Craig reversal angers GOP colleagues

[DeepModem Mom]

The Politico: Craig reversal angers GOP colleagues
By: Carrie Budoff Brown and Jim VandeHei
Sep 4, 2007


Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) stunned Senate colleagues with his decision to reconsider.
(Photo by AP)

Just when Republicans thought things could not get much worse for their scandal-stained party, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig leaked word Tuesday night that he is reconsidering his abrupt plan to resign from the Senate in the wake of his arrest in a police sex sting operation. Top Republican strategists were neither delighted nor amused by the senator's decision to rethink retirement after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct following his arrest in a Minnesota airport men's bathroom.

GOP Senate sources said Tuesday night that Craig's staff was trying to tamp down the story because Craig still intends to resign but wants to retain the option of fighting the charges with a newly assembled, high-powered legal team. On Saturday, Craig said he would resign at the end of this month.

A senior GOP Senate strategist said Republican leaders want him gone now and will press for him to keep his promise to resign. The strategist warned Craig is "losing any goodwill built up among his colleagues," adding, "He is simply a fish out of water, floundering right now to get his last gasp of political air." "It simply defies reality," said a Senate GOP aide. "You can't make this up even if you are heavily medicated. The American people heard from Larry Craig that he would resign, and using the word 'intent' as a back door doesn't work with them."

But Tuesday night, spokesman Dan Whiting said Craig might not resign if he is cleared of the charges before Sept. 30. Legal experts said it is doubtful Craig will be cleared because he pleaded guilty to the charge.

The unexpected announcement caught fellow GOP senators – and members of Craig's own crisis management team – mostly by surprise and threatened to draw negative attention to the party at a time when it is preparing for big fights over the budget and the Iraq war....

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5652.html

[hlthe2b]

1. I'll just bet it has... !

:rofl:

[TwilightGardener]

2. Like Jon Stewart once said: You can't run from Gay. Gay works out.

[NNN0LHI]

3. I'm sure this is what the Repug presidential candidates want to be talking about for the next month

While the Dem candidates are talking about health care for everyone and such.

Don

[tyedyeto]

4. I thought he announced his resignation on Saturday

:shrug:

Now he's postponing it?

[DeepModem Mom]

5. AP story broke tonight -- Craig is reconsidering his resignation. nt

[snowbear]

8. Dan Abrams said he used the phrase "it is my intention to step down".. which I guess...

... means that the word "intentions" can mean that he can change his mind if he wants to.

And the GOP were so ready to get rid of him..

[MonkeyFunk]

6. He'll resign

he was floating a trial balloon, and it was shot down.

And if he doesn't resign, he'll be expelled.

The issue is not what he did - it's that he hid an arrest and conviction from the Senate. They'll expel him from that.

[DearAbby]

9. The Senate can not expell Craig

they can censure him, but they cannot expell an elected offical. He can resign or lose an election..or be recalled by the voters of Idaho.

[hlthe2b]

11. they (people of Idaho) can not recall a member of Congress

any more than residents of CT can recall Lieberman. It is a constitutional office and there is no mechanism for his constituents to recall him. They can pressure, certainly, but only to resign.

[MonkeyFunk]

17. yes

they can expel him. Read the constitution.

[Lasher]

18. Yes it can.

Once elected, a senator continues to serve until the end of his or her term, death, or resignation. Furthermore, the Constitution permits the Senate to expel any member by a two-thirds majority vote. Fifteen senators have been expelled in the history of the Senate; fourteen of them were removed in 1861 and 1862 for supporting the Confederate secession. No senator has been expelled since, although many senators have chosen to resign when faced with expulsion proceedings (most recently, Bob Packwood in 1995).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate

[girl gone mad]

25. I remember Senator Packwood.

seems like he was packing wood pretty much constantly.

[DearAbby]

39. I stand corrected and thank you N/t

[Lasher]

42. Didn't mean to pile on.

I noticed after I posted that others had already responded.

[aquart]

7. This gets better and better.

Senator Craig, I can see that you are feeling unsure of your future and panicking big time. May I make a suggestion? You're toast among the conservatives and rigid Christians you have so long served. Now would be the right time to take a stroll on the road to Damascus, see the light, face yourself, and come out as a pure convert and enlightened advocate for gay causes.

You'll be happier. And you might even get rich.

[Raejeanowl]

10. WTF?

Adding to his woes, it looks like Craig is getting (and astonishingly, heeding) some very poor advice about his chances of brazening it out successfully.

[in_cog_ni_to]

49. Arlen Specter gave him that advice.

:rofl:

[skul_Donteecha]

12. When he pleaded guilty, that was all she wrote.

First, a guilty plea is virtually the same as a conviction at the hands o a jury. He is guiklty...
PERIOD.
The chance that he could overturn a guilty plea is almost nil. And according to Senate Rules, if you are convicted of a crime, you MUST resign. There aint no two ways about it. But I guess this is just another example of the fantasy world that Republicans have set up camp in without knowing what the hell they are doing.
And by claiming he is going to rescind his resignation and fight......all that will accomplish is more well deserved turmoil for the Grouchy Old Party.:nuke:

[BlooInBloo]

13. Woohoo! Drudgico!

[Olney Blue]

14. "You can't make this up even if you are heavily medicated."

:)

[Canuckistanian]

15. A newly assembled, high-powered legal team?

And what are they going to do?

Fly around the earth at super-light speed to reverse time?

[simmonsj811]

52. too funny

O8) :freak:

[Jim Sagle]

16. Go Lar go!

:party::toast::bounce::beer::headbang:

[Lasher]

19. Oboy, another round of political cartoons!

Life is good. :D

[saltpoint]

20. I bet it would be plenty interesting to tap the phones -- can I use that verb? --

tap? -- at the Idaho Republican Party headquarters this week.

