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The AP has run a story contending that Republican leaders knew last year that Fla. Rep. Mark Foley had sent sexually explicit e-mails to a teen boy. However, despite the title's implication of wrongdoing, this is the article's second paragraph:

"The office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who earlier said he'd learned about the e-mails only last week, acknowledged that aides referred the matter to the authorities last fall. They said they were only told the messages were 'over-friendly.'"

Of course, it was wrong of Hastert to lie about what he knew and when he knew it (if indeed he was aware "aides referred the matter"), but "GOP leaders knew of Foley e-mail in '05" makes it sound like the party tried to keep the matter from going to court.

And in a bit of an overreaction, Republicans are creating a "toll-free hot line for pages and their families to call to confidentially report any incidents." Do they suspect this is a common occurrence?

Finally, if the e-mail was reported to authorities last year, how come it took so long for the media to get hold of it?

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.

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