‘Is Larry Craig in or is he out?”
That’s what they’re asking these days about the Idaho senator – America’s latest laughingstock.
Following news that he pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge after his arrest during a police sex sting in a Minneapolis airport restroom, Craig’s fellow Republicans urged him to resign.
Saturday, Craig made what sounded like an announcement of his departure from the Senate, effective Sept. 30.
Yet, by Tuesday, he’d hired a high-priced Washington legal team (one of them fresh from the Michael Vick case) and gone on a PR offensive. His camp is now spinning Saturday’s press conference as only an “intent to resign” – pending the outcome of his bid to overturn his guilty plea.
The plan is to paint the senator as a victim of “entrapment” and of a misunderstanding of his actions in that restroom.
Yesterday, Craig formally requested that the Senate ethics committee drop its inquiry of his behavior.
Whether the senator is gay – he continues to deny it – is irrelevant. What is clear is that he wants a bunch of public “do-overs.”
Craig is a 62-year-old man who has served on Capitol Hill for nearly three decades; he should be well-acquainted with the law. If he didn’t believe he did something wrong, why didn’t he contest the police report?
The arrest came in June: Craig had two months to consider his legal options – and opted to plead guilty.
Now, he wants that overturned.
He apparently also wants to rescind his resignation.
Meanwhile, he has allowed himself to become a buffoon and his state and his party to become punchlines.
Sorry, Senator, it’s time to go.