Last week Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said he’d serve the remaining 15 months of his term, though a judge refused to let him withdraw his plea related to a restroom gay-sex sting. Now he faces an ethics inquiry in the Senate (which traditionally lets members’ misdemeanors slide) and a big chill from his GOP colleagues on the order of this from Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who chairs the GOP campaign committee: "It’s embarrassing for the Senate, it’s embarrassing for his party." Craig has said he won’t run next year, but given this toe-tapper’s flip-flopping on whether to resign or plead guilty, nobody should be surprised if changes his mind on re-election, too.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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46 Comments
The Republic Party’s prospects are going down faster than Larry Craig in a public restroom.
The “values” party is really stuck with Craig, what with their nonchalant reaction to Louisiana Senator David Vitter’s romps with hookers.
It used to be a politician’s career was ruined when he was “…found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.”
Not anymore.
Those kinds of politicians are just about all that’s left of the GOP’s base.
Monkeyhawk,
Indeed. Let the good times roll.
If the GOP tries to introduce a censure resolution for Larry Craig, NO Democrat should sign it unless is also censures David “the sh*tter” Vitter.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer party!
SWEET!
AndBarney Frank?
I agree that the Senate leadership should let this slide. It was a misdemeanor, after all.
The voters from MN can and should fix this.
You on the left should be sticking up for Craig, at least a little bit. I will commend the ACLU for being consistent here: What Craig did would probably not be considered a crime if he had challenged it in court. (On Constitutional grounds, according to the ACLU.)Yes, it is an embarrasement.There is no good way to fix the problem.However we are all human.The public does not expect political parties to be perfect.Between now and the 08 election, there will be at least one more Democrat scandal.It will blow over.Bad choice of words, perhaps, but it will!
This reminds me of those old Karl Malden American Express commercials from the 70’s.
You’ve got one “values” Senator proven to be a serial John.
You’ve got another “values” Senator soliciting anonymous homosexual sex in the John.
What will they do?
What WILL then do?
Delicious.
Paul:
Sen. Craig is from IDAHO, not Minnesota. MN voters can’t do squat to him.
Also, it is important to note that people don’t hate the ACT, they hate the hypocrisy. Sort of like how us pro-2nd Amendment types hate the fact that Dianne Feinstein is a rabid anti-gunner, yet she is one of the few people in California with a concealed carry permit. It’s not the CCL we hate, it’s the fact that you spend so much time bashing on someone for something, when you do it yourself. If Feinstein really thought guns cause crime and that private ownership of guns is bad, she would give hers up. Likewise, if you spend your ideological currency bashing homosexuals and their activities, and then get arrested and plead nolo contendre for attempting to solicit homosexual sex, you spit in the eye of your supporters and the people you defame. Barney Frank may be a homosexual page-loving member of Congress, but he’s at least up front about it, and not decrying the issue. It’s about intellectual honesty, not homosexuality. Don’t tell us one thing and do another… if you’re gonna be gay, that’s fine, but don’t tell us that being gay is evil beforehand.
Postal would this be like the democrats putting down the ‘rich’ republicans and their capitalistic tendencies when they are some of the richest on the hill. Kennedy, Edwards, Clinton, need I go on…
OK
You got me,It is for Idaho voters.My mistake.I was in a hurry.
postalYou have a valid point.
Still, I see hypocrisy on both sides.
Yeah, “Econ101″ –
You say you *see* hypocrisy on both sides.
But anyone who’s kept track of this forum will note that your only “outrage” comes from “hypocrisy” that comes from the other side of your obvious political biases.
And they say irony is dead.
To the tune of “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria”
How do you solve a problem like el Craig oh?How do you catch his foot and pin it down?How do you find the words that mean el Craig oh?A troubled fool! A selfish guy! A clown!
Yeah, I know, don’t quit my day job.
I hate to quote fast food ads, but “I’m lovin’ it!” :-)
Craig isn’t a problem for the Republics.
He’s their mascot: “do as I say, not as I do.”
I’d give alot to be a fly in the Senate cloakroom and see how the other Senators act around the guy. I guess Craig must not have much sense of the idea of “awkward”.
