Roaches in the kitchen

When I heard about this Foley stalker thing at the end of last week, I thought it seemed odd and a little disturbing; was relieved when he quickly resigned, though I did think that probably meant there was more than one intern with tales to tell. But now the story is much *more* creepy, as it appears that House leadership and GOP colleagues had been aware of the problem and had sat on it for as much as several years! Greg Saunders and Josh Marshall think that heads may roll over this cover-up, and maybe he's right (although I'm pessimistic), but all I can think about is the parallel with the Catholic priest scandals of the last few years -- both amazement that nobody learned anything from them, and what it all says about the dangers of elite insider power structures, which place protecting their own above what most would see as the broader public interest...

Update: more astonishing revelations here (5 years they knew), here (they let him eat private dinners with pages), and here (the cover-up continues)... It's all so ironic that this guy's main issue was protecting kids from online predators. eesh.

Update 2: ugh, here's some ugly speculation that the cover-up was a political calculation around the need to hold Foley's seat... (They're already putting the elephant above the flag; why is anybody surprised that they'd also put it above the well-being of a few interns?!)