09/06/2007
Larry Craig Changes His Mind Again: Finished
The wind may be out of the Idaho senator's sails once and for all.
Larry Craig spokesman Dan Whiting told the AP this morning: "The most likely scenario, by far, is that by October there will be a new senator from Idaho."
AP adds: "The only circumstances in which Craig might try to complete his term, Whiting said, would require a prompt overturning of his conviction for disorderly conduct in a men’s room at the Minneapolis airport, as well as Senate GOP leaders’ agreement to restore Craig’s committee leaderships posts taken away this week. Those scenarios are unlikely, Whiting said."
Whiting says the senator remains intent on clearing his name, however.
Meanwhile, Craig supporters are calling for a boycott of the Minneapolis airport.
Craig essentially drops efforts to finish Senate term, aide says [ap via idaho statesman]
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 2:04 PM EST by Andy in Idaho, Larry Craig, News, Republican Party | Permalink
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i hear Cracker Barrel is hiring.
Posted by: sean | Sep 6, 2007 2:07:52 PM
Hopefully, Idaho's new senator will know to use public parks instead of public bathrooms...far more romantic, and fresh air too.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Sep 6, 2007 2:12:58 PM
Let me get this straight... a right-wing group is protesting an airport for actively enforcing public indecency laws. In effect, they're demonstrating for the rights of toilet trolls.
Kafka would be proud.
Posted by: tservo | Sep 6, 2007 2:15:30 PM
Why doesn't Craig just use the Internet to look for sex like everyone else? Jeez Louise, it's 2007!! And surprise - it's legal!
Posted by: Jake | Sep 6, 2007 2:17:44 PM
This Minneapolis resident would welcome boycotts by wingnut organizations AND toilet trolls. The airport is already annoying enough.
Posted by: Davey | Sep 6, 2007 2:21:39 PM
Good god, he's flakier than a tweaked out circuit queen in a room full of willing and ready tops.
Posted by: crispy | Sep 6, 2007 2:29:26 PM
No..no... don't let it stop... I like watching the Republican party squirm and fall apart.
Posted by: Peter | Sep 6, 2007 2:29:28 PM
It's not exactly the same, but the Larry Craig story is part of a similar mind-set that gave us the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Despite decades of rumors about his sexuality, his Senate colleagues and constituents could live and work with him as long as it was never acknowledged. Now that he "told" the public, he's out.
Posted by: Paul | Sep 6, 2007 2:37:24 PM
Don't listen to 'em Larry!
Don't let those mean old Republicans force you to leave Washington D.C. You were elected by the people of Idaho and you should at the very least let them fire you in the next election.
PLEASE, I beg of you. Don't resign. Don't be a p*ssy like Foley. Stay and fight, fight, fight to the bitter end!
Posted by: Zeke | Sep 6, 2007 2:59:07 PM
He must have watched Jay Leno the past two nights.
Posted by: Johnny Lane | Sep 6, 2007 3:01:07 PM
Living in Minneapolis as I do, I am so grateful to see that Craig's supporters are going to boycott our airport. Personally, I will feel much more comfortable using the airport restrooms with folks like them not in there.
Posted by: Josh | Sep 6, 2007 3:24:41 PM
Living in Minneapolis as I do, I am so grateful to see that Craig's supporters are going to boycott our airport. Personally, I will feel much more comfortable using the airport restrooms with folks like them not in there.
Posted by: Josh | Sep 6, 2007 3:25:29 PM
Overturning a guilty plea is like unmaking an omelet.
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Sep 6, 2007 3:26:18 PM
LMAO TSERVO......I know how you feel....been shaking my head all morning trying to clear it after reading that story.
Derrick....yep....we gays like to breath deep and stay healthy....Idaho parks will be much better for the ex-Senator. Maybe he can have Family values picnics while there.
Posted by: Joshua | Sep 6, 2007 3:55:26 PM
There are more twists to this than a game of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. Maybe Leisure Senator Larry can license his story to Sierra.
Posted by: Mike | Sep 6, 2007 3:59:49 PM
Now he's an expert at the flip flop!....and he says he's not gay. HA
Posted by: crsvan | Sep 6, 2007 4:11:59 PM
Craig's attorney just appeared live on Fox News with Shepard Smith. The attorney says they have found a legal loop hole in Minnesota law where Craig did NOT have the option to waive the right to counsel unless he went before a judge to do so. Therefore they are filing an order of dismissal. If successful, he says that Craig will appear before the Senate Ethics Committee if required to do so.
Posted by: Johnny Lane | Sep 6, 2007 4:22:58 PM
Finally, they name the real culprits in this mess! I've been saying for weeks that it wasn't the Senator's fault. We should have been blaming the Minneapolis Airport the whole time.
