Parties React Differently to Middle Aged Perverts

The Foleygate scandal has shed some interesting light on how each party handles middle-aged perverts in their mix. James Taranto makes a comparison between how the GOP handled Mark Foley, and how the Dems, including a current Senate candidate, deal with Bill Clinton:

The Foley scandal is actually quite similar to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In both cases, sexually immature middle-aged men used their positions of responsibility to pursue younger people, who were also sexually immature, but had a right to be on account of their youth.

The difference is that the Republicans washed their hands of Foley as soon as they figured out what was going on, whereas the Democrats' attitude toward Clinton is--well, we'll let Missouri Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, in an interview with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," explain:

Russert: You're having Bill Clinton come in to raise money for you. Do you think Bill Clinton was a great president?

McCaskill: I do. I think--I have a lot of problems with some of his, his, his personal issues. I said at--

Russert: But do you--

McCaskill: I said at the time, "I think he's been a great leader, but I don't want my daughter near him."

What a ringing endorsement! And hey, say what you will about Mark Foley, at least you can trust him with your daughter!

Would you rather be part of a political party that dumps its problem members, or one that continues to lionize them...just as long as they don't get near their daughters?