Oh my goodness, that police officer used up a day's worth of patience on him, and at the end, the senator completely lost the respect of the officer.

The RNC is going to be all over this like "white on rice" until he steps down.  He got caught and he pled guilty, family values my left foot.  

The Republicans could so easily avoid this in the future by running on a platform of tolerance and equality.  Any bets on that happening?  

Of course, just that single quote suggests that Senator Craig understood that he was being solicited.  As Countdown likes to say, the rest is just about price.

The Republican Party must require their members to take The Hypocritic Oath.  How else could you explain the number of "Family Values" GOP-ers who have been caught up in sex scandals?  

Of all those closeted, holier-than-thou, gay-bashing politicians and religious leaders, Shakespeare said it best: "Me thinks the lady doth protest too much."

When he said, "I don't do things like that," I was sad for him because it was quite obvious that he does.

Oh my gosh Carol, the Republicans running on a platform of tolerance and equality.. what a thought! I think it would have to be in an alternate universe or something.

What is truly disturbing, from reading this and other blogs, is the downright rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth hatred that the Ultra-conservatives/Ubber Right-Wingers/Cons have for anything and anyone that disagrees with their party, or even smells like it could be "librul".

Again I ask, what happened to the idea of all of us being Americans first and foremost? As a Gay person, I have every reason to mistrust, dislike, detest and to never, ever vote for the GOP. This doesn't mean that I HATE all Republicans.

I can get downright testy when I hear yet another GOP "Got God" hypocrite spewing "Family Values" crap, because I know that these people refuse to acknowledge that there are many different forms a family can take.

I can't say I'm sorry that Mr. Craig is being shunned and ostracized. I hope he feels one tenth of what it can be like to be a Gay Person, in Anytown USA, thanks to the poisonous mantra the GOP has been feeding their faithful flock all these years.. That homosexual is bad, and only heterosexual is good-- in an evangelical, "Be married, don't live in sin, and have lot's of babies that grow up to be Republican," sort of way.

Shame on all the hypocrites..especially those who have yet to be exposed.

Peace to Us All

The Republicans could so easily avoid this in the future by running on a platform of tolerance and equality.  
Carol, Long Valley NJ (Sent Thursday, August 30, 2007 5:44 PM)

Exactly Carol; however they don't and they probably never will.  John McCain, the one- time “voice of reason" of his Party, before his about-face based purely self-serving motives, has even called for his resignation.

It is sad indeed that the Party of "Family Values" is in realty, the "Family of Intolerance & Hypocrisy"!!

PEACE!!

I to am sad for him he clearly has issues regarding his sexuality he needs to deal with.  There seem to be homosexual men of a certain age who have been in the closet so long they don't know it's okay to be gay.  

Why are our police waiting in public restrooms to be solicited?  Is this really the best use of thier time?

Sorry Carol, ain't never goona happen.  The Republican's entire stragety is play on the fear of the ignorant.  Fear of people who aren't white, people who aren't hetero, people who aren't Christian, women who aren't subserviant.  I'm surprised they haven't claimed those unidentified flying objects  are extra terrestrial terrorists.  Creating fear and exploiting is all they know.

No dissection of inconsistencies is needed here.  A simple application of a little "common" sense will do...

UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES would a (presumably) sane adult pick up toilet paper that was lying behind a toilet in an occupied stall of an airport restroom?!?

Gimme a break.  Can we talk about Vitter now?

Would some one please quote me chapter and verse, where in the NEW Testament does Jesus Christ preach against homosexuality?  

He preaches against alot of things, like intolerance, but I don't ever remember him preaching against the practicing of an alternate life style.  

LT in MD

You go girl!  Maybe, just maybe, after enough of these idiots fall, they will finally shut up about "family values".  Any bets on that happening?  

Kerri, Marina, CA

You are so right, no one in their right mind would touch a piece of toilet paper on the rest room floor.  The stuff in the holder is suspect enough, on the floor?  eeeewwww.  

