If, as appears highly likely, the "former chief of staff" who tried to cut this deal for Mark Foley is Kirk Fordham, then it means that Tom Reynolds' current Chief of Staff tried to suppress the release of the IMs by ABC and thereby deprive the American public of learning about the extent of Foley's conduct. That is the very definition of "cover-up."

This just keeps getting more appalling by the day. ABC is going to break the story, and the Chief of Staff for the congressman who heads the National Republican Congressional Commitee is trying to cut a deal to kill the story? There's one, and only one reason for that. They're trying to cover it up rather than throwing the guy under the bus.

And why do you cover it up? Because it's the Republicans and if they try to save their guy or make it not such a huge deal publicly, then they piss of the base for supporting a fag.

If anyone thought these guys might be able to retain a majority, that thought can be put out of your head right now. They should have tossed him under the bus. Instead, they've created a situation where guys who should have been reasonably safe in their elections (Denny for example) are now twisting in the wind when their opponant starts crowing that he tried to cover up someone going after minors.