Larry Craig Unresigns Again
Sen. Larry Craig announced today that he will remain in the Senate for the rest of his term, despite a judge’s refusal to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea for disorderly conduct. Republican leadership is not happy.
The decision did not seem to go over well among Republicans on the Hill, many of whom have made it clear they want Craig to go.
“He ought to keep his word,” said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.
“It’s a distraction,” said Sen. John Thune, R-SD.
“The original decision (to resign) was the right thing to do,” added Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.
But by far the harshest words came from Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in remarks many interpreted to be reflective of what Senate GOP Leadership as a whole feels.
“He said that if the judge would reverse his guilty plea he would fight on, if not he would resign from the Senate and remember — that was going to be effective at the end of September,” said Ensign. “He had his day in court, the judge ruled against him, and I’m calling on Senator Craig to keep his word,” said Ensign.
“It’s the right thing to do for the Senate, it’s the right thing to do for his party,” Ensign said, adding that he “could not feel more strongly about it. I think it would be a mistake to put the Senate through an Ethics investigation process that potentially could lead to public hearings. It’s embarassing for the Senate, it’s embarassing for our party.”
Note that none of these people seems to be embarrassed by David Vitter. Do I detect a whiff of homophobia in the air?
Asked why a senator should resign for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, Ensign said, “this is not just an ordinary misdemeanor charge. …the type of behavior that we’re talking about here is not exactly something that I think senators should be engaged in.”
Yeah, well, neither is flogging family values while you visit hookers. So I guess they’ll start calling for Vitter’s resignation any day now. Uh huh.
October 4th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Typical lie from a typical lying Republican.
October 4th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Did you see Keith Olbermann? All the headlines on this story were very funny.
October 5th, 2007 at 7:04 am
Yes, but Vitter’s not going to put the Senate through an embarrassing ethics investigation process. Why can’t you put his sin behind you, Kathy?
October 5th, 2007 at 7:33 am
“Why can’t you put his sin behind you, Kathy?”
I know, it’s so petty of me.
Songbird, I did see KO. Can you imagine those headline writers meeting to put together the evening’s show? They must have had a blast. I think “Craig’s Latest Stall” was the best.
October 5th, 2007 at 9:43 am
I think Craig is staying in so that he can get revenge on all his fair-weather friends. He really did get treated like sh*t by the Republican power structure. They turned on him like mad dogs and if I were him I’d stay in Congress just to make ‘em sweat. But maybe I’m projecting.