And Senator Craig picked up that errant piece of terlit paper that was on the floor in the stall of that public restroom??? How DARE this "esteemed" Republican senator take AWAY  the job of a hard working (probably Mexican, maybe African-American) janitor in a busy U.S. airport! (Senator Craig, show me your Official Bathroom Cleaner Credentials, please!)  My my,  if allllll senators and congresspeople would do this when THEY pass through airports, imagine a cleaner bathroom, eh?  A cleaner Senate (with a whole new stance!)!  A cleaner Congress.  A brave new world!  Oh my!!   Hmmmmm... this must be a FAIRY tale!!!

In the course of my work/career, I have had occasion to travel the world 'round (several times), to the extent that (and this isn't an accurate measure, because I got lots of "bonus" miles)I accumulated about 4 million miles in frequent traveler programs. The good news is, I got the miles and have treated my family to many great trips.  The bad news is, I spent many an hour in the seats of airplanes in order to accumulate them, and, worse, spent many dull hours in many airport waiting areas. Associated with doing the latter, I have no idea how many hundreds of times I used the public restrooms at airports--inside the US and in foreign lands.  And, to my chagrin (I guess) I have never been solicited or otherwise approached by a guy for anything that appeared to be for reasons of hanky-panky. I did pass someone some TP one time, but, given the olfactory clues, I think it was legit. (Now that I think about it, I must really be a loser, because I have never been approached anywhere in an airport by a female for that reason, either.)So, I have to ask myself: Now, what are the odds that a guy would be sitting in a public toilet in an airport in Minnesota (which, being Minnesota, carries an assumption that there are likely several stalls available in the public toilet and that it is a clean, well-lighted space) and have a cop in the next stall, and then have that cop pull an entrapment scheme and the guy fall for it?  Slim? None? I suspect that Craig has a great future as a player of the lotteries after his career as an elected official is over.

"UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES would a (presumably) sane adult pick up toilet paper that was lying behind a toilet in an occupied stall of an airport restroom?!? "

Youi know what Kerri, that is exactly what I thought when I heard that.  Whether it is tp or just a piece of paper-who would pick it up off the restroom floor. He didn't say he dropped it, just that he saw a piece of paper-yuck.

*****************************************************
Why are our police waiting in public restrooms to be solicited?  Is this really the best use of thier time?
jen.il (Sent Thursday, August 30, 2007 6:21 PM)

Actually, yes!  I'd hate to think that my husband, or God forbid, my little boys went to use a public restroom and had to encounter/hear two people 'canoodling' in a restroom stall.  There's a time and place for everything, and a very public restroom sure the heck isn't it.

I also imagine that they-the police-must have had a reason to be there specifically!

Maybe, just maybe, after enough of these idiots fall, they will finally shut up about "family values".  Any bets on that happening?  

Thanks Carol, but I think I'll win the lottery before the Grand Ol' Puritans quit hawking their version of Family Values. As a matter of fact, when I read about the fundamentalist family (who could forget the husband, Jim Bob), with 17 kids, all I could think is, what's gonna happen when/if at least two of those kids turns out to be gay?

Well, I sure hope I didn't just jinx myself. I would so love to win the lottery. Thanks to you all for keeping me laughing, and informed too.

Peace to Us All

I just want to reassure Keith and everybody else that just because I am only 5 inches tall, I am not Gay and I have never been Gay!  HOORAY!  

PUDLO PUDLAT
MINI WIREHAIR DACHSHUND

Just one question for the brown shirts: Why is Vitter hiring hookers OK and Craig's soliciting is evil. Is it Republican policy that prostitution is ok as long as it's straight? Cunningham, Vitters, Swaggart, Baker, OK! Foley, Craig, Delay, Bad.  

from the plea .pdf

"#4  I understand that the court will not accept a plea of guilty from anyone who claims to be innocent.

"#5  I now make no claim that I am innocent of the charge to which I am entering a plea of guilty.

"[Signed] Larry Edwin Craig, Defendant"

Tom in Sugarland,
Yes.

