Craig’s Conundrum, Day Four

August 30, 2007

So, where are we this hour on the scandal d’jour? Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) is the fourth GOP lawmaker to call on Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) to resign, and there will surely be plenty more as the day goes on. According to one theory, congressional Republicans have quickly unsheathed the long knives as part of a lesson learned last fall.

Last year, the House’s Republicans had Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, and his courting of Capitol pages scandal, to contend with near an election that would determine party control of the Congress.

This year, more than a year out from the next critical election, in which Republicans hope to reclaim a narrowly divided Senate and Democrats hope to build upon their majority, the Senate’s Republicans have Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, who has pled guilty to disorderly conduct following his arrest in an airport men’s room.

But this time, the GOP has a long time to recover. And this time, the GOP is responding with lightning speed — with party leaders stripping Craig of committee assignments and some of the party’s senators calling for their longtime colleague’s resignation.

“The Mark Foley situation still haunts them,” said John Geer, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, “and with corruption still looming as an issue in the 2008 campaign, the GOP leadership wanted to be decisive.”

That sounds plausible, but it’s clearly not the whole story. To be sure, I think the GOP has learned that letting these scandals linger and drag out indefinitely is a political disaster, which is probably helping fuel the quick response. Republicans heard the story on Monday night, called for an ethics investigation on Tuesday, stripped him of his committee assignments on Wednesday afternoon, and called for his ouster shortly thereafter. No muss, no fuss.

But it’d be naive to think the Foley affair offered the GOP a new scandal-response to be applied evenly in every instance. Craig is feeling swift retribution because a) he’d be replaced by a Republican; and b) Republicans think gays are icky. If 2006’s lessons had really taught the GOP to “respond with lightning speed” to scandals, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) would have faced real scorn after his prostitution scandal and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) would have been isolated after FBI agents raided his house.

But that didn’t cleary happen.

In other Craig-related news this morning:

* Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R), who has known Craig for 35 years, offered the senator at least tepid support yesterday. Otter said he and his wife met with Craig and his wife, Suzanne, on Tuesday. “I told him, ‘Larry, I’ve made a few mistakes in my private life that slopped over into public news, and you’re going to find out really quick who your friends are, but I want you to know that Lori and I are your friends,'” Otter said. Otter declined to say, however, whether Craig should quit. “I’m not going to go there,” he said. “That’s up to him.”

* The Idaho Statesman, which enthusiastically endorsed Craig in the last election, editorialized today that the senator “needs to resign.” The paper went on to argue, “Two days ago, we urged Idahoans not to rush to judgment, and give Craig a chance to explain himself. Unfortunately, we have seen and heard enough. Judging from his performance Tuesday, Craig seems more interested in hunkering down, operating from a defensive state of denial. This is his prerogative. But he should not compromise Idaho interests in the process. If Craig wishes to keep his secrets, he may do so as a former U.S. senator.”

* If this story continues to go in this direction, what would happen if Craig does decide to resign? Eric Kleefeld explained that under Idaho law, the state’s governor would appoint a replacement who would serve until the next regular congressional election. In this case, it would be convenient, since Craig is up for re-election again next year anyway. The appointee would serve until the 2008 election, at which point Idaho would elect someone to the seat for a full, six-year term. Among the names rumored to be in the mix are Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, Rep. Mike Simpson, and former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.

Stay tuned.

Stevens is R’s old man in the senate, probably has enough dirt on his “friends” and spiteful enough to take’em all down with him.

Vitter is an R in a D state. Another D senator means that “Snuff all Iranians” Joe Lie gets heaved and the Dems actually control the senate.

Craig is in a very bad position. He pled guilty (what kind of R is that?) He’s a closet gay. He’s got no powerful friends. He’s from a state that loves Fundie values. He’s also exposed as a massive hypocrite. So, it’s Cannibal Time!

I’m hoping that he actually puts up a fight.

