He'll announce it tomorrow.

Sen. Larry Craig doesn't get it, because he hasn't resigned yet, but he is a mother's walking nightmare, as Susan Estrich writes:

You want to have sex with another man, go right ahead. But don't do it in a restroom at the airport, full of kids traveling alone or with their mothers. Unaccompanied minors have a right not to worry when they have to go to the bathroom.

I'm glad the airport police were in there looking for disgusting old men who are so ashamed of their sexuality that they resort to doing it in bathroom stalls.

I don't care what your orientation is — a public restroom is no place for sex, particularly when it's a public restroom in a public place that's full of children.

I'm one of those mothers who stand outside the men's room at the airport waiting for their sons, one eye on my watch and the other on every man who walks in. When my son was a little boy, I brought him into the ladies room.

But as every mother will tell you, once they get past a certain age, they won't come. Family bathrooms help for a while, but they aren't that common. And once they get a little older, every boy tells his mother he's fine and can go on his own.

It would seem me that a minimal qualification for being a United States senator would be that mothers need not worry that you might be one of those lurking in a public bathroom cruising for sex.

Sen. Craig should have been long gone by now. Perhaps he will do us a favor and resign before the weekend hits.

Resign.

Resign today. You should have resigned yesterday, instead of giving that piece of crap statement and trying to justify your actions. You are pathetic. You are embarassing yourself, your family, and you're hurting the Republican party each hour you stay in office.

Resign.

***

Duane makes the essential point:

With General Petraeus coming to the Hill to discuss serious matters like what we do or not do in Iraq for the next six months, it doesn't seem fair to the General, the troops in the field, or Americans concerned about this debate to try and conduct it in an environment where there is an ongoing circus involving an egotistical Senator bent on protecting a busted political career.

From an interview with Retired Vice Admiral John Scott Redd:

Tell us about the threat that emerged earlier this year.
We’ve got this intelligence threat; we’re pretty certain we know what’s going on. We don’t have all the tactical details about it, [but] in some ways it’s not unlike the U.K. aviation threat last year. So we know there is a threat out there. The question is, what do we do about it? And the response was, we stood up an interagency task force under NCTC leadership. So you have all the players you would expect: FBI, CIA, DHS, DIA, DoD, the operators—the military side comes into that—participating in an integrated plan, but integrated in a much more granular and tactical way than we’ve ever done before. This is my 40th year in government service, 36 in uniform and almost four as a civilian. This is revolutionary stuff, and it is affecting the way we do business.

Earlier this summer, there was talk that people were picking up chatter that reminded them of the summer before 9/11. The Germans basically said this is like pre-9/11. They said, “We are very worried.” What do you make of this?
We have very strong indicators that Al Qaeda is planning to attack the West and is likely to [try to] attack, and we are pretty sure about that. We know some of the precursors from—

Attack Europe?
Well, they would like to come West, and they would like to come as far West as they can. What we don’t know is…if it’s going to be Mark Hosenball, and he’s coming in on Flight 727 out of Karachi, he’s stopping in Frankfurt, and he’s coming on through with his European Union passport, and he’s coming into New York, and he’s going to do something. I mean, we don’t have that kind of tactical detail. What we do have, though, is a couple of threads that indicate, you know, some very tactical stuff, and that's what—you know, that’s what you’re seeing bits and pieces of, and I really can’t go much more into it.

But this did not affect our threat level. We didn’t change our code.
We’re pretty high-threat right now. Until you know something that is going to make a difference, you know, you don’t necessarily change the threat level. What that does is really stir a lot of people up and get them ticked off, but it probably doesn’t accomplish very much.

And you don’t as of today see any particular reduction in that threat?
It’s still there. It’s very serious, you know, and we’re watching it. We’re learning more all the time, but it’s still a very serious threat.

(via Hugh)

Sen. Larry Craig has some 'splainin to do:

Craig was arrested at the airport on June 11, according to Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper. According to police reports, Craig kept watching the undercover police officer through a crack in the bathroom stall, Roll Call reported. Craig then entered the next-door stall and placed his luggage against the opening under the stall door.

"My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall," said the officer, Sgt. Dave Karsnia.

The report continued: "At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. ... The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area."

The report said that Craig swiped his hand beneath the stall divider several times and that Karsnia showed his police identification under the stall.

Roll Call reported that Craig was detained about 45 minutes and questioned by officers at the Airport Police Operations Center. At one point, police reports said, Craig handed the arresting officer a business card that identified him as a U.S. senator and said, "What do you think about that?"

I bet Craig is asking himself that today.

***

CNN is reporting that "influential" Republicans in Idaho are saying that Craig should resign.

Thus, the Larry Craig senate career death watch begins.

As someone who was initially enthusiastic about Fred Thompson entering the presidential race (but still prefer Rudy overall), then becoming increasingly impatient with his dithering, it seems to me that I cannot altogether disagree with this post from Dean. Thompson is starting too late, and many are understandably beginning to wonder if there really is any "there" there.

Thompson is supposed to get in the ring next week. It had better be the most flawless entry into a presidential race EVER, or Thompson's mounting series of errors thus far are going to doom his chances, if they have not already done so.