I just heard Rachel Maddow interview Bryan Fischer, the executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance, who was a big time Larry Craig supporter but is now calling for his resignation.  She tried to get him to explain the difference between Craig's and Vitter's transgressions.  He started to yammer about the length of time between the incident and the publicity about it and other inanities.  No way was he going to admit that the two were even remotely similar.  He finally came up with the response that it's up to Vitter's constituents whether to call for his resignation and that he, Fischer, was focused on the Craig matter because he's in Idaho.  It could have been a valid point but he sounded so lame making it that I suspect his objection was more against homosexuality than against adultery, prostitution, or general sleaziness.  It appears that it is indeed Republican policy that prostitution is OK as long as it's straight.

Then there's that little matter of who would assume the vacant seat if either stepped down...

Prevailing opinion is that Craig, a Republican, would be replaced by another Republican, so it's OK to call for his head.  Vitter, another Republican, could be replaced by a Democrat, so he gets a standing O!

The tape provides no real evidence that Larry Craig was guilty of anything except possibily pleading guilty to an alleged act when he may have been innocent.

Perhaps Larry Craig was stupid in not recognizing that he was being setup for a "sting."

But a sequence of random events could have provided the appearance of guilt when none was really present.

What the Larry Craig really tells us is that the media are pandering to us.  Rather than coveing the important stories, such as the over 3000 GI's who have lost their lives in Iraq, we are provided with incessant stories of sex scandals.

I don't care whether Craig is homosexual or not.  If he was and he looked for gratification in a public restroom that is indeed embarrassing!  But there is NO REAL EVIDENCE that even that occurred!

In the meantime, foreigners wonder why we focus so much of our attention on the sexual activity of our law makers and are so dysfunctional when it comes to constructing a FOREIGN POLICY THAT ADVANCES OUR OWN INTERESTS.

Shame on the media for playing up this story!

Sigh, John Moore, Santa Barbara..IT'S ABOUT THE HYPOCRISY. When the folks who delight in bringing up constitutional amendments to deny homosexuals the right to marry, when they use their political office to denounce homosexuals, when these same politicians refuse to afford homosexuals the same basic rights as all other Americans, and are subsequently caught engaging in homosexual acts, IT IS NEWS.

Exposing the corruption from every avenue, especially coming from the moralizing panderers to the Religious Right Bigots, IT IS NEWS. People like Craig, Vitters, Delay and Foley threaten everyone's way of life with their intolerant policies. Today the GOP is against the homos..tomorrow it could be you they're against John..just because..

Please drop ConocoPhillips from your advertisements:

In 2002, the Political Economy Research Institute rated ConocoPhillips the third-worst polluter in the United States based on EPA emissions data.

In August 2004, the EPA fined ConocoPhillips for Clean Water Act violations at its drilling sites in Cook Inlet, Alaska. The company had violated its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit 470 times over a five-year period.

Earlier in 2004, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) had fined ConocoPhillips for Clean Air Act violations at its "hallmark" Alpine oil field. High carbon monoxide emissions from turbines had exceeded permitted air-quality levels. These fines followed a history of Clean Air Act violations at Alpine even before it began production. During development drilling in 1999, ADEC had fined ConocoPhillips for three permit violations for excess emissions. The Alpine oil field began producing in 2000, and by January 2001, ADEC found high emissions of nitrogen oxides.


Stance on Global Warming:

In 2005, ConocoPhillips released about 54 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Its numbers have remained steady since 2003.

As a member of the Business Roundtable (see ExxonMobil example above), ConocoPhillips opposes mandatory caps on greenhouse-gas emissions.

John Moore,
No argument from me on that.  If you look at the front page of almost any foreign newspaper, most news above the fold is international.  The US considers itself the center of the universe and our parochial attitudes towards sex manifest themselves in scandal being accorded a larger headline than war or poverty.

I've occasionally read that we are prey to disaster overload, so the news outlets "mix it up to keep it fresh."  I'm not convinced this is valid.  I'm an avid sports fan but it galls me how much money and attention we give to athletes, actors, and musicians, while our teachers have to spend part of their meager salaries to provide teaching materials for their classrooms.  As a society, we seem to have our priorities bass-ackwards.

