Wow. I must admit, even I thought the Republicans had a chance for a few months of peace, a time when they wouldn’t make big news. Now that Albert Gonzales and Karl Rove had jettisoned, they could get back to the job of running the country, right?
Well, apparently we were all thrown for a surprise. Enter Senator Larry Craig. I won’t bother explaining all the details that everybody already knows, but no sooner had the big news gone out than we were thrown some more. In a more serene time, this probably would have been swept under the carpet, but these are no peaceful times in scandal land. With everything else that’s gone on at Capitol Hill, I think Republicans are desperately looking for an escape hatch. This is the kind of stuff that got the Republicans overthrown from their lofty leadership positions, after all. No Republican wants to hear that one of their own is making the whole party look bad. Not only do they have their own butts to worry about, but they want a Republican President elected next year.
Like with Gonzales, I think we’ll see more and more Congresspeople call for his resignation. As far as I understand, however, he’s a pretty tough old bird. He’s had the “he’s gay” accusation thrown his way before, and was even linked to a 1980s version of last year’s page scandal. So, it may be hard to boot him out. However, I think this is the first time he’s actually gotten gotten convicted of something so against party morals. That may increase the pressure that much more. But, we’ll see. Even if he doesn’t leave himself, his constituents may have something to say about this next year.
This scandal has brought something up I’d like to discuss more fully tomorrow. About how the two parties deal with scandal, and who does or doesn’t keep it under wraps. The topic was prompted by comparisons former Congressman Tom Delay (who I don’t really think should be a spokesperson on Congressional scandal given his record) made today on MSNBC. All that tomorrow in what’s should hopefully make for a nice long entry.