  • Craig is toast, and will resign soon. But we can’t let the hypocritical Republicans (oops, that’s redundant) take the moral high ground here. Why must Craig resign but not David Vitter? To my moral sensibilities, such as they are, Craig is the lesser of the two evils.

    The Republican faithful will tolerate a scandal about greed, like Ted Stevens, but they have a real problem with sex, especially kinky sex. It’s time for us to turn up the heat on Vitter. Even a Republican should be able to see the inconsistency of throwing Craig under the bus while giving Vitter a pass.

    Incidentally, there is a good chance that Vitter’s Louisiana would replace him with a Democrat.

  • Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) would have been isolated after FBI agents raided his house.

    Just being investigated doesn’t mean anyone has done anything wrong. If Republicans wanted to give Ted a Klingon-style discommendation, it would have to be because of what he allegedly did, not because the feds are investigating it. Except that they’ve all done what Ted has done, more or less, they just haven’t been caught yet.

  • This plays a lot lot different than selling votes or screwing prostitutes. People are used to those things- But old man bathroom sex is totally radioactive in politics. Totally radioactive. Republican Senator -creepy old war supporting man plays gay footsie and jerks off with stranger in public toilet? Give me a break. Totally radioactive. “Wide stance?” EEeeeeeewwww! That is so fucking creepy and nasty.

    My prediction- Craig resigns tomorrow, if not later today. I’d bet a lot of Republicans are hoping he kills himself.

  • I’ll take a wide-stance on this.

    Mitt Romney Supporter, Larry Craig, and David “Tender” Vitter should both resign in disgrace. Or at bare minimum, a Special Prosecutor should be appointed and $40M spent on Congressional hearings concerning these low-life hypocrites.

    What’s the hand-signal for that in the Senate lavatory?

  • I think Okie is onto something. Yes, yes we all know why the R’s treat Craig and Vitter differently. Former Dan and Haik have laid out most of the reasons (and reading the coverage I have to think Craig was, for whatever reason, not particularly popular in the club to begin with the way they have relished putting the knives in).

    But just because we understand how the R’s think doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of it. Dems should start pressing on “how is Vitter different?” just because the question is highly uncomfortable for R’s. I trust that the general public really doesn’t see a lot of difference.

    This seems no lose for us. The very minimum outcome is that it keeps “Culture of Corruption” and hypocrisy issues churning for a longer period of time, growing ever closer to the election. And it might (a) force Vitter out, giving D’s a better hold in the Senate; (b) force R’s into “bad answers” – admitting, for example, that it is all political, or appearing to condone cheating on your wife with prostitutes; or (c) in an ideal world, make them less evil on issues of micromanaging people’s private lives.

    Of course, since it seems to be a no-lose idea, the Dems will either avoid it like the plague or find a way to lose on it.

  • I am not trying to compare Jefferson with Craig or Vitter but what has happened to Jefferson?

    Does he still have his committee assignments?
    When will he go to trial?
    Have any Democrats asked that he be expelled or forced to resign?

    Frankly, I don’t think asking for gay sex in a men’s room is anywhere near as bad as paying for straight sex in Washington and New Orleans. I don’t really understand why Craig is in huge trouble and Vitter is fine.

    OK, I do understand, One of them is gay and the other is straight.

  • what Zeitgeist said.

    Too bad we don’t have anyone in the Dem leadership with the guts and smarts to take advantage of all the help the Republicrooks keep offering.

  • I, for one, find it incredibly fitting that, after the Republicans leaped on the ‘hypocrisy’ of John Edwards’ $400 haircut, they are all being torched for the hypocrisy of a staunch gay basher soliciting man-sex in a bathroom. My dream is that one day my daughter will ask, “Dad, whatever happened to the Republican Party?” I’ll get to say, “they stalled out in 2007.”

    It’s also telling that the Republican way of dealing with the PR debacle is to judge Craig without mercy, hang and burn him in the town square, and then sit back and shout “See there? That’s what we do to ho-me-osexuals in the Grand Old Party!”

