The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[Alex]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Granted no one is responsible for their behavior except themselves. But it looks like it was known for a year. And no one did a damn thing about it. He had a reputation among the pages as someone to stay away from.

Here is the text of the emails Hastert may have seen last year.

how are you weathering the hurricane...are you safe...send me an email pic of you as well...

and

i just emailed will...hes such a nice guy...acts much older than his age...and he's in really great shape...i am just finishing riding my bike on a 25 mile journey and heading to the gym...whats school like for you this year.

and

I am in North Carolina...and it was !00 in New Orleans...wow that's really hot...well do you miss DC...Its raining here but 68 degrees so who can argue...did you have fun at your conference...what do you want for your birthday coming up...what stuff do you like to do.

and

glad you are home safe and sound...we don't go back into session until Sept 5...its a nice long break...I am back in Florida now...its nice here...been raining today...it sounds like you will have some fun over the next few weeks...how old are you now?...

If he did see them at that time (this is in dispute) it was in the context of the kids parents saying that they didn't want the matter persued but wanted Foley to stop emailing. Foley was told to break contact with the kid and he promised to do so.

Personally, in hindsight of the later, apparently more sexual contacts these emails above become creepy. But based solely on those emails I wouldn't have thought it a big deal. Especially since I imagine that when Representative Shimkus (the guy in charge of the pages) and House clerk Trandahl talked to him he probably said something like "oh that's too bad that he took my interest in his future that way. Boy that's embarrassing. He did some good work for me last year and showed a lot of promise and I just wanted to stay in touch so I could be a good contact for him through college and stuff. But sure, I'll stop emailing him."

Based solely on those emails I probably wouldn't have thought it a big deal. Certainly not enough to destroy a man's career over. So I'm inclined to cut Hastert some slack on this one unless something more damning comes up.