[UPDATE: Well, the cat is out of the bag now. The Oklahoman newspaper went after the story because the former page worked for Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK) and had hired an attorney to represent him. The attorney basically confirmed that Jordan Edmund, now 21, was the page in the three-year-old instant messages. Makes the following post seem as quaint as the Geneva Conventions].
Okay, somebody outed the kid who was on the other end of those Foley instant messages. From a journalistic point of view I don't agree with it. I'm not going to put the kid's (now a young man) pic up here, but I will say he's a deputy campaign manager for Republican politician. I'm not going to publish a link directly to the page either.
But I'm going to admit something:
I looked it up and read every stinking word from the idiot -- a very clever and technologically proficient idiot, no doubt, but still an idiot -- who figured out the guy's identity from a major screw-up at ABC News (in one of the IMs they left the kid's screen name intact). So that makes me something of a hypocrite, now don't it. I deem it unworthy for you, but fine for me. So I'm going to compromise. Dan Sweeney over at Doomed Generation linked the site. You can get it there if you're as scurrilous as I am (and while you're at it, check out the Ben Graber post -- damn I'm REALLY glad he lost his election).
PREDICTION: Hastert steps down today, Thursday. The fork is already in his huge gut.
