Allegedly, Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert was notified three years ago of Mark Foley’s “worrisome conduct” and again one year ago. Oddly enough “he does not recall those conversations, but has not disputed they took place.” Well, good for you Dennis.

As soon as Foley REALLY got caught, he resigned. Good move! And then, thinking swiftly, he immediately checked himself into rehab. Which seems to be the first move of the modern public figure who does anything illegal and depraved, or even just really offensive and ugly. Then he did the next thing that these people do. He let us all know that he himself was a victim of a pedophile and sexual pedator. But not just any old pedophile. His priest. And if all of this blathering wasn’t enough, the next day he trotted out the “I’m gay” card. Each of these statements came like they were the top three reasons for being a pedophile, accepted the world over.

These “excuses” or statements or whatever the hell they are meant to be, are offensive in their use. Each makes a mockery of these things. Alcoholism is a horrible disease that ruins the life of the alcoholic and everyone around them. Sure, people make phenominally bad decisions while under the influence of alcohol/drugs but is that why Foley is a pedophile? Does that explain why he acted on these feelings and engaged in the most horrifying of behavior with boys (and that is another thing… no one seems to be calling these boys, well, boys. Most of the media refers to them only as pages. They are boys! Does calling each victim a page make it better? Does it make it worse?)? Apparently, it does. On Monday night, Foley’s lawyer, David Roth, made the statement that Foley is a drunk, not a pedophile. Hm. Really? Because messages like this make me think differently. He also asserted that all of these exchanges were conducted while Foley was under the influence of alcohol, and that he never engaged in inappropriate physical conduct with a minor. Sure.

Then Mark Foley insulted every single victim of molestation and sexual abuse the world around, by attempting to use his own alleged experience as some sort of “reason” for his bad behavior. I don’t know if what he says is true or isn’t true. If he was in fact a victim of this same abuse as a boy, then I feel very badly for him. If he lied, well that just makes him an even more horrible citizen. But ultimately, using this as some continued last ditch effort to explain away being himself a predator of children is deplorable and disrespectful to those who are also victims of sexual abuse. Victims who spend their lives surviving and attempting to function normally. What is really scary is that ex-Representative Foley chaired the House caucus on missing and exploited children and he penned the sexual-predator provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. Thanks. So, you knew what you were doing was wrong, Mr. Foley.

And finally, he insulted every single gay person by outing himelf. Don’t get me wrong. I think that he should come out and be proud. But it is as if being gay ALSO explains his pedophilia and/or bad actions. Oh, how very Right of you Mr. Foley. So-the-fuck-what if you are gay? Guess what! Gay does not equal child molestor!

I don’t know what made him a pedophile. It may very well be sexual abuse as a child, or bad wiring, or even our judicial system which doesn’t prosecute priests who are proved as sexual predators, or that same judicial system which has a statute of limitations on child molestation and rape (ridiculous in my mind - but I am not a lawyer. Maybe someone can explain it to me).

Are we all supposed to feel bad for you? Are we supposed to feel empathy or sympathy for you because you were sexually abused? Fine. That is terrible. I know. Should we feel terribly for you because you are a gay man who works for the Right, and well, you know they don’t really like you if your gay? Well, you picked them. Should we pity you because all of those things made you a drunk? Fuck you. How should we feel for the boys that you victimized?
What I do know is that this man is a pedophile, a sexual predator. And no amount of blaming his drunkeness or victimhood will ever fix the damage that has no doubt been inflicted upon this new crop of victims.

Nothing new here.