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The Arrest Room

Posted: Monday, August 27, 2007 5:16 PM by Countdown

What is it with these public servants and public restrooms!  As reported in Roll Call...here's the latest on Idaho Senator Larry Craig's arrest in the john at a Minnesota airport.

"My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall," Karsnia stated in his report. "From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me."

Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.

"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area," the report states.

And the response from the Craig camp?

A spokesman for Craig described the incident as a "he said/he said misunderstanding," and said the office would release a fuller statement later Monday afternoon.

********UPDATE***********

Here's the much anticipated statement from Sen. Craig's office...they had months to craft this? 

Senator Larry Craig stated, "At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct.

"I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

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Comments

I don't care whether he's gay or not; I'm just perversely happy that he's experiencing some of what we homosexuals do on a somewhat regular basis.  His friend Mitt dumps him and Mitt's son finds something else to do while in Idaho, something other than visit this supporter.  I also like being him being arrested for lewd behavior without, as the lawyer above stated, that great a case against him.  It does, however, happen when a city is on a morals kick.  Will being treated like a homosexual make any impression on him?  Probably not.  It's far easier to say you've got religion (again) than to see the light.  I think there's an Eagles' lyric in there somewhere.
It's mildly ironic that a guy who championed the 'sanctity of marriage' pled guilty to violating the sanctity of the men's room.

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for my hastily written submission yesterday.  Any persons out there whose name is Ted Haggerty, I'm sorry, I meant Ted Haggard.  That was my fault, please accept my humblest apologies.  Bill in Rochester, I believe you are correct, sexual repression results in self loathing.  Self hatred manifests itself into an aversion of others who are not exactly like you.  I think that's why the neocons are such nasty, mean, intolerant, mysoganyst bigots.  I mean why does Rush Limbaugh always have that giant cigar in his mouth?  just sayin'.........        
And why is Route 80 a parking lot during rush hour?

Carol, Long Valley NJ (Sent Tuesday, August 28, 2007 10:07 AM)

Carol, that is an awful road.  Ever try going west on Friday in PA 80.  I know I will offend people, but can all you NY people stay in NY on the weekends.  It makes the Poconos unbearable on the weekends.  
Keith, Allentown PA

Those 'good old days' that you are longing for...

They were the same days when women were kept barefoot, pregnant and uneducated.

Those were the same days when people of color were 'kept in their place' in the ghettos.

Those were the same days when gays stayed in the closet.  

Those were the good old days when there were four different pay scales for teachers, white male, black male, white female, black female.  

Or are you referring to before Reagan busted unions and started the decline of the American Family and the middle class?  

That white picket fence family is a myth.  Most families I know are working two jobs just to make ends meet, since all of the good paying jobs have been sent over seas.  
Pam. Charlie never addressed the 'Love Foot' jammed under the partition, or the hand reaching under for...? something wet, I guess. These darned NeoCons don't let their Halos go that easy, do they?
Keith- All Americans believe in family values. Democrates just believe families can have many differant forms.  If this guy was a democrate he could admit to being gay and move on.  It is the republicans fascination with controlling the very definition of what is a family that gets them in trouble.  I will never understand how two gay men or women in a relationship are going to threaten anyones family.  It would seem that repressing ones sexual identity does much more harm than the queens down the street with the lovely garden and the white picket fence.

Goldwater believed his party had no business in peoples bedrooms but instead of embrassing that idea the party chose to try and do away with all things they considered deviant.  I have no real  problem with the republicans you described, small government, low taxes etc.  I think we have a genuine differance of opinion about what is good for the country but we both want what is best for everyone in the country.  However, until those fine people stand up to thier leadership and take back thier party, they are no better than the decisions they allow thier leadership to make.  Democrates have the same problem but we are starting to move past it and take back our party.  I don't see republicans doing the same.
This is not about someone "entangling themselves in a sex scandal," it's about a man who has denied his homosexuality many years and has used his self-hatred of himself and who he is to penalize other folks who are also homosexual.  If you haven't read it, the following article from the Idaho Statesman is very enlightening.  Sen. Craig has been dodging "sex scandals" for 40 years.  He finally forgot to duck.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/143801.html
Keith, Allentown PA

Monday thru Thursday I take Rt 80 home, on Friday, it's significantly faster to take the back roads.

And it is all those NYers going to the Poconos on Friday afternoons -- and it's all year around!  
In all fairness to Senator Craig, who obviously has a fetish problem, if the Officer was wearing a size 20Extra-Wide shoe, the Senator probably couldn't resist.
Keith, may I suggest Unity '08?  Go to their website and read . . . we don't HAVE to choose between a Democrat or a Republican . . . not a darned thing in the Constitution requiring political parties.
Jim Jones (Sent Monday, August 27, 2007 6:00 PM)
Isn't that the same name of the minister, where all those people followed blindly and all killed themselves because he told them to?? Just asking....
This blog is like what the writer's room on SNL is like during a show week. Wait... can you top this?
Anyway, I liked the interplay between jen il and Keith from Allentown, some honest discourse, maybe an agreement to disagree. That's what we need today, At least listen, at least open your mind up to the other opinion.
 But, I can't help myself, why not go beyond the Gay Ol' Party? Why not be enchanted?
Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Tuesday, August 28, 2007 1:02 PM)

LOL!! You always make my day!!

