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Thus far, the only thing some of the House leadership knew about was the e-mails to and from Representative Alexander's former page. Those e-mails were creepy, but not in and of themselves sexually explicit. The relevant people confronted Foley and told him to knock off the nonsense. He said he would.

They did NOT see the disgusting, sexually explicit IMs.

The page in Alexander's office saw the request for a photo as perverted as soon as he read the email and told his friends that he did. If the House GOP was serious about this, they would have interviewed the page as soon as they found out about these emails. Then, the page would have told them that he recognized that the request was solicitation of a minor (if they weren't so stupid that the couldn't figure it out themselves independently, which I believe to be the case). At that point, a serious plan of action should have been put in place to monitor Foley and possibly ask him to retire quietly-- even before the IMs were made public. The problem with all these defenders here at FR is that Foley wasn't the guy least likely to do something like this-- he had a profile that would allow for the evidence that they had in hand to be a tipping point and not a starting point.

Thus far, the only thing some of the House leadership knew about was the e-mails to and from Representative Alexander's former page. Those e-mails were creepy, but not in and of themselves sexually explicit. The relevant people confronted Foley and told him to knock off the nonsense. He said he would.

Here is what concerns me.

If I got information that someone I knew well may be involved in something hinky, I can respond in several ways. I can dismiss it as completely absurd because the person I know just wouldn't do that (he's the chair for missing and exploited children, for God's sake!) or I can believe it and do everything I can to make sure there are big time consequences.

Our leaders did neither of these things. Instead they took a middle path.

Possibility number one: Something about Foley's behavior or personality may have led our guys to think it was possible that he was dirty, so they took the info to higher ups.

Possibility number two: They really didn't think Foley was bad, but procedures are procedures, so they notified the higher ups.

If they didn't notify the dem of the Page committee, they weren't just following procedures.

It looks to me as though our guys sure thought it was possible Foley was was screwing with kids.