Journalism is dead and Hastert isn't looking so good himself...

We knew it would only be a matter of time before somebody made a comparison between Mark Foley and Bill Clinton. Brit Hume lowers himself into the snake pit to hiss out that bit of misplaced venom. I don't know how he dares call himself a journalist when he spits out such obvious GOP propaganda.

There is no comparison between Clinton and Foley. Clinton engaged in a consenual act with a more than willing partner. The only reason he got caught is his partner couldn't resist bragging about her conquest to a "friend" who ratted them out. Foley was sending unsolicited messages to an underage boy who reported the incident himself, because it was creeping him out. And the GOP leadership sat on that complaint for over a year without addressing it and in fact actively worked to cover it up.

And that's the real story here. GOP House leaders, Dennis Hastert and John Boehner were informed of the problem and did nothing about it. Their inaction exposed hundreds of other children to potential abuse by Foley. Furthermore all indications are Hastert is lying about what he knew and when he knew it. It seems a few more resignations are in order and when Capt. Ed jumps overboard, you know that ship is going to sink.

Update: This gets bigger by the minute. The GOP knew about Foley as far back as 2001 and allowed him to send these unsolicited, creepy messages for all that time.

[hat tip Midwestern Progressive]