So there’s more coming down the pike on Senator Larry Craig’s current situation.
1. Congressional Quarterly reports that Senate GOP leadership will ask the Senate Ethics Committee to open a file on Senator Craig. While I wouldn’t expect any serious repercussions, this is certainly going to keep the story circulating. It also indicates that the Republican Party has no plans to rally around Craig - it looks very much like they’re cutting him off and hoping the stink won’t spread.
2. Speaking of smelly things, Craig has resigned his post as Senate co-chair for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s Presidential race. This could be an issue going forward for Romney, as he was no doubt banking on southern Idaho’s heavy Mormon population for long-term support. Will he be able to get the backing of another major conservative leader in the west?
3. Michelle Malkin’s readers (not usually me, I swear) think Craig should get gone. Malkin herself called Craig “a supremely arrogant lying crapweasel” which may actually enter my personal lexicon. Thanks Michelle, you “supremely arrogant lying crapweasel!” Awesome.
4. Conservatives are jumping all over themselves to give Craig the hairy eyeball, from Malkin (above) to Ari Fleischer to Sam Brownback. And to think that just yesterday I was worried that Dems would look bad for piling on. Since when do Republicans do Democratic dirty work?
5. Finally, Craig on Craig: it’s the Statesman’s fault. That’s right, Senator, blame that notorious left-wing media for all of its, you know, investigative journalism.
In other news, Rep. Brian Baird threw a town hall last night. Brian’s a pretty charismatic guy, alright, but what anti-war Democrat holds a town hall the night after announcing that President Bush’s surge might be helping? Jon Soltz, of VoteVets, showed up and called Baird out on his support for a clearly failing policy.
My question is what Rep. Baird thinks he’s doing here. I’v met the man and most of his staff, and he doesn’t seem to put up with a lot of foolishness. So where’s the percentage here? He took heat for voting against the Iraq war, he took heat in the ‘06 cycle for not being anti-war enough for his more liberal constiuants, and now he’s taking heat for saying we need to give the surge another 6-12 months.
Brian, please. Pick a stance, and stay with it. And if you’re going to pick the least popular of all possible stances, do it with some finesse!