Amazing how logic can get so screwed up. His supporters should learn their lesson and stop supporting him. His hypocrisy both saddens and sickens me.
Posted by: Seth | Sep 6, 2007 5:55:52 PM
I'm no fan of Craig's, but the police were completely irresponsible. They should have been so busy protecting the airport from terrorism that they wouldn't have had time to fool with petty crap like arresting someone for tapping his foot.
Posted by: libhomo | Sep 6, 2007 6:47:30 PM
Him who goes to an airport bathroom looking for sex should be prosecuted. Craig is gay and in the closet and it is imposible for him to come out as his age. Even his children are not his. They are his wife from a previous marriage. They probably have little or no sex during their marriage life. Somebody should ask him and her this question while under oath. That will certainly clear this mess. He probably used christianity as the excuse not to have sex with her.
Posted by: Oscar | Sep 7, 2007 2:09:57 AM
I'm not half as articulate as most of you here so please help me with a succinct comeback to a distant relative, who after I spouted off about Larry Craig (real story here is not too much about public sex but about closeted gay men who pass legislation detrimental to out gay men etc...I also mentioned that his party turned a blind eye to his suspected homosexuality as long as he did his job blah blah), asks me "am I led to believe that you are a liberal?"
How about "Rhetorical questions are only for sissies?" Tongue in cheek I hope? Zeke? Stephen? Leland? Anyone?
Posted by: patrick | Sep 7, 2007 10:14:40 AM
PATRICK, I think it's very interesting that your relative seems to be saying that only a liberal could recognize hypocrisy when he sees it.
It may be a rhetorical faux pas to answer a question with a question but I would suggest that you ask your relative:
Did conservatives never have this ability or did their hypocrisy sensors just wear out from over exposure within the Republican Party?
Hope that helps. :)
Posted by: Zeke | Sep 7, 2007 11:44:18 AM
Another suggestion:
Don't ask STEPHEN for help. When it comes to issues that have any connection with homosexuality, he's a one hit broken record. All you can hope to get is the latest remix of his 1950's hit "NO HOMA-SEK-SHUL MAAAARGES!"
Posted by: Zeke | Sep 7, 2007 11:51:00 AM
Oops, did I inadvertently stepped on a landmine?
Thanks Zeke for the suggestion. Really quick background story...a cousin who lives in Idaho (not making this up) sends an e-mail about Craig and Idaho (meant as a joke) to friends and family...two of her friends snapped back with really lame gay jokes hence my reply. So this distant cousin, who I see once a year, asks me if I'm a liberal.
Funny, because I've gotten e-mails already from first cousins who are all waiting for my withering reply.
Posted by: Patrick | Sep 7, 2007 12:08:58 PM
You might also want to point out how hard it is to get your head around the fact that a man can be a fundamentalist, war mongering, Bush loving, conservative Republican and a homosexual; be proud to be one and ashamed to be the other and decide that it's the homosexuality that he's ashamed of.
Only in Bizarro World!
Posted by: Zeke | Sep 7, 2007 1:48:27 PM
Shouldn't you have answered your distant cousin soon after you received his e-mail?
Posted by: max | Sep 7, 2007 3:38:33 PM
I am a gay man who has never had toilet sex, but has been harassed by police bullies who decided that I was in a cruising area and therefore must be cruising.
The most chilling aspect of this story for me is that police are arresting men for even soliciting sex in a public place. Regardless of whether Craig is a hypocrit, he didn't actually DO anything in the toilet - in fact, the police officer had to show his ID under the wall.
Doesn't this mean that anyone anywhere in public who looks at another person with sexual interest should be arrested?
How many men have been arrested simply because police thought they were homos, and the suspects pleaded guilty to hide it from their families.
I hope Craig challenges this law and gets his guilty plea reversed so that all gay, bisexual, closeted men can be free to connect with other men in public places just like heterosexuals!
Actually having sex in a public place should be illegal to protect the rest of us who don't want to see it, but just asking someone to have sex shouldn't be illegal.
Posted by: Douglas | Sep 7, 2007 4:19:49 PM
I agree with Douglas,
The police should be focussed on real crime, like people having sex in public, not focussing on those intending to have sex. It is like being surrounded by the thought police. If two guys hook up by cruising and go somewhere private that should not be a problem, and we really do not know what he was intending to do.
On another note ... Why do we really care what a politician does in his private life. Although I appreciate the irony of this situation, what if it was a politician that actually does some good for us? This is not a crime in my opinion, and if there was some kind of puplic sex it is really not a large crime like lying to the public to move the country in a direction that is not in our best interest...
Posted by: Steve | Sep 8, 2007 10:58:20 PM