In The Men's Room

I have zero sympathy for Craig,
because of his hypocritical voting
record on the hill.

On the other hand this trend of
of enticement and entrapment in
chat rooms, public restrooms, etc.
is very disturbing and scary.

In Minority Report people were
detained indefinitely and forced
to re-live the crimes they never
actually committed with VR.

Movies like Blade Runner, the
first Matrix, City of Lost
Children, Dark Planet have become
as prescient as 1984.

How far will this trend go?

the man said paddle vigorously... hehe.

It would be much more interesting to come out and declare;

"I am a Gay American"

That would be refreshing, for a change.

Instead of coming out of closets, Republicans go into bathrooms

Good points, Babywatson. At 62, Craig is from a different generation where you could go to jail for being gay, aside from the social opprobrium.

Yes, he's a pathetic character, but he's also spent his political life for the past 20 years trying to make things rough for gay people. Rep. Jim Kolbe, another Republican who eventually came out as being gay, didn't feel the need to trash homosexuals to get elected. If Craig was this conflicted about his sexuality, maybe he shouldn't have run for Congress or the Senate from Idaho in the first place.

"Who on earth would rub their foot up against someone in another stall? I don’t care how 'wide' a stance you have, that’s just nuts."

When I first heard this story, I was thinking the same thing. I also heard Craig's audio tape today where he alleges he was chasing a piece of toilet paper when he put his hand in the other stall. Who on earth would do that -- a piece of toilet paper?!?

I don't know, at first, I laughed my a** off, thinking, another gay-bashing Republican, caught! So caught! I particularly loved the "I have a wide stance" part, I actually called my husband and jokingly advised him to be careful in the mens room, it's fraught with misunderstandings apparently!

Then I saw his wife's face in the news conference and also read an article that said she looked "ill." I really felt for the woman. And I also started feeling for Craig, watching him (yell!) "I am not gay!" What if he was, is that so terrible? It's like this guy is so afraid of it. I started thinking he must be a very repressed, frightened person, denying something all the time. I mean, I'm sorry, I can't understand how the officer could have busted him unless something funny was going on. Who on earth would rub their foot up against someone in another stall? I don't care how "wide" a stance you have, that's just nuts.

And anyway, thinking of him as some frightened man afraid of his sexuality or alternate urges made me sorry. Maybe it's his age. To a man that old, homosexuality has to be a crime. Not that all older people believe that, but I think generally the older, the less open to change. And I'm 45.

I agree with chuck cliff about sting operations. There was no real crime, at least not as far as I can tell.
But I think Craig deserves a little more sypathy. He's not just a hypocrite; he's also a conflicted human being. Hed has been taught homosexuality is a sin. He has the urges. He fights it, at least in part by getting married. He may wind up hating himself. Ted Haggart is anotgher example. These guys are victims of homophobia, and what makes it worse for them, they actgually believe in it themselves.I think we should offer a little sympathy.

Good points, Pippilin, especially the "we can't handle sexuality rationally" part. It used to be a feature of college Psychology 101 that those who were obsessed with demonizing homosexuality, or fearful of homosexuals, particularly men, were almost invariably latent homosexuals themselves. (The problems the Catholic Church is currently having in this area is further proof.) In its most extreme expression, these obsessions often lead to violence against gays by closeted gay men such as Larry Craig attempting to cover up their own homosexuality. Since as a Senator, Craig was too public to get away with beating up a gay man to 'prove' he was straight, he instead indulged in verbal violence against homosexuals.

A psychologist friend has treated several men like Larry Craig; men who confine their homosexuality to the anonymous secrecy of public bathrooms and 'glory holes,' all the while living as straight men with families and publicly condemning homosexuality. In one of her cases, a man who had just concluded giving a stranger oral sex in a basement hallway then proceeded to beat the man to the point where he ended up in the hospital. When the police asked him why he had done it, he responded that he was angry because the man had 'tempted him' into providing fellatio.

Larry Craig may have a similar bizarre rationalization regarding his escapades: he is not gay; he was 'tempted' into gay acts by wily homosexuals. And, perhaps not surprisingly, all of my friend's patients who have these attitudes describe themselves as conservative Republicans.

