***Bumped to the top for Updates 6+ below***

I think he ought to be put away for a long time so as not to pose a threat to anyone else. And if the facts prove that GOP leadership knew the sick details of this and didn’t act, they should all be thrown out on their asses as well.

*****
Update: It looks like the GOP leadership did not know about the sexual instant messages until a few days ago:

His letter drew a sharp distinction between the instant messaging sessions — which Hastert said he was never made aware of — and e-mails between Foley and a former House page, which top GOP leaders saw in 2005. Foley was told to cease contact with the page. Hastert noted that the same e-mails were viewed by editors at The St. Petersburg Times, which reviewed them, considered them ‘’friendly chit chat‘’ and declined to run a story.

Miami Herald Executive Editor Tom Fiedler said Sunday the newspaper also saw the same e-mails and “didn’t feel there was sufficient clarity in the e-mails to warrant a story.”

In this case, it appears Hastert and the GOP leadership has taken this seriously from the moment they learned about these instant messages - ridding Congress of Foley and promptly opening a criminal investigation. It also appears, given the way the Democrats have coordinated their campaign around this story (with ABC news - payback for the 9/11 docudrama?), that this was another of their attempted October Surprises.
*****

I know it’s election year and this case could be the tipping point needed for Democrats to take a majority, but frankly I don’t care. The protection of our children is as important as it gets. If Hastert knew about Fruitcake Foley’s escapades, he ought to follow in his footsteps and resign too… as should any other Congressmen who had actionable information and refused to act.

But this case presents an interesting quagmire for the Left as they’ve jumped into full campaign mode on this one. Do they really maintain the standing to use the Foley story as a campaign strategy against Republicans?

This is the same liberal left that defends groups like NAMBLA, a group that “advocates sexual relationships between adults and children.”

This is the same liberal left that deemed an elected official’s sexual encounters with a staffer was a “private affair“.

This is the same liberal left that decided the appropriate response to an elected official’s conviction for sexual assault of an underaged campaign worker was to pardon him.

This is the same liberal left who has among its ranks a former Governor that appointed a secret gay lover to a top security position.

This is the same liberal left that has among its ranks a Congressman who ran a gay prostitution ring from his apartment.

This is the same liberal left who defended a Congressman while he continued to hide his affair with a staffer after she went missing (and was later found dead). Some of the money quotes:

“When someone hits a rough spot, do you throw him overboard? I don’t think so,” adds Rep. Anna Eshoo, like Condit, a Democrat from California. “None of us here, Republican or Democrat, kick people when they’re down.”

And this is the same liberal left whose candidate admitted to sexual relations with a 17-year-old male page, received merely a censure and then “charged that the investigation by the House Ethics Committee raised fundamental questions of privacy.” He also went on to serve in Congress for 13 more years. (This was the same year a Republican admitted being involved with a 17-year-old female page - he apologized and was voted out the next year.)

The two sides ought to come together on this and root out any more fruitcakes (and those providing cover for them) among their ranks. These sick folks present a danger to America’s youth.

Update:
This is an aweful story indeed, but as more facts come out, it seems like this whole scandal has been rolled out in a very coordinated fashion. Some are also asking what more Hastert, et al. were supposed to do with the information they had (at this point it appears Hastert and others may not have had all of the information we’re now seeing)

Here are the emails from the site that launched this story.

Email 1: Glad your home safe and sound… we don’t go back into session until sep 5… it’s a nice long break… I am back in Florida now… it’s nice here..been raining today… it sounds like you will have some fun over the next few weeks… how old are you now?

Email 2: I just emailed will…hes such a nice guy…acts much older than his age…and hes in really great shape…i am just finished riding my bike on a 25 mile journey now heading to the gym…whats school like for you this year?

Email 3: I am in North Carolina…and it was 100 in New Orleans…wow that’s really hot…well do you missDC…Its raining here but 68 degrees so who can argue..did you have fun at your conference…what do you want for your birthday coming up…what stuff do you like to do

Email 4: How are you weathering the hurricane…are you safe…send me a pic of you as well….

Exactly what kind of action was Hastert, et al to take based upon these emails?

Update 2:
Investor’s Business Daily is asking what Democrats knew and when they knew it.

Democrats have begun losing their once-significant lead in the polls, and a mere five weeks remain until the midterm elections. Is this scandal the Democrats’ own “October Surprise,” meant to throw the GOP into a tailspin shortly before the vote?
…
We have a lot more questions about this whole affair. The timing of the revelations, as we noted, couldn’t be more propitious for the Democrats. Turns out both the Democrats and several newspapers seem to have known about Foley’s problem as far back as November, according to research by several enterprising blogs.

The article goes on to mirror my post above. Then they add (to which I agree)…

We’re glad Foley’s gone. He betrayed Congress, his party and the trust of the 33 pages who serve in Congress, and their parents. He behaved immorally, and we won’t be surprised at new revelations.

That said, if this scandal is the Democrats’ answer to their problems at the polls, it’s pretty pathetic. It shows a base contempt for the voters.

Update 3:
Will Democrat Strategist Bob Beckel be tarred and feathered as a homophobe for saying that the fact that Mark Foley was gay should’ve raised questions about more innocuous emails? In hindsight (and probably common sense) it seems about right… but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to imagine the outrage that would’ve occured if an investigation had been launched based on that reasoning.

Update 4:
Foley rolls out the “molested by a priest as a kid” defense.

Update 5:
Looks like some people knew about Foley for quite a while and readied the breaking story for “just the right time”.

Update 6:
Was it all a prank?

According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, goaded Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. This source, an ally of Edmund, also adamantly reports that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund.

It would explain Update #5 above. But it doesn’t explain why Foley resigned.

Update 7:
Ann Coulter sums up this story pretty well.

But now, the same Democrats who are incensed that Bush’s National Security Agency was listening in on al-Qaida phone calls are incensed that Republicans were not reading a gay congressman’s instant messages.

Let’s run this past the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals: The suspect sent an inappropriately friendly e-mail to a teenager — oh also, we think he’s gay. Can we spy on his instant messages? On a scale of 1 to 10, what are the odds that any court in the nation would have said: YOU BET! Put a tail on that guy — and a credit check, too!

Like I said in Update 3 above…

Update 8:
Tom Maguire was raising some questions around how this whole story broke. Some interesting timelines involving DailyKos and other leftwing sites.

This whole story is starting to smell very similar to the recent organized campaign by leftwing sites against Michelle Malkin.

Update 9:
More coordination? Didn’t take long for MSM to have a little sit down chat with DNC Chairman Howard Dean about the Foley story and how it ties into the upcoming elections.

U.S. News sat down this week with Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chair and former presidential hopeful, to discuss the Mark Foley scandal, Dean’s controversial strategy to put up serious Democratic candidates in all 50 states, and his expectations for the 2006 (and 2008) elections.

It was nice that they had this interview conveniently ready to go so quickly.

Update 10:
WildBill uncovered “Foley’s IM partner” through a stroke of luck and a little sleuthing. I wasn’t going to post a link, considering that his work initially took on the air of “outing” a kid… but the guy is now 21 and considering Update #6 that this may all be part of a prank, it seems appropriate to post now.

Others:
Tom Maguire shares my sentiments:

“This is not a bidding war the Democrats can win and I am reasonably certain that, after years of “sex is a private matter”, it is not a war the Democrats want to start.”