To the delight of political commentators everywhere, disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley reared his head yesterday in a pair of interviews, after more than two years of complete media silence.

The Florida Republican is best known for his naughty instant-messaging conversations with Congressional Pages (sample quote: "well I have aa totally stiff wood now"), which prompted accusations of pedophilia. But in his interview with the Associated Press, he insists that's unfounded…

[W]hile he concedes his behavior was "extraordinarily stupid," he remains somewhat unwilling to accept full public scorn.

These were 17-year-olds, just months from being men, he insists.

"There was never anywhere in those conversations where someone said, 'Stop,' or 'I'm not enjoying this,' or 'This is inappropriate' …

"You know, you hear the term 'pedophile.' That is prepubescent," Foley said, noting a "huge difference" from lurid chats with teens on the brink of adulthood.

In a separate interview with a Florida TV station, Foley expounded on this critical distinction…

"It hits me right in the gut because it's absolutely false and incorrect," Foley said in an interview with WPTV NewsChannel 5 in West Palm Beach. "A pedophile is somebody who is having sex with a prepubescent person. I mean, that is an outrage to be called that."

"Now I understand why my critics would (call me a pedophile) and I accept the fact that that is going to be so, but I don't have to accept the title, and I won't accept the title because it's not true," Foley added.

Foley is really on to something here. Clearly, there's clearly nothing deviant about his sexual predilections here. None of this would be an issue if the same-sex issue weren't on the table — after all, what would be wrong with a 52-year-old man lusting after a 17-year-old employee, telling her that he wanted to undress her and fondle her?

Oh wait, that would be unfathomably fucked up. But I guess in Foley's view, as long as the kid has hit puberty, it ain't so bad.

* Joe Biden chooses Kevin Spacey as his Chief of Staff.

* Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson head off on romantic cruise with just several hundred of their closest ideologues.

* Mark Foley's long road to redemption hampered by unconvincing desire for redemption.

* Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is even smarter than I thought he was.

* Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is just about as smart as I thought she was.

* Do you live in Georgia? If so, would you consider yourself one of Saxby Chambliss' "folks"?

The Democrats' chances for a 60-vote Senate supermajority likely ride on Georgia, where Senator Saxby Chambliss is struggling to find a message that doesn't involve linking a triple-amputee war hero to Osama bin Laden.

His opponent is Democrat Jim Martin who, despite being a friendly, competent guy, has been damaged by the fact that there aren't any public photos of him wrapped in a Confederate flag.

If neither candidate gets a majority of voters (50%), the race goes to a December run-off.  If, at that point, the Democrats are sitting on 59 Senate votes, you'll see Martin's stock swoon faster Mark Foley at a Jonas Brothers concert.

See while Georgians might be up for the simple concept of replacing Chambliss, there is no way that they'd be the ones to engender the greatest Democratic power assault since Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton.

And even if Martin won, Joe Lieberman would just jump ship to the GOP.

(Provided that he's allowed to caucus from John McCain's lap.)

Yesterday, we reported that Rep. Tim Mahoney, heir to disgraced Rep. Mark Foley's Congressional seat, had been implicated in a sordid affair with a staffer. What more could you ask for in a story?

How about rumors of a second affair for Mahoney? Well, you got it! According to reliable sources, the Florida Democrat was engaged in some illicit hanky-panky with another woman who wasn't his wife — at the same time that he was nailing his staffer.

And this one isn't just wrong for personal reasons — it has the distinctive air of corruption around it.

On Tuesday night, a person close to the Mahoney campaign told the AP that Mahoney also was having a relationship with a high-ranking official in Martin County in his Florida district around the same time of the purported affair with Allen.

The person close to the campaign spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to openly discuss Mahoney's private life.

The person said Mahoney was having the relationship with the official in 2007 while he also was lobbying the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a $3.4 million reimbursement for Martin County for damage caused by hurricanes in 2004. FEMA approved the money late last year.

It remains to be seen if either affair actually happened, but given the way that the vultures are circling, this isn't going to end well for Mahoney.

The Mark Foley scandal was the highlight of the 2006 political season. The Florida Congressman's shenanigans with Congressional Pages provided fodder for political commentators and late-night comedians… and even landed certain people some sweet jobs.

Foley left the Congress and his seat was taken over by a Democrat, Tim Mahoney. Mahoney promised reform and the reinstatement of ethics for his constituents. And he's delivered just that.

By having a big sex scandal.! Turns out that the married Mahoney had an affair with one of his Congressional staffers, threatened her with firing if she broke it off, and then paid her $121,000 to keep quiet about it. Now, that's what I call a return to ethics!

The news broke yesterday and had everyone on Capitol Hill -– especially the Democratic leadership. — furious at Mahoney. That is, until he turned the tables by boldly calling for an investigation into his own conduct.. Foley certainly never had the guts to do that.

It remains to be seen if Mahoney will make it to the end of his term, let alone get reelected. Right now, his Republican challenger, Tom Rooney., is a clear favorite to win the race.

Rooney has pledged that if elected, he will not disgrace Florida's 16th District by engaging in any more sex scandals. He has not, however, ruled out killing a hobo on national TV.

Federal prosecutors have decided that with all the killers, rapists and lobbyists clogging up our jails, there just isn’t any room for disgraced former U.S. Congressmen who tried to get all sexy with online teens.

In other words, Mark Foley is a free man…

Former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley isn't expected to face charges after a lengthy investigation into his lurid messages to underage congressional pages, two federal law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Thursday…

They said neither state nor federal charges were expected, although an FBI investigation has not been closed yet.

Foley, equally known for chairing the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children and for typing the line "well I have aa totally stiff wood now" to a teenage boy, will face no penalty apart from being forced to resign from Congress, being outed to his family by Sean Hannity, and becoming a nationwide punch line.

The news will come as a relief to AOL, which has seen overall usage plummet, and may have faced bankruptcy without the traffic generated by Foley.

It will also be a relief to Larry Craig, John Edwards, Jeremiah Wright, Phil Gramm, Carly Fiorina, Geraldine Ferraro, Kwame Kilpatrick, Bristol Palin + Levi Johnston, O.J. Simpson, the entire St. Louis Rams football team, and Rudy Giuliani– who can all take heart that, no matter how bad it gets, there’s still someone walking the streets even more embarrassing than they are.