Circle the wagons mentality

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for the Republicans, out comes Mark Foley like a cockroach scurrying out of the kitchen on a Friday night.
Here is a man, representing the people of Florida and this country in the House of Representatives, ostensibly trying to protect teens from sexual predators and the ills of the internet, yet using his position to prey on young male pages.
What does the Republican leadership have to say in response - we will protect you. At least, they tried, until the news was so overwhelming that calls for a Justice dept. Investigation had to be made.

The real question here is that why wasn't something done sooner? Why is there a "circle the wagon" mentality by Republicans to protect their own rather than do what's right? There appeared to be a smoking gun in 2005, perhaps earlier, regarding Foley's pedophile behavior.
Instead, the Republicans resort to calling attacks on Foley "smear tactics" and political partisanship against a man who merely sent "naughty emails"?!!?
What planet are these Republicans living on?
Of course the other retort from the Republican camp is that Democrats have done disgraceful things in office too. Yes they have, but do Democrats engage in this culture of circling the wagons?
When Representative William Jefferson of New Orleans was caught with $90,000 cash in his freezer, Democrats were quickly calling for his resignation and distancing themselves from his actions. Republicans, on the other hand, perhaps seeing someone more like themselves, fought the raiding of his office by the Justice department as "unconstitutional".
It seems Americans need to stop stooping to shallow generalizations that everyone in Washington is corrupt. Yes, both parties are not without sin, but the real test is how each one reacts to corruption that is a defining features of a party's integrity.
Americans should no longer be suckered by a Republican party that claims to bring "honesty" and "integrity"to our government.