Closeted-gay Republican U.S. Senator busted for lewd conduct in men's room:

[Ninong]

Was it Mitch McConnell?

No.

Was it Orrin Hatch?

No.

Was it Lindsey Graham?

No.

It was Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)!

Looks like Larry Craig's luck finally ran out on him. What a hypocrite! One of the most homophobic Republican senators is gay! Gee, what a surprise!

This is the first time he hasn't been able to talk his way out of it like he does in D.C., where he seems to have a fondness for train station men's rooms.

P.S. -- Video clip of Larry Craig's 1982 denial that he was one of the congressmen fooling around with 17-yr-old male pages. Who in their right mind would issue a pre-emptive denial of something that they have not yet been formally charged with? As it turned out, the two 17-year-old male pages, one of whom named Craig as one of three congressmen he had engaged in sex with, later changed their stories (about a month later) and the investigation was closed "for lack of evidence."

Another video clip of Larry Craig back in 1982 saying that just because he's single, people are spreading rumors about him messing around with teenage male pages. He decided to get married to further his political career. The new Mrs. Craig came with three children of her own and Craig adopted them.

[Ninong]

Idaho Values Alliance

Sen. Larry Craig's favorite homophobic website isn't going to like the fact that their hero was busted for soliciting gay sex in an airport men's room.



Just under Larry's picture, I found this item warning about "public sex acts in the restrooms at Atlanta's airport."

This sordid fact of homosexual life surfaced yesterday in an AP article yesterday that reports on the number of arrests police have made for indecent exposure and public sex acts in the restrooms at Atlanta’s airport, the busiest in the world. The increased restroom patrols, begun to apprehend luggage thieves, instead uncovered a rash of sex crimes. Airport restrooms have become so popular that men looking for anonymous sexual trysts with other men have advertised their airport availability on Craigslist.

Who knew their hero would be one of the next ones to be arrested?

They also have an article about the state of Virginia considering castration for sex offenders:

The Virginia state legislature, in an action that the Idaho legislature may do well to consider, passed a bill that directed state agencies to study whether Virginia should start castrating violent sex offenders rather than confining them.

Holy Crap!!! Do you think they'll castrate Larry Craig?

They also recommended a column written by Our Lady of the Concentration Camps, Michelle Malkin, about uppity negroes.

Hey, these clowns are hilarious. They have a "global warming" alert and all of the articles are about record snowfalls and snow closing airports, etc. Haha! Global warming is a myth propagated by liberal retards, everybody knows that.

Global warming alert - headlines from today’s newswires:

Just your typical "family values" sort of website. Check it out quick before they delete Larry's picture.

:eek3:

[schrocat]

FoxNews should be switching his party to (D) on the crawler any second now.

[Ninong]

Looks like Rudy Giuliani lucked out this time. Sen. Larry Craig is not a part of Giuliani's presidential campaign.

He was Senate liaison for MittWit's campaign however...

"Senator Craig has stepped down from his role with the [Romney] campaign. He did not want to be a distraction and we accept his decision."

Sidney Smith, a Craig aide in Boise, said Monday afternoon that the senator was "in the (Boise) area" but was declining to give interviews.

MittWit's site has purged all references to Larry "I-da-ho" Craig but they still have a link to a YouTube clip of Larry talking about Mitt's presidential qualifications but the link's broken. Larry tells the interviewer that one of the reasons he supports MittWit is because of their shared strong sense of "family values."

[Ninong]

The AP article that I linked in the opening post is not as detailed about the police report as Roll Call:

On June 11, 2007, Senator Craig was arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on suspicion of lewd conduct. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct on August 8, 2007, in a Hennepin County, Minnesota court. He paid a $1000 fine and $575 in fees and was given one year of unsupervised probation. A 10-day jail sentence was stayed.According to Roll Call, the arresting officer, who was in a bathroom stall, filed the following in his report of the incident as to what he observed:

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.... 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. Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times.

Craig stated "that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine," the arrest report states. Craig also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor. "It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper," the arresting officer said in the report.

