First Door on the Left

Larry Craig, the senator from Idaho with the infamous wide stance, once claimed that his hometown newspaper — The Idaho Statesman — was conducting a witch hunt against him. You know, he just may have a case. But, where there’s a witch there should probably also be a witch hunt, dontcha think?

More gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig

David Phillips. Mike Jones. Greg Ruth. Tom Russell.

Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations can’t be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention.

They are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig’s denials, including his famous statement, “I am not gay, I never have been gay.” Those words, spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28, are now memorialized on a just-released-for-Christmas Talking Senator Larry Craig Action Figure.

David Phillips is a 42-year-old information technology consultant in Washington, D.C., who says Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex.

Mike Jones is a former prostitute who told the world he had sex with the Rev. Ted Haggard last year. The former Colorado Springs evangelist at first denied it but eventually confessed. Jones says Craig paid him for sex in late 2004 or early 2005.

Greg Ruth was a 24-year-old college Republican in 1981 when he says he was hit on by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d’Alene.

Tom Russell, now 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah. Russell said his encounter with Craig occurred at Bogus Basin in the early 1980s.

A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, offered a recent and telling account: He was in a men’s restroom at Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider. Alarmed, the man said he waited outside the restroom and then identified the man in the adjoining stall as Craig, whom he had met in Idaho.

The article is accompanied by some audio clips, but you should probably read the disclaimer before listening to them:

Some of the audio interview excerpts contain explicit descriptions of sex not appropriate for children and listeners who find such content offensive. The Statesman provides the excerpts so Idahoans can hear these accounts and decide for themselves about accusations against Sen. Craig.

I honestly do not believe most people would have made a big deal out of all this if Senator Craig had just been truthful in the first place. Sure, the right wing would have vilified him. To them, homosexual sex is unforgivable, while adulterous heterosexual sex (witness Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, David Vitter, etc.) is alright so long as it is committed by Republicans. It it’s done by a Democrat (i.e. Bill Clinton), then all bets are off.

But it’s too late for the truth now. The damage is done. Senator Craig should do the honorable thing and resign from his seat in the United States Senate. The people of Idaho, Republican though most of them are, deserve capable and honorable representation.

Update: the Senator from Idaho is still in denial…

“It is unfortunate that the Idaho Statesman has chosen to continue to lower itself to the standards of what can best be described as tabloid journalism,” Craig said in the statement.

“Despite the fact the Idaho Statesman has decided to pursue its own agenda and print these falsehoods without any facts to back them up, I won’t let this paper’s attempt to malign my name stop me from continuing my work to serve the people of Idaho.”

Sen. Larry Craig chosen for Idaho Hall of Fame

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Sen. Larry Craig has been chosen for induction into the Idaho Hall of Fame, despite his well-publicized arrest and guilty plea in an airport sex sting, officials said.

The nonprofit Idaho Hall of Fame Association picked Craig in March, months before he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after a Minneapolis airport police officer accused him of soliciting sex in the men’s restroom, the organization’s board chairman said.

“Larry Craig has made a great contribution to Idaho over the period of 20-some years. At the time it was considered, this other matter had not come up,” Harry Magnuson told The Spokesman-Review newspaper Saturday.

It appears that the GOP has known about Mr. Craig’s “problem” for a number of years. It seems somebody could have said something.

“It’s a sad day to be a Republican.”

Every day is a sad day to be a Republican.

The next time a winger brings up Senator Obama’s decision to not wear his patriotism on his lapel, mention this picture:

Or this picture:

Or even this picture:

I’m willing to bet that it will not take them long to change the subject.

(In the event you did not know or are unable to figure it out, the top picture is of disgraced Republican Senator Larry Craig, the middle of disgraced Republican Senator David Vitter and the bottom of disgraced Republican former Representative Tom DeLay. Notice they are all wearing their patriotism on their lapels.)

I still say he should refuse to leave the Senate unless David Vitter also resigns, but the judge makes a good point…

Judge denies Craig’s request to withdraw guilty plea

A judge in Minnesota has turned down U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s effort to withdraw his Aug. 1 guilty plea, saying that his claim that he didn’t know what he was doing when he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct was “illogical.”

