What Could Explain the Two Faces of Mark Foley?
Florida Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned Friday in disgrace after it was disclosed that he had written sexually explicit e-mails to an underage congressional page, now faces possible prosecution for crimes he had publicly crusaded against. And aside from his legal problems, Foley, who was co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children and has spoken out against online child exploitation, has been branded a hypocrite for his indiscretions with minors. Psychiatrists said his contradictory actions are consistent with those of a person struggling with an internal moral battle — one that could cause someone to live privately on the “wrong” side of his own moral crusade. “The righteous, fervent crusading against something often may represent an attempt to keep one’s own impulses under control,” said Dr. Jon Shaw, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami. For example, if someone believes that harming childr
