MotherJones Blog: Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) Busted for Public Sex, Continuing GOP Trend

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Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) Busted for Public Sex, Continuing GOP Trend

Republicans are taking the public sex racket to a national level.

Not content to let Florida State Rep. Bob Allen have all the fun, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho was arrested in a public restroom for propositioning a male undercover police officer. This is somehow all old hat: Craig was arrested in June, plead guilty on August 8, paid a small fee, dodged jail time, and was given a year of probation. Craig's staff dismissed the incident as a simple — love this — "he said/he said misunderstanding."

But wait a minute. Any time a man (or a woman) makes his (or her) name and career by being holier-than-Democrats, the blogosphere has a right to some schadenfreude. So, let's do the hypocrisy first, shall we? Atrios found a 1999 Craig appearance on Meet the Press in which Tim Russert asks Craig about censuring the president, as opposed to impeaching him. Craig's response:

...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.

Hmmm... well, you're basically asking for this, Senator Craig.

[Undercover cop Dave] Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and about 13 minutes after taking a seat in a stall, he stated he could see "an older white male with grey hair standing outside my stall."

The man, who lingered in front of the stall for two minutes, was later identified as Craig.

"I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, 'fidget' with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes," the report states.

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia's and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.

"My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall," Karsnia stated in his report...

"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. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. 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," the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that "I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider."

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.

"With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, 'No!' I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene."

Craig tried to get out of the situation by showing the cop a "business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and [saying], "What do you think about that?""

Okay, by all accounts the guy's not a horrible right-wing Christian extremist, and the indictment here probably ought to hang as heavily around society's neck as it does around Craig's. But the man has been quasi-outed before and could have used that as an opportunity to say proudly who he is, and to use his position of power to address the GOP's horrible, horrible record on gay rights. Instead, he chose to hide, which forced him into awful situations like the one he was arrested for.

I'm not sure if this whole thing is sad, funny, or just more of the regular GOP hypocrisy. Maybe all three.

Comments

He actually is horrible right-wing Christian extremist, who's actively demonized gays. There's only 2 or 3 Senators more right wing in their voting records.

Posted by: Kevin Hayden on 08/27/07 at 4:25 PM Respond

I am a citizen in Boise, ID (possibly the reddest state in the nation) and this is breaking news here. I find it disturbing as it seems that only now, after the story broke nationally, it is causing a ripple here. I am disgusted.

Posted by: Lori Traiber on 08/27/07 at 4:51 PM Respond

Are you sure the officer wasn't black and scary looking? That might explain everything.
Or not.

Posted by: Anne on 08/27/07 at 5:07 PM Respond

If he weren't so busy being homophobic, maybe he could, you know, go on a date instead of tapping strangers in bathrooms for a quickie. Sad.

Posted by: Cameron on 08/27/07 at 5:16 PM Respond

He's the same hypocrite who was outed by gay activist and blogger Mike Rogers.

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2007/08/sen-larry-craig-r-arrested-for-being.html

Posted by: egalia on 08/27/07 at 6:06 PM Respond

I think the real horrible activity is that the government pays police officers to hang out in men's rooms waiting to see if any horny gay men turn up. What a damn waste of taxpayer money. Let's see some outrage about taking money out of my pocket to spend it on stupid enforcement of non-violent "crimes". Leave horny men in bathrooms alone and leave my paycheck alone. Geez, government, just get the hell out of our lives.

Posted by: Bob Davis on 08/27/07 at 6:39 PM Respond

I DON'T AGREET WITH GAY-PROFILING. I AM OUTRAGED. I DON'T BELIEVE A US SENATOR IS GOING TO SOLICIT IN A CROWDED MEN'S BATHROOM AT 12 NOON. YEAH, RIGHT.

Posted by: sL on 08/27/07 at 6:52 PM Respond

The Republican Party needs a "cleansing" of those who practice "unnatural acts".

Posted by: The Grand Inquisitor on 08/27/07 at 7:05 PM Respond

SL - get a grip - this is not a slap in the face, but seriously - how do you know how crowded the men's room is at noon?

I also assume since you are on the Mother Jones blog - you read MJ and other sources - men who are homophobic very often respond to male stimuli - which can only lead to one conclusion - save me from myself!

