August 28, 2007 · Republican Idaho Sen. Larry Craig said Tuesday that he did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport in June and apologized for what he said is a cloud over Idaho.
Craig pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge earlier this month after being arrested in a men's bathroom. He said Tuesday that he is not gay but was under stress when the incident occurred.
Craig appeared before a bank of cameras and microphones in Boise, alongside his wife, Suzanne. The three-term Senator denied any misconduct and said his mistake was in pleading guilty to the charge.
"In June, I overreacted and made a poor decision. While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport or anywhere else, I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in hopes of making it go away," Craig said.
He was arrested by a plainclothes policeman who had staked out the airport men's room following complaints of lewd behavior. A police report of the incident said Craig tapped his foot several times in a stall next to the officer and touched the officer's foot, an action that the officer interpreted as a signal used by people seeking a sexual encounter. Craig said police misconstrued his actions, and he said he is not gay.
"I am not gay. I love my wife, my family, I care about friends and staff and Idaho," he said. "I love serving this great state. Over the years, I have accomplished a lot for Idaho, and I hope Idahoans will allow me to continue to do that."
The unusual statement came moments after Republican Senate leaders in Washington announced that they were recommending that Craig's "incident" be reported to the Senate Ethics Committee for review. The GOP leaders' statement said they are examining other aspects of the case to determine whether additional action is required.
In Boise, Craig said he is hiring counsel. He said his action in Minneapolis was the result of stress from reporting by the Idaho Statesman newspaper:
"For eight months leading up to June 11, my family and I have been relentlessly and viciously harassed by the Idaho Statesman," he said.
Craig said he would announce his political plans next month. He is up for re-election next year, but there have been hints that he might retire.
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paxPosted:
Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:12 am
LOL, that damn media, it's all their fault.
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resignedPosted:
Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:20 am
Larry Craig Swears By Mitt Romney
Tue Aug 28, 11:59 PM ET
The Nation -- "Knowing Governor Mitt Romney is knowing somebody who first and foremost has very strong family values," says Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig as he makes the case for his man in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. "That's something I grew up with and believe in."
Craig mouths these words in a horribly hokey "man-on-the-street" style interview that was posted by the official YouTube channel of the former Massachusetts governor at a time when Craig was serving as a chairman of the Romney campaign.
Now that Craig has plead guilty to approaching men in a bathroom at the Minneapolis airport -- in a manner that, while certainly friendly, was termed "disorderly" by the officer who arrested the senator -- Romney's campaign has lost its appreciation of the Idahoan's warm endorsement. They don't seem to recognize the full political potency of having a solidly-conservative senator from cowboy country -- who has recently confirmed that he has never "been gay" -- testify to their candidate's "very strong family values."
So Craig has been relieved of his co-chairmaning duties.
And, even before Romney allowed as how all this bathroom talk is "disgusting" in a "Bill Clinton" kind of way, the former governor's camp blocked access to the video of Craig singing his man's praises.
"Once information about his stepping down from the campaign was imminent, we removed his prior testimonial from our site," Romney aide Matt Rhoades explained in response to media inquiries about the missing endorsement of a Republican presidential candidate but a suddenly very prominent advocate of family values.
Americans who feel they might be swayed by Craig's endorsement of Romney can still view it on the many YouTube sites that are graciously hosting this delicious reflection on what it means to be a "family values" conservative like Larry Craig or Mitt Romney.
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yankee-in-francePosted:
Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:54 am
Saw another report today that does not bode well for Craig.
He keeps on with 'he's not gay'. He doesn't get it. People wouldn't be upset about him being gay. The issue is did he commit a crime for which he should resign his senate seat. I cannot get past the guilty plea and him paying a $575 fine. If he committed a crime, he should resign his seat. IMO.
YIF
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resignedPosted:
Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:22 pm
yankee-in-france wrote:
Saw another report today that does not bode well for Craig.
He keeps on with 'he's not gay'. He doesn't get it. People wouldn't be upset about him being gay. The issue is did he commit a crime for which he should resign his senate seat. I cannot get past the guilty plea and him paying a $575 fine. If he committed a crime, he should resign his seat. IMO.
I think he should resign because he's a hypocrite. A perfect anti-gay voting record while he's playing stick it under the stall in restrooms throughout the U.S.
Click your heels together...
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paxPosted:
Thu Aug 30, 2007 4:40 pm
He supported a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. What malarkey.
