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We know when we’re beaten. Bowing to the gods of the news cycle, let us undertake the great questions of the moment. Where does post-modern American ethics place Mark Foley’s homosexuality on a scale of 1 to 10–a 1 being just another gay guy and a 10 being a compulsive predatory sex offender? What might fall in between seems to have confused Denny Hastert, two newspapers, one TV network and the FBI. In the event, Mr. Hastert, as the point man, is being driven from office for having failed, in hindsight, to recognize the obvious. On this score, Mr. Hastert has our sympathy. There is much in American life that doesn’t seem “obvious” anymore.