Excellent points also, lwhunt330 and plantman13 -- where is the explanation for Gannon's apparently free access to the White House that most experts agree must have been cleared by someone at a very high level (i.e. Rove, Cheney, or Bush himself), and why should gays pay the same taxes as heterosexual Americans and not be treated equally in every area of their lives?

"If the majority of the people who he represents feel he should pass a law that would get him imprisoned, he should pass it, despite his own views on the matter."

Urza9814, I agree with you to a point, but he defrauded the voters of Idaho to get the job of Senator, as Kristina40 and others have pointed out. If he had said, "I love my wife and kids dearly, and I'm not gay, but occasionally I enjoy having sex in public restrooms with other men just for fun," he never would have been elected.

"Sexual repression often finds expression in conservative religious figures."

True, Ezeflyer, and a prominent feature of totalitarian societies such as ancient Rome and Hitler's Germany. As McDee has noted, one of the primary social divisions between left and right, and a major cause of seething resentment on the right, is that liberals enjoy sex without guilt, as a natural part of life; social conservatives enjoy sex, too, only their enjoyment is accompanied by guilt, unless a child is born as a result. They believe that sex is solely for procreation and any sexual activity outside of that province is somehow 'against God.'

Another friend of mine, raised in a fundamentalist family, spent ten years married to a -- ahem -- lay preacher, a member of a right-wing Christian sect. Her entire sex life during her marriage she describes as "lay on your back, frown, and take it." Were she to have suggested oral or any other sort of sex, or even twitched her hips or shown any enjoyment in the act, her ex-husband would have been mortified. (The only time it was permitted for her to yell "Oh, God!" was during his sermons.) He preached that 'good Christian women don't enjoy sex; only ungodly whores enjoy that filth.' Miserably unhappy and wanting something more out of life, she finally left the man and divorced him. Her life literally began at 40. She got a good laugh later to hear that, after her divorce, her pious husband was sanctioned by his church for diddling 20-something choir maids in the back seat of his car. He was forced to enter a retreat for sinners or be kicked out of his church.

Chuck Cliff and whateveryousay, these sexual 'sting' operations leave me a little uneasy too, but they are the product of a society created by people like Craig; he was ensnared by a trap he helped set with his self-righteousness and presumption in trying to force the rest of us to live by his right-wing religious morality.

LOL, Siouxrose, good points in your comment as well, especially about trolls like Kissinger, et al, and sexual energy. A spring may run around or over the blockage, but someone like a Craig is so repressed, it builds up to a point where the dam just bursts wide open, so to speak.

For further insight into the regressive conservative Christian mind on this subject, read Sarah Posner's "Ted Haggard's Hell on Earth." http://www.alternet.org/story/49229/

He's a REPUBLICAN.
In this day and political age being a GOP'er by definition means that you are complicit in theft and war crimes.
If Sen. Craig is guilty of being a closet homosexual that is the very least of his sins.
The GOP is the party of racism, militarism, and theft.

How ANYONE could be a member of that sleazy crowd is beyond me. Unless they knowingly embrace most if not all the evils inherent in the world today.
I suspect that MOST of them do.
Fuck ALL of THEM.

When I was in my early 20s in Idaho, I came out to my Stake President (a regional head in the Mormon Church). He encouraged me to get married as sex with a woman, he said, was so wonderful that once is all it would take to 'cure' me.

He was stupid, I was not. I knew way down deep that I was what I was. I asked him if it wasn't a bit deceitful to not tell her beforehand, and he said it was such a sure cure 'why risk it' by telling her.

Okay, I was smart enough not to buy it. And I was courageous enough (though at the time I didn't feel courageous just desperate) to come out and let the chips fall. I lost a lot of relationships. I lost the church I loved (though 25 years later I can't imagine what I ever saw in it - though the hymns were nice). Anyway, gobs of gay men were given the same advice. Most weren't so smart. The result is numerous broken marriages and homes.

In the early 90s in SLC, there were two large support groups for women who had been married to gay men. Today there are likely more. Too few years ago, that stupid church finally decided it was too risky for the heterosexual sisters to encourage gay men to marry them. So the official policy is to no longer do that. Though I would bet that advice still is offered.

