A little love for Larry Craig

OK, so I had a little fun a couple of weeks ago with Larry Craig's uncomfortable situation. Now he's found new allies in the ranks of the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the sting that busted him for allegedly cruising for "dates" in an airport men's room is likely unconstitutional. Pundits have found a little irony in the notably anti-gay senator's representation by the ACLU in a gay sex scandal.

But, having already joined in the pile-on, let me back off a bit to give Sen. Craig his due. It was just a couple of years ago that he reportedly drew the wrath of President Bush for questioning the wisdom of the Patriot Act. In fact, according to Doug Thompson, of Capitol Hill Blue, "Bush referred to Craig as 'a goddamned traitor' and told the National Republican Senatorial Committee to start recruiting someone to run against the Idaho Senator in 2008."

Sen. Craig didn't outright try to kill the odious Patriot Act, but he did break with the White House and his own party's leadership to demand major revisions. That's an atypically courageous gesture--and the right move--for a sitting politician.

Larry Craig is no across-the-board civil libertarian--few members of Congress are--but he's one of the few Republicans in Congress who ever, however inconsistently, expressed concern about the rights of the individual.

Before we celebrate his downfall, let's just see who's likely to replace him.