I really don't know what to say about this story. The idea that a US Senator would try to withdraw a months-old, signed plea agreement to a crime he quite unbelievably claims he did not commit is so bizarre that its almost impossible to make sense of. The entire "family values" schtick is all about character, judgement, and supposed moral clarity. And yet here's Craig, a family values politician if ever there was one, trying to back out of admitting to a court of law that he had engaged in behavior he has spent his entire career deploring. I know Americans like to think of themselves as forgiving, but c'mon....
All of which reminds me to clarify a point I made when this whole thing started a few weeks back. The conduct to which Craig pled guilty shouldn't be a crime. Sex in a public bathroom? Sure thing. But soliciting sex by tapping your foot? I really don't think that's something we need to waste precious public resources on. However - and this is a very big however - in many places in the country this sort of behavior is still prosecuted because of politicians like Sen. Craig himself. Whatever his true sexual orientation, Craig surely knows this. He is not an innocent bystander, he's a prime motivating force.
That leaves two options. Either Craig is telling the truth, or he is lying. If it is the former, his guilty plea demonstrates such a supreme lack of judgement and character that I cannot see how he believes he can remain in the Senate. As I said before, he chose "family values" as his schtick, and that is a choice he must live with. If it is the later, than those very same points still stand. This is the US Senate we're talking about here, not a local rotary club.
Short term all of this looks to provide great political theatre, and on that point I suspect this TPM reader is dead on.
Grab some popcorn, kids... and make sure it isn't from the microwave!
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