Hooray! One of my e-mails made it to The Corner today!

Sad that it was on this sorry occasion though.

Rich Lowry was generous enough to post the whole thing, but here it is for the edification of any readers who may not have made it over to NRO today.

I grew up in north Idaho. Larry Craig was my congressman, and as a politically active youth in a small state, I got to see him often enough to feel I knew him. I liked him, trusted him, found him a refreshing change.

Craig was for the Balanced Budget Amendment from the start, and before it was cool. I saw him wear cowboy boots with his suit on the House floor. He spoke carefully and thoughtfully, and struck me as much less given to bluster and self-aggrandizement and vain foolishness than your average member of Congress. I was proud that he represented Idaho.

(Especially considering that the most famous Idahoans on the Hill before him—William Borah, Frank Church—tended to be dangerously wrong about so very many important things. And then there were the, um, “colorful” ones—who can forget poor old “black helicopter” Chenoweth, God rest her soul?)

I was not alone in my pride; and I don’t find it ridiculous for the Senator to see a cloud over Idaho as well as over himself. A state like Idaho doesn’t come to national attention often, so every occasion on which it is noticed matters. When the occasion is an unpleasant one, it hurts a little. And it makes one angry at the newsmaker: He’s one of us, he’s a part of us, and this is how he represents us on one of those rare occasions when folks on the East Coast recall that Idaho is a completely different state from Iowa? I thought he owed Idahoans an apology, and appreciated it, however imperfectly offered it was.

This whole episode leaves me confused and sad. Sure, Senator Craig had been drifting a bit, as they all do over time. (His strong support for the amnesty bill especially upset and disappointed people who would ordinarily be ready to crawl over broken glass for him now. Bad move at a bad time, Senator.) He was never perfect. But he was a damn good Member of Congress when I knew him, and I never thought I would see him in front of a microphone telling what appear to be painfully lame fibs about a sordid episode.

There’s nothing for it now but to resign promptly and go away. It’s sad and unfair that it has to end this way, and he has to be remembered this way, but it’s unavoidable. Resign now, Senator, and let the Governor appoint Lt. Gov. Risch to replace you. I can’t see much trouble for an incumbent Risch holding the seat against Larry LaRocco, whom he has beaten more than once before (including a good thumping in the Lt. Gov. race just last year).

So there’s hope if Craig does the right thing. And it would continue setting the example of Republicans accepting the consequences (while disgraced Dems go on forever), which surely Joe Voter will start to notice someday. But above all, I’m embarrassed and disappointed and just plain sad.