According to the police report, at one point Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, "What do you think about that?"

In a press release on his website, Craig said that the officer misconstrued his actions, that he was not involved in any inappropriate conduct, and had failed to seek legal counsel: "In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

P.S. -- The full Roll Call article has a lot more details from the police officer's report describing Craig's behavior in the restroom. It reads a lot like Bob Allen's police report.

P.P.S. -- Copy of the actual police report. Copy of the plea petition signed by Sen. Craig.

[Ninong]

Larry Craig still living in his own private Idaho

Boy, the MSM is jumping all over this Larry Craig story! This could turn out to be almost as big as Mark Foley, except that the Foley story hit just weeks before the mid-term elections, which was really bad timing for the GOP.

If you follow that link to the AP story on MSNBC, you will see that they're starting to report more of the details from the police report. Before you know it, they'll be reporting all the stories going back to when he was in college and the Idaho National Guard, before he even ran for Congress. They're already replaying his 1982 appearance on network TV where he denied that he was involved in sexual improprieties with teenage male pages. For some reason, Larry felt the need to go before the TV cameras to deny something that he hadn't even been formally charged with. He got engaged later that year and was married in 1983 to a woman who already had three children. He went from swinging single Larry to Married With Children in less than a year.

Larry wants everyone to know that he's not gay. And he didn't do anything wrong in that men's room in spite of what's in that police report. His only mistake, according to him, was in pleading guilty to something he didn't do. Ten years in the House of Representatives and 17 years in the Senate was not enough experience to provide him an adequate understanding of his legal rights. He only agreed to plead guilty because he was in a hurry. Actually, the offense was in June and he signed the guilty plea in August! He had plenty of time to seek legal counsel before agreeing to plead guilty to disorderly conduct.

Furthermore, Larry says his hometown paper, the Idaho Statesman in Boise, is out to get him. Back in October 2006, when that gay activist blogger outed Larry as gay, the Idaho Statesman did some investigating of their own. They came up with two guys who claimed that Larry had propositioned them, one in 1967 and one in 1994, and one guy who gave them a detailed taped interview of his 2004 sexual encounter with Craig at Union Station, which is two blocks from Craig's office. The man said the sex occurred in two restrooms on a weekday afternoon.

The Idaho Statesman's editors called Sen. Craig and asked him to come down to their office so that they could confront him with their 'evidence' and offer him an opportunity to respond. For whatever reason, Sen. Craig was accompanied by his wife when he went down to talk to the editors. She was present when they played the taped interview. She reportedly broke down in tears and her husband explained to her that it was all an obvious dirty tricks campaign that was being waged by "the opposition," whatever that means.

What's that they say about when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging? I think Larry's only making matters worse with his unbelievable explanations because now there will be dozens of investigative reporters out to prove him wrong.

P.S. -- Looks like Sen. Craig is still a member of the NRA Board of Directors.

[Ninong]

Sen. Larry Craig on Meet the Press, Jan. 24, 1999:

MR. RUSSERT: Larry Craig, would you want the last word from the Senate be an acquittal of the president and no censure?

SEN. CRAIG: Well, I don't know where the Senate's going to be on that issue of an up or down vote on impeachment, but I will tell you that the Senate certainly can bring about a censure resolution and it's a slap on the wrist. It's a, "Bad boy, Bill Clinton. You're a naughty boy." The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy.

I'm going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy.

[Ninong]

Idaho Values Alliance

Sen. Larry Craig's favorite homophobic website isn't going to like the fact that their hero was busted for soliciting gay sex in an airport men's room.



Just under Larry's picture, I found this item warning about "public sex acts in the restrooms at Atlanta's airport."

This sordid fact of homosexual life surfaced yesterday in an AP article yesterday that reports on the number of arrests police have made for indecent exposure and public sex acts in the restrooms at Atlanta’s airport, the busiest in the world. The increased restroom patrols, begun to apprehend luggage thieves, instead uncovered a rash of sex crimes. Airport restrooms have become so popular that men looking for anonymous sexual trysts with other men have advertised their airport availability on Craigslist.

