Romney says Craig's case is 'very disappointing'

In his first public comments on the Senator Larry Craig case, Mitt Romney says it is "very disappointing" that one of his supporters has "fallen short" of the standards for elected officials.

But in an appearance on CNBC's "Kudlow & Company," which is to air at 5 p.m. today,Romney stopped short of calling for Craig to resign from the US Senate. Craig did resign Monday as Senate co-chairman for Romney's campaign after confirming that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after his arrest by an undercover officer in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

"Once again, we've found people in Washington have not lived up to the level of respect and dignity that we would expect for somebody that gets elected to a position of high influence," Romney said in a transcript provided by CNBC. "Very disappointing. He's no longer associated with my campaign, as you can imagine. He resigned just today. And you know, he was one of those who was helping my effort, and I'm sorry to see that he has fallen short.

Asked about calls for Craig to step down, Romney replied, "You know, I haven't made a call on that at this stage. You know, I haven't seen the allegations yet, I just heard that there was a guilty plea and he submitted a resignation as my liaison in the Senate. And you know, I'm very disappointed that he has -- he's disappointed the American people."

Romney also likened the case to sex scandals involving former Florida Congressman Mark Foley and former President Bill Clinton.

"I think it reminds us of the fact that people who are elected to public office continue to disappoint, and they somehow think that if they vote the right way on issues of significance or they can speak a good game, that we'll just forgive and forget," Romney said, according to the transcript. "And the truth of the matter is, the most important thing we expect from elected--an elected official is a level of dignity and character that we can point to for our kids and our grandkids, and say, 'Hey, someday I hope you grow up and you're someone like that person.' And we've seen disappointment in the White House, we've seen it in the Senate, we've seen it in Congress. And frankly, it's disgusting."