In the mid 90s before I escaped from behind the Zion curtain(tongue in cheek humor for any non-Mormon living in Utah), the Salt Lake Tribune ran an article of the alarmingly high number of faithful Mormon women who were turning up HIV positive. Those perfectly conservative Republican husbands of theirs were stopping off for anonymous sex in park restrooms or behind bushes in the park... or in any number of other public places.

The closet is a terrible place. For religious leaders to encourage a man to stay there and to also get married only ends up ruining the lives of all involved.

I never liked Larry Craig. It doesn't matter to me if he steps down b/c the Mormons in Idaho will only vote a clone of his in, and that person will vote just as conservatively as Craig. That won't change. But I look at somebody who, maybe 30 - 35 years ago was counseled by his church leader to just get married.... and wasn't smart enough to know who he was... and he did it, and he did his best to be a good husband and father. And he publicly demeaned and hurt his own to hide what he was. And I feel sorry for somebody like that. He may very well not only lose his job, but his family as well. His respect is shot. And he's likely too old to be able to learn to accept himself now and make new relationships. He wouldn't know how.

It's just one more example of why people shouldn't put their faith in religions - man made hierarchies who put words in God's mouth, and harm others because of it. It's just one more example of why people shouldn't vote Republican - a political party owned by the religious right that breeds sexual repression and bigotry.

The man is in a crisis and I can't gloat over his situation. I only hope his journey to self acceptance will be public enough, in some way, to repudiate the damage his votes in Congress contributed to.

Siouxrose, power is not really an aphrodisiac. Those women were using Kissinger and his ilk, and those guys in power use those women. It's a hooker-john relationship.

Another thing about these closeted gay Republicans, they have money. That's why they're willing to sell out their fellow gays. And again, people like Sen. Craig and Cheney's daughter know that homophobia won't affect them because of their wealth and status.

A lot of gay people have money, and guess who people with money tend to vote for?

"I am not gay" "I am not gay"....I wonder how many times he rehearsed that line in front of the mirror? ROFLMAO

WHATEVER YOU SAY, says, "Or “Yo, bigfoot, take your wide stance down to the handicapped stall, it’s got more room”. LOVE the humor!

EZEFLYER & McDee: Excellent points about sexual repression. As an attractive woman, I have enjoyed a nice selection of men... thanks to growing up in an era of sexual freedom (before AIDS, too). Thus a few observations from my side of the gender fence. First, I have to say, it has always amazed me when I entered into intimate ties with men born to conservative, usually military families. (My women friends say I like "bad boys," but I think it's aesthetics at work. Just as men are conditioned to be titilated by gorgeous, curvy women, we women are turned on by hot bodied men, too.) My point: absolutely blows my mind when these guys are fabulous in bed. No inhibitions, like to please the female (maybe it's a badge of performance pride?) and can truly be inordinately considerate, at least when horizontal (sometimes verticle). Second point: What woman would go to bed with these Republican powerbrokers like Newt or this ding dong, or Rove? I remember when Henry Kissinger had lots of dates among Washington women, and I thought, what the hell do these see in this grotesque being? Some say power IS an aphrodisiac.
There is no question sexual energy when repressed becomes dangerous and deviant... it's like a spring thwarted in its flow, it will find some place else to move.

I would be willing to wager that, when da senator peeked into the cop's toilet, he was met with a smile and a batting of the eyes.

Personally, I would find being ARRESTED by the cute boy in stall 3 to be INTIMIDATING. Under such circumstances (being arrested for showing your shoe and your fingers to someone who ASKED to see them) I'd guess we'd all use whatever means you could to wiggle, including saying you're a senator.

Yes, I can't stand the things that this man has apparently done as a Senator, what he says and stands for. But the pendulum swings both ways. If they can arrest him for it, they can arrest you for the same! Is that what we want? We have to be VERY careful how we cheer about this, keeping the apples and oranges apart.

I say the officer ASKED him in. The cop, in his report, was speaking about the various 'sign' language statements the Senator was making, and that others make, and how he justifiably interpreted them as a solicitation for sex. Well guess what, that means that the officer is validating the existence of a 'sign' language conversation taking place and he had to have been part of it.

