Wu actually exits

In case you didn’t catch Jim Treacher’s commentary yesterday (yes, my writer’s crush continues!), here’s his pitch-perfect paragraph about technically-resigned Congressman David Wu’s (D-Ore.) delayed exit from the august chambers of Congress:

Black and orange stray cat sittin’ on the fence… National Journal reports: “Don’t worry, you didn’t blink and miss it. Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., is still a congressman. The embattled Democrat announced last week he would resign following a damaging report that he had an ‘unwanted sexual encounter’ with the teenage daughter of a campaign donor. But Wu said he would only officially leave after a compromise was reached to raise the debt ceiling. On Monday, Wu voted in favor of the House bill. ‘This is a crucial vote. It is likely to be my last vote, and I want to thank the people of Oregon for giving me this, this seat in Congress temporarily, which is the greatest honor that an immigrant child can ever have – or any person in America can ever have,’ Wu said in a video statement on his vote. But he didn’t directly address when he would step down.” He voted yes on the debt deal, huh? So now, on top of everything else, he’s a terrorist. Well, if Weinergate has taught us anything, it’s that you should prolong the misery as long as possible. Hang in there, tiger!

But it turns out the tiger couldn’t hang in there much more than a day. The National Journal today reports that Wu is sticking to his promise, after all:

The congressional career of Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., officially ended at 11:59 p.m. ET Wednesday night.

The embattled congressman announced last week he would resign in the wake of a damaging report that he had an “unwanted sexual encounter” with the teenage daughter of a campaign donor. But Wu had qualified that he would remain in Congress through the conclusion of the contentious debt-ceiling debate. But after the House voted on the compromise proposal on Monday, and President Obama officially signed the bill into law on Tuesday, Wu had still not made his exit official, prompting several Democrats, already frustrated with Wu’s long history of erratic behavior, to wonder why the delay.

Wu, however, finally released a statement on Wednesday evening saying he had notified Gov. John Kitzhaber, D-Ore., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, of his resignation, effective just before midnight.

It was oft-repeated throughout the debt ceiling debate and with good reason: Wu was one of the winners in all the gridlock. Least publicized congressional sex scandal ever. But two days after the end of the debate, even his resignation-resignation (following close on the heels of his plain ol’ resignation) begins to look like news again.