SALON

Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 2:27 PM UTC

Foley: “I’m trying to find my way back”

The disgraced former congressman breaks his silence, and comes off as less than fully repentant for his actions.

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Topics: War Room, Roy Ashburn,

Don’t look now, but former Rep. Mark Foley is trying to make a comeback, or at the very least to repair his tattered public image two years after the scandal that drove him from Congress.

Foley was scheduled to appear on the “Today” show, but backed out, reportedly because Matt Lauer wouldn’t be doing the interview. Instead, he spoke to the Associated Press and a Florida television station. (I’d embed the video of that interview, but it’s set to autoplay — you can watch it here.)

“I’m trying to find my way back,” Foley told the AP. His attitude in the interview, though, probably won’t help him accomplish that goal. He called his instant-message sessions with congressional pages a “momentary lapse of judgment,” even though they went on for a period of months, and said, “There was never anywhere in those conversations where someone said, ‘Stop,’ or ‘I’m not enjoying this,’ or ‘This is inappropriate’ … but again, I’m the adult here, I’m the congressman. The fact is I allowed it to happen. That’s where my responsibility lies.”

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.

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