What I find very telling is his attempt to intimidate the cop by handing him a US Senate card and asking "what do you think about that?" He's finished, another closeted, self hating Repug...

Senator "Wide Stance" who is 0 for 3 in this game now in the on deck circle.

Obviously, the senator is an idiot. Anyone who has been to the Minneapolis International airport should fucking realize you are constantly under watch.

There are two comments in this thread that point to TWO important issues surrounding this incident. My point is that there are, in fact, two equally important issues here, and one or them is scarcely being noticed (or talked about).

jonjoe;
"The whole point of this incident is that it points loudly to rightwing hypocrisy."

Absolutely correct and I think this statement is a good summation of the greater issue of concern for most everyone. It is what, in essence, is being talked about most, in the aftermath of the Senator's trip to the potty.

Chuck Cliff;
"On the other hand, these sting and near sting operations do bother me a lot."

This is what is not particularly being talked about and I think is something of grave importance. By focusing on the circus of the Senator, Right Wing Hypocrites, Sexual backstabbing, etc - solely, and further being happy that the Senator has been 'caught', the society unwittingly condones the methods and thoughts surrounding his 'outing/capture'. That is dangerous and does, in fact, further the agenda of the Morality Creeps and the Police State. Think about it.

I have been flying semi regularly (whatever that means) for fifty years and I have been in plenty of airport restrooms. I don't tend to hang out in them but I do venture in when necessary. And let me say this; number one) if I have ever slightly peeked into a stall to see if it was occupied (u can usually just try pushing on the door, duh), I can promise you that I have NEVER gotten the idea that the poor jerk inside, stuck on an airport can, was interested in having sex with me! Nor, on the fortunately rare occasions I have had to stay in one of those stalls for more than a minute, have I ever had some guy poking his nose in, or trying to - or his foot!

Additionally, if I was sitting in one of the little cubicles and some guy did stick his foot on 'my side', he would most certainly hear me saying "Hey, buddy, what the f***, move your foot". Or "Yo, bigfoot, take your wide stance down to the handicapped stall, it's got more room". You get my point I hope, a guy is gonna say something if somebody starts running his hand along the bottom of the divider, and/or the intruder might regret his action for some other reason(s). And NOBODY is going to stick their foot OR hand into another stall, with a guy sitting in it, unless he has some reason to believe it is desired on the other side. Period. Entrapment.

So what are the 'airport police' (or airport rent a cops?) doing trolling the men's room? Let's be imaginative; if you're a rent a cop or if you are a real cop on the 'airport beat', it's slightly less spine-tingling than being a 'homicide detective'. What the hell do you have to do all day except look at bored tourists and travelers, waiting around endlessly? How about, "Hey, let's go see if we can nail a queer in the can". I'm being serious. Oh, it was said that they had received "complaints". How many complaints, over what amount of time, from whom?

Again, I must fall back on my half-century of travels here and say (though I make room for the possibility that other's experiences may differ from my own) that I have NEVER been in an airport restroom and heard two guys banging around and going at it in a stall. Just never seen that. Ever. I am sure it happens but does that warrant cops sitting in stalls for a quarter of an hour 'waiting' to 'catch some bad guys today'?

And, if a guy peeks into your f***ing stall while you're taking a sh**, the last thing you're gonna do is give him an invite!

These cops created this situation just as much as the Senator, as vile a person as he may be. And if we are going to allow our cops to arrest ANYONE, for attempting to solicit a CONSENTING sexual tryst by foot tapping or seeing the index fingers of their hand, we are asking for BIG BROTHER. If a dude sticks his foot or finger into your 'space', you tell him to move it. That's all.

Cops lurking in the toilet as policy is just as dangerous as most all of the other concerns talked about on CD.

If we are 'happy' that the Senator has been arrested, we must ask ourselves if the greater crime is not the method surrounding his 'capture' and can we therefore applaud it.

I'm a long time lefty and I'll admit it. I love sex! I love it in perspective, between consenting adults, and as a natural human expression. I have arrived at this position in spite of being raised in a conservative, fundamentalist church that basically taught that sex is "filthy, nasty and disgusting. Be sure and save it for someone you love."

