The latest news on Foley shows that he’s not just a predator, he’s a brazen predator.

Now, why would a Congressman think he could get away with having cybersex with an underage boy while voting on funding for U.S. troops? Perhaps it’s because, like most in Congress, Foley believes himself to be above the law. Untouchable. He’s part of the ruling class. Who’s going to catch him? Who’s going to hold him accountable? It’s the same reason why the Congress’ self-appointed protector of children from online predators was so often online, preying on children.

Mickey Kaus, who’s more prone to defending the GOP these days than condemning them, suggests what he thinks the House leadership might have done:

Someone could maybe have called Foley in and given him the third degree–e.g. about what other emails might be out there. Hastert’s aides could have asked Foley to permit a search of his computer. Maybe there were alternative methods of interrogation, or other ways to check out his story.

But this assumes that the members of Congress hold themselves to a higher standard than those of us who have to follow the laws they pass. On the contrary. They hold themselves to a significantly lower standard.

Lest we forget, this is the same Speaker Hastert who thinks members of Congress are a separate class of citizens. This is the same guy who steadfastly declared that the FBI wasn’t permitted by law to search a fellow congressman’s office — but has spent his entire career supporting laws that chip away at the Fourth Amendment protections the rest of us are supposed to have. If all Hastert had on Foley were the weird but less-than-damning emails that first surfaced in all of this, perhaps he was exercising good judgment in not demanding that Foley submit to a search of his computer. But I think it’s a safe bet that if someone asked Hastert if the FBI should be able to search the computers of private citizens on equally flimsy evidence, he’d have been all over it — in the name of “protecting the children,” of course.

Our “public servants” are increasingly secretive, increasingly less accountable, increasingly infused with a sense of privilege, and increasingly of the opinion that they’re above the law. The Foley imbroglio is only the latest example of what can happen when we continue to let them think that way.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006 at 2:09 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.