… appears to confirm suspicions that Democrats had a hand in leaking the sexually explicit IMs to ABC News. But most of us were operating under that assumption already. Beyond that, it doesn’t really change what we know about other aspects of the story.
First, even if the kid in the IM exchange was joking, Mark Foley wasn’t. Second, the IMs are irrelevant when it comes to evaluating Hastert’s response to the e-mails Foley sent to Rep. Rodney Alexander’s page, which were allegedly brought to his attention last spring.
While the scoop doesn’t significantly alter our evaluation of the scandal, it does have the pleasant side effect of making Think Progress look foolish for overreacting to the “outing” of Foley’s “victim.”