Isn't it interesting that this kind of behavior (Foley, Haggard, Craig) almost always seems to involve conservative political beliefs as well as conservative religious beliefs.
The question always comes up for me: Are these people just sickos or are they just cynical ass holes using the "Gay Agenda" as something to frighten others into voting against their own self interest(i.e Republican)?

I feel sorry for the kids, if there are any. It's terrible for a child to see a parent held up to public ridicule. I feel less sorry for the wife. She chose this jerk, the kids didn't.

As for as the good senator himself and others like him: He deserves every ounce of scorn, every bit of laughter, every silly joke, every diatribe, every cat-call, every last drop of ridicule. May his name become a Hissing and a By-Word!
The Republican Party is bad enough but when coupled with the overwhelming, putrid stench of hypocrisy it is just unbearable. It's probably the real cause of Global Warming.

to wit:
folks in idaho craig country live in mountain time
those of idaho who would rarely pull the craig lever
live in pacific time..
two different states with the same senator
please luna
its south idaho run by the mormans
not many mormans in north idaho
some of which are my friends
as well as lots of gays
we in north idaho are different..
just not many of us..
i have been here for 25 yrs and cannot recall anyone ever saying they live in idaho..we live in north idaho..
i hope craig twists-a-while
for the dammage done!!!
ken

The Smoking Gun has a copy of Craig's arrest report on its website:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0828071craig1.html

One with any intelligence at all will not plead guilty to a sexual offense when they are innocent as Craig claims he did. Neither would they do anything during or after being arrested for lewd behavior (this hypocritical, homophobic idiot was probably himself instrumental in supporting anti-gay legislation or himself legislating much of this kind of homophobic, anti-gay legislation into law). If Craig was stupid enough to plead guilty without the advise of a lawyer (which is exactly what he did), he is too stupid to be a Senator anyway!

Craig is just one of many religious fundie wackos in our legislatures who, having been indoctrinated almost since birth to hate sexuality and believe sex is dirty and not just natural, wind up hating themselves for having sexual desires. Of course, nature provides the sex urge in all animals by releasing hormones and the result is millions of mentally disturbed people who cannot emotionally handle anything at all to do with sex. Oh, their penises will function just as any animal in nature's will, but they are also conditioned by their indoctrinated religious beliefs to multiply like rabbits, but again, they have been indoctrinated to feel guilty for engaging in sex or even thinking about it.

Craig’s voting record has consistently been compliant with the religious right's anti-sexual, anti-gay agenda. He has consistently voted for legislation that inhibited the rights of gays, reduced or denied women’s right to choose, etc.

It is not strange at all that almost all cases of this kind involve Christian religious zealots who, due to the religious indoctrination they suffered, become Republicans and because of the “conservative” Republican homophobic mania taught them in their churches, they must be extremely secretive if they have had the misfortune to have been born with the genes that decide sexual orientation. Democrats will accept gays – Most Republicans will not accept them as members of their parties (what gay would want to be a Republican anyway? But, that’s another mental aberration for those who do).

His sexual repression was manifested as a homophobic compulsion that finally sought release and led to his true homosexual expression. This condition is common in and limited to conservatives. All of our most conservative homophobic leaders, like Hatch, Romney, Sessions, McConnell, Hoover, etc. are likely closet homosexuals who inhabit the other extreme as a defense mechanism. Giuliani is an exception only in that New York is very liberal and he has to swim with the fish. Sexual repression often finds expression in conservative religious figures. But the results of this sexual repression often takes the form of torture and abuse a la Abu Ghraib or as legislation against women and gays.

Eh another small fish caught unpantsed.

The Elites imo, don't really care about homosexuality. The gay ones know that they'll be allowed to do what they want behind closed doors. The homophobia is usede just to pander and sway certain segments of the population.

"The guy is not a ’scumbag’ for voting differently from his own views. In fact, I think he should be commended for it. "

You've pretty much missed the point, he lied to those people about his own views to get into the office he holds. So yes, he's a hypocritical scumbag that preaches anti gay rhetoric to froth up his "base" of rabid scumbags in order to get elected. I'm enjoying watching him squirm...How fitting he was on Romney's campaign LMAO...

