The Return of Mark Foley

Like a bleak, needy Instant Message that pops up at 2am, he's back.

Mark Foley--the disgraced Republican Congressman who resigned over a string of sexually explicit e-mails sent to 16-year-old male interns--recently sat down with AP reporter Brian Skoloff to talk about, among other things, the possibility of a having a "hospital, a bridge or a post office" named after him. He also wanted some closure.

"I believed I owed my constituents an apology," he said. "I embarrassed them and I embarrassed my family and I wanted to have a chance in a public setting to lend my voice to what happened."

So, what happened exactly? As Foley describes it, his lascivious chats with male Congressional pages were "extraordinarily stupid," but not illegal. They were conversations, he insists, with men on the brink of adulthood--"months away," as the article puts it. And, he says, they were mutual.

"There was never anywhere in those conversations where someone said, 'Stop,' or 'I'm not enjoying this,' or 'This is inappropriate.'" Yet, there was somewhere in those conversations where someone said, "brb, my mom is yelling."

Today, Foley lives with his boyfriend, a dermatologist, and invests in real estate. But, when he reflects on his legacy he sees an "ash heap" brought on by a "momentary lapse of judgment."

But don't we all feel that way some days?

For more sex-scandal survivors, see: The Return of John Edwards.

B. Brandon Barker can also be found here.