I have had to take a few lumps for being honest, but I personally despise hypocrisy. When the Foley case broke last week, I was pleased to see someone get what they had coming. But as the news trickled out, my feelings have really changed.

At first I thought it was funny. In fact, the whole sordid affair reminded me of the Carl Hiassen book I just read a few weeks ago since the plot was almost identical: A Florida congressman with a fetish he cannot control self-destructs just before a big election. In the 1992 novel, the Congressman was a Democrat not a Republican and the fetish was strippers not young boys but otherwise the plot is spot on.

But when Foley announced that he had been molested as a child and was both gay and an alcoholic, my feelings changed. Some have said that Foley just made the claims for sympathy but the truth is there is a LOT of child molestation and we need to take every claim seriously. Being molested by a figure of authority, in this case a priest, doesnt excuse Foley from his own actions but it goes a long way in explaining them. Thankfully there hasnt been any evidence that Foley actually touched any children.

Several things now disturb me about this whole affair.

• Child molestation is a serious issue but the Foley case quickly became a political football and the personal issues here got lost by both sides. We need to face up to reality and work to break the cycle of molestation. For too long, we have followed the lead of the Catholic church and turned a blind eye instead of admitting the ugly truth and doing something about it.
• It worries me that by saying that he is gay, Foley is giving evidence to those people who liken homosexuality with pedophile. Conflating the two is bad for gays and for fighting pedophilia.
• The real issue here isnt Foley himself but the political organization that kept things quiet for their own benefit. I have no doubts at all that this issue has gone on for years and that a lot of people knew about it. People continue to come forward and bring new evidence and earlier evidence. Any politicians involved in this story who ran on a "family values" campaign need to be held accountable for it and that outcome is likely to get lost in the mess.

After a week, there is little sign that this issue is going to die down politically but it saddens me that the bigger issues here are probably going to get lost while there is political hay to make.