The press was equally complicit in the politics of silence. The New York Times and The Washington Post did a few stories on inside pages in August, no partisan disaster. The three networks left a vacuum of silence from Aug. 26 until Sept. 12, when CBS and NBC, but not ABC, mentioned the ethics committee decision in brief, almost meaningless anchor items. Not one ran a full story.

In 1994, news emerged that Democratic Rep. Mel Reynolds had a consensual sexual relationship with Beverly Heard beginning when she was 16. Heard said Reynolds gave her cash at each meeting and supplied her with his pager number and apartment keys. In taped phone conversations, they even plotted group sex with a 15-year-old Catholic high school girl Heard had said wanted to have sex with him.

The infamous Reynolds reply: "Did I win the lotto?" He asked Heard to take photos of the girl's private parts. Reynolds was convicted of criminal sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. The networks barely touched on this story as it broke in 1994, and ended with conviction in 1995, which is why, dear reader, I bet you don't even remember it.

Did the Democrats believe in holding Reynolds accountable? Bill Clinton pardoned him as he left office in 2001. He then went to work as a consultant for Jesse Jackson.

Don't forget 1983, when Republican Rep. Daniel Crane and Democratic Rep. Gerry Studds were censured by the House for sexual affairs with teenage pages (Studds with a male). Crane was defeated in a Republican primary; Studds arrogantly continued in Congress another 13 years.

On July 14, 1983, when the House ethics committee recommended action, ABC's Peter Jennings made sure the viewers at home knew Daniel Crane was a hypocrite, who vowed to stand up for the "God-fearing" people when Congress considered legalizing most sex acts in the District of Columbia. He had no embarrassing old quotes for Studds.

The hypocrisy here is as nauseating as the Foley e-mails.