Scapegoat Kicks Back

Make them into a scapegoat and they can kick down your House.

UPDATE BELOW

Even if you think you're a Very Important Person, there are certain people you should never fire or really piss off. The company personnel manager... your spouse .... the tax accountant... that annoying waiter at the restaurant .... the IT guy who makes all those computers work with their internet pipes and things... and that mild-mannered, quiet aide over there in the corner who's been keeping such careful records all these years.

These are the people who know how to hurt you. They know where you buried the bodies. They know exactly what skeletons you've stuffed in the closet. They can spit in your soup when you're not looking. Make them into a scapegoat and they can kick down your House.

The whole of the Republican leadership in Congress thinks they're Very Important Persons. But they just made another terrible mistake by forcing Kirk Fordham onto the unemployment line.

The AP reports:

"A senior congressional aide said Wednesday he told House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office about worrisome conduct by his former boss, Rep. Mark Foley, toward teenage pages more than three years ago, long before officials have acknowledged becoming aware of the issue.

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"He said he would fully disclose to the FBI and the House ethics committee 'any and all meetings and phone calls' regarding Foley's behavior that he had with senior staffers in the House leadership."

Who knows? It also might be a zoological fact that scapegoats have higher morals than the sheep you keep around you.

UPDATE

The Miami Herald has the full text of Kirk Fordham's statement.

Here's some it:

"Having stepped down as Mr. Reynolds' chief of staff, I have no reason to state anything other than the facts. I have no congressman and no office to protect. I intend to fully cooperate with any and every investigation of Mr. Foley's conduct. At the same time, I will fully disclose to the FBI and the House Ethics Committee any and all meetings and phone calls I had with senior staffers in the House leadership about any of Foley's inappropriate activities."