Not being an American, it seems incredible that police would lurk in the toilets. Perhaps that is how countries run by fundamentalists are. Does not the rhetoric of freedom include sexual freedom? On what could you possibly base the often repeated rhetoric of freedom.

Craig should never have pleaded guilty. He only seems to be guilty of "soliciting" - flirting. Flirting is not the same as taking it up the rear. Now if the officer had shafted Craig ("I am a police officer - you are officially busted!"), surely only then he would have a case. The police would have to be issued with condoms, of course.

I agree with Chuck Cliff. If you can get arrested for gesture and innuendo, everybody better watch what they do at all times. I thought the only way the police could arrest you is if you are "caught in the act" in the restroom OR caught verbally soliciting someone. ???

If Craig was ignorant-enough to plea guilty while contending he's innocent, he's too ignorant to be a U.S. Senator.

Say it loud Craig, you're gay and you're proud!

"The guy is not a ’scumbag’ for voting differently from his own views. In fact, I think he should be commended for it."

He is not simply voting differently from his own views. He is deliberately misrepresenting himself to the electorate. Together with the right wing preachers (Pastor Ted Haggert for example) these republican politicians herd their "religious right" followers into a rabid monolithic constituency which has demonized homosexuals and no doubt led to discrimination and violence against them. What did Jesus have to say about homosexuals? Nothing as far as I know. It used to be said that if there was one thing Americans despised, it was hypocrisy. I won't be shedding any tears for this lying hack getting exposed.

The whole point of this incident is that it points loudly to rightwing hypocrisy. If they did not claim a stranglehold on God and country, this would just be another sad incident of a closeted gay man unable to control himself and getting caught. Instead, Repugs hold themselves as the "Party of God" and "Patriots" (as most of them shirk their military obligations). So they deserve all the humiliation and derision that people can throw at them.

I have just one thing to comment on:

The guy is not a 'scumbag' for voting differently from his own views. In fact, I think he should be commended for it. You can question what party he's in, but the fact is, he's a senator, and part of his job is to represent the views of the people who elected him. If the majority of the people who he represents feel he should pass a law that would get him imprisoned, he should pass it, despite his own views on the matter. Of course most won't, but they should.

Of course, who knows what the actual views of the people he represents are...but if they elected a republican, those seem to be the kind of votes they should have expected from him.

If the Dems were infected with such a pandemic of corruption, perversion, denial, hypocrisy and sleeze, we would be hearing about it day and night. Apparently, they're mostly "clean," cause we all know they ain't no good at keeping secrets.

Why does being on the "right" trigger so much insanity?

It's a situation which cries out for the German word "Schadenfreude": joy in someon else's sorrow.

grousefeather, i concur...
just because a man engages in annonymous sex with another man in a public restroom, does not mean he is gay...

consenting adults engage in all sorts of kinky, dangerous, public, adulterous and, one would think, satisfying sexual encounters...big deal...but when it is a conservative politician who tows the party line by opposing equal civil rights for all, and he is caught in a public restroom attempting to solicit sex from a male stranger, that's another story...

i feel sorry for the wife (and children if there are any)...not because her husband might be gay but because he may be putting her at risk of a std, public humiliation and possibly the end of their marriage...

as a lesbian, i know many people will just chaulk this up to the 'gay deviant behavior' lifestyle...oy, drives me nuts.....

bottoms up! (sorry, couldn't resist...)

I think youall ought to read closely how Craig was busted.

From the officer's report, he sat in a stall almost a 1/4 hr. Craig was outside and peered in the crack a couple of times. Then he went in the stall beside ti officer's. He dropped a piece of toilet paper on the floor and picked it up. His foot went over to the other stall was and touched the officer's foot.

The point is, all this is a crime?

I personally don't give a rusty red rat's arze if Mr. Craigh gets his kicks off of the tension of such a contact -- if it is true he does -- it is only the hypocrisy which affronts me.

On the other hand, these sting and near sting operations do bother me a lot.

