Wednesday Roundup: Craig's September Surprise

There were plenty of stories on Monday and Tuesday about how the GOP's swift, scorched-earth approach to Senator Larry Craig marked a new strategy, or a new era, in which those who endangered the brand are dealt with swiftly, harshly, and permanently. The Republican Party seems to have left Craig off the mailing list, though, as he is now saying he might not resign after all.

I admit that I laughed when I saw the headline. So many Republicans were busy congratulating themselves for pulling the rug out from under Craig that everyone seemed to forget there might be some value in maintaining lines of communication with him other than sending him giant novelty cards that read "This is one withdrawal we can support!" It is not politically smart to push someone down and then turn your back, assuming they will take it upon themselves to crawl away. Also, I'm sure no one in the Senate Republican Caucus is happy with Arlen Specter, for the following activities:

A telephone call Craig received last week from Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., urging him to consider fighting for his seat is affecting Craig's decision to reconsider his resignation, Smith said.

"It was a little more cut and dried a few days ago," Smith said. "There weren't many options. He was basically going to have to step aside. Now, there's a little more to it."

On Tuesday, Specter, senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, suggested Craig's GOP colleagues who pressured him last week to resign should re-examine the facts surrounding his arrest June 11.

We've devoted a lot of digital ink to the details of this story, but I'm fascinated by the GOP Safari Adventure we're all currently able to observe. I think now we're beyond the scandal itself and into another unit of analysis concerning the Republican Party as a whole and how it functions in the wild, left to its own devices, without the time-consuming activity of running a country into the ground to occupy it.

We've pointed out a few stories about some primary action in the last few weeks, but not so much specifically about the coming Republican primary apocalypse. This Statesman story caught my eye this weekend, as it introduces the reader to the various tools and institutions the Republicans will be using against each other until March. It seems as if everyone with an R by their name will square off into "Pro-Craddick" and "Anti-Craddick" camps and see who wins. If they beat each other up enough and expose themselves even more as poor leaders, I think the people of Texas could be the big winners by getting rid of a good chunk of them in 2008.

A few weeks ago after the whole Kos / O'Reilly thing happened, a conservative blogger (yes, they exist) filed an FEC complaint asserting that DailyKos is actually a PAC and not media because they'd raised and spent well beyond federal limits promoting candidates and working to get them elected. The FEC unanimously disagreed, so I'm sure this argument will now be forever settled for good.

Oh hey, there are plenty of problems that could sure use some full-time attention, but President Bush is already day-dreaming of the time after his presidency, when he can make some real money. You know, finally do a little something for George after all those years of hardship and sacrifice. I'm sure quotes from that article will look great on the Grand Facade at the Bush Library.

Can you guess which political party is leading among independents and exurban voters? If you said the Reform Party, I'm surprised to have Ross Perot reading our publication. If you said the Democratic Party, you'd be right. It makes sense to me — exurban communities have affordable, decent housing near cities with good jobs that are perfect bedroom communities for young families, who are faced with real world issues that are currently only addressed in any responsible way by the Democratic Party. Also, the Republican Party has done nothing to sell itself to the middle-class or the Regular American in... well, ever, really, but the PR campaign has faltered steadily over the last six years. I may be a tad biased, but I don't think this empirical examination is exactly bending space and time.

Finally today, Charles Kuffner has a little something on State Representative Ellen Cohen's kickoff event for the campaign in favor of Proposition 15, which would provide about $3 billion in funds for cancer research here in Texas. I hope we all hear about Proposition 15 so much that its passage becomes a foregone conclusion.