Alleged Predator Foley on Child Predator crimes

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 6:09 AM on October 2, 2006.

Sure, go ahead and watch the video of former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) coming down hard on the "sickos" who violate children. It certainly appears as though he's one of the sickos to whom he refers.

It's pathetic and sad but it's not entirely unexpected that a sick man, disgusted with his own compulsion to behave badly, rails against that very behavior. If he has violated the law, he should be dealt with.

But his illness isn't of the institutional kind.

The institutional illness that should be considered a part of any crime is that Republican leaders knew about this issue a year ago and neither investigated, nor informed Democrats:

Actually, he was caught by a fellow Republican, Rodney Alexander, because one of the pages worked for Rep. Alexander and turned Foley in. So, what did the Republicans do about it? Absolutely nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

They covered it up. Because it's what they do.

The Republican Protection Racket stepped in and made the story go away. There was no public apology to the boys that were sexually harassed. No criminal investigation. No ethics investigation. Not a word.

The Republican leadership knew for most of the year.

Evan Derkacz is a New York-based writer and contributor to AlterNet.