It seems the pattern that the most homophobic of right-wing politicians and preachers are themselves, self-hating gays. What a painful existance they must lead because of their twisted beliefs!

oh my hahahahahahaha i can't stop laughing what an idiot oh dear i really have to focus on work but this is too funny another conservative ANTI GAY repuglican comes out of the stall i mean the closet ok gotta stop laughing but this is so funny well maybe he'll call gonzo after all he'll need a good (scratch "good") lawyer and who better than someone who fulfilled HIS American dream and now he can help bail out the anti-gay repuglican who tried to fulfill HIS American dream in the toilet ok back to work leaving early today after all .... [and I make no damned apology for seeing the humor in this blatant hypocrisy]

That some of our gay/bi brothers feel compelled to find intimacy in such non-intimate places is sad. That some of these same people are on the fore-front of denying fellow citizens their unalienable rights while still fleecing them of their taxes to facilitate this repression is unconscienable. It was this kind of hypocracy Jesus spoke against on numerous occasions while remaining totally silent on the question of sexual orientation. Alas, how needing of compassion are they. I pray for their enlightenment.

First off, I have to admit that I don't like Larry Craig or so-called conservative politics. I live in Idaho and I've had occasion to encounter Craig, at a distance I might add, when he was a guest speaker at my son's Masters degree graduation. At that time Craig advised everyone present to embrace George Bush as "the finest leader this country has ever had" and from that moment on I disliked him intensly.

I've been reading a lot about his arrest and the subsequent fallout in the press and one thing I will take issue with is the notion that Larry Craig is gay. It seems to me that Larry Craig would be completely aware of the awful consequences of his actions if he was discovered engaging in sexual perversion but he just couldn't control his "obsessive compulsive disorder," and that's not the same thing as being gay. I'm not saying he's not gay, but I am suggesting that his actions are not definitive evidence that he is. I would like to see a mental health professional weigh in on this matter, instead of a lot mindless chatter from people with political motives.

We still don't know who the male prostitute (Jeff Gannon) was seeing so often in the White House with over 200 recorded visits. How far does the homophilia go up in the Republican Party? Are there stalls in the Lincoln bedroom?

i'm reminded of the story of tom dooley (not the fictional guy from the folk song, but a green beret/medic/closeted gay man). if memory serves, he was offered the choice of giving eyewitness testimony about a fabricated atrocity against some vietnamese catholic nuns, or being outed.

had he been free to be his authentic self, the demonization machine might have stalled in its tracks, and untold misery averted.

shame is a powerful motivator. let's work for the day when the only thing to be ashamed of is willful cruelty.

It doesn't matter to me whether someone is straight or gay. In the hip hop parlance, it's not about who you love. It's about do you love? Nevertheless, I can't help but enjoy the delicious irony of another one of these right wing gay bashers being outed. It should be obvious by now that they don't really believe their own sexual morality schtick. It's just another divide and conquer ploy to get themselves elected.

As a gay man Bill C. Davis has every right to gloat and engage in "gotcha" journallism which to his credit he does not do. (Except for the "wide and principled" jab at the very end of his article)

If Senator Craig has conflictred romantic desires he needs competent psychiatric as well as legal counsel. His wife and any children need compassionate encouragement and not to see their husband/father held up to contempt and ridicule.

I remember as a student a generation ago at Georgia State University's Psychology Department and Library men's rooms that there was frequent toe tapping, hand gestures and holes in the stall walls with grafitti urging occupants to "show hard" through them.

As silly and wierd as this conduct seems to me as a straight man, it was and is engaged in by Gay men for the purpose of clandestine sexual experience. When considered in that light it is as tragically sad as it is revoltingly disgusting.

Thanks to Senator Craig, Ted Haggard, and other closeted men we now know that it occurs in all strata of society. Maybe if gay people were treated with more respect and compassion such behavior would not be as widely practiced.

atlanta.

so elegantly short and sweet and proficiently swift-boated with class. the punch line was beautiful.

