Craig’s bathroom saga remains grist for comics
Sen. Larry Craig continues to provide fodder for comedy writers and, apparently, cartoon artists.
The comic strip Pearls Before Swine spent last week on a story line about a Viking who was arrested in an airport, said he had a wide stance, pleaded guilty, then had his lawyer saying he was innocent. How can one be sure this was Craig? Well, as a University of Idaho graduate, the senator is a Viking.
“Saturday Night Live” and “The Daily Show” also took shots. They’re available at the online version of this column, www.spokesmanreview.com/ blogs/spincontrol, for those who are interested.
Up for debate
Spokane mayoral candidates Dennis Hession and Mary Verner are debating so much that one might assume the matchups are pretty routine and repetitive.
In truth, their appearances so far have been something like a continuing miniseries, in which they pick up where they left off on different points of contention with each new forum.
Take the gang issue. Last Monday at the North Spokane Rotary Club, the candidates were asked about their plans for dealing with “a severe problem” of gangs in Spokane.
Hession said he didn’t really agree with the premise that the problem is “severe,” but there is a fairly natural increase in gang activity and that the police are dealing with it. Translation: A severe gang problem would be a severe incumbent problem, so let’s highlight the actions we’re taking.
Verner disagreed, saying there is a severe gang problem, as evidenced by the reported arrest of 77 suspected gang members about a week earlier. She talked about things she wanted to do to address it, including a plan to combat gang graffiti. Translation: A severe gang problem is a severe incumbent problem, so let’s give voters a reason to think a challenger might do a better job.
The next evening, gangs came up again, and Hession and Verner cited the 77 arrests to bolster their premise. For Hession it was a sign the gang enforcement team was working well; for Verner a sign that gangs are a problem and more needs to be done.
They might have continued in that vein into next week, except that on Friday The Spokesman-Review reported that the 77 figure released by law enforcement on the day of the big bust was inflated. Turns out there were only about 35 actual arrests, some of them for outstanding warrants, low-level assaults and one case of driving without a license.
Both candidates stuck by the cops and their efforts to crack down on gangs. But Spin Control will give good odds, say 77-1, that the next round in any debate on gangs will not cite that number to bolster either point.