Rahm Emanuel and Foleygate

Rahm Emanuel learned the game of politics from Bill and Hillary. He obviously took all their lessons to heart:

Democratic campaign operatives pushed newspapers to write about then-Rep. Mark Foley's e-mails to teenage pages in the hope that a scandal would emerge before the midterm elections, according to a House ethics report.


The findings were bolstered when an aide to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Illinois Democrat, said the congressman also knew about the e-mails, which were dubbed "inappropriate" by the ethics panel. Mr. Emanuel, who was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) when Mr. Foley's sex candal broke in late September, had denied knowledge of the Florida Republican's e-mails.

The House ethics panel, which is formally called the Standards of Official Conduct Committee, Friday released its final probe into Mr. Foley's behavior, scolding Republicans for failing to act on years of troubling signs and naming Democrats who knew about the e-mails.

So Emanuel knew about the e-mails and held the info until it would have the most effect on the election. He is just as complicit in the events as were those from the GOP who knew.

Although the overall scumminess of Emanuel's actions leave me with the feeling that I need to take a shower, he played it the way Democrats always play it and won the election because of it.