Florida congressman and Republican Mark Foley is an idiot. That, sadly, is the smallest of his sins.

He has also disgraced himself, proven himself a hypocrite of the worst kind, and embarrassed his family in a horrific way. Appropriately, he will likely be prosecuted for his transgressions under laws that he himself spearheaded--laws targeting Internet predators who preyed on children.

Florida Rep. Mark Foley’s resignation came just hours after ABC News questioned the congressman about a series of sexually explicit instant messages involving congressional pages, high school students who are under 18 years of age.

In Congress, Rep. Foley (R-FL) was part of the Republican leadership and the chairman of the House caucus on missing and exploited children.

He crusaded for tough laws against those who used the Internet for sexual exploitation of children.

“They’re sick people; they need mental health counseling,” Foley said.

But, according to several former congressional pages, the congressman used the Internet to engage in sexually explicit exchanges.

So far--and, hopefully, never--there has been no accusation of Foley having actually sexually assaulted any of the kids, which in no way excuses the rank abuse of power and position from this fraud. The words to describe Foley--if the accusations prove to be accurate and they sure as hell seem credible--are stupid, shameful, and criminal.

Here’s hoping that his resignation and position don’t shelter him from prosecution for his crimes.

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Update: And if the story weren’t bad enough on its own, here’s an example of House Republican leadership failing its duties in a massive way.