Presumably, we're all well versed in the facts surrounding the Foley case, at least as far as they've been recorded in media and blogs. I suppose some of us may be content to take these facts and, like so many nickels and dimes, put them in our pockets, and go on our ways content in our knowledge and armed with whatever power it provides.
But perhaps others might like to delve deeper, not content with the facts as they are, but rather compelled to consider them as they might be. Bill O'Reilly, a recommended diary tells us, is amongst these. "What if it were otherwise?" his captions ask the informed reader.
Scenario 1: Suppose, for example, Foley, though still a Republican, was not gay, but rather straight and picking up (or attempting to pick up) fine young ladies from amongst the ranks of congressional pages instead. Would we be calling him a predator for that? (Of course not, you say. We wouldn't be talking about him at all! -- Assume for the moment that in this bizarro world we're considering that we're still talking about him.)
Scenario 2: Suppose Foley were 25 years old rather than in his fifties, still going after teenage boys. Does he still get served by Smith, Wesson & Associates as Paul Begala suggests he should?
Scenario 3: Suppose Congressman Foley were Congresswoman Foley and was becoming extremely close with female congressional pages (in an ambiguous way). What then?
Scenario 4: Same thing, except Ms. Foley, who, the papers hasten to point out, is single, pursues "young studs" in her Mazda Miata as well as by less orthodox and much scarier electronic means. Is she a predator? Let's assume she's in her early thirties so that the pages might actually be interested.
Scenario 5: Basically the same as the real scandal, except with octopuses.
So, what do you think? How does this news cycle pan out in these various cases?