I'd like to see him keep his office and stop persecuting gay people. It won't happen though, as his republican critics act like being gay is a sin.
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Voted no to gays in the military. Voted against AIDS funding.
** Banned **
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apodixisPosted:
Thu Aug 30, 2007 7:10 pm
GOP = Grand Old Potty? Morality Police? Karma's a bitch.
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yankee-in-francePosted:
Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:33 am
Thanks for enlightening me on his voting record. He is a hypocrite.
YIF
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IsanahPosted:
Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:36 am
It's all his wife's fault.
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resignedPosted:
Sat Sep 01, 2007 3:01 am
International Herald Tribune Senator Craig plans to resign on Saturday
By Carl Hulse
Friday, August 31, 2007
Senator Larry Craig, Republican of Idaho, plans to resign his seat on Saturday after Republican leaders put intense pressure on him to leave in the aftermath of an undercover sex sting, Republican Party officials said Friday.
Through intermediaries and unusually harsh public statements and actions, party officials made it clear they wanted Craig to quit before Congress returned from its summer recess next week, hoping to quickly conclude an embarrassing episode that threatened to complicate an already difficult election cycle for Senate Republicans.
Republican Party officials said Friday evening that they had been notified of Craig's intention to give up his seat as of Sept. 30 and that Governor C. L. Otter, a Republican, would name a replacement.
The disclosure of Craig's guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge resulting from his arrest in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in early June was not the only political setback suffered by Republicans this week. On Friday, Senator John Warner of Virginia, the former Navy secretary and an influential party voice on military policy, announced in Charlottesville that he would not seek a sixth term in 2008, giving Democrats a better chance at that seat.
Late Friday, Craig's office scheduled a public announcement for Saturday morning in Boise, but aides would not publicly disclose his plans. National Republican officials, in what appeared to be a coordinated message, left no doubt what their preference was.
For four days, Republican officials engaged in an almost unheard-of campaign to persuade Craig to step down. Speaking to reporters in his home state of Kentucky, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, on Thursday called Craig's conduct "unforgivable." Senator John Ensign of Nevada, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, raised the prospect of public ethics hearings should Craig remain in office. Senators also discussed privately the idea of withholding any political support for Craig should he try to run for re-election, according to aides.
Officials at the Republican National Committee, the center of party political operations, readied a news release calling for Craig to resign but withheld it after they learned that Idaho Republicans, including representatives of the governor's office, were interceding with representatives of Craig's to urge him to step down.
Those actions came after the Republican leadership called for an ethics inquiry and stripped Craig of his leadership posts on three committees after his guilty plea at the beginning of August to what an undercover officer described as a sexual advance in a men's restroom in the airport terminal.
Despite such unusual steps against a Senate colleague, Republicans took no punitive action against Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, after his acknowledgment this summer of involvement with an escort service that the police described as a prostitution front.
Party officials said Vitter's case was different in that he faced no criminal charges and was not in the Senate but serving in the House at the time. In the case of Craig, they said experience from a recent string of misconduct cases, including the House page scandal that hurt Republicans last year, had shown that there was no time to waste if the political fallout was to be minimized.
"We have learned we have to move quickly," said a senior Senate official who did not want to be identified discussing the political ramifications of Craig's case.
The White House added to the pressure on Craig, expressing disappointment with the senator's conduct. But the administration has stopped short of calling for Craig's direct ouster, instead encouraging the Senate to take action on its own. On Friday, Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, said, "It ought to be handled by the Senate." He added, "We would expect them to do the requisite policing of their members and to uphold their own high standards."
Speaking later, a White House official said that the administration was stepping gingerly in a situation over which it had no control, and that it could come out only the worse for trying to insert itself. Some Republicans still hold it against Bush and Karl Rove, his former adviser, for interceding too directly in removing Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, from his leadership post in 2002 after what some saw as a racially charged comment.
"There's no way to win or react to the question," this official said. "It's a problem that Senator Craig and his colleagues need to deal with."
Though major Idaho newspapers joined with national party officials in calling for Craig to resign, prominent Republicans in Idaho were largely silent, except for measured statements of personal support and gratitude for his service in Congress.
"He's a friend and colleague, and he's helped a lot of them on their election campaigns," said Bryan Fischer, director of the Idaho Values Alliance, a conservative group that has been one of the few prominent voices in the state to call for resignation. "This is a small state. It's just really hard to do anything that makes it look like you're turning on your friends."
