Watching this, I can see how he did so well for himself despite the decades of rumors swirling around him. An expert job, the one groan-inducing allusion to the war aside. No admission of guilt either, although he couldn’t very well reverse himself on that so soon after strenuously denying the charges earlier this week.

Watch out for the strange, jarring applause when he finally comes to the point of announcing his resignation. MM thinks it was Democratic infiltrators rubbing salt in the wound but I’m not so sure. Right after it happens, someone yells, “We love you, Larry!” Maybe the applause was just relief?

As for the double standard the GOP is practicing between David Vitter, who actually did engage in criminal sex acts, and Craig, who was guilty of nothing more than solicitation, it’s simply shameful.

Update: MM updates to say that the report of Democrats clapping comes from Fox’s Major Garrett, who was there and saw it happen. I stand corrected. She also notes that Vitter never pled to any crime, as Craig did. Fair enough, but he admitted to having committed one. It’s that fact, not whether D.C. ever got around to prosecuting him for it, that I think should be dispositive.

Update: Another correction, although I don’t find any comfort in this: Vitter didn’t admit to having committed a crime, only to having committed a “very serious sin” — after his phone number turned up in the D.C. madam’s records. Unless she gave him a freebie, which is unlikely, then his “very serious sin” was also a crime whether it was prosecuted or not.

Update: The words of the day are “zero tolerance.”