Hmmmmm

Clarice Feldman at American Thinker has noticed some very strange things about the way the Mark Foley scandal broke into the media. An obscure blog site with virtually no traffic carried the story in September, and then ABC almost immediately picked up the story and ran with it. Who set up the site? And -- believe it or not -- did ABC coordinate with a George Soros-backed "public interest group"?

There are many more questions about how this story came to light. Feldman, an attorney who has done outstanding analysis in the past on the Plamegate matter, has more here and here.

Another peculiar angle is that The New York Times reports that Brian Ross of ABC had info on the story as early as August, but he claims to have been "too busy" working on the anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 to investigate the matter.

Let me get this straight: anniversaries of past news events were more significant than timely reporting new news on a scandal involving a Congressman?

It makes sense to question whether Ross and/or the network, possibly in concert with others, held on to the story as an almost-October surprise, intended to inflict maximum damage in this fall's election. I wonder whether it's a coincidence that this story broke at a time when Republicans have been on the upswing in pre-election polls. In this post-Rathergate era, anything seems possible.

Just One Minute is also asking questions: "Presumably someone will do the homework and figure out who the site author is and ask the obvious follow-ups - what did they know and when did they know it, who did the emails come from, how was that verified, etc." More here.

And keep your eye on this Free Republic thread, where a FReeper believes she has uncovered a "potentially explosive link in this chain" and contacted American Thinker. It may come to nothing, but we all know the important role Free Republic played in the Rathergate scandal, so the site bears watching for possible developments.

Let's be clear: Representative Foley's behavior was reprehensible. It was appropriate that he left Congress immediately, and it is appropriate to censure anyone who knew the full extent of Foley's conduct and didn't take proper steps to end it and report it to the authorities.

At this point, however, one has to wonder if the investigation into who suppressed information on potentially criminal conduct should begin with the mainstream media.