It never ceases to amaze me that politicians, or others arrogant and drunk with power, put their feet even further into a quagmire when they try to ammeliorate a situation with words. Take the recent case of one Sen. Larry Craig, (R-ID). I am not referring to his attempts to talk his way out of his little fix, but rather his colleague’s attempts to justify why they think he should resign.
It would be fine if they thought he should resign because what he did was wrong, but to hear some of them it is merely because his actions reflect poorly on them. Take as examples statements made to the press yesterday by Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), “Sen. Craig pled guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator,” (ABC News) or Rep. Peter Hoekstra, (R-MI), “The voters of Idaho elected Sen. Craig to represent their state and will decide his future in 2008 should he fail to resign… However, he also represents the Republican party, and I believe he should step down, as his conduct throughout this matter has been inappropriate for a U.S. senator.” (CNN)
Now tonight comes this utterance, from Sen. John Ensign “I cannot imagine a sitting Senator wanting to put the Senate and their family through public humiliation like this.” (R-NV).
Well, its nice to hear all of that moral indignation, or should we call it immoral indignation?