Sen Craig: Hey “Senator ______! Why don’t you and I have lunch?”
Sen ______: “Uh no, I uh I can’t. I have to go…bowling. It’s jsut something I can’t get out of.”
Econ – the difference is that Craig has been one of those holier-then-thou types who have cast so many stones. Now they are flying back at his glass house. Just like that other paragon of Republic virtue Vitter.
Being human does not mean humans normally solicit homosexual sex in a men’s public restroom.
What is with the GOP party that they proclaim to be God’s party and the party of family values but yet when their own (and more than just a few) are caught literally with their pants down, then we hear this we are all just human crap.
Tell me this one Econ1 – if this was Hillary in a public women’s restroom soliciting homosexual sex, then would you be so willing to just say we are all human?
The problem with Craig is not that he’s gay. The problem with his soliciting sex in a public restroom is that it’s an offense against good taste. The real problem is that Craig not only denied being gay, but took every opportunity to attack fellow gays as viciously as possible. Craig is a mean lying hypocrite who should be clamped in stocks in front of the Capitol and pelted with rotten tomatos instead if sitting in the Senate.
Tell me this one Econ1 – if this was Hillary in a public women’s restroom soliciting homosexual sex, then would you be so willing to just say we are all human?
Posted by: indy | October 08, 2007 at 04:33 PM
If this was Hillary, the Libs would uphold the behavior like a “Sacred Cow.”
rofl – I make myself laugh sometimes. :)
Jed being old enough to remember the Nancy Jo Kopeckne death, I have a very hard time taking you seriously when over and over again Teddy Kennedy is re-elected to the Senate. He drove a woman into the water, went home and got a good nights sleep (slept it off) and then told the authorities about it. He should have gone to jail – instead he has become a lifetime member of the senate. I don’t like Craig and wish he would just go away. Now. But don’t even talk about republicans when you have these kinds of skeletons in the democratic closet. There is no time limit on murder charges.
I have always wondered how much the life of their only daughter was worth to the Kopecknes.
Granny,I remember the incident well, and I don’t ever recall defending it or Kennedy. Since I live in Kansas, I haven’t had the opportunity to cast a vote one way or the other for the guy. Don’t try to lay Kennedy off on me!
Jeddy last I knew I didn’t live in Idaho either and neither did you. Didn’t stop you from commenting on him did it? Sorry I missed that rule.
Oh, and by the way, granny, Kennedy at least admitted what he did; Craig has been screaming “I’m not gay! I’m not gay!” even after pleading guilty to soliciting gay sex in a public restroom.
Oh, and by the way, granny, Kennedy at least admitted what he did; Craig has been screaming “I’m not gay! I’m not gay!” even after pleading guilty to soliciting gay sex in a public restroom.
Posted by: Jed | October 08, 2007 at 05:24 PM
Oh yeah…great comparison there…
Kennedy killed someone…Craig was playing footsie.
When did Kennedy admit what he did? He said he didn’t remember what happened that night but was able to find his way back to his bed. Give me a break Jed you can’t be that stupid!
But I guess Teddy boy didn’t ever say he wasn’t a murderer so that makes it alright.
Craig should go and Kennedy should be in prison along with Barney Frank who fixed parking tickets for the clients of his roommate who was running a prostitution ring out of his (Franks) apartment.
Will you all ever admit you aren’t the party of piety? We both have scoundrels in our parties and until we quit pardoning unpardonable actions we deserve the government we are getting.
Granny,Should Craig comes clean and admit to his hypocrisy and to being gay or bi, I couldn’t care less whether the people of Idaho reelect him. It might just make him a respectable Senator.I have never defended Kennedy, and to this day, whenever I see his mug on the news, I also see the pictures of them hauling that car out of the water. I don’t care for the SOB. You were the one who tried to argue that I did.
I’m so glad the Craig thing has happened to …wait for it….you people. You deserve it.
Chapawhaddic? MY you do have to go looking don’t you?
I was like 3 years old when that happened
Oh I DO hope the ethics committee hearings will be on Cspan!
ksgrm – having been a part of the first time a Kennedy ever got booed down in Boston (it was Teddy in 1968) I am hardly a Teddy defender.
