The Adam Rationale

You got to love it when adults, and especially politicians, utilize the “Adam rationale” of defense platforms: “It was Eve’s fault, she made me do it.” If passing the buck isn’t a true and tried human technique, I don’t know what is. And there is a lot of passing going on between republican representatives and aids who are trying to escape fallout from the Mark Foley scandal. First there is Mark Foley who passes the buck to alcohol, suggesting that JD, or JB, or some other from of the evil substance made him write those IMs, and have those thoughts about underage boys/young men. It may only be my problem here, but I find that alcohol doesn’t give me new a desire that, sober, I would never consider—rather, alcohol tends to strengthen those desires already present in my being. But maybe I am weird—actually I am sure I am. Regardless, the buck doesn’t stop. Alcohol, being tired of being blamed for the actions of others such as Foley, Mel Gibson, the 70s and Adam succumbing to Eve, popped its cork and passed the Buck to Rep. Rodney Alexandra, Tom Reynolds, John Boehner. Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA) asked his aid to pass the buck to House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Tom Reynolds (R-NYC), who apparently also knew about the emails, also passed the buck to Dennis Hastert. Then there is republican majority leader John Boehner (apparently, not pronounced as “Bonner,” which is a good thing for him right now)who then also passed the buck to the Speaker of the house Dennis Hastert (R-IL): "I believe I had talked to the speaker and he told me it had been taken care of. . . My position is it's in his corner, it's his responsibility." And who, one may ask, is Dennis Hastert passing the buck to. . . of course, the Democrats! Also read CNN, NBC, AP continued to advance GOP conspiracy theory that Dems orchestrated Foley scandal. As CNN reported, see above link for video and story, Dennis Hastert believes that the Democrats are responsible for the timing of the leaks even though the original news story (again see above link) stated that a GOP aide was responsible for leaking the emails. Fox news is jumping in the sac and also passing the buck to the Democrats, going as far (and I am sure this was an accident) as labeling Foley as a democrat on the air (See the Daily show for the visual of this Fox News mistake—it comes towards the end but worth the wait). But passing the buck for blame does not stop here. Some folks are blaming Foley’s behavior not on alcohol, but on the fact that he is gay. Lovely, let’s perpetuate this bullshit again! Of course, the real crime is that so many people knew about this, for a very long time, and did nothing. Although Foley is not charged with actually having sex with underage persons yet, this scandal is becoming reminiscent of the Catholic Church’s cover-up of pedophile priests. It is all linked to a larger mistaken philosophy that suggests if we just ignore it, it will go away. Out of sight . . . out of mind. In the end, all this political posturing does nothing to remedy the real problem of accountability. If republicans knew, and if some democrats knew, they become accessories to a crime by doing nothing. And will anyone be punished for their lack of inaction beyond being forced to pay a few bucks, a slap on the hand, for their lack of accountability and action? Most likely not. Remember the last episode of the Seinfeld show where the characters are locked up for just watching a crime happen but doing nothing to stop that crime? Maybe all the folks who knew what was going on but did nothing should be locked up in that same cage and put on display. NPR gives a good description of the series of events regarding who knew what when that might interest some readers.