Question: what does it take to get Republicans in Washington to investigate alleged wrongdoing?

Answer: a public bathroom, lewd behavior, and a police report.

From today's Washington Post:

Senate Republican leaders called for an ethics investigation of Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) yesterday as he dug in for a legal and political fight to save his congressional career after acknowledging that he had pleaded guilty to disorderly-conduct charges stemming from an incident with an undercover police officer in an airport men's room.

Craig denied doing anything wrong and said he had "overreacted" in pleading guilty after his June 11 arrest at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. He said that he is "not gay" and vowed to continue to serve in the Senate.

But there really is not much to investigate. The police report says what it says: Craig was trying to find a partner for sex in a men's bathroom at the Minneapolis airport. And Craig conceded the facts when he pleaded guilty. Now he claims he's innocent. Who believes that? The GOP doesn't need an inquiry to cut through Craig's nonsensical spin.

From the Post:

"This is a serious matter. Due to the reported and disputed circumstances, and the legal resolution of this serious case, we will recommend that Senator Craig's incident be reported to the Senate Ethics Committee for its review. In the meantime, leadership is examining other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Minority Whip Trent Lott (Miss.) and three other elected leaders said.

Actually, it's not that serious a matter. But it's too bad these GOP leaders were not as assiduous when the subject was WMDs in Iraq, Enron, the missing billions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction money, or global warming.

Which reminds me: why did these Republican leaders not call for an investigation of Republican Senator David Vitter, who also may have violated the law by using the escort service of the DC Madam? Unlike the Case of the Supposedly Non-Gay Senator Caught in the Gay Sex Sting, the Vitter episode raised questions that are still unresolved. Vitter acknowledged calling the escort service, but he has declined to say anything else. So what use did he make of the escorts? Did he break the law in doing so? Vitter refuses to address such queries.

To date, Vitter's say-no-more approach appears to be working. He's still a U.S. senator (even if he's the butt of jokes). And the political pressure on him to come clean or to resign has eased. He must be saying to himself these days, "Thank God for Larry Craig."

Vitter once argued that Bill Clinton ought to be impeached because he had engaged in immoral acts. Vitter has not held himself to the same standard and, for the moment, he has escaped retribution. But he's the sex-scandal-tainted Republican senator worthy of an investigation. As for Craig, the record--that is, the police report he acknowledged as accurate--speaks for itself.

Posted by David Corn at August 29, 2007 01:14 PM