Who knew their hero would be one of the next ones to be arrested?

They also have an article about the state of Virginia considering castration for sex offenders:

The Virginia state legislature, in an action that the Idaho legislature may do well to consider, passed a bill that directed state agencies to study whether Virginia should start castrating violent sex offenders rather than confining them.

Holy Crap!!! Do you think they'll castrate Larry Craig?

They also recommended a column written by Our Lady of the Concentration Camps, Michelle Malkin, about uppity negroes.

Hey, these clowns are hilarious. They have a "global warming" alert and all of the articles are about record snowfalls and snow closing airports, etc. Haha! Global warming is a myth propagated by liberal retards, everybody knows that.

Global warming alert - headlines from today’s newswires:

Just your typical "family values" sort of website. Check it out quick before they delete Larry's picture.

:eek3:

If you didn't check out the IVA website yesterday, it's too late now!

The entire opening page has been changed and there is an editorial from the head guy calling on Sen. Larry Craig to resign because the Bible says he's guilty.

The Judeo-Christian tradition says that the standard for identifying the truth is that “by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact is confirmed.” The senator’s guilty plea, when added to the officer’s testimony, satisfies the biblical standard for confirming the essential truth of what happened, and unless the senator can provide a compelling and convincing explanation for his plea, we will need to regretfully accept that the fact of his behavior has been established. It seems unlikely that he can “unring the bell” his guilty plea has sounded.

If the senator did indeed engage in the behavior to which he pled guilty, then the appropriate thing for him to do is to resign from office. Character is an essential qualification for public service, and the essence of character is what you do when you do not think anyone is looking.

I read something yesterday about the GOP leadership in the Senate trying to talk Larry into at the very least announcing that he has no plans to run for reelection next year. They would really prefer that he resign immediately and enroll in that "restoration" process that miraculously changed Pastor Ted from completely gay to 100% straight in just three weeks. Their problem right now is that Larry Boy refuses to go along with the program.

As you can see, this is a much more serious problem for the GOP than Sen. David Vitter's confession that he likes to wear diapers while having sexual intercourse with hookers. Vitter is not up for reelection until 2010, Craig is up for reelection in 2008. The governor of Louisiana is a Democrat, so calling on Vitter to resign is out of the question no matter how many hookers he engaged. The governor of Idaho is a Republican, so it's safe to demand that Craig resign. It's a matter of morals. Republican morals. Never get too upset without checking first to see what would happen next.

P.S. -- Larry Craig and David Vitter have a lot in common. They're both strong supporters of the National Rifle Association and the sanctity of marriages other than their own.

[Ninong]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the biggest closet case in the Senate, has asked...

...Larry Craig to "step down temporarily" from all of his committee assignments pending an Ethics Committee Investigation into his habit of looking for love in all the wrong places.

Sen. John WALNUTS! McCain and Sen. Norm "Stoner" Coleman have called on Craig to resign from the Senate immediately.

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) admitted to criminal behavior, serial adultery with $300/hr-hookers, but when he apologized to his Republican senatorial colleagues at a private luncheon, he received a loud standing ovation. Last time I checked, prostitution was still a crime, and for the Bible thumpers, adultery is a capital offense: Leviticus 20:10 “And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.”

P.S. -- President Bush is down here right now celebrating the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Happy Katrina Birthday everybody! The president's people were very careful to make sure that the president was not photographed with David Vitter.

[Ninong]

The D.C. Madam Speaks!

Reached for comment today, the D.C. Madam had this to say about Larry Craig.

"My former position...does not qualify me to comment upon such matters. Folks like Senator Craig and for that matter Senator Vitter most likely need the opinion and guidance of professional psychiatrists!"

Deborah Jeane Palfrey was an experienced madam — that is to say, an escort service manager. A brothel-keeper whose customers at least chose a different path than Senator Craig — they never had to solicit sex in airport bathrooms.

