Apparently at the prodding of Arlen Spector, Larry Craig is reconsidering his resignation from the Senate. The effect that this has had on Republicans has yet to be fully determined.
One thing for sure, Mitch McConnell, leader of the Senate Republicans, can’t be happy about this. It contradicts his original demand that Craig resign and undermines McConnell’s control of the party. Then there are Craig’s colleagues like McCain and Coleman (and Mitt Romney who ditched him from his campaign) and the other Republicans who did not leap to the defense of a possible homosexual rest-room cruiser in their ranks. This “reconsideration” effects them and the upcoming election as well.
It got me to thinking about the way Spector upended an attempt to get him out of his committee leaderships after the 2004 elections (when they couldn’t get him voted out of his Pennsylvania seat, either). Spector had to agree to all kinds of behavioral concessions to keep his position on the Senate Judiciary Committee and, as he was coming out of an extreme battle against cancer at the time, he wasn’t any too happy about it. It was McConnell and friends who pressured him then. This could be Arlen’s Revenge now.
Politicians are often too closed minded to see that actions they carry out could hurt themselves in the long run. Personally, I like to believe this is a calculated ruse by Spector that will help dump any number of conservatives in 2008.
