Changing the subject

When the news is bad the Republicans and the Bush administration often try to change the subject. The revelations in Bob Woodward's ‘State of Denial’ were certainly not something the Republicans wanted leading the news cycle a month before the election. That said were the revelations about Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) an attempt to change the subject? If so it was a stupid one that went terribly wrong for the Republicans.
After Foley, New Fears For the GOP
Some Say Party Could Lose House and Senate

Republican strategists said yesterday that public revulsion over the sexually graphic online conversations between Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and former House pages could compound the party's problems enough to tip the House to the Democrats in November -- and could jeopardize the party's hold on the Senate as well.