A palate cleanser via Taegan Goddard. I’m tempted to play “name that party!” with this one, but my scruples won’t let me. Alas, my friends, he’s one of ours.

Maybe he’s a libertarian?

Bennett defended his actions, telling Sunshine State News it was an email sent to him by a woman “who happens to be a former court administrator.”

“I was just sitting there, bored as they were debating the abortion bill,” Bennett said.

“I opened it up and said holy [expletive]! What’s on my screen? and clicked away from it right away.”

Sunshine State News could not verify how long the image of four bikini-clad women with their tops exposed was open before our cameras started rolling on it, but it was up for at least three seconds before it disappeared from the screen…

We offered Bennett an opportunity to prove his statements to Sunshine State News by showing the executive editor and videographer the email record with a government-related subject line, but after talking to the Senate’s top lawyer, he declined to let us see those records.

A few things. One: This is a useful reminder to be careful about opening e-mail attachments at work. Two: I don’t know what’s up with the dog video and, under the circumstances, I don’t want to know. Three: I suspect he’s telling the truth for the simple reason that no one would make up the fact that they got a photo like this from a woman friend. Right? If you’re going to try the “oh, my buddy sent this to me as a joke” excuse, you wouldn’t make the buddy female unless she really was female and really had sent it to you. I think we’re looking at an acquittal here. Justice for Bennett!

Also, let’s face it: It could have been worse. Imagine if he’d gotten caught looking at this.