Saturday, September 30, 2006
Smog
I don't want to jump on the Mark Foley story per se. What he did or didn't intend with that Congressional page is a question of fact that I don't have enough evidence on to make even a preliminary judgment. If Foley was being a hypocrite in his noisy crusade against child sex offenders ... well, he was a Congressman..
What I found interesting was this reaction by Susan MacManus, a political expert at the University of South Florida in Tampa:
When you look at how vicious political attack ads have become in this country, it's no surprise how quickly a candidate in Foley's position would say, 'It's just not worth it. The atmosphere is just too poisonous and venomous right now to risk it.'
I can't feel too sorry for someone who benefited from the ministrations of Tom DeLay, who did as much as anyone to turn the latest political landscape vicious. But we can't overestimate the uniqueness of out time. At least our modern politicians aren't beating each others brains in with walking sticks.
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All we have to do is figure out if that is good or bad.
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P.S. The Time headline writer should be ashamed:
Behind Foley's Swift Fall From Grace
