It's not the offense, it's the cover-up

[KevinTheOmnivore]

You honestly believe that the American public will care if Denny Hastert pushes some resolution calling congressman-on-child pedophilia bad?

Whatever damage has been done is done. America smells a cover up. Even if the IM's were a prank, they weren't the only form of shady contact this guy has had with young boys. The chair of the RCCC pushed him to run again, even though Foley himself felt the pressure to get out.

Foley resigned almost immediately. Whether the exchanges were genuine or in jest, he had been made out. Whether they were real or a prank, Hastet, Reynolds, and perhaps others may have known about them. Wouldn't they still have warranted some type of action, even if they were maybe a joke? We know they may have been a joke now. Nobody knew that then.