A pointless defense

In regards to the Foley mess, I see a ton of conservative commentators, columnists, radio hosts, and bloggers firing back at the left by pointing out the Democrats' double standard, with Gerry Studds, Barney Frank, and others as the poster children. This double standard line, while true, is pretty feeble and pointless. In fact, to your non-aligned voter, it just makes Republicans look bad, childish even. Are Democrats intentions pure here? Absolutely not. But it doesn't matter unless it is proven that they sat on the information, too, because for now, on this issue, they have the high ground, and there isn't anything in the past that is going to change that on this issue. The fact is Foley done wrong, and it doesn't matter what certain Democrats have tolerated from their own in past. The spotlight is on the Republicans. What matters is how Republicans handled/handle Foley's wrong doing. While they may not have actively covered it up, they certainly didn't follow up on the emails very aggressively, and that is all that is going to matter to that average, non-aligned voter and some social conservatives. I understand wanting to fight back against Dems for the politics of this, but the best way to do that is help people see the clear delineation between the emails and IMs, and when everybody knew about each. Additionally, digging up who in the Democratic party knew what and when would also be constructive. This whole I know he did but what about them thing is not productive or constructive.