Dennis Hastert's files show an ongoing interest in pedophilia and homosexuality

Since Dennis Hastert was indicted on charges related to his efforts to cover up payments to a former student for past sexual misconduct, there's been an ongoing reassessment of the former speaker of the House's political career and interests. And since Hastert was a social conservative, with all the anti-gay obsessions that usually entails, there's a lot of material to work with, as Politico's look through a collection of his papers and memorabilia shows. There's the campaign against pedophilia:

Just before his election as House speaker in 1999, Dennis Hastert spearheaded legislation to prevent use of the Internet to encourage sexual acts with children. As he often did, Hastert invoked his personal history “as a father and a person who has dealt with public schools for a long time” to urge passage.

“We must continue to be proactive warding off pedophiles and other creeps who want to take advantage of our children,” Hastert said, according to an account of an Internet forum he held in his congressional district.

To be fair, if Hastert's abuses dated to his time as a teacher and coach pre-1981, it's extremely unlikely he used the internet to take advantage of children. Still, it's kind of a meaningless distinction.

And then there are the "homosexuals":

The records show that Hastert’s office kept a legislative file titled “Homosexuals,” filled with policy statements from social conservative groups like the Traditional Values Coalition and the Family Research Council that criticized same-sex marriage and Clinton administration efforts to prevent discrimination against gays and lesbians. The file also includes a 1996 Weekly Standard article, “Pedophilia Chic” that warned that “revisionist suggestions about pedophilia” were being embraced by the left.

Is it too late to tell him that, whatever his personal experience might have led him to believe, pedophilia and homosexuality are two different things?

What we don't know is if Hastert's own history made him more obsessed with these subjects than his fellow House Republicans, or if this was an average level of sex-obsession for a social conservative of his generation. And honestly, I'm not sure which would be the less creepy option.