The Craig saga came to an abrupt end — or did it?

September 2, 2007

As political scandals go, Sen. Larry Craig’s (R-Idaho) was incredibly efficient. The story broke late Monday; Craig resigned early Saturday. The start-to-finish timeline was almost impressive.

That is, if it is finished.

After his speech yesterday, a CNN correspondent asked Craig if he stood by his claim of innocence. “Absolutely,” he said, adding: “We’ll be fighting this like hell.”

At first blush, this sounded a bit like O.J. vowing to catch the real killer, but Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) indicated this morning he’d actually like to see Craig clear his name, withdraw his guilty plea — and stay in the Senate.

“I’d like to see Larry Craig go back to court, seek to withdraw his guilty plea and fight the case,” Senator Arlen Specter said on ‘Fox News Sunday’. Drawing on his earlier experience as District Attorney of Philadelphia, Specter said, “On the evidence Senator Craig wouldn’t be convicted of anything. And he’s got his life on the line and 27 years in the House and Senate, and I’d like to see him fight the case because I think he could be vindicated.”

Specter also said it was not too late for Craig to change the status of his resignation.

“He said he intends to resign. When you have a statement of intent to resign that intent could change,” he said. “And if he could change the underlying sense of the case, feel of the case.”

“Listen you can go to court and withdraw a guilty plea, of course disorderly conduct is not moral turpitude,” Specter said. If he went to trial “he wouldn’t be convicted of anything. And if he went to court, was acquitted, all of this hullabaloo would have no basis.”

Seriously?

Sure, if we want to get technical about it, Craig did, in fact, say, “[I]t is my intent to resign from the Senate, effective September 30th,” which I suppose could suggest Craig has left himself a little wiggle room.

And sure, I don’t doubt that Craig’s new legal team will do everything possible to get the senator’s plea changed and challenge the whole mess in court.

But as a practical, political matter, Specter’s vision of a Craig comeback seems more than a little far-fetched. The party turned on him, his constituents are glad to see him go, Idaho’s governor is already mulling his replacement, and the political world is ready to move on. Yesterday was a period, not a comma. Craig’s done.

If, at some point before Sept. 30, Craig issues another statement saying, “About that resignation…” I suspect it would not be well received.

I’d LOVE Craig to stay and un-resign. He could get primaried by some wingnut channeling Richard Butler, who would then lose to the first Dem that had a blood pressure.

  • Well, they can’t force him to resign. And if he proves once again that justice can be bought and republicans are above the law what could anyone do. He could just say I learned this from Cheney,..”go f*#k yourself”. Keeping him in play can only benefit Democrats after all the Right’s public outrage…what a joke on them. He could always say Vitter admitted his immorality, I never did, and he gets to stay.hahahahah

  • As Jeff Toobin, on CNN, said: It seems likely that if he tried to fight this, he could be put up for perjury. He will have lied when he said he understood the charges and was guilty. If he truly thought he was innocent, he perjured himself in court by his plea.

    Don’t seem too hard to figure out to me. Of course, Arlen, and Graham Craker both said he could fight this, but then again they are Bushies and former DOJ attorneys( which is a low blow that future former DOJ attorneys will have to take, no these two Senators)!

    Remember when the DOJ was an INDEPENDENT and RESPECTED branch of the government.

    Those were the days my friend, oh those were the days!

  • The real damage that Craig sustained was the the knowledge of his cruising for gay sex in a bathroom. He could always have fought the charges, and perhaps even beaten them, but the facts of the case are politically damning with or without a conviction. No way the wingnut base in Idaho is letting this slide. That was why Craig originally pled guilty; it was the only (very slim) hope he had of keeping the facts of the arrest from becoming widely known. Once the police report got out, Craig was done politically in any case.

    If Craig wants to fight this now, he has first to explain away the guilty plea; good luck on that, Senator. Even if he succeeds, his political career is over anyway.

  • These power-fools, it seems, never stop me from wondering if they were fed the right nutrients as children in order to become healthy, sane adults. What is lost on Specter is the hypocrisy factor. As an American, I will submit others to Bullshit, just as they would submit me to their Bullshit. It is when the Bullshit ricochets back and hits the submitter that we Americans become riled. Craig is gone because he believes in “family values” but then seeks sex from a fellow man in a bathroom stall – end of story! I would hope our culture would evolve to the point that Senators who proclaim “family values” and then solicit opposite sex activities will be held to the same standards as the former Senator of Idaho was. I’m talking Sen. Vitter here.

