Originally posted by: Harvey
Originally posted by: aidanjm
There is only one person to blame - Foley himself. Then there are a heap of people on both sides of politics milking the situation for all it is worth. IMO these people are little better than Foley.
There is only one person to blame for Foley's predatory pedopheliac behavior -- Foley, himself.
If it is proven that Hastert, or even his staff, had any indications or warnings about Foley's behavior six weeks, six months, a year or three years ago, and he did nothing, or worse, acted to cover it up, he is either so negligent that he's unfit to be a leader of anything, or he's criminally involved in attempting to conceal Foley's dispicable behavior for political gain, and he should be removed from office immediately. There is only one person to blame for that -- Hastert, himself.
If it is proven that Hastert acted with others in that attempt, he's also part of a conspiracy to commit the same crime, and he, and anyone else who acted with him should be tried for both the underlying crime and the secondary conspiracy.
Beyond Hastert, if it is proven that anyone else of either party had any indications or warnings about Foley's behavior anytime in the past and did nothing to stop it or acted to cover it up, they have only themselves to blame for the political and criminal consequenses of their failure to protect the underage pages.
Foley is obviously the prime aggressor in this case, and the primary victims are the juvenile pages entrusted to the care of their Congressional representatives. That said, if anyone of either party knew about Foley's behavior and didn't take immediate action to stop him, they further victimize both the pages and the American voters who entrusted them to honor their oaths to uphold the laws of the land and the integrity of the offices to which they were elected, and they cast a long, dark shadow on all the institutions of our democracy.
The same is true for anyone who now tries to distract, dissemble or otherwise shift or diffuse the blame for this sorry mess. They are as guilty as Foley, himself, and anyone who ignored or covered up the initial crimes. :|