Traumatic Childhoods

So, today's promised "bombshell" hits the pages. Rep. Mark Foley was abused by a "clergyman" when he was a young teenager (he "kept his shame to himself," you know). This, of course, explains why Foley now has the hots for teenage pages, at least in the media hivemind world of simplistic explanations where "personal responsibility" only applies to one's political enemies. Besides, war is such an orgasmic turn-on.

Okay. Let's assume for a moment that this mitigates Foley's responsibility. What about the Republican leadership's responsibility for keeping the lid on Foley's escapades, all the while allowing incoming teenaged pages to work with him?

• Did Dennis Hastert get pushed out of a treehouse fort as a child for sharing super secret secrets to cootie-laden girls and, as a result of the trauma, promise never ever never ever ever to tell on his playmates again?

• Did Tom Reynolds once come upon a dead puppy near the railroad tracks and become so consumed by dark bilious vapours that he had to have friends bury it?

• Did Fox News once actually tell the truth and get spanked with a belt by Tom Delay for doing so, traumatizing the network into being overly shy and reserved when it comes to telling the truth?

• Did George W. Bush fall off his hobbyhorse ("Commodore") into the swimming pool grabbing an electrical cord on the way in, and fished out with a net just a tad late? Josh Marshall:

I'm looking on the CNN page right now and you've got these two headlines right atop each other ...

Report: Foley had cybersex before vote

Bush: Dems shouldn't be trusted to run Congress

UPDATE (11:14):

More pages speak.

"Mark Foley knew that he could get away with this type of behavior with male pages because he was a congressman," Beck-Heyman said. "But many people on Capitol Hill, including many high-level Republican staffers and members, have known for over 11 years about what was going on and chose to do nothing."