    Let’s talk morality v. politics for a bit: Craig is gone exactly because Idaho has a Republican governor. Vitter is still present exactly because Louisiana has a Democratic governor. Power, not morality, has dictated the Republican party response to these two recent crises of moral standing within its organization. I

    f the Republican party was worth anything, it would hold all its members, no matter the political/power implications, to the same professed standard of “family values.” But alas, the Republican party is morally bankrupt at this moment in our nation’s history. -Kevo

  • What is Specter’s motivation? Yesterday, I noted a story from 2005 about Craig pissing off Junior over his Patriot Act vote. Junior vowed to go after Craig in 2008. There were some other Republican Senators who voted with Craig. Most notably,

    Bush is also angry with Craig, a conservative who joined with Democrats in a filibuster to defeat permanent renewal of the Patriot Act. As a meeting recently, Bush referred to Craig as “a goddamned traitor” and told the National Republican Senatorial Committee to start recruiting someone to run against the Idaho Senator in 2008.

    Such anger against those who dare oppose him is typical for a President who all too often launches into obscene tirades when his policies are questioned. Bush, on many occasions, has called political opponents “traitors” and, in private, refers to Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter as a “lily-livered bastard.”

    Arlen, or should I write that “lily-livered bastard”, may suspect that the long knives were out for Craig and that he may too may one day find a handle protruding from his back.

  • Please oh pretty please fight this to the bitter end!! I’m not sure of Toobin’s take on this. While it’s technically true, it’s also a formality in pleading away a relatively minor misdemeanor. Craig could probably get his name off the books for whatever that’s worth. But, the public’s opinion is settled. If he ‘unresigned’ he’s got to know he’s doomed next time out. He’s done as a Senator. But given his homophobia, I’m sure he’ll fight to ‘keep his good name’ even at the expense of continued public ridicule.

    What strikes as odd, or even humorous about Craig’s downfall, is that his own homophobia was the single thing that did him in. Suppose he said to the cop, “Yes, I was looking for sex and was thinking we could get a motel room.” Where’s the crime there? There’s no evidence that Craig wanted to have sex in the men’s room. That was pure assumption. His fear of being thought a homosexual was the thing prevented him from challenging the assumption that ruined him.

  • This case could come back and haunt the Democrats, especially if Craig fights the charges. Disorderly conduct statutes have been applied unfairly to gays for the last 50 years or more. If Democratics even seem to be supportive of Craig, the GOP spinmeisters will pounce. I can hear it now: “All that separates Christian Americans from perverts is a flimsy sheet metal partition, and the law. Now Democrats want to remove the law.” GOP ads will feature a Barney Frank lookalike calling out “Your Honor, please tear down this wall”, followed by dire warnings of how icky restroom sex is the natural consequence of gay marriage.

    No, I think it’s best that Sen. Wide Stance just go away.

  • I’m just wondering how long before somebody comes forward and says that they had cubicle sex with Craig. Evidently he’s being doing this for a while – look what happened with Ted Haggert.

    As far as Spector is concerned, I am sure he has zero respect for Bush so perhaps he is having a little fun here stirring the pot.

  • I don’t see why he shouldn’t stay. We have no room to talk in a country that allowed Bill Clinton to stay on as president. Clearly we’re not holding him to any higher moral standard, so why should we do that for the Senator?

  • Larry Craig’s parting statement featured that classic Republican denial of culpability, the Unpology.

    Announcing his September 30th resignation, the Idaho GOP Senator artfully avoided accepting accountability for his men’s room escapades. Instead, he offered the appearance of apology only for their aftermath:

    “I apologize for what I have caused. For any public official at this moment in time to be standing with Larry Craig is in itself a humbling experience. I have little control over what people choose to believe.”

    Craig’s evasion is just the latest example of the Republican art of the unpology. Facing recriminations for ethical failings, racist behavior, sexist statements or outright criminality, this new generation of Republican wrong-doers delivers the facade of apology by uttering obligatory words of remorse devoid of actual regret, contrition – or even an admission of guilt.

    For more details, see:
    “The Unpology of Larry Craig.”

  • We have no room to talk in a country that allowed Bill Clinton to stay on as president.

