And why should he? What if these allegations are false? What if he was being set up? Remember, that in this country, one is inocent until proven guilty....believe it or not!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
wouldn't Osama be a right winger if he were here in The States......and if he were killed he would become a martyr.....what would a right winger become if he/she were assassinated?
Obama on the left and Osama on the right......we are all the same in queer ways..... no pun intended.....
I say step down......move forward......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Craig exposes himself as hypocrite that he is Susan Estrich is a nationally syndicated columnist. Susan Estrich
An airport men’s room? Couldn’t you do better than that, senator? After consistently voting against efforts to protect gay and lesbian Americans from hate crimes and to preserve their civil rights, you go into the men’s room at the airport and try to pick up the guy in the next stall? And then you have the audacity to claim that the police officer is lying, even though you pleaded guilty and tried to hush up the whole thing; that you’re being unfairly punished for having a “wide stance” and picking up a nonexistent piece of paper from the bathroom floor? The fundamental issue here isn’t sexual orientation. It’s character. The distinguished gentleman from Idaho, as members of Congress refer to each other, is a public nuisance, a blatant liar and a hopeless hypocrite. The Senate is tarnished by his presence. The people of Idaho deserve better. Go home, Sen. Wide Stance. Go tell your wife your lies. Explain your votes to her. The list of what’s wrong with this guy is endless. You want to have sex with another man, go right ahead. But don’t do it in a restroom at the airport, full of kids traveling alone or with their mothers. Unaccompanied minors have a right not to worry when they have to go to the bathroom. I’m glad the airport police were in there looking for disgusting old men who are so ashamed of their sexuality that they resort to doing it in bathroom stalls. I don’t care what your orientation is — a public restroom is no place for sex, particularly when it’s a public restroom in a public place that’s full of children. I’m one of those mothers who stand outside the men’s room at the airport waiting for their sons, one eye on my watch and the other on every man who walks in. When my son was a little boy, I brought him into the ladies room. But as every mother will tell you, once they get past a certain age, they won’t come. Family bathrooms help for a while, but they aren’t that common. And once they get a little older, every boy tells his mother he’s fine and can go on his own. Maybe I should carry a Capitol Hill Facebook from now on. Then there’s the matter of lying. Sen. Craig jumped all over former President Clinton as being “bad, nasty and naughty” for having a consensual affair in his office with an adult woman and then lying about it. I’m not going to defend the president for what was clearly inappropriate and wrongful conduct, but at least he finally came clean about it. The senator is still playing the blame game. A wide stance? Gimme a break. Peeking through the crack to observe the man in the next stall? What was that about? Waving his hand into the next stall, later claiming he was picking up a piece of paper that didn’t exist? How dumb does he think we are? But my favorite is his claim that he only pleaded guilty because he didn’t consult a lawyer or understand his rights. Another lie. Eleven days after his arrest, he specifically asked for a police contact with whom his lawyer could communicate. He arranged a plea deal; his staff is full of lawyers. Sen. Craig had easier access to legal counsel than 99 percent of those charged with crimes in this country. But the piece de resistance is the hypocrisy of Sen. Wide Stance. You want to be in the closet, be in the closet. But don’t be a hypocrite. Sen. Craig’s voting record is 100 percent anti-gay. He voted twice against protecting from hate crimes those with more guts than he has, when he voted against the addition of the words “sexual orientation” to the federal hate crimes law. He supported a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. He voted for federal legislation giving states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages — a right they already have, codifi ed in federal law, not because there was a need for it, but because the gutless wonders in Congress were looking to score political points with the right by proving just how anti-gay they are. Or how hypocritical. I don’t believe in outing people who prefer to keep their sexual orientation private. But exposing hypocrisy is the appropriate business of the media. Sen. Craig isn’t the only hypocrite in Washington, and it’s about time we started holding them accountable, not for what they do in private, but for how they vote in public.
