[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Ephebophilia

Good find. But this whole topic disgusts me. I did a search on the term, and it's just more than I want to know.

While most people on FR are approaching this subject from a legal point of view (which is a big surprise) - "the kid was of legal age, blah blah blah" - I would rather think of Foley as someone in a position of power who abused that power. He was a congressman; the boy was a page. There's the difference of stature. The difference of age. The matter of ethics. The matter of rules of conduct. Etc. Nobody is giving any consideration to these other factors. All they can say is, the boy was of legal age, so where's the crime? That is extremely short-sighted.

[msnimje]

While most people on FR are approaching this subject from a legal point of view (which is a big surprise.

You will not find a person here who excuses Foley, it is a given that we all think he is disgusting and we are all glad he is gone.

It is so much understood it is beyond the point of discussing this aspect of the story.

But since the Dems are saying Hastert and GOP leadership did something wrong by not "punishing" Foley, we are in the process of discussing if in fact anything was illegal.

Unlike the democrats, the very second the immoral Instant Messages were found out by GOP leadership Foley was gone.

That is is how the GOP handles the immoral part, now we are working on the legal part.

[piasa]

In the fall of 2005, as soon as Congressman Alexander became aware of the e-mails received by our son, he called us. He explained that his office had been made aware of these e-mails by our son and that while he thought the e-mails were overly friendly, he did not think, nor did we think, that they were offensive enough to warrant an investigation. "

[maryz]

I would rather think of Foley as someone in a position of power who abused that power. He was a congressman; the boy was a page

AFAIK, Foley was careful to wait until the boys were former pages, and he doesn't seem to have pressed on against the unwilling. Also, it doesn't seem that anyone except the 2005 email recipient was bothered enough to report it to anyone.

Granted it's disgusting, but in view of Dem insistence of keeping any investigation exclusively on Foley, I find it difficult to believe that Foley was the only one hitting on -- or trying to hit on -- pages.

[ohioWfan]

I think you have completely misread what is going on here.

Pointing out the legality, or should I say lack of illegality of the events has absolutely nothing to do with condoning or excusing the disgusting, unethical and immoral behavior of Foley. It has only to do with exposing the disgusting, unethical behavior of the RATS.

NO one has done excused any behavior of Foley's nor overlooked it. In spite of the cries of some people that it has been done, there is no evidence to support any overlooking of Foley's culpability.

I have read most of these threads, but if you can point to a single post where this 'short sighted' behavior you are referring to actually occurred, I would appreciate it.

If you can't do that, stop claiming that it has.