Where Do They Find Them?

This may sound like old news, but it isn’t. Once again a Republican conservative champion of family values and a strong opponent of same-sex marriage is mired in behavior that is contrary to his public posture. Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has pleaded guilty to soliciting homosexual sex in a restroom in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. This has brought into publication reports of similar incidents, including one of having sex in Union Station in Washington, DC. Craig’s claim that nothing happened, but that the Idaho Statesman made him so nervous he accidentally pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, was not exactly convincing. Just like the Bush administration, what they say has nothing to do with what they do. “Values” are for the rest of us; not something that Republican leaders need to follow. It is not that Democrats are the most moral people in the country; but at least they don’t trumpet their moral superiority as a prime means of getting elected.

Dana Milbank in the August 29, 2007 Washington Post had an excellent summary of some of the salient items in this story:

According to the arrest report, Craig tapped his foot in a "signal often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct." He then explained to the police that his foot touched the undercover officer's foot in the next stall because he has "a wide stance when going to the bathroom." This was followed closely by his handing the arresting officer his business card and asking, "What do you think about that?"

"Let me be clear: I am not gay. I never have been gay," Craig said. Craig didn't get into trouble for being gay; he got into trouble because he "engaged in conduct which I knew or should have known tended to arouse alarm or resentment."

Two statements appear on the guilty plea right above the signature of one Larry Edwin Craig: "I understand that the court will not accept a plea of guilty from anyone who claims to be innocent," and "I now make no claim that I am innocent of the charge to which I am entering a plea of guilty." Of course he has now hired counsel and is going to attempt to refute his own admission of guilt.

Twice in his statement, Craig, speaking beneath sunny skies, apologized for the "cloud over Idaho" caused by his arrest. Actually, the cloud is over Craig, not his home state. But it's easy to see how Craig might overestimate the size of his shadow: He has a wide stance.