Tape: Senator, officer in dispute over bathroom encounter BY MATTHEW DALY The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The officer who arrested Sen. Larry Craig in a police undercover operation at an airport men’s room accused the senator of lying to him during an interrogation afterward, according to an audiotape of the arrest. On the tape, released Thursday by the Minneapolis Airport Police, the Idaho Republican senator, in turn, accuses the officer of soliciting him for sex. “I’m not gay. I don’t do these kinds of things,” Craig told Sgt. Dave Karsnia minutes after the two men met in a men’s room at the airport on June 11. “You shouldn’t be out to entrap people,” Craig told the officer. “I don’t want you to take me to jail.” Karsnia replied that Craig wouldn’t be going to jail as long as he cooperated. The two men disagreed about virtually everything that had occurred minutes earlier, including whether there was a piece of paper on the floor of the stall and the meaning of the senator’s hand gestures. At no time did Craig admit doing anything wrong, although weeks later he pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. “You’re not being truthful with me. I’m kind of disappointed in you, senator,” Karsnia told Craig during the interrogation. Meanwhile, more of Craig’s Republican colleagues moved away from him Thursday in the wake of his guilty plea earlier this month to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct in the undercover police operation aimed at sex solicitors. Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, who chairs the GOP’s senatorial campaign committee, stopped short of calling on Craig to resign, but suggested strongly that he should. “I wouldn’t put myself hopefully in that kind of position, but if I was in a position like that, that’s what I would do,” Ensign told The Associated Press in his home state. “He’s going to have to answer that for himself.” Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, each turned over to charity $2,500 campaign donations they had received from Craig’s political action committee. Coleman and Collins both face potentially tough campaigns for re-election next year. Coleman and several other Republicans — including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — have called for Craig to resign his seat in the Senate. Craig already has agreed to a request by Republican leaders to give up his ranking status on the Veterans Affairs Committee and appropriations subcommittees. Craig said Tuesday he had committed no wrongdoing and shouldn’t have pleaded guilty. He said he had only recently retained a lawyer to advise him in the case, which threatens to write an ignominious end to a lifetime in public offi ce. GOP Senate leaders said they did not act lightly in asking Craig to give up his leadership posts temporarily. But they said their decision was “in the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by the ethics committee.” On the tape, Craig and the arresting officer can be heard arguing over what happened in the men’s room minutes earlier. Craig acknowledges that the men’s feet bumped, but says nothing improper happened. “Did we bump? Yes, I think we did. You said so. I don’t disagree with that,” Craig said. But Craig disputes the officer’s account that he swept his hand under the stall next to him in an apparent effort to advance the encounter.
If Senator Craig is found guilty of the crime of solicitation by a jury of his pee-ers (sorry, I couldn't resist), then he should resign and he should receive the same sentence as others. My suspicion is that the actions that he has admitted to (tapping his foot and waving his hand) won't be enough to convict him of solicitation.
And for those who say that if he were a Democrat he would be treated differently, you are likely correct. However, I want the Republican party to have a moral compass that guides their actions, words and deeds.
I heard something amusing on a radio talk show yesterday. The caller was suggesting that if he is found guilty, he should switch parties and become a Democrat. He will then be embraced for his behavior.
Not a bad idea, at all, Zim. They'd welcome him with open arms. The only problem with that is that it sounds like he may have been coerced into pleading guilty for what he did so that he could go about doing what he was doing (and I mean continuing on his trip).
This doesn't even have anything in it about any type of sexual act. He did not commit a sexual act and even said that he plead guilty of this charge to try to make the entire thing go away. Interesting how if he was a Democrat, this would have just been swept under the rug...
Oh....you mean like the Bill Clinton's(D) sex scandal being swept under the rug? I forgot how many 10's of millions of dollars was spent on the Ken Starr investigation. I'm not a big fan of Bill Clinton...But I'm not going to make excuses for some perv Senator from Idaho just because he has an (R) next to his name. Wasn't there a republican representative Mark Floley from Florida that got caught sending sexually expicit internet messages to under age male page's not too long ago?