All this being said, I sometimes indulge in sports because being a news junkie is such a downer.  Every time I go surfing the 'net, I risk running out of things to throw or break.  I've been heard to scream at my monitor some words that I can't post here.  So poking fun at yokels like Craig in blogs is a welcome diversion.  But I agree that the media needs to focus on more important things.  Editors should ask themselves when prioritizing and positioning articles, "What's this have to do with the Geneva Convention, the Constitution, habeas corpus, or posse comitatus?  Did a preventable death or disaster occur?  What's really important for people to know?  Who's watching the taxpayers' store?"  Unfortunately, though, putting that decision in the hands of the media isn't necessarily in our best interest.  I strongly recommend to anyone who cares about current events that they cruise by at least one non-US site each day because what makes headlines elsewhere sometimes doesn't even make page 20 here.  Moreover, in our star-struck society, editors are probably more concerned with what headlines will sell papers, or drive ratings up.  And as previous posts on this blog have shown, if Paris, Britney, or Lindsey drives the ratings up, that's what we'll see.  If Craig's indiscretion is today's hot topic, that's what we'll see.  And more soldiers will die tonight and we'll read about it tomorrow, right under some story about another sleazebag (or maybe the same one) because that's what gets our attention.

LT in MD (Sent Thursday, August 30, 2007 6:07 PM)

Excellent, outstanding, the best!! K-U-D-O-S!!

Maybe if there were an DOMA or constitutional amendment banning adult babies and Vitter voted against it, the hypocrisy might be a little more apparent.  Since that's not going to happen, we'll just have to be satisfied that the Republicans aren't upset about Vitter because 1) he'd be replaced by a Democrat and/or 2) they're all wearing diapers.  If in fact it's #2 (so to speak), then it's most certainly "time for change."

I agree with those about picking up the toilet paper on the floor. dag when I use to clean the bathrooms where I worked, I'd be wearing rubber gloves and using a paper towel..
The reason the police were there is because they had complaints about this kind of stuff going on..
as for the tape not proving anything, it does to me, he is using the same tatics as AG, I don't remember, recall etc, etc, etc....

jen. Maybe he was just in there takin' a crap. Cops do that too, you know. Along with takin' crap.

Intolerance and hypocrisy ARE the true values of the GOP.  I have always believed that.

And ladies....we have to use the toilet and keep our pants up all the time.  I don't believe the "wide stance" defense any more than I believe Ted Haggert has gone staight.  I can do it,  and I am sure all the ladies reading this blog can as well. I have never stuck my foot in the other stall, ever.  Nor have I reached over/under/peeked in, etc...he was there for one reason and one reason only and it had nothing to do with using the toilet.  Now if he could just come clean.  However,  he can't because he will lose his "base" if he were to say he was a gay man.

Could it get any sadder?  How low can this country's immage go?   For instance: "They hate us for our freedoms".  "They hate us for (insert cause here)".  Or, how about this one;  "They hate us because we have such strong and compelling 'moral' values as evidenced by our politicans and their sordid actions"?  Hmmm... think in an Aribic world, crap like this only serves to keep them on their anti-American path they are so bent on prusuing in the first place??  'Y think, George?  Y'think, Repubs?  Y'think, 30-percenters?  Y'think, Robertson (and taliban-ish people like you)"  Y'think, anyone?  Y'think at all??

John Moore:  If we were to conclude by audio tape that every person that is arrested for whatever reason, is innocent because it doesn't 'sound' like they did anything wrong, it would pretty much mean the end to our police and judicial system as it is.  The police officer knows what happened, and just because a seasoned politician didn't 'sound' like anything to you, that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

I don't buy his story, and as others have posted on here:  It matters not that he is homosexual (which he won't admit to), but it does matter when it comes to his stance on that very issue, not to mention the 'moral' crap that the neo-cons spew forward.  The whole 'do as I say, not as I do' from those people, is getting very, very old.  Of course you might be on to something when it comes to stupid, as that seems to be the problem of his leader GW Bush.

On another note:  You are most certainly barking up the wrong tree around here when it comes to the war in Iraq and the deaths of our troops.  You will find that the majority of us are in complete disgust with the whole thing, and that we are disgusted that it barely gets any mention at all, let alone mention when we lose another American.

News is news.  This is a HUGE country with millions of people, and despite your protest and the protests of others here, there is something more going on outside of the war in Iraq and the idiocy of Bush.

Craig should take a tip from Mario Cantone on how to deal with a sex scandal (which broke this week) Just say nothing!!

