Legal Commentary

Mark Foley Speaks, Says Little

By TChris

Remember Mark Foley? He'd like to make a comeback.

"I'm trying to find my way back," Foley said in an interview with The Associated Press, his first public comments on the scandal since resigning from Congress on Sept. 29, 2006.

Foley had "lurid, sexually explicit" electronic chats with teenage interns when he was a Congressman. If Foley wants to "find [his] way back" to a political or public career, or even a job as a previously owned car salesman, he needs to show a bit more understanding of his conduct than this: [more ...]

These were 17-year-olds, just months from being men, he insists.

"There was never anywhere in those conversations where someone said, 'Stop,' or 'I'm not enjoying this,' or 'This is inappropriate' ... but again, I'm the adult here, I'm the congressman," Foley said. "The fact is I allowed it to happen. That's where my responsibility lies."

Foley didn't "allow it to happen," he made it happen. He's the one who sent the instant messages.

Foley's "it was all in good fun" defense is at odds with reports that at least some interns felt discomfort to be targeted by Foley's erotic communications. Regardless, Foley doesn't seem to appreciate the power differential between an older member of Congress and a teenage congressional intern. The "he enjoyed it" excuse doesn't sit well with members of the public who wonder what Foley was doing chatting about sex with teenagers in the first place.

Foley has a point when he asserts that he was wrongly branded as a pedophile.

Foley had built a national reputation as an advocate for tougher penalties against child sexual predators. As co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, he helped craft a law to protect children on the Internet. Still, he said, there was no hypocrisy.

"The work I was doing was involving young children ... You know, you hear the term 'pedophile.' That is prepubescent," Foley said, noting a "huge difference" from lurid chats with teens on the brink of adulthood.

Pedophile, probably not. A hypocrite, absolutely. How many of the voters who loved him for his "we need to protect our children" political posturing knew that he only wanted to protect prepubescent children, but thought postpubescent minors were fair game?

Speaking of hypocrisy:

While his homosexuality was said to be the worst-kept secret on the Hill and around Palm Beach, he cloaked himself in a false public persona, appearing at events with beautiful women.

Foley couldn't be himself and get elected as a Republican. Now he's claiming not to be a hypocrite? As comebacks go, Foley is off to a poor start.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 12, 2008 (boomark / email).