I’ve tried to avoid commenting on the Larry Craig scandal — it’s sad and I don’t have anything new to say — but I need to emerge from seclusion to complain about this soundbite from Mary Matalin on “Meet the Press”:

MATALIN: If you’re a liberal and you cheat on your wife, it’s a private affair. If you’re a conservative and you cheat on your wife, you’re a hypocrite. Normal people, when the husband cheats on the wife, the wife does not consider the politics before she gives a response on this. Normal people out there did just what James just referenced, they looked at Mrs. Craig, and I remember looking at Lee Hart and through the years this—these poor suffering families. The first thing normal people thinks are—think are, “What? Is—this is a family tragedy.” The second thing they think is, “Why is everybody in Washington glued to this? And can’t—and don’t you guys have something better to do?” And thirdly, I didn’t listen to the tape, I didn’t watch any of this, but the people that I talked to are not particularly Craig fans, or critics, said, “That sounds like entrapment. Don’t the cops have better things to do than tap dance in bathrooms in the airport?” I’m just telling you the normal person view at the end of all…

I don’t know what’s more annoying — the idea that Matalin thinks she speaks for “normal people” or the fact that she couldn’t be bothered to listen to the Craig tape before pontificating about it on national television.