"Why are our police waiting in public restrooms to be solicited?  Is this really the best use of thier time?"

Because, apparently, the airport restrooms at the Minneapolis airport are posted as a favorite place to "hook up" on numerous gay blogs as are the bathrooms at the Mall of America.  It's become a problem for the city.  Mr. Craig said numerous things in his interview yesterday which gave him away.  He knew the "signals" . . . when asked about using his left hand, he kept denying it.  AND, his foot was in the other guy's STALL, for gosh sakes.  That'd be a pretty danged WIDE stance.

I don't think he should be forced by his party to resign if Vitters  "The Diaper," isn't.  They were both guilty of the same crime . . . soliciting for sex.  No difference at all.

Re: John Moore, Santa Barbara, California

John, I have to agree with LT in MD on this one, at least in part.  Yes, the angle here is his hypocrisy.  If he was anything but a hate spewing Republican it wouldn't be as big a deal.  If he was just another member of Congress who served his district and didn't try to legislate hate, it wouldn't matter, Democrat or Republican.  Personally, I don't care what he does in the privacy of his own home, but when people try to tell me and other Americans what they can and can't do, then follow it up by not practicing what they preach (not to mention practicing it in a public bathroom), then it's definitely news.

Now none of this matters if he is as you say "stupid in not recognizing that he was being setup for a "sting."  Sorry John, but that's the point of a sting.  To wait for people to commit an illegal act that they intended to perform any way, but to have a police officer on the other side.  That's the same way prostitution, drug, and other stings work.  Apparently this airport bathroom is known for lewd behavior and they waited to catch someone.

In addition, you assert that he did nothing but "pleading guilty to an alleged act when he may have been innocent."  How many innocent people quickly plead guilty to a crime with the intent of hiding it from family, friends, and the Congress.  Again, I don't care if he is gay or not.  Being arrested and subsequently pleading guilty to a crime makes me seriously doubt his qualifications as a community leader.  What if there was a child in the stall to the other side?  What would Repubs say then?

Take an honest look at this, if you can.

From now on, any GOP candidate that utters one word about 'moral or family values' automatically gets scratched from my voting list. I don't vote along party lines ayway, just try to get the best person available, but this is the last "mistake" I want to hear about- ever.

The Addams Family Values looks pretty good right now.

What a pity for the wife to have a lying,cheating hypocrite husband.I feel sorry for her that this man has been on the downlow in their marraige,I certainly hope she sees the light,just as everyone else has.This man is not to be trusted

What a pity for the wife to have a lying,cheating hypocrite husband.I feel sorry for her that this man has been on the downlow in their marraige,I certainly hope she sees the light,just as everyone else has.This man is not to be trusted

Carol in Long Valley: The prohibtions against homosexuality are in the Old Testament (Leviticus, Genesis,and Deuteronomy)
One question for all of you right wing trolls out there who are part of the R's base. How come all of you aren't strictly kosher? After all it's "the word of God" as you like to say.

FOR THE CRAIG EPISODES:
HOW ABOUT: CRAIG - The Grand Old POTTY POOPER

loved last night's Grand Old Potty too!

Didn't any moderators come to work today?

John Moore wrote: <i>I don't care whether Craig is homosexual or not.  If he was and he looked for gratification in a public restroom that is indeed embarrassing!  But there is NO REAL EVIDENCE that even that occurred!</i>

Well, there IS REAL EVIDENCE it occurred...Your boy Lewd Larry signed a legal document stating:
<blockquote>#4  I understand that the court will not accept a plea of guilty from anyone who claims to be innocent.

#5  I now make no claim that I am innocent of the charge to which I am entering a plea of guilty.

[Signed] Larry Edwin Craig, Defendant
</blockquote>

By his own hand he proclaimed his guilt.

I don't think he should resign just because he's gay. He claims he isn't gay...he probably isn't. Gay folk I know are honest, decent, hard-working family folk, not perverts who get off on getting off in the gents with gents, or prey on kids (Foley), or solicit prostitutes for the purpose of wearing diapers for sexual gratification(Vitters). Gross Old Perverts are antithetical to family values.

