Mark Foley, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Secrecy, And More

Former Florida Congressman Mark Foley, a Republican, literally could not wait to provide excuses - a number of different ones - for the behavior he exhibited toward teenage male Congressional pages. According to Foley, alcohol made him do it. Democrats made him do it. Some allege that Bill Clinton made him do it. Sexy pages made him do it and now inappropriate sexual conduct by a priest as a child made him do it.

Foley, like most of the rest of the GOP on Capitol Hill, simply refuses to accept responsibility for what was done. If he was indeed inappropriately touched as a child by a priest - as this priest now says happened in one form or another - this is wrong. But being abused is a lot different from then turning around more than five decades later and committing this act against others.