Mark Foley

Eighteen years ago tonight, ABC News revealed that Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley had sent lewd text messages to underage congressional pages. ABC, CBS and NBC spent a huge amount of airtime over the following weeks trumpeting the scandal, the idea being that Foley’s bad behavior could bring down Republicans all across the country.

After initially burying the embarrassing campaign faux pas of the Orlando night club terrorist's father, Mir Seddique Mateen, standing behind Hillary Clinton at one of her rallies, CNN New Day finally gave more attention to the story after former Republican Representative Mark Foley managed to snag a similar spot at a rally behind Donald Trump.

You can't swing a dead cat these days without hitting some liberal media member cautioning the Republicans to not "overplay their hand" concerning the various scandals now plaguing the White House. Do you remember the press being concerned that the Democrats would overplay 2006's "Republican Culture of Corruption" or last year's "Republican War on Women?"

When then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was caught in a sex scandal involving inappropriate instant messages to an underage boy, the media had a field day, using the matter to tar House Republicans at large in the 2006 election cycle, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted in a February 7 appearance on Fox Business Network's "Cavuto." But fast-forward six years to allegations against Sen. Bob…