---"I just want to reassure Keith and everybody else that just because I am only 5 inches tall, I am not Gay and I have never been Gay!  HOORAY!  

PUDLO PUDLAT
MINI WIREHAIR DACHSHUND
FRANK Cholo Lostaunau (Sent Thursday, August 30, 2007 7:17 PM)"---

LOL just to continue a lighter note, we had a red smooth haired miniature dachshund when I was a teenager decades ago.  She often humped my leg ... and my dads .... and everyone's leg ... will we ever know ...?  I think dogs just hump any leg.  Full equality for all legs .... and all people.

Additional note on Craig - his lame excuses are grasping at straws ..... er ...... toilet paper.

Kerri has the Republican politics of the Craig situation exactly correct.  Vitter is safe because the Governor who would replace him is a Democrat and he's not up for re-election now (plenty of time for voters to forget about his "family values" hypocracy).
Craig will be replaced by a Republican Governor with a Republican who will be able to run for re-election in this safely Republican state in '08.  They also get the added polical bonus of "acting tough" on one of their own (notwithstanding the protection they give others).

Bill Rochester NY (Sent Friday, August 31, 2007 11:49 AM)

Thank you for answering.  I knew about Old Testament (Sodom and Gomorrah, pillar of salt and all that).

However "good Christians" live out of the "New Testament".  I wanted to know if Christ or his Apostles ever mentioned homosexuality.  Poverty yes, Forgiveness yes, Tolerance yes, Homosexuality -- don't think so.  

I repeat, are the any New Testament references to Homosexuality in the Bible.  Chapter and verse please.  

Carol - no New Testament references - they're just not there as you and I well know.  Jesus preached, practiced and extolled his followers to tolerance - except for 2 groups.

1--The Pharisees because they paraded themselves around as holier than thou despite actions that were definitely not appreciated by the Lord.

2--People making money off the temple

Sounds like Haggarty, Swaggert, Robertson, and Falwell all wrapped up.  Two, count em, two groups in one person.

Those with their noses continually in Leviticus read just one or two lines.  They seem to miss the ones about dietary requirements, not wearing clothing made of 2 threads (OMG that means no polyester/cotton blends), special hygienic requirements on a variety of occassions, no work at all on the Sabbath (including no cooking), no touching of unclean animals, and I could go on and on....  Nope, they read a couple of lines and use them to hammer on groups of people they just hate.    

Read the whole chapter and you'll see that it's patently ridiculous in this day and age.

God doesn't hate gays.  I think he gets angry at the people who use him as an excuse to hate other people.

CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING I'VE ENJOYED ON TV MORE THAN KEITH'S DRAGNET EPISODE!
CRAIG = GRAND OLD POTTY POOPER!
THANKS KEITH, YOU'RE OUR FAVORITE

"Are you finished taking this photograph? I have to go to the restroom."

Did anyone see Bill O'Reilly comment on Craig today? He said Craig "Went out like a man" - is that a double entendre or just a poor choice of words???

O'Reilly's comment made me think of an episode of 'Barney Miller' when a clueless Detective Lugar keeps saying, 'Man-To-Man', to a Gay Cop, then asking him if he knew what that meant. The Gay Cop finally said, "Don't you know it, Baby!".

Sue. I think Bill meant Larry went out, "...like a Topper.".

CRAIG made this country a laughingstock with his feeble lies and excuses for his behavior in the men's room. It's not an issue of being gay, it's an issue of being a total hypocrite that sticks in many people's craw. In public, he condemns everyone who differs from his idea of Conservative Republican tenants, while in private, he's literally CAUGHT WITH HIS PANTS DOWN in a men's room sting.
Making the whole thing worse for himself and his party was that it wasn't any kind of lasting relationship here, nor even a meeting with a male prostitute nor pickup in a gay bar - instead, it was the most disgusting kind of pickup, SEX WITH SOMEONE HE'D NEVER EVEN SEEN except for peeking through the men's room door - sexz with someone he couldn't have known had AIDS or not; someone, who if angered at his anvances could well have pulled a knife, beaten him up or even killed him.  HE WAS JUST LUCKY IT WAS AN UNDERCOVER COP.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):