By the way; i think it was Mary Jo Kopechne; not Nancy Jo.
Ben I am sure you are right. I didn’t look it up just trusted my memory. My point is that politicians have a history of doing things outside the law. Things ‘normal’ citizens would be jailed for. We should expect better. We shouldn’t settle for the status guo any longer.
They did it first. They did it last. His actions were worse, etc… As voters we need to change things now.
I am GLAD he is staying and hope he runs for re-election. It will help us Democrats next year by reminding voters just what the “party of family values” is all about.
“”"Dianne Feinstein is a rabid anti-gunner, yet she is one of the few people in California with a concealed carry permit. It’s not the CCL we hate, it’s the fact that you spend so much time bashing on someone for something, when you do it yourself.”"”
I agree and ANY politician Dem or Rep that does it should be voted out of office. I hate politicians that think the laws they pass for the rest of us are not for them.
Yeah, and the Limbaugh-tomized Masses all know exactly what happened that night “Nancy Jo” Kopechne died.
They just can’t get her name right.
Hundreds of independent reporters have visited that bridge on Chappaquiddick Island and revealed that it’s a quirky turn, even during daylight.
No one has associated “Nancy Joe” (sic) Kopechne with Senator Kennedy prior to the accident. Ted Kennedy testified that he dived down many times to the submerged car that night, and he testified to the fact within 12 hours of the accident.
Just when has George WMD Bush come clean (or even offered an explanation) about his AWOL status with the Alabama National Guard? Or the woman he knocked up in Texas in the 70s? Or how Laura Bush killed her ex-boyfriend?
The 28%-ers have to go back nearly 40 years to defend the high crimes and misdemeanors of the guy they continue to support as he shreds the Constitution, foments expanded war in the Middle East, deprives poor children basic medical care, and treats every sperm as sacred.
And, last time I looked, Ted Kennedy merely represents the people of Massachusetts. If, in spite of his “murdering” the late “Nancy Jo” (sic) Kopechne, his representation of them in the Senate is Massachusetts’ issue to deal with, isn’t it?
Ah, but that’s all you got: forty-year-old fantasies of what might have happened to counter the here and now of what George WMD Bush and his Reign of Error has given us.
Hmmm. Let be balance the relevance…
But go ahead, 28%-ers! Bring out
“Nancy Jo” (sic) Kopechne to rationalize and justify your perfidy.
I realize that’s all you got.
Now, lets multiply the death of “Nancy Jo” (sic) Kopechne times 3600 dead Americans in service to George WMD Bush’s little adventure in Iraq.
Let’s multiply the death of “Nancy Jo” (sic) Kopechne against the Americans who will surely die if Dick Cheney gets his way and the US expands the war into Iran.
I’m confident all you Busheviks can conjure up an argument. Since you have no respect for truth or rationality, you’re gonna come up with some kind of argument, what with your arguments never having to rely on the facts of the matter.
But (just a little advice here), try to get “Nancy Jo” (sic) Kopechne’s name right. For starters, at least.
Otherwise you’ll reveal yourselves as the hypocritical fools you are.
Monkeyhawk one thing you failed to rationalize away was if he dived so many times and came up empty how did he have the energy or mental capacity to find his own bed and why did it take him 12 hours to report a possible drowning? And what would have happened to you or me if we did this?
Miss Kopeckne and the other five single women were know as the “Boiler Room Girls” for their campaign work. You suggested that he didn’t know her previously. Did you overlook that? How do you think Teddy just happened to be in the car with a young single girl – wink, wink – after a party that no wives were invited to (6 married men, 6 single women) and she ended up in the bottom of a lagoon and he ended up in his own bed until morning when he thought he might have to explain where he lost his car – and oh by the way there might be a dead girl in it when you find it.
If anyone is interested in the real story and not Monkeyhawks version ck out http://www.ytedk.com/chapter1.htm.
It is no longer relevant except he is still an active senator and has a big stick in the senate and we are condeming Craig for soliciting sex or not in a public bathroom.
