I guess the speech from Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) wasn’t persuasive; the long knives are out.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s political support eroded significantly Wednesday when three fellow Republicans in Congress called for his resignation and party leaders pushed him from senior committee posts in the Senate.

Hoekstra was the first to make the call, issuing a statement two hours ago that said Craig’s “conduct throughout this matter has been inappropriate for a U.S. senator.” Then Coleman said in a written statement, “Senator Craig pled guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator.” Not satisfied with a press release, McCain went on CNN to announce his belief that Craig “should resign” and explain why.

And what about Craig? What’s he said today? Not too much, but a) legal experts seem to believe he’s going to have a very tough time reversing his guilty plea; and b) he’s already losing his grip on power in the Senate.

It looks like Craig may soon have to decide to spend more time with his family.

Josh sums it up about right.
Josh Marshall:

If you aren't watching the Michael Brown senate hearings, you just missed a real treat. Sen. Norm Coleman (R), doofus senator from Minnesota, just managed to get his butt kicked by disgraced former FEMA Director Michael Brown. That's a singular accomplishment.

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"At the end, Coleman actually used the fact that he had run out of time to run away from the encounter with Brown. I'm not sure I've ever seen that happen before...read on

St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly's backing of the president fuels a backlash, giving challenger Chris Coleman a 61-26 percent lead in a new poll.... The numbers reveal what many have suspected -- that partisan anger over Kelly's endorsement of President Bush seems to be trumping all else: his housing and economic development programs, his race relations efforts and how he has handled crime....read on

Reader KYLE: By endorsing Bush, Kelly endorsed Bush's policies (I should say failed policies). Furthermore, if an endorsement of a political candidate is meaningless, what's the point of an endorsement? For a city that voted over 70% for Kerry, Kelly made a huge error. He claimed he made his decision "on principle". The people of St. Paul, as a result, are going to vote him out on principle. It seems, finally, that a politician is going to be held accountable for his actions.

Three years ago today Paul and Sheila Wellstone's plane plunged into a swampy scrub woods in Northern Minnesota. He was polling even with Coleman when he made the speech and many people told him to keep his mouth shut, that he was risking his re-election. But he was not one to keep quiet, ever. And it's also worth remembering that his poll numbers jumped six points after the speech. We can well imagine what he would be saying today as today marks the 2000th American death in the war.--Randi

Check out their website and his speech in 2002 regarding military action in Iraq.

UK's Galloway blisters US policy on Iraq on MSNBC

Norman Coleman -- not quite a genius, from the Guardian.

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Hopefully I'll have more video on this later.

via Attaturk: the Senate report found that US oil purchases accounted for 52% of the kickbacks paid to the regime in return for sales of cheap oil - more than the rest of the world put together.

"The United States was not only aware of Iraqi oil sales which violated UN sanctions and provided the bulk of the illicit money Saddam Hussein obtained from circumventing UN sanctions," the report said. "On occasion, the United States actually facilitated the illicit oil sales."

It's Not Like We Pay Attention Or Anything...

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Holy monkey clit grape shitter!! Did someone just flush journalistic responsibility down the toilet? I'm ready to riot.

via Wanninski:

...Senator Coleman seems to think that as long as the stuff he is getting from the neo-cons is winning him the plaudits of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Rupert Murdoch's news empire, he can not only take it to the Sunday talk shows, but also attack members of the British Parliament who have different views on the subject. He did so recently by accusing George Galloway of the House of Commons of corruption in the so-called "Oil-for-Food Scandal" and instead of slinking away into the London fog, Galloway showed up in Washington this last week to appear before the Coleman subcommittee investigating the "Scandal." He did so having won in December 150,000 British pounds in libel damages from the Daily Telegraph over its separate claims he had received money from Saddam's regime. After Coleman laid out a series of charges against him, here is what Galloway had to say. The last we saw, Senator Coleman was seen slinking away into the fog...read on

Here's the video in case you missed it.: Video

Emailer Kim: I'm watching the Bolton debate and Voinovich was crying, I'm talking actual tears here. He's afraid of what Bolton will do to further f**k up our already terrible world image and......he's afraid
that his koolaid sipping fellow republicans will vote for him tomorrow.

Emailer Mc: Pretty powerful moment, came at the end of his speech, right before Dowd's brief moment and Coleman the Chode who is on now. Definitely one of those "holy shit" moments.

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This is a better version.

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Allan Colmes who has been criticized often by liberals for being too soft when matched up against Sean Hannity's zealousness; however the other night he called Sen. Norm Coleman on Condi and the administration's bloated Iraqi training figures of 125,000.

Colmes: I'm trying to understand why she's promising a certain number which a month before had reported just could not be true?

Coleman:Well again, I met with (General)Patraeus just(stammering) this week. I believe he uses the same number.

Coleman's backpedaling responses lead him to quickly turn to the race card.

!

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota wants Annan to resign.

The Army Times wants Rumsfeld to resign.

If Sen. Coleman wants Koffi gone so bad, then he has to be willing to give up a player as well! I mean you can't get something for nothing Sen. Coleman.

Let's get Billy Beane, the GM of the Oakland A's on the phone to broker the deal. If anyone can make this trade, it's him.

If we look at some of the stats according to the Army Times involving the Abu Ghraib scandel:

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also failed to read the report until after the scandal broke in the media. By then, of course, it was too late. Myers, Rumsfeld and their staffs failed to recognize the impact the scandal would have not only in the United States, but around the world."

If we look at some of the stats according to Sen. Coleman:

"The decision to call for Mr. Annan's resignation does not come easily," Coleman wrote. "But I have arrived at this conclusion because the most extensive fraud in the history of the U.N. occurred on his watch.