Foley Flap Highlights Dems' Hypocrisy Foley Flap Highlights Dems' Hypocrisy

Jonah Goldberg at RCP: Foley Flap Highlights Dems' Hypocrisy points out that in the end, the Foley situation is going to backfire for the Democrats. Gerry Studds served for another 13 years as a Democrat in the House after having had actual sex with male pages under 18, as opposed to vaguely suggesting it over the Internet with an 18 year old male page, as Foley apparently did. Just like the zero tolerance shown Clarence Thomas and John Towers turned into compliance when Clinton was caught doing much, much, worse, the same is likely to happen with the Democrats this time.

In the end, the difference is not that both sides don't have sinners in their midst, but rather that the Democrats tolerate them, while the Republicans don't, quickly turning on and ousting them. Not surprisingly, Tom DeLay resigned from the House in the face of a highly questionable political indictment in the People's Republic of Austin, while Wm. Jefferson is still holding his seat, after being caught with almost $100k of bribes in his freezer.