"What Foley did was bad, but..."

Sending sexually explicit emails/IMs to minors is bad, but...

That anyone would utter anything even close to that is not only morally reprehensible, but just outright stupid.  Yet, that's what is has come to.  Many Republicans/conservative pundits have actually put themselves into the box of defending a child sex predator... and they seem to be convinced it's a winning move.

Of course there's the unhinged Drudge report on the matter, which is totally untrue, but then you've popular talk show hosts with these gems:

Savage-

You know, don't put me in a position of defending [Foley] because it's indefensible. ... But the kid was leading him on. I mean, this kid was leading him on.

Limbaugh -

I'm not trying to get into a defense of what Mark Foley did. Please don't misunderstand. I'm just telling you that the -- the -- the orgy and the orgasm that has been taking place in the media since Friday and with the Democrats is -- it's all coordinated, and it's all -- it's all oriented toward the election.

Even while principled conservatives try to convince their brethren to face the facts, we get these nuggets:

While no one is defending Foley 's actions, if someone knew about the IM's months ago, why didn't they say anything? ... I'm not buying it!! I plan to fight this until the end.

From Foley being hung as a pedophile child molester, we've come to the point where it's doubtful he commited any crime at all.

I don't think Foley will ever be exonerated as he as just to willing, he is toast, but let us consider this ...
Why didn't they report this to their page supervisor ?

The thing all these people are failing to see is "normal" Americans with (and even without) kids have an emotional, visceral reaction to adults sexually preying on children.  Not to sound glib, but the children are our future... and it's instinctual to protect them.   Just look at the wildly successful NBC show "To Catch A Predator".  The core of the show evokes an anger towards the perverts and criminals, and NO ONE would ever try to defend them.  There is NO defense, and there is NO "but...".

Hastert could've easily lessened the impact of ALL of this, with his job in tact.  You come out and admit, "I saw those emails that Foley sent.  We responded in a way that we thought was appropriate, but we realize we made a terrible mistake.  We were not equipped with the knowledge of how to identify potential sexual predators, and did not recognize the signs."  At that point, you make a grand gesture that you want to prevent this from EVER happening again, and you will hold a special session in the House dedicated to educating ALL members about sexual predators and the warning signs.  You bring in top experts in the field to give talks about the situation.  You urge the TV media to cover the session in full, so ALL Americans can be educated.

And if the Repubs wanted to play politics with it, they could hold this special session a week or so before the election... and imagine the campaign fodder if members didn't show up.  <TV ad> Rep. Joe Shmoe doesn't think HE needs to worry our children's safety </TV ad>  

Instead, they've chosen the course of "but...".