Democrates have the same problem but we are starting to move past it and take back our party.  I don't see republicans doing the same.

Jen,il

I don't see the democrats taking back their party.  I believe that the dems are a mess as well.  Reid and Pelosi have been quite inept since taking the majority.  

Carol, Long Valley

You are missing my point.  I am not saying that women should be barefoot and pregnant, separation of race,etc.  What I am saying is that you have to question whether it was better times when a standard family sits down for dinner every night and talks to each other, as opposed to the drive thru mentality.  I for one, cherish sitting down with my family and discussing our day.  When I speak of simpler times, that is what I think is lacking in today's society.  I would agree that it takes two incomes today and the white picket fence is a thing of the past.  
Just read your comments.  Ninety percent express my thoughts one way or another.  I'm still here to support THE PEOPLE.

Keep it comming!
Hey Rocky Mountain Guy (12:28 pm post)! If there's pictures of Rev. Ted's kneeling rails in his new church, I WANT PICTURES!!

Was this too crass? Sorry...I JUST CAN'T HELP IT!! I KNOW Republicans are not alone in the sex scandal business, but Republicans are always spewing "family values," "no gay marriage," "nuclear family" stuff out of their pie holes that I'm not sure ever REALLY existed to begin with. So, when a Republican cannot hold themselves (note I did not mention where they hold themselves) to this standard, I just can't help being a little amused, crass, whatever adjective you can think of.
Does anyone have a photo of Craig and Bush together? If so, please post ASAP.
Ever heard the saying, "He doth protest too much"? Why is it that these sexually repressed Republicans (Foley, Alle, Vitter, now Craig) are the ones who are scared that gays will destroy the world. These nimrods are a whole lot more of a threat to us that the typical gay.
To Mr. Sharples: I believe the men's facility in question had been under watch by airport police due to complaints of other men doing exactly what His Horniness...I mean His Honorableness, was doing...the foot tap, the under-stall hand slide, the peep-thru-the-stall-door routine.
Precendent had been established due to previous activity (and you don't have to show your winky to get busted for importuning, depending on the locale) and since the police are the ones making the case, it sounds like their Sgt. is the gay bathroom crusing expert they send it to "sniff" out such things.
It sounds sketchy, but people have been detained on less, and when you add all the actions together, he got busted. You better believe if that dept. was worth it's weight in badges, they triple-checked every action they took leading up to the arrest.
I won't argue that cops do love to entrap guys crusing publicly for M2M sex (generally it's an easy bust of bi guys), but what the Senator did was stupid...if he'd looked at any gay cruising site, even the horniest homo will tell you that trying to get a groin-shake at an airport after 9/11 is beyond AYOR; it's just frickin' stupid.
My post which gave a link to the Idaho Statesman article from today which gives the story of their May 14 interview with Craig about the rumors of his homosexuality which span the past 40 years.  Don't understand why it wasn't posted, but do a google for the Idaho Statesman . . . you'll find the article.
Steve Turner,

You always manage to make me laugh, even on a bad day.
Keep up the good work.
It's the hypocracy, stupid.  The continuing parade of Repugnikant defense-of-marriage, gay-bashing, child predator, misogynist, racist fools engaging in the behaviors they condemn in others just keeps on happily marching along.  The excuses they use are added bonus entertainment.

I'm sure Faux Made-Up News will lablel this current guy as a Democrat if they even bother to cover the story at all.

I don't care if they're gay or having affairs or whatever.  I do care when they try to legislate values that they clearly don't practice themselves.  Values and morality cannot be legislated to begin with.  Our personal privacy must be protected.
Methinks I spoketh.
Larry Craig just had his Idaho presser - says he's not gay and has never been gay and his mistake came in just pleading guilty to make the arrest go away.  I think his nose is growing.....

Frankly, I don't care about personal and private behavior - it's the hypocracy that I can't stand.
Has anybody heard from Larry on this matter? Also does Senator Craig have a villa in South Carolina, this could explain a lot. All that rage he rattles off about could be repressed urges. If you read this Larry, seek professional help for all our benefits
Has anybody heard from Larry on this matter? Also does Senator Craig have a villa in South Carolina, this could explain a lot. All that rage he rattles off about could be repressed urges. If you read this Larry, seek professional help for all our benefits
A rat is a rat is a rat!  Senator Craig made an already-bad situation worse today with blame, denial, and proof of utter stupidity....his career is definitely over.

And, as for Bush?  The majority of voters don't believe a word he says.  They're not listening because everything that comes out of his mouth is predicated on false premises backed up with propaganda.  

The 105th Congress better finally act as a group to silence this dead duck, fool and restore the government to the People.  The rats have abandoned ship, and the Republican Party is imploding.

