Over-groping on Foley

I've believed--for a variety of reasons over the past several days, that the Mark Foley "scandal" had more potential to hurt or not help the Democrats than it did to benefit them. It's understandable that they would be tempted to overreach, but I just don't believe that, when push comes to shove, Americans will conclude that Democrats in Congress would be less tolerant of Foley's crap than would Republicans.

Well, here are excerpts from two excellent op/eds on the matter:
Jonah Goldberg at NRO writes,

Meanwhile, the only moral lapse that reliably and consistently offends all liberals collectively is hypocrisy. As Howard Dean declared on Meet the Press last year: “Everybody has ethical shortcomings. We ought not to lecture each other about our ethical shortcomings.” But he continued: “I will use whatever position I have in order to root out hypocrisy.” This is a remarkably convenient principle insofar as it can indict only people with actual principles.

Rich Lowry also at NRO writes,

It would be a welcome development indeed if the Foley flap prompted a bipartisan turn toward the values of sexual probity. It is sexual irresponsibility, in the form of out-of-wedlock childbearing, that is at the root of many of the country’s social ills. But it’s not to be. Foley will be wrung for partisan advantage and then forgotten, as the culture war rages on.

We'll see what voters conclude . . .