickets for Gobie . . . Today [Frank is] an honored Democratic member of Congress, much in demand as a speaker and "conscience of the party."
In 2001, President Clinton, who had his own intern problem, commuted the prison sentence of Illinois Rep. Mel Reynolds, who had sex with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer and pressured her to lie about it. (Reynolds also was convicted of campaign spending violations.).
No heads rolled in those cases. Foley resigned in shame and ignominy. He should have; but so should have Frank and Stubbs.
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