Charlie Sharples (Sent Tuesday, August 28, 2007 1:54 AM)'

No offense Mr. Sharples, but as someone who has spent time in the legal field you should be aware of the fact that they-being the police-aren't going to give out all of the facts in the case to the media.

I don't know this Senator either, but suffice to say I'm going to err on the side of the police in this matter.  For any person who has been around as long as this senator and who even remotely knows anything about the law (which you hope to God as a senator he does), you would think that they wouldn't automatically admit guilt-espescially on something like that.

Let the cards fall where they may.
I am sure we all know by now that Craig is not gay,  he said so in a news conference today.  His poor wife standing right there by his side.  I loved the statement right from the start when he said, and I quote "I wanted to come out today" to clear things up.  Funny stuff!!! He must hate himself so much for being a gay male stuck in the cross hairs of the Christian right.  Hate breeds this kind of secret, preverted behavior.  
Craig isn't gay.

And I'm not overweight.  I'm big-boned.
Keith Olberman,

Is having fun about Craig, playing Craig doing his Clinton nasty naughty bad boy tape.

Each day Keith should open the show with the naughty nasty bad boy tape...then say deadpan,
"STILL NOT GAY."
Toe tapping is a code!
Now I understand why Dobson, Medved and the other evangelical neocons thought the movie "Happy Feet" had gay undertones. They should know.

He thinks he was treated unfairly and entrapped -- maybe so, most likely, but now he knows (better & personally) how unfairly homosexuals are treated. He has walked (or tapped) in their shoes. The question is will he learn anything.
Even penquins are persecuted.

“And Tango Makes Three,” an award-winning children’s book based on a true story about two male penguins who raised a baby penguin, topped the American Library Association’s annual list of works attracting the most complaints from parents, library patrons and others.
It is interesting that the Republicans are once again referring to Bill Clinton because of
Senator Craig. Please  do they not know the difference between a BLOW JOB and the RAPE of the Constitution.
 Craig has a "little" history of bathroom antics. so save your sympathy for someone who is honest in his lifestyle and morality.
"I am not gay. I have never been gay."
Bisexual, yes...gay...no.
"I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct."
We all know that this is the proper way to hook up.
As Edwin Edwards, the former Gov. of Louisiana said,
"The only way I can lose this election is to be caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl!"
Oops!!!
Wow.  And to think I am again surprised at another one of these stories.  When will I ever learn?  A bunch of repressed tightwads blowing apart at the seams... Something about all that money and power attracting the exact sort of people we don't want running our government... something needs to change.

You know how switching from a regular white light bulb to a bug light (yellow light) prevents from attracting mosquitos...???  Is there something like that we can use in DC?  Some sort of preventative preparation H?
All I can do is  quote Nelson Munce. HA HA!

Thanks so much for the laugh..that is just priceless.. As someone who is gay and sick of the repugnican hypocrisy, Nelson Muncie has summed it up perfectly.

On the other hand, I know the Grand Ol' Perverts party will keep marching on, with its attacks on Gays and Lesbians. Maybe this is the beginning of the end for the legislators of morality. The snowball seems to be getting bigger and bigger as it keeps rolling down the hill..

Peace to Us All
Mr. Sharles writes: "The senator’s conduct might have been quite innocent. It seems likely that an innocent person  would consider pleading guilty to a misdemeanor rather than choosing a career threatening trial." No one is going to plead guilty if he is innocent. He is far too nuanced, having as much legal experience as he does, to have made such a claim. What you have here is a terrified man, plain and simple. His actions have created consequence and consequence is what he needs. And accountability for his actions. So it comes after many years in Congress and many years of marriage. So much to risk and so much to lose but the dynamic doesn't change. There is compulsivity to this kind of behavior that he needs to recognize, much in the same way that Mr.Clinton had to realize. In the face of such consequences, the behavior is maintained. This is classic addictive behavior.

I don't like hypocrits. I am sick to death of those hypocrits who, marching to the tune of "Onward Christian Soldiers", continue to deny me and other Americans of our rights while conducting himself in this fashion. A conflict exists between his true nature and the religious upbringing that he professes to live by. All the most recent hypocrits---Vitter, Foley, et al---are cut from the same fabric. They can't handle the conflict so they act out. To profess the sanctity of marriage while canoodling outside his own marriage is just as hypocritical as Craig's assetion that he is not gay, despite the fact he has the scent of another man on his breath or his person. Despite what he may "call" himself, if you engage in male-male sex, you are engaging in gay sex. Labels are for clothes. Get help.
I live in Minnesota (very close to the airport) and I just want everyone one to know that regarding the clip shown of the airport men's room door on Countdown last night -- Snoopy is not, repeat, is NOT gay and never has been!

Also, as we were watching last night my husband and I asked simultaneously:  What was Craig even DOING here?  We're a pretty blue state and we are very tolerant of homosexuals.
Anthony Cunningham:  Welcome and so very well said.  Thank you!
I think the Senator's spokesman was misquoted. He actually said it was just a case of "his head his head".
How long is Larry Craig going to humiliate Idaho?  Now he's trying to ruin the policeman's reputation so save his own.  Enough already!


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