A "4" on the Foley Scale
photo by jsmjr Former U.S Rep. Mark Foley has now hit for the cycle: I'm am alcoholic I'm gay I was abused as a teen, By a clergyman None of these are excuses, of course, his lawyer says , for his client's having made a number of provocative overtures in emails and instant messages to a number of teen pages. Whatever. What needs to happen is this: Nobody turns this into a gay-related scandal. This is sexual abuse of the most garden variety type: a man in a position of power trying to seduce subordinates. Nobody proposes legislation to restrict email or instant messaging. Nobody says "molested over the Internet" anymore. Democratic Rep. Patty Wetterling has already done so in an election ad .