In watching some of the constant news coverage of the Foley affair (pun intended) and the House Republican leadership obvious cover-up, I remembered that Speaker Hastert's day job before he was first elected to Congress was as a teacher and wrestling coach.

Not for nothing, but coaches aren't exactly well-known for taking sexual violence seriously. Allow me to relate a tale from my high school days about one of my gym teachers:

In a health class (which were taught by the P.E. teachers), in what must have been the sex ed component, the teacher stated that he once came upon a group of his classmates in college raping a young woman.

Shocked, we asked, "what did you do?"

"I held down her legs," said he.

I'm ashamed to say I laughed back then, partially out of embarrassment, partially in shock, and yes, partially because I thought it was funny. I've learned a lot in the more than ten years since.

But my point is, that gym teacher was actually one of the more open male gym teachers at the school. His male colleagues were true neanderthals, as near as I can remember. My impression is that they were all more or less indicitive of their profession.

And so I have no reason to doubt that Speaker Hastert holds many of the same disaterous beliefs about the impact of sexual violence that my high school gym teachers did. Couple that with the uncompromising sense of entitlement that comes with holding the kind of power he holds, and it's no wonder he dismissed Foley's violence so handily.

Now for the record, I'm not saying all coaches are so clueless. But Hastert's history as a coach helps put his actions - and lack thereof - in some kind of context.