The Gift that Keeps on Giving

This is supposed to be a critical month for George Bush's foreign policy and his presidency. Bush and his underlings are trying to sell two wars at once -- the continued war against Iraq and the new war against Iran. As former Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card said about banging the Iraq war drums just after Labor Day in 2002, "from a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."

But here comes Republican Idaho Senator Larry Craig to spoil the Republican war marketing plan. Just when Republican Senate leaders thought they had disposed of Craig with lightning speed, Craig has returned to fight his gay restroom sex charges on all fronts. After announcing a few days ago that "it is my intent to resign from the Senate, effective September 30," Craig now says that he intends to fight the ethics charges filed against him by Senate Republicans, as well as his guilty plea to disorderly conduct stemming from his arrest in the restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Craig keeps sending mixed messages about resigning, the latest being that he will probably resign, but not until the end of September, and only if he is unable both to to reverse his guilty plea from the restroom arrest and to gain back his Senate committee assignments that his fellow Republicans yanked away so quickly.

Craig's refusal to slink away quietly is a nightmare for Republicans. After all their sexual and financial scandals of the past couple of years, the last thing the Republicans wanted was another scandal (especially one involving illicit gay sex, the biggest taboo for the Republican "values voters base) that could stick in voters' minds through the 2008 elections, especially if Craig somehow stays in office and runs for re-election next year.

Bush Administration officials must be very worried too. They know that, for the media and many voters, sex (and, in particular, illegal gay sex) will blow foreign policy off the television screen almost every time.