Posted by: Jaroslaw on 08/27/07 at 7:15 PM Respond

The Texas Triangle is a gay publication. In its issue of July 14, 1993, there is an article about Oklahoma’s U.S. Senator David Boren. It is based upon accusations by Queer Nation member Michael Petrelis, who said that Boren was a closet homosexual guilty of sexually harassing his male staff members. In October of that year, Richard Van Horn announced that he was leaving the presidency of the University of Oklahoma. Boren then decided to persuade the OU regents to hire him for the job and to resign from the U.S. Senate. He did so in 1994, without ever disclosing the true reasons to his constituents. In Oklahoma, his “closet” homosexuality is an open secret, but Boren has managed to maintain the official pretense of being straight over the years. He has also spent millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money giving high-salaried public jobs to unqualified young men who strike his fancy. One of his notorious favorites was George Tenet, his protégé. In 1995, Boren was outed in an authoritative fashion by W. Scott Thompson, author of The Price of Achievement. Thompson was a Rhodes Scholar and knew the young Boren when he was cavorting at Oxford in the early 60s. “His homosexuality,” he wrote, “was never too far from the surface.” Thompson was a Reagan appointee who came out as gay himself in the 80s. Click on my name for scans of the publications I have mentioned.

Posted by: Michael Wright on 08/27/07 at 9:38 PM Respond

Larry Craig comedy video-
http://podblanc.ath.cx/?q=node/5778
Downlow US Senator Larry Craig's Snug Love Nest-- "Here's my business card. What do you think about THAT, Mr Policeman?"

Posted by: Chain on 08/28/07 at 1:49 AM Respond

The cleansing has already began. The leading GOP Senators and the White House have called on the Senator "pervert"(per MSNBC's Chris Matthews term) to resign.

Posted by: The Grand Inquisitor on 08/29/07 at 1:30 PM Respond

Bob Davis, I couldn't agree more!
Just imagine how much more of our earnings we could be spending as WE See Fit, if we weren't funding numerous levels of gov't to "investigate" (entrap), prosecute and imprison pot smokers, prostitutes and those who deviate from so-called "sexual norms"!

I highly recommend the late Peter McWilliams' excellent study of consensual "crimes": "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do"
You can get if here, for free:
http://www.petermcwilliams.org/mirrors/www.mcwilliams.com/books/books/aint/index6.htm

Posted by: gvc on 08/29/07 at 2:47 PM Respond

I agree we are paying police officers to hang out in bathrooms and arrest men for "tapping feet" and picking up toilet paper? What a waste. If they were paying police to watch for child molestors or even people actually doing sex acts in the restroom that would be different, but according to them you were guilty just being in there.

Posted by: Tanning Lotion on 08/30/07 at 9:45 PM Respond

Anne - funny you should mention that.

"The only endangered species in New York City is probably a free white human being...the only person there isn't a law protecting today is the white Anglo-Saxon human being." Senator Larry Craig, The Rocky Mountain News, 9-3-94 (Source: http://tinyurl.com/2nfmoo [groups.google.com])

Posted by: EvilPoet on 09/01/07 at 2:29 PM Respond

Senator Craig is certainly right in the alleged comments quoted, Evil Poet, but there is no excuse for breaking the law. I know we all have our weaknesses, and God knows, our first "Black President", President Clinton had his demons too.

Posted by: Billly Bob T. on 09/02/07 at 7:12 AM Respond

I think it is ridiculous that we pay police officers to monitor public restrooms.

Posted by: Indoor tanning lotion on 01/20/08 at 5:53 PM Respond

"just more of the regular GOP hypocrisy"

And that is really the point - the hypocrisy.

Posted by: capt on 01/20/08 at 6:29 PM Respond

The thing that I find sad is that the police have nothing better to do than frame someone going to the bathroom at the airport of all places. I did not know that only homosexuals use bathrooms at the airport. Is it okay to go on the airplane or is that for gay guys too?

Posted by: search engine placement on 03/09/08 at 4:21 PM Respond

I think that it is atrocious that you can walk into a public bathroom to take a dump and get arrested for soliciting, especially when no words were exchanged.

Posted by: Penis enlargement pills on 03/24/08 at 1:02 AM Respond

I am glad that he did no resign. I think that he should run for another term. It is the most ridiculous thing that I have heard.

Posted by: gbg liquid vitamins on 04/06/08 at 12:17 PM Respond