Full interview here.

[Ninong]

Here's the cop Larry Craig was trying to make out with:



Sgt. Dave Karsnia, who was in plainclothes at the time; age 29, masters degree in criminal justice. Here.

[Ninong]

"Going" Problem

In this brief video clip, Josh Marshall explains how Republican legislators with staunch anti-gay voting records have suddenly been caught up in a rash of "misunderstandings."

"One minute, you're railing against gay marriage ruining the moral fabric of our great nation and the next, you're being hustled out of a public restroom by a guy who turns out to be an undercover cop."

P.S. -- Maybe Sen. Craig has restless leg syndrome? Maybe he was unaware that his right foot was over there in the adjoining stall rubbing up against that young law enforcement officer's left foot? Maybe he should sue the makers of Mirapex? I remember from watching their commercials that one of the side effects of their drug is that "you may experience sudden, intense gambling or sexual urges."

[Ninong]

CNN Interviewed Major Darryl Tolleson of the Atlanta Police Department

Remember the warning on the Idaho Values Alliance's website about the Atlanta Airport men's restrooms being a hotbed of homosexuals seeking anonymous sexual encounters?

In this video clip, CNN interviews Major Darryl Tolleson of the Atlanta Police Department on the kind of folks his unit has busted for having sex in public restrooms -- they've busted CEOs, bank presidents, college professors, you name it...but most of them are straight identified, with wives and children in the dark about their netherworld activities.

"The majority of these men, they have families...You would think that it would be a gay issue but overwhelmingly more and more, we're seeing that these are people with families."

They're probably overwhelmingly Republicans, too, because most gay Republicans are closeted. The Democrats may have control of the House but the Republicans have control of the bathrooms.

[Ninong]

Putting Things in Perspective

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) comes to Larry Craig's defense:

"It's one thing to say that someone can't be trusted to vote without being corrupt, it's another to say that he can't be trusted to go to the bathroom by himself."

[Ninong]

Minneapolis PD just released the official transcript of Sgt. Dave Karsnia's interview with Sen. Larry Craig.

Some of Karsnia's comments to Craig are hilarious.

When you listen to the audio of the interview, it's even more convincing. Follow this link to the MSNBC article and click on the "free video" link to listen to the interview.

Note that Larry Craig employs the Bob Allen defense: "You solicited me." (That one sentence -- it's in the very beginning of the audio tape -- destroyed Larry Craig. He's admitting that he was sending signals that Karsnia responded to in a positive way. If you read the police report, you will see what Craig is referring to when he says that Karsnia solicited him. Craig tapped his toes several times. Karsnia responded by lifting his foot up and down slowly several times.)




Interview transcript.

Copy of the actual police report.

Copy of the plea petition signed by Sen. Craig.

P.S. -- The police report is much more detailed than the interview. Not everything is covered in the interview but there are some statements from Larry Craig in the interview that are more damaging to him than anything in the police report, namely his assertion that the police officer "solicited" him and his assertion that it was "entrapment." The plea petition that Larry Craig signed states that he read the police report and the charges against him and that he wishes to plead guilty. In fact, I have heard legal experts on TV say that it's quite possible that Craig's assertion in his press conference this past Tuesday that he is innocent of any wrongdoing may be a violation of his probation. He agreed in the plea petition he signed that he understood that the court could NOT accept a guilty plea from a person who was not guilty, that he had read the report and the charges and that he agreed that he was guilty as charged. And he had six weeks to seek legal counsel before accepting that plea and admitting guilt.

[Ninong]

Has Larry Craig resigned yet?

No, but it's Friday and it's a holiday weekend, so look for his resignation to be announced later today, preferably as late as possible. The RNC had already prepared a statement calling for his resignation but they are holding it back waiting to see if Larry will take the hint. He has been told in no uncertain terms that they want him to resign immediately.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter already appears to have settled on a successor — Lt. Gov. Jim Risch.

