Sen. Larry Craig is reconsidering his decision to resign at the end of the month, thanks in part to a call from Sen. Arlen Specter.  I’m not one to take Specter’s side, but I think he’s got a point.

Craig’s decision was in no small part thanks to a rush to judgment by his colleagues.  A reexamination of the facts raises serious doubt as to whether he actually did anything wrong.  Say what you will about Sen. Craig’s voting record, and it is generally conservative, I do think that it sets a bad precedent to use any excuse, regardless of the facts, to oust a guy from office, as some seem anxious to do.

There’s also the Machiavellian thing, which is to say, it’d be nice to see this all go away as quickly as possible.  If Craig sticks around, there probably would be a primary, perhaps a nasty one, potentially hampering whatever candidate we run against fromer Rep. Larry LaRocco.  So which looks worse, dumping a guy regardless of the facts or having those facts aired fully, resulting in some egg on the face of the “Leadership”?

The top military general in Iraq hinted to ABC’s Martha Raddatz that next week’s much-anticipated report on the status of the troop surge in Iraq would include a recommendation for troop reduction in March, if not sooner, to avoid a strain on the Army.

ABC News

What else is there to say?  This is great news.

As has been pointed out in another thread, Thompson will be appearing in Jay Leno in lieu of the New Hampshire Republican debate.  Mary Matalin, commenting on Meet The Press, suggests this is a good move because the viewership of Leno will far outweigh that of the debate.  I suppose she makes a decent point.  However, I think this campaign is getting strange as far as campaigns go.  We’ve been told multiple times of his upcoming declaration of his candidacy only for the date to pass with no event.  Now he is going to skip out on a debate in the state that will host the second primary of the election season.  Granted, the debates so far have been fairly lackluster, so maybe he isn’t really missing out on much, but they do seem to have helped Huckabee.  I just think the whole thing is bizarre and am beginning to wonder if he might have missed the magic moment to jump in.  I guess we’ll know soon.

Because sometimes they actually act like Republicans and deliver.  RNC, take note.

COLUMBIA — Better than expected sales tax collections means South Carolina homeowners will likely get an even bigger break on their property taxes.

Starting this fall, homeowners will no longer pay property taxes to operate schools, which makes up 50 percent to 60 percent of the average tax bill.

Instead, additional sales tax will pay the roughly $500 million needed for school operating taxes. Those savings won’t appear until next year, when tax bills are sent out in fall 2008.

The state’s top economist Bill Gillespie said South Carolina will collect more sales tax revenue than needed to pay the school taxes.

By law, the additional money will take about 20 percent off county and city property taxes.

Aiken Standard