I think that there is something terribly, sadly wrong with the far right's perception of human sexuality. If you will, " methinks the lady doeth protest too much ". It comes across as " We ourselves can't handle sexuality rationally, so let's screech about the sexuality of others to draw attention away from ourselves."
The right actively pursues matters of private sexuality as if they should be matters of public policy, and subject to the law. I remember reading somewhere, long ago in the 1960s or so, that morality and values can't be legislated. Maybe that's because they grow from intensely personal experience and belief.
We Americans need to spend less time concerning ourselves about someone else's sexual orientation (why should it be OUR concern?), another family's decision to terminate a pregnancy (again, why is that OUR business?), another person's choice of contraceptive methods, and so on. Let us instead be concerned about the log in our own eye and work on getting that big splinter out. Perhaps Congressman Craig and others like him might be able to keep their private desires from humiliating public attention if they could accept themselves for who they are, feel safe to say who they are, and free themselves from the inhumanity of their political party. Live, and let live, as long as no one is being hurt in the process.

Awww, so he FINALLY got caught. What a tawdry little man he is. He is truly a "say what they want to hear when in my presence" type of Senator and not worth a dime of his income.

If Sen. Craig is anything, he's a timber-mining-extractive industry shill and always will be. Corporate shills can never be considered public servants, like apples and oranges.

Isn't he one of those guys that was involved with that page/sex scandal of many years back?

I have to agree with the self-loathing thing. Every time I have seen this clown, he comes off like the worst slimebag of the day, no matter what other slimebags are around--unless it's one of the whitehouse personnel of course... hard to out-do the whitehouse clan.

Senator Craig thinks he is a linguist with the way he butchers words and definitions to suit his political agenda. He likes to hold teleconferences with constituents while they attend a State Sen. committee hearing and basically coaching the citizens on "his" side over the loudspeakers. He then makes up words to describe some element of the issue that are actually oxymorons--like "domestic wildlife", in reference to the elk that inhabit public lands in his state. Once the "followers" get the "magic word" from the senator, they use it endlessly in their testimonies.

Quite the character, 'bout time he got caught... should have kept that crap "instate" so that nobody would tell.

Senator Craig is an old queen. I have nothing against gay people, but he should come out of the closet.

Mets Rock!

Yes, LMAO too!!!

I have had political skirmishes with Mr. Craig and I do believe he is as genuine in his political position as he is about this incident.

The cop busted him AFTER observing him--dispatched to this location BASED on complaints from others. If Larry was spending THAT MUCH TIME IN THE MEN'S ROOM OF AN AIRPORT where annonymous homosexual activity is common, that is enough to make you suspicious, the fact that he went to all that trouble indicating his desires, according to the arresting officer, I would imagine that he was being less than discrete. How much time does the average man spend in a public bathroom?

Larry has always been one to point his wagging finger at anyone who isn't a "labeled" mormon--the body of constuents that seem to own and operate the State of Idaho, who also keep re-electing him.

Since defecting to another state, I feel more at ease about my many confrontations with him. My confrontations were based on policy and his unwillingness to recognize that OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT MORMON (LDS) live, work and vote in Idaho too. Unfortuantely, if you are not mormon in Idaho, you will have a hard time finding a real job, starting a business and/or buying property in Idaho. You also experience a second class citizen's position when seeking assistance from any local or state entity for any reason.

If you are connected to some extractive industry, he's got lots of time and help for you. Anyone else is a devil or needs to be converted.

The only reason they (Idaho Mo's) LET Kempthorn hold office is to hold him up as the token white boy, so to speak, to show they let non-Mo's hold office. Only thing is, they dictated his operations. No wonder he was a shoe-in for the Interior position, he hates Indians, and Public Lands laws, and anything advocating wildlife or sound environmental health concerns. Works for BushCo.

I worry that Craig and Kempthorn both know me on sight and that could turn out to be an issue for my personal freedom.

I don't mind gays, several of my real friends are gay, I think they are entitled to all the rights I am supposed to have. What I do sexually is my business, as it is with all my acquaintances and contacts. When sex acts take place in a public place, that's when it gets less a moral or political issue than one of decency. When it is a hypocrate of this magnitude, I say, "Let 'er rip" with the criticism and all the other degradation that may apply.

He is a disgrace to the nation for being such a vocal opponent of the very things he desires.

Liars are liars, no getting around it. Seems that one of the prerequisites for tenure in the halls of Congress is the ability to display pathological lying as the norm.

Craig fits the MO entirely.