Under no circumstances should the Democratic party stand for the resignation of Larry Craig from the US Senate.
Sen. Craig's arrest in a men's room for allegedly soliciting an undercover officer for anonymous gay sex is not just another scandal, it is a godsend. Add to that the fact that Larry Craig has the public relations expertise of a cucumber sandwich and this is a perfect storm, a collective wound on the GOP that we must help fester so that it may not heal in time for the '08 elections.
First, no Republican wants this guy to stick around. That alone should be enough to get every Democrat raising a stink about how Republicans are throwing their own to the wolves because he became a political embarrassment. Do it under the guise of bi-partisanship and score some points with moderates while at the same time further demoralizing the conservative homophobic base.
Senator Reid needs to take to the floor, say that he believes good colleague’s story and that the entire episode is a huge misunderstanding and that a good man is having his life destroyed from a simple and innocent mistake. Then, when and if Craig manages to stick around, put the PR hit machine into high gear---or at least keep the story conspicuously in the background for future use. A men's room sex sting is just skeezy enough to be interesting to the public even a year down the road.
I would also suggest that we begin a major investigation of Craig's background for any further information regarding his personal history that could be stowed away until the appropriate time when we need all this brought back to cable news.
And there are other instances in his personal life, of that I am sure, and I seriously doubt Craig was very good at covering his tracks if his current public bumbling is any indication. Besides the initial stupidity of hooking up in a men's room (two words, Senator: CRAIG'S LIST), his refusal to take counsel during interrogation and trying to weasel his way out through rhetorical gymnastics, his absurdly unbelievable "wide stance" sound byte, and my hands-down favorite, calling the wrong goddamn number and leaving a voicemail containing privileged and damaging information without realizing it
"Hmm, that's odd, I wonder why my lawyer has yet to return my call. Maybe he's just busy."
Personally, I wish all Republicans were this stupid. A GOP full of doofuses of this caliber would make every election and senate vote a cake-walk for us.
So we can't allow Larry Craig to resign only to be replaced, in bright red Idaho (R), by a new senator who might actually understand how not to fuck up time after time after time.
I'm rootin' for ya, Larry, good luck.