One positive thing I can say about Mr. Clinton, at least he had his affair with an of age, consenting adult, WOMAN.
You won't convince me that a man intelligent enough to win a seat on the senate is stupid enough to plead guilty just so he can move along on his trip. You also won't convince me it was a set up. This week its a republican and next week it will be a democrat. Seems there are enough asses to go around from both parties. Oops I meant jackasses.
Don't ya just hate when these things happen in rest rooms? They all seem to happen there. Rest rooms are starting to be the new perverted, porn, sex rooms.
But what would the difference have been if Senator Craig was at a meeting, or in a bar and started 'flirting' with another 'same sex' person? Would it have gotten the same press? And what if he was 'flirting' with the 'opposite sex' person? Same press here too?
The liberal media puts it's spin and bend on any bit of news. They can sway a story so far to the left that you would fall over in your chair.
Well, I guess the old gay/lesbian community ain't doin' such a great job since they came out of their closet. It clearly didn't help this Senator! He's black balled for life!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Senator in sex scandal to resign Larry Craig had pleaded guilty in airport incident BY JOHN MILLER AND MATTHEW DALY The Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men’s room, Republican officials said Friday. Craig will announce at a news conference in Boise Saturday morning that he will resign effective Sept. 30, GOP officials in Idaho and Washington told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. Word of the resignation came four Craig days after the disclosure that Craig had pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge arising out of his June 11 arrest during a lewd-conduct investigation at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The three-term Republican senator had maintained that he did nothing wrong except for making the guilty plea without consulting a lawyer. But he found almost no support among Republicans in his home state or Washington. Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter appeared Friday to have already settled on a successor: Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, according to several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations. Craig’s spokesman, Dan Whiting, had said earlier that the senator would announce his career plans today. The spokesman would not say whether Craig intended to resign. Craig has been out of public view since Tuesday, when he declared defiantly at a Boise news conference: “I am not gay. I never have been gay.” But Republican sources in Idaho said he spent Friday making calls to top party officials, including the governor, gauging their support. There has been virtually none publicly. Asked Friday at the White House if the senator should resign, President Bush said nothing and walked off stage. Republican officeholders and party leaders maintained a steady drumbeat of actions and words aimed at persuading Craig to vacate his Senate seat. GOP lawmakers, hoping to get the embarrassment to the party behind them quickly, stripped Craig of leadership posts on Wednesday, one day after they called for an investigation of Craig’s actions by the Senate Ethics Committee. Craig complied with the request. With his wife, Suzanne, at his side, Craig said he had kept the incident from aides, friends and family and later pleaded guilty “in hopes of making it go away.” Craig, 62, has represented Idaho in Congress for more than a quarter-century and was up for re-election next year. Republican officeholders and party leaders wanted Craig to give up his seat in the Senate as soon as possible. Their preference, according to several officials, was for a successor to be selected and ready to take the oath of office when the Senate returns from its summer vacation next week. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Craig’s conduct “unforgivable” and acknowledged that many in the rank and file thought Craig should resign. Republicans, worried about the scandal’s effect on next year’s election, suffered a further setback Friday when veteran Virginia Sen. John Warner announced he will retire rather than seek a sixth term. Democrats captured Virginia’s other Senate seat from the GOP in the 2006 election and have sought to line up former Gov. Mark Warner to run if the seat became open. The contest for control of the next Senate was already tilted against Republicans, who must defend 22 of 34 seats on the ballot next year, before the Craig scandal and Warner’s announcement. With a GOP candidate other than Craig, Republicans would stand a much better chance of keeping his Idaho seat in 2008. Idaho is one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states. The GOP controls the statehouse and all four seats in Congress, and Bush carried the state in 2004 with 68 percent of the vote. Risch, the lieutenant governor, served for seven months as governor last year after former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was named interior secretary. Risch had said earlier he was interested in Craig’s Senate seat if Craig did not seek re-election in 2008.
