So maybe some of you are shocked by the growing scandal over the cyber-trolling by Representative Mark Foley and the fact that Representative Denny Hastert and NRCC Chair Tom Reynolds, among others, have been fully aware that this man was hitting on high school boys for the past year.

You shouldn't be.

This is, very simply, emblematic of the current state of the GOP, a once proud party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt that has devolved into an elected membership comprised of racists, criminals, self-haters and perverts. Am I exaggerating? I think not.

I'll leave the Neo-Confederates such as George Allen and the Abramoffers such as Bob Ney for another column. Let's just talk about the latter two categories. Former Representative Ed Schrock of Virginia, who sponsored anti-gay legislation in the House, was caught in 2004 making calls to a homosexual phone-sex operation. He then resigned without comment much like Foley. Hate yourself much Ed?

See Mayor Jim West of Spokane for a very similar story to the one currently bedeviling poor Mark Foley, who was still Chairing the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited children as of last week.

You want to find adultery among these miscreant moralizers? Why go no further then Pennsylvania Representative Don Sherwood, who thought it wasn't good enough to just cheat on his wife with a women in her 20s (he's in his 60s), but decided to try and choke her for extra credit. Or Representative Steve LaTourette of Ohio, who didn't only cheat on his wife of 28 years with an aide, but set her up with a nice little shop that lobbied a committe on which he sat (Transportation). The piles of money she made was helpful though, as it most likely helped pay his rent as she was living with him.

Divorce you say. Ok, well here's a math problem for you. What do you get when you add the divorces of Newt Gingrich + Rush Limbaugh + Bob Barr? A hint, you're almost in double digits.

Senate Republican Leader-to-be, Mitch McConnell, has no relationship with his first wife and daughters (he runs a helluva partisan machine in Kentucky and Washington, however). Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist? He dumped his fiancee for another woman on the eve of his marriage.

This is today's GOP. The family values crowd in all their glory. It is the reason I started doing a weekly segment on The Young Turks called "Republican Sexcapades" (you may be familiar with the insightful analysis of Cenk Uygur, one of The Young Tursks' hosts, on this very site). Because somebody had to point out their sexual hypocrisy on a weekly basis.

And I've never lacked for material. Ever.

If you want to catch our discussion of Mr. Foley, by the way, I will be on the show tomorrow at 6:05 AM Eastern Time, to discuss the latest developments in this sickening story (our normal time is 8:00 AM Eastern on Thursdays--but this one was too big to wait). By then, who knows, maybe one more Republican will have cheated on his wife with a circus midget or another will be found to enjoy the company of the bovine.

PS I will also be on MSNBC tomorrow at 11:00 AM Eastern to discuss this and other enlightening topics