Larry Craig's Career Ending Sins

Poor Larry Craig is being tossed under the bus by the Republicans for coming on to a man in an airport bathroom. The man turned out to be a vice cop so "the deed" was nipped in the bud by the flash of a badge. Initially stripped of his committee assignments by Senate Republican leadership, pressure from multiple points in the party is leading to Craig's resignation expected later today.

David Vitter, senator from Louisiana, copped to solicitating prostitutes when it was inevitable that the DC Madam's phone records were about to be released. Vitter retains his committee assignments and faced no pressure to resign.

Two Republican senators caught soliciting sex. One is run out on a rail while the other continues in the Senate. What are the differences?

Talking heads on the news enjoy focusing on the fact that one senator was after another man while the other senator actually got another woman. Homosexual deviance vs. heterosexual deviance.

Craig and Vitter handled their approaching tsunamis very differently. Vitter, when he knew his activity was about to become public, went immediately to Senate Republican leaders to inform them and ask for their advice on facing the storm. They had opportunity to plan and coordinate a response to the storm and its aftermath. Craig, on the other hand, informed no one of what was going on and leadership was caught totally off guard. Nobody likes to be blindsided, especially party leaders in the Senate. Caught flatfooted, McConnell et. al. had no time to prepare for the wave of controversy.

Craig's first career ending sin: hiding from Senate party leadership.

My question is, would the party be so quick to run a senator out of office for homosexual deviance if the governor of his or her state were a Democrat? See, Idaho has a Republican governor which guarantees a Republican replacement and maintains the current balance of parties in the Senate. Louisiana, on the other hand, has a Democrat governor. If Vitter left the Senate, a Democrat would almost certainly be named to replace him for the remainder of his term and the current balance of power in the Senate would be upset.

Craig's second career ending sin: hailing from a state with a Republican governor.

The first sin, in and of itself is not necessarily fatal. The second, however, when taken in full context, is the ultimate killer of Larry Craig's senate career.