Larry, they’re cops, not clowns
August 29, 2007 | Media
Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s statement Tuesday made me laugh. He was trying so hard to keep claiming over and over again that he wasn’t gay. Excerpt No. 1 of his statement:
First, please let me apologize to my family, friends, staff, and fellow Idahoans for the cloud placed over Idaho. I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport. I regret my decision to plead guilty and the sadness that decision has brought to my wife, family, friends, staff, and fellow Idahoans. For that I apologize.
What’s fantastic about that first part is the statement “I did nothing wrong in the Minneapolis airport. He pleaded guilty to a crime, so, he did something wrong somewhere. Sounds like a little voodoo with the worlds on the Senator’s part. Another part of the statement also makes me giggle:
In June, I overreacted and made a poor decision. While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport or anywhere else, I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in the hope of making it go away. I did not seek any counsel, either from an attorney, staff, friends, or family. That was a mistake, and I deeply regret it.
Larry can vote to send your children to war. He can up or down vote judicial nominees. He can help wage wars. He’s probably got a mental Rolodex of every lobbyist who glad handed him and passed him a free vacation or two. But he overreacted when faced with the charge of lewd conduct? Please. Panicked, maybe. Crapped his pants, certainly. But overreacted? It’s still a guilty plea on the books. This senator, from Idaho, a state slightly less starched than a military uniform, blamed the Idaho Statesman newspaper. But Larry is the one who pleaded guilty to the disorderly conduct charge in a police sting, according to associated press:
The arresting airport office has a different story. Working undercover, Sgt. Dave Karsnia said Craig entered a stall next to him, then tapped his foot and rubbed it against the officer’s, a signal, police say, to engage in “lewd conduct.”
Already, the pillars of support are breaking. I could care less about his politics. Rather, the sham of wanting so badly to suck from the Beltway teet, then, suddenly, blowing it (excuse the pun). He stands on the podium next to his wife, saying, “I am not gay.” Well, then, what are you? In trouble, mostly. It is fascinating television, for sure, and certainly, the media are eating it up.
Just a reminder, too, that the guilty plea is historical. Gone. Done. Some more notes from AP:
Craig now says the guilty plea was a mistake, painting quite a different portrait than he did just three weeks ago in court documents in which he stated “I’m pleading guilty” to “physical” conduct that tended “to arouse alarm.” He entered that plea “freely and voluntarily.”
Freely and voluntarily. I understand before you can do that, you have to be asked that particular question several times in several forms.
And once again, Larry is one of the many making big people decisions about the United States, its economy, our military at war and, well, the state of Idaho.
Good luck with all that, Lar. Here’s his Web site if you’d like to catch the spin up close.