[Ninong]

BOISE, Idaho - Idaho Sen. Larry Craig will announce his career plans Saturday after widespread calls from fellow Republicans to resign over a men's room sex sting, his spokesman said Friday




Senators Mitch McConnell, Larry Craig and Mike Crapo smile for the cameras following a recent bathroom break. A good time was had by all.

I hope they remembered to wash their hands.

[Ninong]

Now that Larry Craig is on the way out, maybe Larry Flynt will out another D.C. Madam client?

It seems unfair that the GOP is forcing Larry Craig out so soon after the story broke. We were just getting started in needling the GOP. Oh, well, with any luck, Larry Flynt will publish something on David "Diaperman" Vitter. I know that Wendy Cortez, Vitter's reputed former French Quarter hooker paramour, flew out to California to be interviewed by Flynt. Hopefully she brought some credible proof with her.

Flynt outed Deputy Secretary of State Randy Tobias and Sen. David Vitter as patrons of the D.C. Madam's escort service but that's about it so far. He claims to be working on no less than 30 additional cases but nothing new has leaked out since the Vitter disclosure. He assured Larry King that one senator really shocked him. Larry Flynt probably already knows which senators are switch hitters, so I don't think he would be shocked by one of them. I suspect that this might be a straight senator who is one of those holier-than-thou types. Of course, if it's one of those holier-than-thou types who turns out to be a closet case, that would be even more fun. Wishing for it to be Sam Brownback is probably asking for too much but Lindsey Graham would be acceptable.

There sure are a lot of Larrys in this post: Larry Craig, Larry Flynt and Larry King.

In honor of Larry Craig's "I am not gay and I have never been gay" press conference last Tuesday, I present the following examples from the British on the proper way to handle such announcements:

Sir Norman Fry, M.P. -- episode 1

Sir Norman Fry, M.P. -- episode 2

Sir Norman Fry, M.P. -- episode 3

[Ninong]

They probably told their wives it was a business trip:



Larry Craig and a few of his friends enjoy a weekend away from their wives. The dude in the middle won some sort of contest or something.

[Ninong]

Sen. Larry Craig announced that he intends to resign effective Sept. 30th

As expected, Larry Craig announced his intention to resign from the U.S. Senate effective September 30th so that he can devote all of his time to pursuing his legal options. This five minute press conference was held at Larry's favorite venue, the Boise Depot train station. Larry has a thing for train stations. No word on whether he visited the men's room while there.

Evidently Larry's attorney(s) will hold a presser later today to announce something or other. The idea that Larry has legal options is ridiculous. He had six weeks to think about what he wanted to do. He did not seek legal counsel or even discuss his predicament with anyone during those six weeks. He signed the plea petition acknowledging that he knew the court could not consider his guilty plea if he maintained that he was not guilty of the charges. He acknowledged reading the report and the charges against him and he agreed to all of the terms.

It's going to be really, really difficult for a United States Senator to plead incompetence or temporary insanity as the excuse for agreeing to the plea petition that he signed.

Newsweek is now profiling Sgt. Dave Karsnia, the arresting officer, who appears to have carried out his responsibilities in a professional manner.

P.S. -- Congratulations to the GOP for allowing Tom DeLay to act as their semi-official expert on scandals and corruption. Am I the only one who thinks it is hilarious when Tom DeLay shows up on cable TV news as the go-to guy for the Republican conservative reaction whenever any political scandal breaks?

DeLay couldn't help himself on Hardball yesterday, he had to dredge up Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton as perfect examples of Democratic "sinners" who were tolerated by the Democrats. No mention of people like David Vitter or Don "The Pennsylvania Strangler" Sherwood who are tolerated by Republicans. And CNN just mentioned an interesting bit of trivia. Back in 1990, when the House Ethics Committee recommended "that Representative Barney Frank receive a formal reprimand from the House for his relationship with a male prostitute," there was one member of the Ethics Committee who voted for the more serious "censure." Yes, that one congressman was Rep. Larry Craig (R-ID).