Some state officials stood by him. John Keenan, who served as legislative director for Craig when he was a congressman in the 1980s and is now the assistant attorney general in Idaho, said prominent Republicans had not approached the senator about resignation because "they're strong supporters of this gentleman."
"The whole thing is a little crazy event that has only been burning through the gossip within a matter of hours or days," Keenan said. "How do you ask him to execute his political life? I don't think anyone in good judgment can do that."
Unless Craig were to seek re-election, Republicans were confident they could hold the seat in the conservative state. But analysts said national political damage could stem from the continued impression of congressional Republicans skirting the law after two House members were jailed on corruption charges and other Republicans in the House and Senate remain under federal investigation along with Representative William Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana.
"It feeds an existing problem that Republicans have, which is one of ethics and scandal that has been building for a couple of years," said Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan political analyst. "The Republican brand has been damaged, and these kinds of headlines don't do anything to resurrect the brand."
Strategists for both parties said the revelation that former Representative Mark Foley, Republican of Florida, had sent sexually explicit messages to underage pages cost Republicans in 2006, particularly since it came just weeks before the voting.
Republicans were already at a disadvantage in next year's Senate contest, having to defend 22 seats against 12 for the Democrats. A handful of those seats are in states that have been trending against Republicans, including Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire and now Virginia.
Republican strategists acknowledge the challenge but say they are up to it. They note that Democrats have candidates running in Republican-leaning states like Louisiana and Arkansas.
"We have strong candidates in vulnerable states," said Rebecca Fisher, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "We don't have vulnerable candidates."
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resignedPosted:
Sat Sep 01, 2007 3:34 am
1982 - Larry Craig Denial of being Gay
Click your heels together...
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dithersPosted:
Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:14 am
resigned wrote:
yankee-in-france wrote:
Saw another report today that does not bode well for Craig.
He keeps on with 'he's not gay'. He doesn't get it. People wouldn't be upset about him being gay. The issue is did he commit a crime for which he should resign his senate seat. I cannot get past the guilty plea and him paying a $575 fine. If he committed a crime, he should resign his seat. IMO.
I think he should resign because he's a hypocrite. A perfect anti-gay voting record while he's playing stick it under the stall in restrooms throughout the U.S.
If Senators resigned because they were hyprocrites the place would be at least half empty. If only.
I'm not here to defend Craig. I agree he should go. But not because of hyprocisy. There's more than enough of that going around on both sides here. I think he should go due to sheer stupidity. Anyone that stupid has no business being in the business of running this country.
As for his voting record - perhaps his votes might reflect what his constituents wanted as opposed to his own feelings. I know that's how I want those who represent me to vote. Idaho is a pretty conservative state. A desire to retain his job probably had much to do with his votes too. If he'd voted with his heart and not his head he probably wouldn't be Senator of Idaho for too long anyway.
People appear to be more angry that he won't admit he is gay than for any other reason. That's his own business. Maybe he really doesn't believe it or can't come to terms with it. Maybe he's bisexual. Maybe he wants to protect his family. Who knows. Why does Bill Clinton continually cheat on his wife? No one knows or cares.
As far as his 'crime' - it was a misdemeanor and not a felony. And his crime is still the same, whether or not he outs himself. Again, I'm not defending him but just pointing out facts.
To those who would paint the entire GOP or conservatives in general as hypocrites because of the actions of one man I say "Get real". Don't even get me started on how stupid that way of thinking is.
On the one hand he's being pilloried for soliciting gay sex but on the other hand we are to accept gay sex as okay - so which way is it going to be?
Now I know what the truth probably is about what he was up to but in actuality he's guilty of nothing more than some foot and hand manuevers. We have no way of knowing if he was planning on having sex in that bathroom which I guess is where the crime would lie. Is it illegal for gay people to flirt or come onto one another in public? Is it illegal for straight people to flirt or come onto one another in public? Should it be illegal for a straight guy to come onto a girl in a bar or on the dance floor? Watch out for those grinding pelvises out there. Those among us who are generally the most vocal re: gay rights seem to be the ones coming down the hardest on this guy for being gay. And those same people are the ones constantly telling us what conflicted souls these people be. So where is the compassion for Craig? I'll tell you why there is none - it's spelled G-O-P.
The libs are bashing him because he's a conservative and the conservatives are bashing him because they always cave when the libs put up a stink.