LOL
How does the GOP solve a problem like Craig?
Well here in Kansas I guess they like to drag out a big ‘ol red herring called Chappaquiddick and indulge in a big ‘ol heapin’ helpin’ of moral relativism.
So: to return to rational thought, how’s the GOP solve the problem presented by Larry Craig, aka the Cornholio Lothario?
ANS: They don’t.
LOL
Pendant why exactly do republicans in Kansas have to solve the Craig problem? He isn’t our senator. He was elected by the people of Idaho and if they want him to keep representing them he will be re-elected. If not he will become a lobbyist (this is where all old politicians go to die).
The problem solver is called an election. If comparing the scoundrels the dems have left in power for years is pulling out old garbage, so be it – lets drop it.
Let the Idahoans solve their own problems.
So: to return to rational thought, how’s the GOP solve the problem presented by Larry Craig, aka the Cornholio Lothario?
ANS: They don’t.
LOLPosted by: Pedant | October 08, 2007 at 08:17 PM
Hmmmmm. Upon further perusal.
I guess they might send him to Phillll Kline’s School For Turning Male Swallowers Into “Blowjobs GOOD/Cunnilingus BAD For Underage Kansans” For The Brainwashed.
Of course, being a Republican Craig’d just get into more trouble, this time with underage boys. I say that because something tells me Larry don’t much like The Place Where The Good Lord Split Girls.
Hmmmm. It’s a puzzler all right.
LOL
Phillll Kline’s School For Turning Male Swallowers Into “Blowjobs GOOD/Cunnilingus BAD For Underage Kansans” For The Brainwashed.
Nah, that’s for STRAIGHT boys and girls.
An old queen like Larry Craig in a skool like that’d never pick up anything remoteful useful to a life of staying outta jail.
LOL
Yea, I agree with whoever said, that Larry Craig could probably have had his case over turned in court, if he would of kept his mouth shut. If I were a Republican, I would think they should urge him to resign, even though its not a misdeamenor. The act of which he did, is in it’s self extremely poor conduct, of which any normal person would likley be fired from their employer. They should also try and cover their ass a little bit, and publicy say their stance, (the GOP’s not Larry’s patented stall stance) is based on his conduct and not his sexual orientation whatever it may be.Larry Craig is not essential to keep as Minnesota’s senator, if someones gonna “f’ up on the job, theres always somebody in line to take your place.
Well, he could always repent and become a priest…..
“Well, he could always repent and become a priest…..”
Have grown up Catholic, I’m not gonna touch that one.
Ahem.
Sort of like how us pro-2nd Amendment types hate the fact that Dianne Feinstein is a rabid anti-gunner, yet she is one of the few people in California with a concealed carry permit.
What postal doesn’t mention is that Feinstein’s legislative activity concerned assault weapons. She may have carried a pistol for a time while mayor of San Francisco.
I don’t see any hypocracy.
Craig will serve out his term and retire to his home on Brokeback Mountain out there.
I think as a punishment, Craig should be banned from all public men’s restrooms, unless accompanied by an adult!
I say leave the guy alone. I don’t think he is guilty. We have a persicution department, not a prosicution in this country. A great deal of people charged with crimes are innocent. The people are brain washed to think cops are automatically the good guys. That’s the most unAmerican attitude a citizen could have!
Let the voters decide Craigs fate. And if he is gay, so what, mind your own business. I wish he would come out of the closet and show up on the Senate floor in a neon pink thong and a sombraro riding a unicycle backwards while playing the flute!
It will blow over.Bad choice of words, perhaps, but it will!Posted by: Econ101
i bet your “mind” was filled with visions of sugar plum faries when you typed the word… “blow.”
you’re too dumb to live in the u.s.
“yet she is one of the few people in California with a concealed carry permit.”
yes, i think i too read where in the state of california there were only 3 concealed carry permits.
isn’t that crazy ?
the repukes love larry craig like they love to wipe down their guns.
it’s a power thing like the smaller the penis the bigger the gun collection.
yes, he’s another one of yours, family values by day, on your knees in public restrooms, airports, city parks, and crappy little motels.