host, I think that you're letting your partisan viewpoint blind you from the bigger picture, at least at this point in the story. Right now, I think that Foley is being viewed as a Congressman first and a Republican second. It's pretty well established fact that the American people believe that most members of Congress are crooked but that their own representatives are less tainted. It's one of the reasons that incumbents enjoy such success at re-election time.
I think that it's entirely possible that this scandal will taint the entire Republican party very quickly if it comes out that the House party leadership knew about the problem and covered it up. However, we don't have anything other than some allegations at this point, and no one is going to find crucifying "Coach" Hastert very easy.
Speaking of who knew what and when they knew it, the St. Petersburg papers are already playing defense.
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2006/..._from_the.html
Yeah, I know it's a blatant ripoff of Fark material, but it's relavent.