Breaking: Craig To Hand Job Over
No More "toetapping through the tulips"
By haystack Posted in Breaking News — Comments (17) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
[With FULL pun intended...]
Senator Craig has just announced his resignation from the Senate. It is a sad moment in his life, and in the lives of those around him. Whatever successes and accomplishments he might have enjoyed in his political career, his personal demons have felled him.
He said he was humbled. He said he was proud of his record and accomplishments, and proud of those with whom he worked. To his colleagues and his family, he apologized. He expressed his concern for his good name...and in pursuing his legal options, he believes his service to Idahoans can not be fully realized.
With sadness and deep regret he resigns effective September 30...to cheers and clapping...and a few muted "we love yous." Planning a smooth transition, he will stay until a suitable replacement can be put in place.
While saddened by his destruction because of his actions and behaviors in an airport...IN AN AIRPORT BATHROOM no less, the state of American governance comes much higher on the list of National Priority than the need of this man to retain some semblance of personal dignity and self-respect.
It is an embarrassing time all around, and may we now move forward BACK to the matter at hand; national best interest and essential legislative pursuits.
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Breaking: Craig To Hand Job Over 17 Comments (0 topical, 17 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
This incident with Senator Craig goes to show the need for term limits.
How many others are there that haven't gotten caught yet.This is not about Democrat or Republican. It is about morals.
Good moral people can get caught up in corruption. And the atmosphere in Washington helps with the fall of people.
Until people in the states start voting people out that have been there for 20 years nothing will change.
There will be others who will be caught.
If this is the result of no term limits, then this is what the people are asking for.
We don't need term limits to ditch incumbents. The people will let us know when they're ready for that.
I couldn't agree more. Living in the deaf, dumb and blind state of Massachusetts, we're inundated with politicos at the federal and state level that have more than worn out their welcome. Yet, year after year, election after election, no matter what they've said or done, the electorate sends them back (e.g. Kennedy, Kerry, Franks, Delahunt, etc. I'm certain the country could stand the changeover; too bad they don't have the guts to make it happen.
Neil,
I'm for term limits precisely for this scenario with Kerry and Kennedy. The sheep of Massachusetts would re-elect Ted Kennedy if he was caught in a men's bathroom smoking a joint and mainlining heroin while sending top secret government info to China over his Blackberry.
The point is, Ted Kennedy takes money out of my pocket and threatens my Country and I live 2000 miles away from Massachusetts.
I say, take a sheet of paper out and make a list on the left side of those Senators that you would be heart broken if they had to leave due to term limits, then on the right side list those Senators you wish would have left last year or even 10 years ago. If your sheet of paper looks anything like mine, it's sparse on the left margin.
If you don't like Sen. Kerry representing you, then move. If he doesn't represent you, then well, why should you get a say in who's in that seat?
And no, sir, I don't make Constitutional decisions based on the immediate political consequences. I've SEEN the effects of term limits here in California, and they're not pretty. Our legislature is a mess now.
Being a Republican means accepting the consequences of elections, not changing the rules to suit our desires better, I say.
Putting Craig and hand job in the same title seems a little perverse.
"We should scrap this “comprehensive” immigration bill and the whole debate until the government can show the American people that we have secured the borders -- or at least made great headway."
Fred Thompson
haystack's 12th:
Conservatives (and Presidential Candidates especially) shall offer no aid and comfort to the opposition in times of legislative conflict (and ensuing political campaigns).
Had he been toe tapping through a garden of tulips he would not be in any trouble. It was the toe tapping through the toilets that got him.
"We should scrap this “comprehensive” immigration bill and the whole debate until the government can show the American people that we have secured the borders -- or at least made great headway."
Fred Thompson
haystack's 12th:
Conservatives (and Presidential Candidates especially) shall offer no aid and comfort to the opposition in times of legislative conflict (and ensuing political campaigns).
All Republicans need to take note. Larry Craig has been targetted since before the 2006 elections. Democrats have been looking for ANY whiff of scandal, wrong-doing, misjudgment to exploit. WHether Larry Craig is guilty of anything more than poor judgment in the Minneapolis AIrport incident or not, he is guilty of stupidity when it comes to thinking any problem a Republican has will go away quietly in today's environment. It is almost always the coverup rather than the crime that gets people in trouble. Just look at the recent Mr. Hsu campaign contributions to Hillary CLinton and other Democrats. The recipients declare the intention to return or return to charity the contributions (no matter that it is a small fraction of the total from Mr. Hsu) and all is forgiven.
What the hell do Republicans tell themselves when they're sitting around together discussing the current environment. There's nothing that goes on in House or the Senate that is not known to the leadership and or members. Yet the Foleys, Craigs, and others like them, continue fooling themselves, thinking they'll never get caught. And if that's not bad enough, we have the entire cadre of Abramhoff worshipers who couldn't stuff their pockets fast enough. You would think the leadership would routinely reign in anyone even suspected of engaging in this behavior, but no, the beat goes on. You reap, what you sow, and we're stuck with the product.
Some more than others. Mr. Craig did the right thing, showing that his now public "flaw" need not cause him to flinch from doing that which is the selfless thing, that which is best for those ideals and people he cares about. Thank you Mr. Craig.
There is no system of politics, term limits, or government that will nullify these kinds of things. What is needed, as always, are more men and women who, when behind closed doors, labor to be individuals of integrity, self-discipline, and solid character.
Jack
I am completely in favor of limits. While it is true that, in a democracy, folks get the kind of government they deserve, incumbents have a huge advantage in name recognition alone.
We simply have too many people who pull a lever based upon a name they have seen before. They are too lazy, too uncaring, or too dumb, to know squat about the issues or the candidates.
combined with a Jim Jeffords [ the guy who has sank back into obscurity].
Call a press conference, announce the arrest, claim you've lived a life of repression, state support for whatever demands whatever gay/lesbian alliance happens to be making,[ including busting open that citadel of oppression, the Boy Scouts}, eviscerate and excoriate the party you've been in for years, God, how the media will love that, and then go home and buy your wife a new car.
This will do nothing for the Republican Party and may not help Craig's political future back home. But it will guaranty him a gigantic book deal, comfort for life, fawning TV interviews, and overall a media that will treat him as Richard the Lion Hearted/Mahatma Ghandi.
You will then never hear the word "hypocrisy" from the left, and who knows, possibly an entente cordiale with Senator Jeffords, if you know what I mean.
Unfortunately for him Craig was cursed with a residue of principle and bowed out like a man.
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville
Not so fast, my friend. Senator "Wide Stance" may be having second thoughts.
Might as well, as the hypocrisy is unbelievable!
http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2007/09/senator-larry-craig-toe-taps-out-...
With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see right.