A complete Shimkus

Ok, I'm not quite done with the Foleygate posts just yet. It seems that now John Shimkus, the head of the House page board, has decided he needs to go on the warpath too, and is demanding apologies from the Democrats for allegedly leaking the scandal. You know, because just like the wiretap thing, and the torture thing, the leak is the real scandal, not the act itself. At least that's how it is in the beltway universe. The politicians are outraged, and they demand to know why we can't just leave them alone and let them do their dirty deeds in peace.

The perfect response has already been made, by Nancy Pelosi's spokesperson:

"Republicans just don't get it; every mother in America is asking how Republicans could choose partisan politics over protecting kids, and the Republicans are still asking who could have blown their cover-up," Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said.

I admit the title of this post is a cheap shot. I'm making fun of the guy's surname, implying it stands for something obscene, or at least scatological. It's true that he's a congressman, but some of his ancestors who shared his surname might (in theory) have been normal, law-abiding citizens who just happened to have a silly last name. But in this day and age, people don't really understand anything more complex than that, so I might as well, and it'll probably help reel in the Google hits. My original Foley post ended up with a ton of hits just because I used the term "Maf54" in the name, and for a while I was in the top 10 search results for Foley's nym. And if I've learned anything from the Republican response to the scandal, it's that the absolutely most important thing is to figure out how to misuse the scandal du jour for short-term personal advantage. Look at all the R's jockeying for Hastert's job even as we speak. So clearly I can't be doing anything wrong here. You probably ought to elect me to something, if you know what's good for you.