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apodixisPosted:
Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:34 pm
And the fastest growing part of the electorate, those who are neither liberal nor conservative, neither Democrat nor Republican, are laughing at all of them. Congress has even lower poll numbers than the President. The country would be better off without the morality police of the right or the PC police of the left. Political hypocrisy is another example of the inherent tendency of political power to be the problem as much as the solution.
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dithersPosted:
Sat Sep 01, 2007 2:40 pm
apodixis wrote:
And the fastest growing part of the electorate, those who are neither liberal nor conservative, neither Democrat nor Republican, are laughing at all of them. Congress has even lower poll numbers than the President. The country would be better off without the morality police of the right or the PC police of the left. Political hypocrisy is another example of the inherent tendency of political power to be the problem as much as the solution.
It's actually the morality police on the left side of the aisle who started the big brouhaha over this - not the people on the right.
Pretty in Blonde
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yankee-in-francePosted:
Sat Sep 01, 2007 3:26 pm
dithers wrote:
apodixis wrote:
And the fastest growing part of the electorate, those who are neither liberal nor conservative, neither Democrat nor Republican, are laughing at all of them. Congress has even lower poll numbers than the President. The country would be better off without the morality police of the right or the PC police of the left. Political hypocrisy is another example of the inherent tendency of political power to be the problem as much as the solution.
It's actually the morality police on the left side of the aisle who started the big brouhaha over this - not the people on the right.
IMO, we would all be better off without morality police on either side.
YIF
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tulsadPosted:
Sat Sep 01, 2007 4:27 pm
Craig resigns over airport bathroom sex sting
Republican U.S. senator from Idaho to leave Senate on Sept. 30 after arrest
BOISE, Idaho - Idaho Sen. Larry Craig resigned Saturday over a men’s room sex sting, bowing to pressure from fellow Republicans worried about a scandal dimming their election prospects.
“I apologize for what I have caused. I am deeply sorry,” Craig said, his wife Suzanne at his side.
Craig’s resignation completed a stunning downfall that began Monday with the disclosure that he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge following his arrest during a sex sting in a Minneapolis airport men’s room.
Although leading members of his own party had called for him to step down, Craig steadfastly resisted resigning for days, contending he had done nothing wrong and that his only mistake was pleading guilty Aug. 1 to a misdemeanor charge.
President Bush called Craig from the White House after the senator’s announcement and told him he knew it was a difficult decision to make, said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.
“Senator Craig made the right decision for himself, for his family, his constituents and the United States Senate,” Stanzel said.
Craig was arrested June 11 in a police undercover vice operation in a men’s room at the Minneapolis airport. The arresting officer, Sgt. Dave Karsnia, said in his report that the restroom is a known location for homosexual activity.
“I am not gay. I never have been gay,” Craig said defiantly after a news conference Tuesday. He said he had kept the incident from aides, friends and family and pleaded guilty “in hopes of making it go away.”
He said Saturday he will pursue legal options to clear his name, but added that the effort “would be an unwanted and unfair distraction from my job and for my Senate colleagues.
“The people of Idaho deserve a senator who can devote 100 percent of his time and effort to the critical issues of our state and of our nation,” Craig said. “I have little control over what people choose to believe. But clearly my name is important to me, and my family is so very important also.”
‘A humbling experience’
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that Craig “made a difficult decision, but the right one.”
“It is my hope he will be remembered not for this, but for his three decades of dedicated public service,” McConnell said. McConnell had been one of Craig’s harshest critics, calling his actions “unforgivable.”
He and other GOP leaders asked Craig to give up his senior positions on Senate committees on Wednesday, a day after they asked the Senate ethics committee to investigate his actions.
Craig spokesman Sidney Smith said he didn’t know if Craig would return to Washington.
“We haven’t decided that yet, whether he’s going to return or not,” Smith said.
Craig, 62, represented Idaho in Congress for more than a quarter-century and was up for re-election next year. He had not said if he would run for a fourth term in 2008 and had been expected to announce his plans this fall.
“It is with sadness and deep regret that I announce it is my intent to resign from the Senate effective Sept. 30,” Craig said, with his wife again at his side and Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter standing behind him.
“For any public official at this moment in time to be standing with Larry Craig is in itself a humbling experience,” Craig said.
‘Dead wrong’
Craig was arrested June 11 in a police undercover vice operation in a men’s room at the Minneapolis airport. The arresting officer, Sgt. Dave Karsnia, said in his report that the restroom is a known location for homosexual activity.
“I am not gay. I never have been gay,” Craig said at a news conference here Tuesday, a day after his guilty plea became public.
Republicans, worried about the scandal’s effect on next year’s election, suffered a further setback Friday when veteran Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia announced he will retire rather than seek a sixth term. Democrats captured Virginia’s other Senate seat from the GOP in the 2006 election.
Otter said Saturday he has not chosen a replacement, although several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations said he favored Republican Lt. Gov. Jim Risch. He called speculation that he has made a choice “dead wrong.”
Otter declined to say when he would fill the seat.
One of the lawyers retained by Craig is Billy Martin, whose client list includes former NFL star Michael Vick. Last month, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback pleaded guilty in a dogfighting investigation. Martin is with the Washington law firm Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan.
‘What people choose to believe’
Craig opposes gay marriage and has a strong record against gay rights. He was a leading voice in the Senate on gun issues and Western lands. Craig chaired the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and was a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, where he was adept at securing federal money for Idaho projects.
A fiscal and social conservative, Craig sometimes broke with his party, notably on immigration, where he pushed changes that many in his party said offered “amnesty” to illegal immigrants. Much of the impetus behind Craig’s push to ease bureaucratic hurdles to immigrant farm workers stemmed from his background as a rancher and the state’s large rural, farming community.
Craig has faced rumors about his sexuality since the 1980s. He has called assertions that he has engaged in gay sex ridiculous.
“I have little control over what people choose to believe,” he said Saturday. “But clearly my name is important to me and my family is so very important also.”
Craig said pursuing legal efforts to clear his name “would be an unwanted and unfair distraction from my job and for my Senate colleagues. The people of Idaho deserve a senator who can devote 100 percent of his time and effort to the critical issues of our state and of our nation.”
Somebody should have told Craig that when he was calling Bill a
"naughty boy".
I think he was jealous he couldn't get a taste of Bill himself.
Click your heels together...
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resignedPosted:
Sat Sep 01, 2007 8:18 pm
dithers wrote:
resigned wrote:
yankee-in-france wrote:
Saw another report today that does not bode well for Craig.
He keeps on with 'he's not gay'. He doesn't get it. People wouldn't be upset about him being gay. The issue is did he commit a crime for which he should resign his senate seat. I cannot get past the guilty plea and him paying a $575 fine. If he committed a crime, he should resign his seat. IMO.
I think he should resign because he's a hypocrite. A perfect anti-gay voting record while he's playing stick it under the stall in restrooms throughout the U.S.
If Senators resigned because they were hyprocrites the place would be at least half empty. If only.
I'm not here to defend Craig. I agree he should go. But not because of hyprocisy. There's more than enough of that going around on both sides here. I think he should go due to sheer stupidity. Anyone that stupid has no business being in the business of running this country.
As for his voting record - perhaps his votes might reflect what his constituents wanted as opposed to his own feelings. I know that's how I want those who represent me to vote. Idaho is a pretty conservative state. A desire to retain his job probably had much to do with his votes too. If he'd voted with his heart and not his head he probably wouldn't be Senator of Idaho for too long anyway.
People appear to be more angry that he won't admit he is gay than for any other reason. That's his own business. Maybe he really doesn't believe it or can't come to terms with it. Maybe he's bisexual. Maybe he wants to protect his family. Who knows. Why does Bill Clinton continually cheat on his wife? No one knows or cares.
As far as his 'crime' - it was a misdemeanor and not a felony. And his crime is still the same, whether or not he outs himself. Again, I'm not defending him but just pointing out facts.
To those who would paint the entire GOP or conservatives in general as hypocrites because of the actions of one man I say "Get real". Don't even get me started on how stupid that way of thinking is.
On the one hand he's being pilloried for soliciting gay sex but on the other hand we are to accept gay sex as okay - so which way is it going to be?
Now I know what the truth probably is about what he was up to but in actuality he's guilty of nothing more than some foot and hand manuevers. We have no way of knowing if he was planning on having sex in that bathroom which I guess is where the crime would lie. Is it illegal for gay people to flirt or come onto one another in public? Is it illegal for straight people to flirt or come onto one another in public? Should it be illegal for a straight guy to come onto a girl in a bar or on the dance floor? Watch out for those grinding pelvises out there. Those among us who are generally the most vocal re: gay rights seem to be the ones coming down the hardest on this guy for being gay. And those same people are the ones constantly telling us what conflicted souls these people be. So where is the compassion for Craig? I'll tell you why there is none - it's spelled G-O-P.
The libs are bashing him because he's a conservative and the conservatives are bashing him because they always cave when the libs put up a stink.
The GOP wants to promote themselves as the party of "family values" and create legislation to ensure that rights are limited to who they deem appropriate family...meanwhile you have people like Foley and Craig hitting on pages and looking for action in mens restrooms. And you defend them?
Craig is a United States Senator for crying out loud...soliciting a lewd act in a public restroom is against the law. If you think that is fine. Good, glad to hear it. Can I tell my friends that the conservatives are now going to push for legislation to make sucking penises in public restrooms legal?
Who cares if Larry Craig is gay? Maybe Mrs. Larry Craig might, but I don't. He could have been in the ladies restroom looking for action...he's still a hypocritical pig who isn't fit to represent himself properly let alone citizens of a State. Don't they have call gals and guys in Idaho?
Click your heels together...
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paxPosted:
Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:26 am
From what I've read, it was conservative republicans who forced Craig to resign. Some continually blame everything on liberals, even things that have nothing to do with them. Sounds like obsession and passing the buck.
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paxPosted:
Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:30 am
dithers wrote:
apodixis wrote:
And the fastest growing part of the electorate, those who are neither liberal nor conservative, neither Democrat nor Republican, are laughing at all of them. Congress has even lower poll numbers than the President. The country would be better off without the morality police of the right or the PC police of the left. Political hypocrisy is another example of the inherent tendency of political power to be the problem as much as the solution.
It's actually the morality police on the left side of the aisle who started the big brouhaha over this - not the people on the right.
That's simply not true.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- In a subdued ending to a week of startling political theater, Sen. Larry Craig announced his resignation Saturday, bowing to pressure from fellow Republicans worried about damage from his arrest and guilty plea in a gay sex sting.
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paxPosted:
Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:47 am
resigned wrote:
The GOP wants to promote themselves as the party of "family values" and create legislation to ensure that rights are limited to who they deem appropriate family...meanwhile you have people like Foley and Craig hitting on pages and looking for action in mens restrooms. And you defend them?
Craig is a United States Senator for crying out loud...soliciting a lewd act in a public restroom is against the law. If you think that is fine. Good, glad to hear it. Can I tell my friends that the conservatives are now going to push for legislation to make sucking penises in public restrooms legal?
Who cares if Larry Craig is gay? Maybe Mrs. Larry Craig might, but I don't. He could have been in the ladies restroom looking for action...he's still a hypocritical pig who isn't fit to represent himself properly let alone citizens of a State. Don't they have call gals and guys in Idaho?
The far right wing employs divisive rhetoric against homosexuals. This agitates fearful constituents who think the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Given how they support a Constitutional amendment to outlaw gay marriage and oppose funding for AIDS research, this must have put them in an awkward position (pun intended, lol).
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yankee-in-francePosted:
Sun Sep 02, 2007 4:47 am
resigned wrote:
Somebody should have told Craig that when he was calling Bill a
"naughty boy".
I think he was jealous he couldn't get a taste of Bill himself.
I agree, Pat. Many of those who yelled the loudest about Bill should have kept quiet, but then that is the arrogance of the beltway boys. Craig, even with assertions made about his sexual preference in the '80s, must have thought that he would never be caught.
How could Craig think that he could get away with gay sex in a public lavatory in the Minneapolis airport? I agree, Dithers, kind of stupid, and then he pleaded guilty to an offense, equally as stupid. It's a wonder that he didn't claim that it was a political dirty trick, the liberals set him up.
I don't believe that when we accept gay sex that we are accepting this type of behavior. I don't think that it has anything to do with it.
YIF
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yankee-in-francePosted:
Sun Sep 02, 2007 8:14 am
pax wrote:
dithers wrote:
apodixis wrote:
And the fastest growing part of the electorate, those who are neither liberal nor conservative, neither Democrat nor Republican, are laughing at all of them. Congress has even lower poll numbers than the President. The country would be better off without the morality police of the right or the PC police of the left. Political hypocrisy is another example of the inherent tendency of political power to be the problem as much as the solution.
It's actually the morality police on the left side of the aisle who started the big brouhaha over this - not the people on the right.
That's simply not true.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- In a subdued ending to a week of startling political theater, Sen. Larry Craig announced his resignation Saturday, bowing to pressure from fellow Republicans worried about damage from his arrest and guilty plea in a gay sex sting.
-- and here's an article in The Herald Tribune which makes it clear who wanted him out and why.
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