I'll bet there's some mighty quotable remarks being exchanged betwixt Puke operatives over Senator Craig's initial resignation and now his rescinded resignation.

[Bluebear]

21. "You can't make this up even if you are heavily medicated." - like the last 7 years. nt

[sendero]

37. You got that right..

... you couldn't make up Rumsfeld, you couldn't make up Gonzo, you couldn't make up Chertoff, you couldn't make up Bremer, you couldn't make up Pace, you couldn't make up Miers, you couldn't make up Rove and nobody, even in a nightmare dream state could have made up Bush**.

[Swamp Rat]

22. LOLOLOL!!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[sleipnir]

23. My guess, he'll be gone sooner rather than later.

n/t

[opihimoimoi]

24. We always knew them Pubs are Whacko/Delusional...Lary Confirms big time...

A closet Dummy pretending to be smart....

[Tatiana]

26. As H20Man indicated in a previous post on this topic, there is more than meets the eye with Craig.

I, for one, am very interested to see how this turns out. Craig isn't THAT stupid. He wouldn't be "reconsidering" his decision to resign unless he was holding a card that he believed might get the GOP to give him a pass. He's got something on GOP leadership. Pay attention to the GOPers who haven't gone on the public record condemning him.

[formercia]

34. Craig has nothing to lose now.

All the damage has been done. Now that people are beginning to realize that it was the GOP that screwed him, he has some leverage.

[rocktivity]

43. I, too suspected either blackmail or a media distraction

from the failure of Georgie's book and Iraq trip. And if he's got something that can force Vitter to resign, he's REALLY in the catbird seat!

:headbang:
rocknation

[in_cog_ni_to]

48. Oooooooh! Now THAT is an interesting theory!

:rofl:

[radfringe]

27. pardon the expression

but he needs to shit or get off the pot

[The Count]

41. No Larry!No! Don't listen to radfringe! Constipation is good! Stay! Fling feces!

Let the fun start!

[Beerboy]

28. Good!

If it was Will Rogers who once suggested that getting Democratic voters to agree on a position was akin to 'herding cats', then it's cool to see the Pugs trying to herd their slimy hypocrites who on one day strip American citizens of their constitutional rights and genuflect at a glory hole the next!
I hope Sen. Vitter lends Craig a diaper during this flip/flop!:beer:

[calimary]

29. Good! Good-good-good-good-good-GOOD!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

Keep the circle jerk going, larry ol' pal! Keep all your little friends in turmoil and their sphincters tight as that of a new male recruit to the prison showers.

They thought they'd slammed the lid shut on this. Yeah. Think again, assholes!!!

GOOD!!! I hope he diddles and dawdles about this and drags out (so to speak) the whole mess for MONTHS!!!

Keep the questions and the talk of hypocrisy going! It can only help us. AND it has the added advantage of making those who create such a stink about gays look worse and worse and worse. Which can only KEEP being helpful to us.

[formercia]

30. He changed his mind once he found out Junior screwed him.

Anonymous tip my ass.

This is going to be fun. :rofl:

[Disturbed]

32. I suspect that he may not be Gay. He is probably Bi-Sexual.

I also suspect that he will resign.

[mwb970]

36. I wonder if that's why he kept hammering "I am not gay".

Was he thinking "I'm actually bisexual, and that's different"? It reminds me of Bill Clinton's "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" remark, where it turned out that he didn't consider what they did to be "sexual relations".

It seems to me that the crime itself and the subsequent guilty plea are more important than whether the creep is gay, or bi, or likes to sleep with huge Big Boy statues.

[salin]

31. looks like there will be a big media distraction during the "September Report"

the tendency of the media to focus on the sensational - will work against Jrs propoganda efforts around the Gen Betrayus report.

[deacon]

33. LOL - it should! Another full month of Craig talk on the news destroys them.

[Ganja Ninja]

35. I wonder if he only "intends" to give up bathroom sex? n/t

[The Count]

38. I finally got what "stalling" tactics mean!

[racaulk]

44. OMFG!!!

Now THAT is funny!!! :rofl:

[havocmom]

45. It does work

:thumbsup: & :rofl:

[slackmaster]

40. I really thought this was from The Onion when I first saw it

It's hard to make stuff like this up.

[ecstatic]

46. Emboldened by rethug AND liberal apologists

Who support stall surfing. :eyes:

[in_cog_ni_to]

47. Hmmmm.......this could be fun. He's only opening the door for MORE investigations into his bathroom

escapades though. Not very smart, IMCPO.

When I heard Craig say it was his "INTENT" to resign....I KNEW he was up to something and said so at the time to hubby.

One of the talking heads on one of the propaganda networks yesterday said that this whole thing with Specter may be a "in your face" retaliation on the religious RWers in the Senate who have taken over the party. THEY are the ones fighting for him to be kicked out of the Senate. Apparently, Specter doesn't get along with the religious wackos in his party? That was news to me, but I'm not privy to what goes on behind closed doors. I suppose it could be true, BUT LARRY CRAIG IS ONE OF THEM, so how does that make ANY sense? He's been called their water carrier or so said the talking head. ANY time they needed a wacko to get ahead of a story or have one of their pet issues addressed (abortion, anti-gay, guns) they could always count on Craig to do the dirty work for them. Where is Specter coming from here? :crazy:


Maybe this will stay in the news until the election. That WILL NOT be good for the repuke party.:rofl:

[Supersedeas]

50. po' po' po' whiny boys in the Pubby Elite -- just wanna make the public spectacle go away

[jzodda]

51. Has a naughty boy! and he's staying!

Great news! Maybe this will mean a few more seats next November. And during the week of the Iraq report? It doesn't get any better for Dems and any worse or Repukes

[CatWoman]

53. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA