Word: craige
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...only regret the G.O.P. is likely to feel about the end of Idaho Senator Larry Craig's 27-year congressional career is that it didn't happen two days earlier. Craig's announcement, Saturday, that he intends to resign effective Sept. 30 comes amid the traditional Labor Day weekend campaign launches for the 2008 election cycle. And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had not envisioned starting the weekend with the news media dominated by speculation over whether Craig is gay, and why he pled guilty to disorderly conduct on Aug. 8 when accused of soliciting sex from an undercover...
...Craig's announcement, just days after he swore to fight the charges, was hardly surprising, given the race among Republican legislators and candidates to distance themselves from the Senator, many of them calling outright for his resignation. "Disgusting," said 2008 G.O.P. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. "Unforgivable," said McConnell to a local newspaper in his home state of Kentucky. The Republican National Committee even drafted a letter calling for his resignation, although it stopped short of releasing it to avoid being seen as piling on - although leaking it widely to the media had virtually the same effect...
...scandal. Rudy Giuliani's campaign declined to comment, as did the exploratory committee for former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, who is weighing a run. Meanwhile, two conservative GOP presidential hopefuls, former Mike Huckabee and Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, have, ironically, taken a more moderate stance on Craig. Brownback told MSNBC that "we ought to look and see what the facts actually are and then build and move forward off of that... Larry's a colleague. He is somebody that I know. I want to hear what he has to say." And when asked if he thought Craig should resign, Huckabee...
...Cabin Republicans are also calling on Craig to resign, though for different reasons, Sammon said. "Innocent people don't plead guilty. The time to contest these allegations is before and not after," he said...
...Republicans, meanwhile, are tripping over themselves to get away from Craig as yet another scandal risks further depressing their base. The effect of the Craig scandal "will be to intensify their anti-gay rhetoric," said Becky Dansky, federal legislative director at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, pointing to the contrast between the treatment of Craig and that of Louisiana Senator David Vitter, who admitted to being involved with the infamous D.C. Madam. "Vitter received a standing ovation from his party caucus; Senator Craig is immediately forced out of his committee positions just because of the gender involved...