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.
Nobody is defending Foley. I'm not willing to rush to judgment on what the House leadership should or shouldn't have done with incomplete facts and false assumptions about what they knew.
By profile are you meaning the fact that he's gay? In my personal life, gay men do come under extra suspicion. I don't know that I would use that as a basis to take action in a professional capacity.
From my understanding, the e-mails and such were to a boy who was no longer a page. As the boy was not in easy physical proximity, they may have seen it as a problem with Foley and one particular kid, and given that the kid wasn't around anymore, how much damage can be done?
I'm not trying to excuse these guys. I also have family members who were abused and it was covered up by family not wanting to upset anyone. It left all of us kids at risk.
I have enough knowledge of child abuse to know that people tend to deny the possibility when it is someone they know. I'm trying to determine if these guys were willfully blind or just acting in a way many people do when confronted with the possibility that someone they know might be abusing kids.
I don't want to punish people for not acting the way I would act, because it is likely that my personal history makes me far more knowledable and suspicious than most people.
HEADS UP! At 3:25 CST, Jamie Colby of Foxnews reported that when Foley's shenanigans with the page first came on the radar screen, THE MATTER WAS ADDRESSED TO THE BOY'S PARENTS, WHO CHOSE NOT PURSUE THE MATTER. It's unclear who Colby got this info from. If anyone else heard the segment, check in ASAP.