Several House leaders including Hastert, Majority Leader John Boehner and Rep. Tom Reynolds, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, have said in recent days that they knew for months about some of Foley’s correspondence. They said they knew about one “over-friendly” e-mail exchange Foley had with a 16-year-old page from Louisiana but not the sexually explicit instant messages later publicized by ABC News.
To bolster his argument, Hastert refers to an editor’s note published on the St. Petersburg Times Web site Saturday that explains that the newspaper received copies of some of the e-mails to the Louisiana page in November 2005, but characterized them as “friendly chit-chat” and chose not to print a story about them after speaking to Foley.
But on Sunday night, St. Peterburg Times editors rebutted his statements.
“The speaker is inaccurate. Our decision not to publish last fall was not based on an explanation from Rep. Foley,’’ managing editor Stephen Buckley said.
Apparently the Republican talking points are now to call the emails "overly friendly" or "naughty emails."
They sure care about your kids.