At least no one died

That is the best way to sum up what Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) said the other day about the Mark Foley Page scandal. His quotes specifically were:

"I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day. Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody."

He said those words to The Hartford Courant, which published them on Wednesday, and was directing the statement more at Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA). Kennedy was in town to campaign for Shays' opponent.

This is just a desperate attempt by a leading Congressional Republican to try and bring back the vitriolic right wing hatred of Democrats. Deflect heavy criticism on the Republicans to the man every Republican loves to hate, Ted Kennedy. The shocking part is that this respected man, who championed election reforms with the Shays-Meehan bill, has lowered himself to an all new low.

You are correct, Mr. Shays, no one was killed. Instead, Congressional and Republican leadership stood by as a gay, alcoholic pedophile preyed upon 16 and 17 year old male pages. To try and belittle what happened is shameful upon Shays and the Republican party. Hopefully this is an isolated incident by one man, and not the platform of the GOP on the issue. If so, Republicans can expect to lose much more than just a slim majority in Congress.

Not even the radical, right wing Republicans and Christian Conservatives can support a party that appeased and overlooked this disgusting abuse of power by Mark Foley.