Thursday Roundup: Sen. Craig Can't Get Out Of The Headlines

Idaho Senator Larry Craig is still making headlines, as he resigns all his committee posts in light of repeated calls for resignation from his own party.

A congressional sex scandal is usually good for a day of headline news, perhaps two with a high-profile congressman or on a slow news day. By now, some Senator from a state with a population approximately three times smaller than the city of Houston would typically have been buried somewhere in the third page of your average periodical. But these are not typical times, and this is not your typical situation.

Republican popularity, of course, is not at what one would call a historic high, and so the blatant displays of hypocrisy common of the party are getting a lot more attention. (Compare this scandal, for example, to the revelation of Newt Gingrich's affair in the midst of the Clinton scandal as far as how much time it's getting in the media — and keep in mind, this one's still going strong.) Perhaps a large part of that, however, is how awkwardly the accusations have been handled. MSNBC covers Sen. Craig's topsy-turvy responses to the scandal.

So originally we expected a presentation from Army Gen. David Petraeus on the progress in Iraq come September. Then we find out that Gen. Petraeus won't be allowed to present publicly, and will instead present to the President who will report publicly. Now, we find out that Gen. Petraeus won't be the only one presenting. Apparently, there isn't a lot of consensus among the military top tier as to how to proceed in Iraq — by a long shot, if the division is deep enough to require multiple presentation. Other presenters will include outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Peter Pace, CENTCOM Commander Adm. William Fallon, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, and — because the voices of White House cabinet members are apparently underrepresented — Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The McClatchy article mentions that Pace is likely to call for a reduction of troop levels to take strain off the military, while Petraeus is likely to ask that the number of troops remain at current levels.

This marked split in opinions at such high levels of the military is only made more glaring by a Government Accountability Office report once again pointing to a large-scale failure in meeting benchmarks for success in Iraq. The report states that of the eighteen benchmarks, only three have been met, including only one of eight political benchmarks. This is an even grimmer picture than the White House's July report, and does not bode well as far as leading toward the presentation in September. I can't imagine the size of the headache Bush has right now. McClatchy tries to summarize just how bad the Decider in Chief has it.

File this one under "why politics matters:" An Arlington resident spent last Sunday night in jail, missing her kids' first day of school, after Arlington police incarcerated her for being an illegal immigrant. The problem? She was born in Dallas.

Apparently, Alicia Rodriguez' name matched the name of someone with claims of false citizenship on her record. You mean of the Rodriguez's out there, there's another Alicia? What are the odds? The article mentions that her height was off by an inch, and her weight off by 25 pounds, and the information was last updated in 1999. Considering a large chunk of population is within an inch either way of the "average" height, and for a given height 25 pounds either way, a 50-pound spread, is a pretty broad criteria to use for identification, you'd think they wouldn't throw someone in jail for such clearly weak evidence. You'd think they'd at least, oh, I don't know, check fingerprints. They do that in police departments, don't they? Oh, wait, that was done. And the fingerprints didn't match. But hey, the weight was only 25 pounds off, so she must be an illegal, right?

Arlington and federal immigration officials say they made a mistake and apologized.

No kidding. Apparently, Rodriguez does not plan to sue. Her call, of course, though I think that's a shame. The level of incompetence that it takes to overlook fingerprints when trying to make a positive identification is ludicrous. The department should be held responsible for that.

Finally today, MSNBC uses "punked" in a headline. Okay, so it's more MSNBC's version of a blog than a real headline, and the story here isn't about the impending destruction of the English language. But it's definitely a chuckle. Apparently, the object of the "punking" is Karl Rove's car. No, really. I don't think I can put words to it. You'll just have to check it out for yourself.