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It is precisely this sort of exclusionism and hatred that leads these people to this kind of behavior. A liberal says he’s gay? The Democrats say, “Hey, that’s great! Whatever. [comparatively]” A conservative gets caught being gay and denies it? His colleagues say, “Get your homo ass off my property!”

    I just wish Jon Stewart wasn’t on vacation this week.

  • Speaking of comparative repulsiveness, I just read the hookers in New Orleans called Vitters, Vitters the Sh*tter.

  • I don’t see Vitter and Craig facing the same situation and thus there is not a double standard being employed by the GOP here. Vitter was not formally charged with a crime. Craig has not only been charged but pled guilty to a committed crime. The other difference between the two episodes is Vitter chose to commit his alleged acts in private while Craig’s crime was committed in a busy public restroom (which in fact, could have been witnessed by others, including children).

    Certainly, through Vitter’s own admission he is certainly a hypocrite that is not worthy of an ounce of respect or credibility from his peers or constituents. Moreover, if Vitter has one bit of respect for the office he holds he should resign on his own.

    As for Teddy Stevens, if he is formally indicted of his alleged crimes, he should be asked to step down. Until then, let him serve until the investigation is completed.

  • Given that you can’t tell the difference between the Mormon morons and the Christian Identity nazis in Idaho – the nation’s whitest state – it really doesn’t matter if one right wing scumbag is replaced by another right wing scumbag. The entire state needs serious fumigation.

  • The Bushies have set a galling standard that no matter how guilty of any crime a person may be, to back down, to admit defeat, to not thumb your nose at the world despite your sordid behaviors is an even worse crime against the Republican Party. Since this became public, Craig has played his hand like it was scripted by Rove himself: he claimed he is not what he is, he blamed everyone else for his problems and he scorned doing the right thing for doing the self-serving thing instead.

    Republicans not only have a problem with a culture of corruption, they also have a serious problem with their culture of arrogance in the face of their own misdeeds. If Craig plays this like he has been acclimated to do, this will drag out for a while longer.

  • “”It is unacceptable for a member of Congress to be soliciting sex in public restrooms,” [Kit] Bond said.

    Seriously. It makes them look like such Luddites. Can’t Foley teach ’em all how to use IM or something?

  • Bobby Jindal also called for Craig to resign. He’s running for Gov in La. I do wish someone on the campaign trail would ask him to explain the double standard in front of a camera. And yes, I know Vitter has not beem charged with a crime. And yes, I know Craig pled guilty to a misdemeanor. But Vitter has admitted that he was involved in what amounts to a felony. It can only because one was strait sex and the other wasn’t. One was private, the other public. And ask him if it’s because one would be replaced by a Dem gov, and one by a Rep. Keep him on the spot, and keep the video rolling.

    And CB, in your long list of Republican offenders, don’t forget Wilson, Domenici, Renzi, Young and is it Murkowsky (AK?) et.al, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Seriously, whenevr we mention one Republican under the cloud of investigation, let’s please mention every last one of the tainted many. That would be hard to refute, and hard to forget.

  • Craig’s Conundrum, Update:

    A hitherto unknown twin brother of homosexual Republican Senator Larry Craig was jailed today on 89 counts of pedophilia. Take a look:

    Brother

    Homosexual Republican

    Now we know why Bush vetoed stem-cell research funding.

  • The only reason Vitter has not been charged with crimes is due to a technicality–the statutes of limitation have passed for charging him with the crimes. But he has admitted the crime (and then only before being outed), just like someone who has pled guilty.

  • #5 JKap said:

    “What’s the hands-on signal for that in the Senate lavatory?”

    It’s the same inside the toily box as outside in some other chamber. It’s a little grease applied to the palm.

  • I guess it’s OK to commit a felony as long as you’re not charged before the statute of limitations runs out. Nice to know the Republicans have such superior moral standards!

    JRS JrTroll probably won’t bother to explain why admitting to multiple felonies isn’t as bad or worse than pleading guilty to a misdemeanor.

    I guess it just depends on the what the definition of “bad” is.

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