It was inevitable. It was overdue. The fact that it was overdue has caused unnecessary damage to the Bush administration. However, better late than never. Gonzo is gone.

Washington Post:

The Democratic National Committee sought to seize control of its unraveling nominating process yesterday, rejecting pleas from state party leaders and cracking down on Florida for scheduling a Jan. 29 presidential primary.

The DNC's rules and bylaws committee, which enforces party rules, voted yesterday morning to strip Florida of all its delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver -- the harshest penalty at its disposal.

The question is, who is going to cry uncle first, the DNC or Florida Democrats? I suspect that the Florida Democrats will see the light and back off. They are in clear violation of DNC rules that they agreed to, and very much deserve to be stripped of their delegates to the convention if they insist on holding their primary in January.

If the Democrats as a party wish to argue that the United States has militarily "lost" Irag, and that we "lost" the war in Vietnam, then they are truly playing with fire. The Iraq war is far from "lost," and the U.S. military never lost one, single, solitary battle in Vietnam.

But the Democrats have positioned themselves, such that they believe they can gain further power by investing in American defeat.

How pathetic.

Things like this could hurt Fred Thompson's standing with the conservative base. Mitt Romney only stands to benefit.

Giuliani is way ahead of other Republicans in a new Quinnipiac poll, but Hillary still beats him by 3 points. The three point spread is negligable, and the poll shows Giuliani to be the most competitive against a Democratic ticket:

Republicans:
Giuliani 28 (-1 vs. June 13 poll)
Romney 15 (+5)
Thompson 12 (-3)
McCain 11 (-4)
Gingrich 7 (+2)

In the RCP National Average, Giuliani leads Thompson by 10.3 points.

Democrats:
Clinton 36 (+1 vs. June 13 poll)
Obama 21 (n/c)
Gore 15 (-3)
Edwards 9 (n/c)
Richardson 3 (+1)

In the RCP National Average, Clinton leads Obama by 18.7 points.

Head-to-Head:
Giuliani 43 - Clinton 46
Giuliani 42 - Obama 42
Giuliani 42 - Edwards 43

Thompson 38 - Clinton 49
Thompson 35 - Obama 46
Thompson 32 - Edwards 49

McCain 41 - Clinton 47
McCain 39 - Obama 43
McCain 37 - Edwards 45

As for Fred Thompson, because of his delay in getting in, his eventual entrance had better be more than stellar if he hopes to make up lost ground, the cause being a Republican base that has Giuliani and Romney on their mind, and not Thompson.

Republicans seem set to participate. Yep, it will be a freak show of questions, most likely. But Paul has a good point. We might as well find out now how the candidates handle such absurdity, since that level of absurdity will only increase during the general election.

Mitt Romney, conveniently forgetting that when he was governor of Massachusetts some of its cities were "sanctuary" cities, has taken lately to criticizing Rudy Giuliani for having been supportive of illegal immigration while he was mayor of New York.

Giuliani has now responded with his own notion of how he would deal with the illegal alien problem:

AIKEN, S.C. (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani vowed Tuesday to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States by closely tracking visitors to the country and beefing up border security.

"We can end illegal immigration. I promise you, we can end illegal immigration," the former New York mayor said at a community center - the first of the day's two stops in this early voting state.

Giuliani said he would require a uniform identification card for foreign workers and students and create a central database to track the legal status of visitors to the country. He told the crowd of more than 300 that 12 million immigrants have entered the country illegally.

"That's a lot of people to walk over your border without being identified," he said.

Giuliani wants a tamperproof ID card that includes fingerprinting for everyone entering the country and a central database to track when they leave.

The ID card and other immigration proposals have been part of Giuliani's campaign speeches for several months. He says he would allow a pathway to citizenship only for illegal immigrants who identify themselves as illegal, who learn English and who go to the back of the line to apply.

In recent days, rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor whose state has been home to a few self-proclaimed "sanctuary cities," such as Cambridge, Mass., has repeatedly criticized Giuliani, arguing that he supported illegal immigration when he was mayor. Giuliani rejected the charge.

Gov. Romney may want to get his story about why he changed from pro-choice to pro-life so quickly a bit more straight before he takes Mayor Giuliani to task on illegal alien and security matters. But if Romney wants to fight, it looks like Giuliani is more than willing to engage and return the fire.

Newt Gingrich on the crimes of illegal aliens:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday he is "sickened" that President Bush and Congress went on vacation "while young Americans in our cities are massacred" by illegal immigrants.

Gingrich, who is considering a run for the White House, was referring to a recent crime in Newark, N.J., where three college students were murdered execution style in a school playground.

One of the suspects -- Jose Lachira Carranza -- is an illegal immigrant from Peru who was on bail on charges of raping a child when the murders occurred.

Gingrich said another suspect is an illegal immigrant from Nicaragua with a long record of arrests who was ordered deported in 1993 but never left.

Republican candidates for the presidency ignore this rising alarm over the crimes committed by illegals at their peril.

This is the stuff of the worst horror movie, and every family's worst nightmare. (Original story here) Most unfortunate that the good doctor either did not possess, or was not carrying, a loaded handgun. The only bodies that the police should ever have had to come pick up were those of the monsters who conducted the home invasion, dispatched as they should have been.