I realize that the Mark Foley scandal is a tough one to spin. If I’m a GOP communications aide this morning, I’m urging everyone in the party to condemn Foley’s conduct in the strongest possible terms.<\/p>\n
I would not, for example, dismiss Foley’s predatory notes to minors as “simply naughty emails.” And yet, that’s exactly what White House Press Secretary Tony Snow did<\/a> this morning on CNN.<\/p>\n This morning on CNN, Soledad O’Brien asked Tony Snow why “any communication between a 16-year-old and a congressman” didn’t “raise red flags — major, massive red flags” with Speaker Dennis Hastert and others who have known about the communications for months.<\/p>\n Snow responded, “I hate to tell you, but it’s not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill. And there have been other scandals, as you know, that have been more than simply naughty e-mails.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The video<\/a> is definitely worth watching. Soledad O’Brien was addressing this issue with some real emotion, talking about how she, “as a parent,” would take Foley’s emails very seriously and not just dismiss them as “over-friendly.” But Snow wouldn’t hear of it. Indeed, he was rather condescending about the whole thing, as if clued-in people should be accustomed to a certain degree of depravity on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n As damage control goes, this hardly seems like a good idea. “Simply naughty emails”? That’s all they were says the Bush White House. Just naughty emails between a 52 year old member of Congress and some 16 and 17 year olds children. Just naughty emails when a grown man asks a sixteen year old boy to measure his penis. Just naughty emails when a member of Congress asks a child to describe how he masturbates.<\/p>\n That’s why the GOP House leadership is scrambling. That’s why they had to call in the FBI. That’s why the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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\nAs Joe Sudbay put it<\/a>:<\/p>\n