MORE ON THE FOLEY COVER-UP: FBI COMPLICITY? FOLEY'S LAST STAND? SCARBOROUGH THINKS THE GIG IS UP FOR THESE CREEPS

In July Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) handed over the now-famous Foley e-mails to the FBI requesting that they investigate why a 52 year old congressman was sending mash notes to a 16 year old page. Like Hastert's Republican caucus, Gonzales' FBI, chose to actively cover-up the potentially damaging political scandal, completely ignoring the serious implications on the children, young men and their families being victimized.

Gonzales is still covering up and yesterday the FBI lied their asses off to CBS News. "The Justice Department told CBSNews that in July, when Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) provided the 'innocuous' e-mails to the FBI, they were heavily redacted." The e-mails were neither "innocuous" nor even slightly redacted.

CREW is demanding a public investigation about why Gonzales is covering this up. "Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director said today, 'the FBI cannot have it both ways; either it failed to investigate the Foley emails because they did not rise to a level of criminal activity or because it did not have adequate information to do so. Pick one. Attorney General Gonzales has told the public repeatedly that the investigation and prosecution of those who sexually exploit children is a top priority. We are outraged that the FBI failed to investigate Rep. Foley and is now blaming others for its inaction. It is time for all of those who had knowledge about Rep. Foley's conduct to step up and take responsibility for leaving a sexual predator on the loose.'"

Meanwhile, in a cross between Rovian damage control and bizarro-world kabuki theater, Hastert claims he is taking "responsibility" for the cover-up but is still adamantly refusing to resign. "In a press conference scheduled for noon CT in Illinois, House Speaker Dennis Hastert plans to accept some measure of responsibility for failing to discover Rep. Mark Foley's misconduct with pages, a House official said this morning. 'He is taking responsibility because the buck stops with him,' the official said. Hastert won't resign 'because that would be giving into the Democrat party’s best wish,' the official said."

Were one not already thoroughly familiar with the standard GOP modus operandi, one's jaw would drop in disbelief. He's taking responsibility-- but not really-- and he won't resign because Democrats want him too. Actually, the polling I've seen so far show that nearly 70% of Americans think Hastert needs to resign and of the other 30% half think there has to be an investigation before he resigns. Again, a great example of the arrogance of power and another clear example of why the Republicans absolutely need to be turned out of office. (Perhaps you want to savor that last statement in a video version?)

And last night former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough summarized this whole mess as "one more reason to vote Democratic!" Unlike the current Inside the Beltway leadership of the GOP, at least Scarbough gets it: "A Republican congressman preyed on young boys. His leaders knew about inappropriate emails. They did next to nothing. And when it hit the fan a month before the election, Republican leaders spent the first days of the scandal pointing fingers at each other. One more scandal. One more indictment. One more reason to vote Democratic."

And he ended his tirade with an even bleaker assessment for Republicans: "For those of us who were once proud to be Reagan Republicans, these are dark political days. Most conservatives find themselves asking how things could get any worse in the Republican Congress. If history is a guide, I'm confident our GOP leaders will find an answer to that question soon enough."