I Will Survive

Sen. Larry "Wide Stance" Craig decides, on second thought,
he won't resign.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig lost a bid Thursday
to withdraw his guilty plea in a men's
room sex sting but defiantly vowed to
finish his Senate term, prolonging a
headache for Republican leaders already
facing a tough political climate.

Craig had announced plans to resign his
seat by Sept. 30, but wavered when he went
to court in hopes of withdrawing his plea.
He issued a statement Thursday on staying
in the Senate shortly after Idaho Gov. C.L.
"Butch" Otter, R, relayed word that he had
selected a replacement for Craig in the
event of a vacancy.

This should prove interesting. But for now, I have to
agree with Josh Marshall that Craig has done a
masterful job at containing and defusing a scandal that
should have ended his career in politics the moment it
hit the front page.

Let's review, news breaks that Craig, a
social conservative and strong opponent
of gay rights, got nabbed for propositioning
a man for sex in a public restroom -- a
misdemeanor to which he later pleaded guilty.
That's just a bad news day.

So Craig's fellow Republicans basically do
everything short of physically forcing him
to resign. He "resigns". Only it's not a
resignation. Rather, it's a rather ingenious
ploy to let the temperature ease off on the
story, a post-dated resignation. Then it's
not a resignation. He's going to fight the
guilty plea -- something of a novelty in the
annals of jurisprudence. He'll stay in office
if he can get his plea withdrawn. And now he
can't get his guilty plea withdrawn so, well,
too bad. He's staying anyway.

Hmm... a resignation that isn't really a resignation.
Kind of like torture that isn't really torture. It may
sound crazy to the rest of us, but it all makes perfect
sense to the beautiful minds of the GOP.