Drip, drip, drip...(more Foley scandal stuff)

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Via a diarist on Kos, here's the Washington Post:

A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally confronted Foley about his communications.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) confirmed yesterday that a former page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the youth feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Fla.) was taking their e-mail relationship. Last week, when the Foley matter erupted, a Kolbe staff member suggested to the former page that he take the matter to the clerk of the House, Karen Haas, said Kolbe's press secretary, Korenna Cline.

The revelation pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley's behavior with former pages. A timeline issued by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) suggested that the first lawmakers to know, Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), the chairman of the House Page Board, and Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), became aware of "over-friendly" e-mails only last fall. It also expands the universe of players in the drama beyond members, either in leadership or on the page board.

Oh dear. Tip to the Republicans: before you start the spin machine, you need to know all the facts. If you start spinning before you know all the facts, you end up looking really stupid. To quote Ricky Roma from Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, "You never open your mouth until you know what the shot is." None of the Republicans know what the shot is. They're all like Dick Cheney with a shotgun right now. Throw Hastert under the bus or not? Attack the pages or not? Accuse the Democrats or not? Keep shooting off your mouth and shooting yourself in the foot, Republicans. Then do it under oath and commit perjury. We'll be here, mocking you the whole time.

The funny thing is, this is such small potatoes compared to everything else the Republicans have done to our country. But if this is "the one" that wakes people up, I'll take it.

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