Another Republican caught with pants down Froma Harrop
Larry Craig did wrong, but what did the Idaho Republican really do wrong? A penchant to focus on the part of sex scandals that don’t have to do with sex has long been my curse. According to the police report, the senator was in a bathroom at the Minneapolis airport when he allegedly came on to an undercover cop in the stall next door. The partisan throngs jumped on the carnal — or in this case, pre-carnal — act. The family-values crowd vented frustration at yet another Republican ally accused of unauthorized sex. The left charged Republicans with “hypocrisy” on their claims of moral purity and hetero superiority, as though that’s anything new. The part that bothered some of us was Craig’s “what do you think about that?” comment. “That,” in this case, was his senatorial business card, which he handed the officer. This could have been a plea for VIP — Very Important Politician — treatment, which means he gets to beat the rap. Or, perhaps, he was trying to show that he was a cut above the Joe Bucks of this world. Buck was the sweet loser in “Midnight Cowboy” (played by Jon Voight), who pursued gay sex in a 42nd Street movie theater. Why, oh why, did the Craig scandal have to happen? So many questions. First off, is the taxpayers’ money best spent trying to expose gay men about to make a connection? Of course, people should be able to use public spaces without being propositioned for sex. But still, couldn’t the airport authorities have just posted a sign or something? The next question is, why can’t gay people just be gay? Republicans would save themselves a lot of trouble if they didn’t require politicians unmoved by the opposite sex to fake a life of heterosexual domesticity. Sure, if Craig had come out of the closet, he’d have lost some support. But the homophobic vote tends to be overestimated, even on Republican turf. Idaho is full of libertarians and Californians who could care less about a candidate’s sexual orientation. Casper, in neighboring Wyoming, is not a particularly liberal place and has an openly gay mayor. But then we must ask, why do some Republicans who feel they must play the “straight” do everything in their power to get caught in a gay tryst? One immediately thinks of Floridian Rep. Mark Foley. The ex-congressman not only went after congressional pages, he did it online. Republicans also have their misbehaving heteros, and they play an equally unpleasant double game. Remember when Louisiana Sen. David Vitter threw a news conference to express remorse for patronizing prostitutes — his wife, Wendy, by his side in drained misery? Vitter seemed to be enjoying the public confession as an advertisement for his unbridled virility. Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich also delighted in cheating on wives while issuing calls for national renewal. It spoke of his awesome power to seduce women and social conservatives at the same time. Every time a Republican is accused of sexual indiscretion or taking payoffs — we refer to Californian Randy Cunningham and Ohio’s Bob Ney, both former congressmen now in prison, plus others now under investigation — party loyalists yell, “Well, look at William Jefferson!” Jefferson is the Louisiana Democrat accused of stashing $90,000 worth of bribes in his fridge. Now the congressman, who says he’s innocent, is almost certainly not. But asking a lonely Democrat to balance the sins of a dozen or so Republicans seems an unfair burden. Why have so many Republicans lost their compass? Perhaps a career of demonstrating moral perfection created an unbearable strain. And, of course, William Jefferson has been such a bad example. Froma Harrop is a nationally syndicated columnist.
You see, with the dems (case in point, Bill Clinton), it is just human, human error, poor judgement, caught up in the moment, a mistake.
On the flip side, if it is a rep, IT'S AN UNFORGIVABLE SIN...PERIOD!!!
I have to say, from my personal opinion, that I do place the reps at a higher standard. (not that they are perfect) And I almost expect bad behavior from the dems. But I am getting a bit dismayed with the reps these days. The reps seem to have fallen victim, by their own chosing, to lower themselves to the charactor of the dems. However, the dems know how to capitalize on it and make bad behavior acceptable....the reps haven't figured out a way to accomplish that yet!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Logged
no pun intended.....
