Larry Craig returns to DC — gains GOP support?

September 18, 2007

Last week, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) pretended to be a regular ol’ senator, issuing a statement in response to Gen. David Petraeus’ testimony. This week, the senator who’s allegedly just 12 days from resigning his seat, returned to Capitol Hill for the first time since his men’s room scandal broke.

The Republican senator had a brief exchange with CNN’s Ted Barrett at a Capitol entrance:

Barrett: “What brings you back to the Capitol today?”
Craig: “Go to work.”
Barrett: “Are you intending to vote today, sir?”
Craig: “That’s my plan.”
Barrett: “Why decide to come back today?”
Craig: “Because I’m a serving United States Senator from Idaho.”

Craig then stepped into the senators’ dining room on the first floor of the Capitol. On the way he passed a visibly surprised Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who gave Craig a big welcome back handshake.

Should Craig’s return to DC be considered a hint that he’s planning to stick around? The senator said his appearance is “not at all” indicative of a change in plans. “I’m here to work with my staff and my office and to work with my legal team,” Craig said.

Apparently, Craig also attended a party luncheon with his Senate Republican colleagues, at which he apologized “for any embarrassment.” For a change, there were some evidence that he’s picked up some GOP support.

According to the source, Craig did not address at the lunch whether he plans to stay in Washington beyond September 30 — the date on which he had previously said he would resign.

Asked after the lunch by CNN if he is considering staying in the Senate, Craig said, “We’re working on that now.”

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, who has previously come to Craig’s defense…indicated Senate Republicans may be willing to support Craig if he decides to stay in the Senate.

“There’s been a lot of favorable talk about Larry in the cloak room,” Craig told CNN. “And I think the initial shock has worn off.”

In a surprise move, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who has not come to Craig’s defense thus far, offered some support to Craig today, saying, “I don’t think there was any underlying crime…. [I think] a good lawyer could win that case.”

Is it even remotely possible that Senate Republicans are starting to come around on Craig? It seems impossible to believe — remember, Mitch McConnell described Craig’s incident as “unforgivable” — but it’s something to keep an eye on.

Is it even remotely possible that Senate Republicans are starting to come around on Craig?

Haven’t you heard? IOKIYAR! Besides, they need the vote.

Don’t worry, once the GOPers realize those dirty commie hippies at the ACLU are backing Craig they’ll drop him like a piece of toilet paper.

  • “There’s been a lot of favorable talk about Larry in the cloak room,” Specter told CNN. “And I think the initial shock has worn off.”

    Typo. Corrected on CNN web page.

  • Craig then stepped into the senators’ dining room on the first floor of the Capitol. On the way he passed a visibly surprised Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who gave Craig a big welcome back handshake.

    Holy smokes!

  • Arlen Specter said, “There’s been a lot of favorable talk about Larry in the cloak room,” but I think he really may have stalled his progress.

  • Craig then stepped into the senators’ dining room on the first floor of the Capitol. […]
    Is it even remotely possible that Senate Republicans are starting to come around on Craig?

    Only if he promises to wear a lepper clapper as a warning device, every thime he steps into a restroom. Dining room is OK, as long as he refrains from foot-tapping and picking up pieces of paper off the floor.

  • Arlen Specter said, “There’s been a lot of favorable talk about Larry in the cloak room. Between the stalls. I heard ‘tap-tap-tap-tap tap-tap-tap’, which means, ‘Nobody in Idaho could win against a Democrat except you! Are you crazy? Don’t resign you moron!'”.

    When asked, Specter said he was taking a wide stance on the issue.

  • Like I said before, that’s great. Every day he hangs on to that seat is another day for the press to rehash the original charges and keep the issue front and centre, once his legal effort to withdraw his plea gets rolling. Don’t expect the cops to just roll over and say, “Yeah, we entrapped him. We’re shit. We’re really sorry”. Expect the cops to put on a vigorous defense, and in the course of so doing, to remind voters (as well as the GOP) that Larry Craig is an embarrassment to the party.

    Whether or not Larry Craig is technically gay or considers himself gay, he gets off on anonymous gay sex in locations where he figures he will not be caught or recognized. I have no problem with that; plenty of other people do, too, without breaking any law. What I do object to is his denial, and his overcompensation by voting sternly against equal rights for gay people. He is such a hypocrite that in the dictionary under “hypocrite”, it says, “see Larry Craig”.

  • Obviously, Larry Craig was set up. Anybody with a brain knows he was set up and is not gay. He was part of a left wing conspiracy. The police officer knew who Craig was and the officer was paid very well to make that scene happen. There is no other evidence anywhere that this man has gay tendencies

  • When will America hold the politicians that support other politicians breaking the law accountable?

  • Tim:

    You’ve found us out! Our left-wing conspiracy took out Mark Foley last year just in time for the elections, and we’re in the process of mounting David Vitter’s head on the wall.

    There’s more to come. We have agents prowling the bathrooms at airports all over the country, spying on Republicans when they travel to and from their home states on weekends. For our next two targets, I’ve voted for Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, our two distinguished Republican senators from Oklahoma. I’ve heard that they both take “wide stances” on issues of family values.

  • “A left wing conspiracy”–that is awesome. Do people really think that the democrats would go that far to set up some idiot senator from Idaho. It is the hypocrisy that is the problem and that hypocrisy can be seen in both parties. Who cares if he is gay, straight left or right. He is a hypocrite, much like every other politician. And don’t they all also pretty much prostitute themselves in public bathrooms in one way or another.

  • Tim,
    The fact that Larry Craig is roaming the halls of OUR Senate is testimony to the level of loyalty…nay, blindness…he expects from Republicans like you.
    Please join us for a party back in reality, real soon.
    I understand Craig’s wife and three adopted children had no idea he had gay tendencies…any clues yet, Tim?
    I’m actually glad he’s back. Maybe he’ll come out of the cloak room for real.

  • Hey Tim, if the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy wanted to destroy a Republican senator, it probably wouldn’t pick one who (if they resigned) would just be replaced by a Republican governor, eh?

    Unless these alleged conspirators were bigger idiots than Larry Craig, they would pick a Gay Republican Hypocrite in a battleground state with a Democratic governor, or they would wait til just a few weeks before the election like we did with Mark Foley (oops, did write that out loud???).

    Outing Craig would serve no purpose other than making Republicans generally look like embarrasing douchebags, and they pretty much do that to themselves every day already.

    And remember, just because we refuse to say we’re out to get you doesn’t mean you’re not paranoid.

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