In his ruling, issued this afternoon, Judge Charles Porter Jr. shot down the Idaho Republican’s main arguments that he made a mistake when he pleaded guilty to charges in connection with a men’s room sex sting, and that he pleaded guilty under pressure of a newspaper investigation into his background, and that his plea was not intelligently made.

Craig, a Republican, who was arrested June 11, had six weeks to make a decision that he would plead guilty to the charges that arose after he approached an undercover officer in the men’s room of the Minneapolis airport, the judge wrote.

“The defendant argues he pled in haste to prevent the allegation in this case from being publicized, thus doing damage to his political reputation. This pressure was entirely perceived by the defendant and was not a result of any action by the police, the prosecutor, or the court.”

The judge also scolded Craig for his argument that his plea was “not intelligently made.”

“The Defendant, a career politician with a college education, is of, at least, above-average intelligence. He knew what he was saying, reading, and signing,” Porter wrote.

I’m not sure about the above-average intelligence part. The man is a Republican. But the rest of what the judge said is correct.

Update: Mr. Craig says he is staying…

Craig vows to stay despite court loss

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig defiantly vowed to serve out his term in office on Thursday despite losing a court attempt to rescind his guilty plea in a men’s room sex sting.

“I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively,” Craig said in a written statement certain to disappoint fellow Republicans who have long urged him to step down.

Craig had earlier announced he would resign his seat by Sept. 30, but had wavered when he went to court in hopes of withdrawing his plea.

The third-term lawmaker issued his statement not long after Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter relayed word he has selected a replacement for Craig in the event of a resignation.

“He is ready to act should we receive a letter of resignation,” said Jon Hanian, Otter’s spokesman in Boise, in what seemed like a calculated signal that home-state Republicans want Craig to surrender the seat he has held for 17 years.

In his statement, Craig said he will not run for a new term next year.

But in the meantime, he said: “I will continue my effort to clear my name in the Senate Ethics Committee — something that is not possible if I am not serving in the Senate.”

Airport to Overhaul Men’s Room Stalls

Dividers intended to make soliciting sex much more difficult will be added to stalls in two men’s rooms at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The metal dividers will fall two or three inches above the floor, an airport spokesman, Patrick Hogan, said Friday. Stall partitions are now a foot off the floor.

The two restrooms include the one where Senator Larry E. Craig, Republican of Idaho, was arrested in a sex sting in June. Those two sites have elicited the most complaints regarding sexual activity, Mr. Hogan said.

It will cost about $25,000 to buy and install the dividers, he said, calling that “a drop in the bucket” compared with the expense of prosecuting Mr. Craig on a disorderly conduct charge and handling the 40 arrests made in sexual solicitation cases since May.

Send the bill to Senator Larry Craig, Right Side of the Aisle, Washington, D.C.

Larry Craig is sticking it out…

Craig to Stay in Office Pending Ruling

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Larry Craig said Wednesday he will remain in office while a Minnesota judge considers his bid to withdraw a guilty plea, overturning the senator’s previous statements of intent to resign by Sunday.

The Idaho Republican said he will stay in office “for now,” but people close to him said he will remain until the judge rules. Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter said he probably won’t decide the matter until next month.

Craig, who originally had planned to seek a fourth term next year, pleaded guilty in August to disorderly conduct following a June 11 sting operation in a men’s room at the Minneapolis airport.

Craig’s comments Wednesday were greeted with chilly silence from Senate Republican leaders who have made clear they wish he would step down and let Idaho’s GOP governor name a replacement. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters he had nothing to add to previous statements in which he said he thought Craig made the right decision on Sept. 1, when he announced his intention to resign by the month’s end.

Good for Larry Craig! I hope he sticks it out until the bitter end. After all, he really did nothing wrong. He didn’t have sex in that public restroom. All he did was a bit of toe tapping, paper reaching and stall gazing… just your average trip to the bathroom.

If the Republicans force Senator Craig out and allow David Vitter to stay, they will prove once again that they are a bunch of dang hypocrites. Vitter, unlike Craig, actually had illicit sex. The differences, of course, are that Vitter’s sex was heterosexual and the governor who will appoint his replacement happens to be a Democrat.