    What’s this “we” stuff? The Republicans were the ones calling for Craig’s resignation. For my part, I would have been proud of Craig if he had stood up on the floor of the Senate and asked his Republican colleagues (Not one of whom had the decency to defend him) what in hell his sexual orientation had to do with his work as a Senator.

    But, but, but Clinton… You’re overlooking a few things. At the time of Clinton’s impeachment Newt Gingrich, outgoing Republican Speaker of the House, was committing adultery with a staffer. His replacement, Speaker Designate Bob Livingston, soon resigned when his own marital infidelity came to light. Then there’s Henry Hyde, the manager of the impeachment who described his adultery, at age 42, as “a youthful indiscretion.” At the same time Craig and Mark Foley were poaching on congressional pages.

    Republicans and Democrats likely sin in equal proportion it’s just that Republicans like to pretend that they don’t – or if it’s politically expedient (See: Vitter, David Bruce) ignore it.

  • Please fight on, Sen. Craig. Keep yourself in the spotlight even thought your Republican “friends” want you to go away quietly.

    The more that we talk about Craig, the more we can hang “Diaper David” Vitter around the necks of the holier-than-thou Republicans.

    As for comment #10, I don’t think I understand the point. First, the two situations aren’t comparable at all, except that they both involve (whisper) s-e-x! Second, Republicans claim to be the party of conservative “family values,” so I would think that they would want to hold themselves to higher standard than their arch-nemesis, Bill Clinton. On any subject, you know that the Republicans are painfully wounded when they have to fall back on the “Clinton did it too” excuse.

    Comment #12 said it very well.

  • While I agree that larry likely committed no sex crime, it is obvious that he plead guilty to something. Sen. Spectre’s legal advice to larry is bad and just makes AS look like an ass. I don’t know much about Minnesota court rules, but I do know that in most jurisdictions, courts don’t usually permit the withdrawal of a guilty plea. In this instance not only has he plead out, but he has paid the fine. In addition, no prosecutor worth spit would make a plea deal that did not have the defendant’s signature on a waiver of rights, including – No Appeal.

    It will take a very rotten BIG FIX to get this plea withdraw,

  • “He said he intends to resign.”

    Wow, do I feel like a fool … falling for the old “I intend” line. Didn’t any of us remember that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” See, never, ever trust a republican. And to think we fell for such a sophomoric prank.

    I’d like to see Craig fight this to his last breath. Nothing like a good gay sex scandal lasting until the next big election.

  • I observe that no one mentioned the perspective of a mother, let’s say… of a 10 year old boy; and that child is about to enter into the airport bathroom alone. In that moment how would the parent feel? That’s the perspective I would appreciate hearing more about. How is a loving parent going to feel the next time they send their child off into the bathroom alone knowing that there were 41 arrests in that airport during that sting operation? That sounds like a lot to me! That’s a lot of people who are struggling with who they really are!

    I believe that when people can’t be themselves in society in legitimate ways, with authenticity and integrity, their blocked psyche looks for ways to express itself, and their desires and beliefs squirts out as secret, perverted, and shadow-side behaviors like meaningless sex and addictions. If culture, churches, educational institutions repress the natural desires of an individual by putting them into a straight-jacket of beliefs, we are asking for these types of public debacles.

    If a man, (with a feminine essence), could just Be who is BEs, without judgment and condemnation, then as in this case, he would probably be gay, and in a normal and respectable gay relationship where people have sex at home. I am talking about the type of relationship that would allow for the expression of love, truth and joy. But because Sen. Craig’s desires and beliefs are at odds, and he can’t bring himself to face the truth of who he is inside. Thus, his psyche is twisted into a pretzel trying to conform to a society that hates (or at least disallows), the natural inclinations of his wholeness.

    He may not even realize his unconscious drivers. He has put himself into a rigid box that will not allow for his true essence to express itself. It is when men try to deny a part of themselves that they judge bad, or wrong, based on religion, or others beliefs and values, that the individual looses a part of themselves that later “shows up” as the shadow side of their Being. The shadow comes out to play in airport restrooms. No one is suffering more needless right now than Sen. Larry Craig. He can’t let himself BE who he BEs. “That’s really fighting like hell” because at this point, one’s life situation “feels like Hell.” He needs to stop fighting. Allow who he really is to just BE. My heart goes out to him and to all men who have desires and beliefs that are worlds apart. Close the gap. Be who you really are and life will feel like Heaven instead of Hell.

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