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September 01, 2007
Two Exits
In the last two days, two long-serving Republican United States Senators have announced their upcoming departure from the august body, but each under very different circumstances.
John Warner, the senior senator from Virginia, announced yesterday that he will not stand for reelection in 2008. A 28-year veteran of the Senate and now age 80, Warner decided against staying too long at the fair, and is stepping aside for someone else to take his place -- quite possibly another Warner, though not a relation and not a Republican.
Warner distinguished himself as a principled, independent and honest public servant in a town where such adjectives apply to very few. Quite simply, John Warner is a class act, and he will be missed on Capitol Hill.
The same cannot be said of the other departing GOP Senator. Idaho's Larry Craig, he of recent airport bathroom difficulties, announced his resignation from the Senate, effective at the end of this month. Rather than gracefully exiting the political stage like his Virginia colleague, Craig is crawling away in shame at the behest of his party leaders.
After recent revelations that Craig solicited sex from an undercover male police officer in a Minneapolis airport lavatory, GOP political leaders quickly decided that the party couldn't stand another lengthy scandal and determined he should quickly resign. Resign Craig did, and the spectacle was a far cry from the moralizing family values routine the public had come to expect from the Idaho lawmaker.
Two U.S. Senators are leaving the scene. One an honorable man retiring on his own terms. The other shamefully bowing to political reality. Quite a contrast.
Posted by houtopia at September 1, 2007 10:22 PM