There’s a powerfully sad and painful incongruity to the events of the last 10 days as they pertain to children and the predations of adults upon them. First we had the Platte Canyon assaults and shootings, perpetrated by a man obviously obsessed with young, thin, blonde girls. In addition he was well-armed and losing his grip on reality, never a good combination, and when he took over the classroom and methodically sexually assaulted 6 young women, eventually killing one and himself, the country reacted with understandable sadness, anger and frustration that a man could become so obsessed and desperate that he could ever commit such horrors on children.

Most recently we had the Amish country school gunman in Pennsylvania. He had apparently, 20 years ago, molested young women himself then lived with the guilt and the desire until it drove him to pick a vulnerable school, in a vulnerable community, and visit his personal demons on more young women before also killing himself.

And then, of course, sandwiched in the middle, we had the horror of Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley and his stalking and sexual predation on vulnerable young male pages in the halls of Congress, about which I’m sure we will hear even more and none of it good and none of it less horrific than what we’ve already heard.

These were hideous, unspeakable crimes against vulnerable children perpetrated by adults, in Foley’s case by someone in a position of great power and influence who was aided and abetted by his enabling House Republican Leadership in Congress, further adding to the depravity of it all.

But what I find most informative, about the media and about the state of conservatism in America, is the way these three stories are being spun (er, reported) by various media outlets. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial on this is especially odious and echoes the line that will be taken in the coming days by many on the extreme rightwing of Republican “thought”. What they are basically saying is that this is because we “coddle gays”, that his sexuality is what made him a predator because he’s gay and preyed on young males. It also suggests that House Republicans did not respond because they’d be seen as anti-gay in “today’s politically correct culture” and that somehow kept them from acting sooner.

But of course this horrendously written editorial is barking up the wrong tree. His behavior, like that of the two school shooting perpetrators, had nothing to do with his sexual orientation. Not even his target of choice, young boys, points to that because sexual predation against young boys is far more often committed by otherwise heterosexual men than by gay men. In addition, if one takes the WSJ’s twisted reasoning out to its logical conclusion then the two men who sexually assaulted and murdered young women this week did it because they were heterosexual and that “proves” the unacceptability of heterosexuality in today’s society.

But that of course is absurd and irrelevant, just as Foley’s sexual orientation is irrelevant to his crimes and to the crime of covering it up and enabling it by the House Republican leadership. As has just been announced in news reports, Foley admits to being molested by a priest in his own childhood (amazing how this knits together, isnt’ it?) and victims of molestation themselves have an increased likelihood of becoming molestors in adulthood, sexual orientation notwithstanding. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Pennsylvania school shooter, who already admitted to sexually abusing young female relatives as a young man was himself the victim of sexual abuse, the odds of that are quite high.

But all of this, along with Hastert’s bizarre interview with Limbaugh today, just shows how utterly devoid of credibility today’s Republican party has become. Enablers of crimes against children, both here and in Iraq and Afghanistan, perpetrators of illegal wars of opportunity, enablers and promoters of torture

Remember, these are the people who claim to be the adults, who say they can keep America “safe”. But they can’t even keep the children of Americans safe in the halls of Congress, they can’t clean up after a hurricane…hell, they can’t seem to do anything at all correctly. It’s mind boggling.

But the final absurdity, and it really is beyond parody, is that our fine President, George W. Bush, actually gave a speech today in the middle of all this and, as his party’s Congressional leadership is coming apart at the seams for failing to protect the children placed in their care, actually said: “Democrats Shouldn’t be Trusted to Run Congress“, which is probably the most tin-eared, idiotic statement any politician in high office has made yet and from a guy most people claim is a top-notch political strategist.

Pathetic.