Okay, let's just say it — it's ironic.
That's hard to find, in a cynical age.
Of course, the idea that the American Republican party represents morality is one of the oldest and crudest hypocricies in the modern world.
It's a hypocrisy that obscures the presence of particular ironies.
But this one presents itself — it is assertive.
Congressman Mark Foley resigned abruptly on 29 September when he learned that a news agency was prepared to expose electronic messages that he had sent to boys.
A Republican congressman, soliciting sexual contact with teens* — electronically.
The party of surveillance, monitoring....
The party of morality....
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* To be fair to Mr. Foley, there is no evidence that he had or pursued physical sex with any person under the legal age.
The age of consent in Washington, D.C. is 16. Regardless of how anyone feels about a rather decrepit old man appealing to young lads for their affection, there is no pure moral condemnation for the behavior.
For the hypocrisy, yes.
Mark Foley was head of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children — and, again, a Republican.
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