Sometimes Things Are Not What They Seem
The conventional wisdom coming from the inside the beltway type journalists is that Republicans are in trouble because of the wave of retirement announcements and now the resignation of Senator Larry Craig. But things are not always as they appear. Fred Barnes, in fact, is reporting that things are actually opposite what they appear to be. There appears to be a concerted effort by the Republican leadership to clean house well before the 2008 elections and get rid of any hint of corruption – before the party can get blind-sided.
Republicans are so intent on pushing scandal-plagued members of Congress out of office and far from the media spotlight that the entire party–from the White House to congressional leaders to the Republican National Committee to various campaign committees–was instantly united last week in the effort to force Senator Larry Craig of Idaho to resign.
At another time, Republicans might have cut Craig some slack, allowing him to finish his term and not seek reelection. But after suffering crushing losses in last year's midterm election–spurred in part by highly publicized GOP corruption in Congress–Republicans are not in a mood to tolerate another nasty scandal. The common expression among leaders is that they must "clean house."
They were already doing so when the story broke last week of Craig's arrest and subsequent guilty plea for disorderly conduct in an airport men's room notorious as a spot for anonymous gay sex. House Republicans had quietly coaxed Rep. Rick Renzi of Arizona into announcing his retirement next year. And with at least one more forced retirement expected, the corruption issue was being taken care of, belatedly but decisively.
This is actually an interesting strategy and could pay off in the long run. With a sudden major campaign finance scandal rocking the Democrats – from top to bottom – the decisive moves by the Republican leadership could work out very well, indeed.
If the Republicans clean house (even belatedly) but the Democrats circle the wagons over their fundraising scandal, the voters may remember that "culture of corruption" meme with a whole new set of players come election day.
By FedUp, September 1, 2007 @ 1:34 pm
Besides the fact that housecleaning is a good thing to do, it is sad that the Dems and their sense of entitlement will never take that initiative – and we are dumb enough to let them get away with it! Again… those who could vote them out – won’t! Shame on them!