Sen. Larry Craig: Homosexual Scandal

If you haven't heard of this story, here it is:

usatoday.com:

Craig was arrested June 11 in a police undercover vice operation. The arresting officer, Sgt. Dave Karsnia, said in his report that the restroom where he encountered Craig is a known location for homosexual activity.

Craig has faced rumors about his sexuality since the 1980s. He has called assertions that he has engaged in gay sex ridiculous.

"I am not gay. I never have been gay," Craig said defiantly after a news conference Tuesday. He said he had kept the incident from aides, friends and family and pleaded guilty "in hopes of making it go away."

Now, after hearing this story, I immediatly thought "There's no way that he is gonna remain in the government.", and I was right:

usatoday.com:

Craig, 62, said he would resign effective Sept. 30, ending a career in Congress spanning a quarter-century.

Here is the entire article if you want to read it.
Sen. Craig

Although I'm not one to usually pay attention to stories such as these, this one sparked my interest because A) I wanted to see what President Bush would say about this and B) I wanted to see what Sen. Craig would do; would he try to cover it up and blow it off or would he stand his ground and face it head-on.
I personally think that he made a smart choice in resigning becuase this story just recently came out. So by resigning this early on, it sort of helps to trash the whole thing.

We had to write a summary on that article in American History class on Friday...the way the article that I read described it, it seemed to me like the policeman was overreacting.

I knew he'd resign after the story came out. Who could recover from something like that? Married, and supposedly looking for sex in the men's bathroom. I feel bad for him, there's always the chance that this was all a big misunderstanding.

Ha Ha You're Dead504:

We had to write a summary on that article in American History class on Friday...the way the article that I read described it, it seemed to me like the policeman was overreacting.

That's the point.

The United States of North America has become such an insanely "secure" place. Any thing you do has to be judged at trial. I don't really think that's fair.

Meski:

Ha Ha You're Dead504:

We had to write a summary on that article in American History class on Friday...the way the article that I read described it, it seemed to me like the policeman was overreacting.

That's the point.

The United States of North America has become such an insanely "secure" place. Any thing you do has to be judged at trial. I don't really think that's fair.

I loathe it. Someone's entire political career ruined over something so...ridiculous.

you know what? these republicans who are bashing gays turn out to be gay! Now he is going all "I'm not gay" what he dosn't relize is people are mad at him for trying to molest someone in the bathroom, not for being gay

Can't he just be gay or am I just naive?

Ultraviolet:

Can't he just be gay or am I just naive?

That's a possibility. I'd feel badly for his wife if that turned out to be the case. The media will have a field day.

He's asking for the guilty plea to be reconsidered. He was pretty much forced to resign but he doesn't want to leave the senate. He's claimed he's not gay and his wife stands by him. If this is dropped, I'm sure he'll still be the Senator. It's not like he was a terrible senator, he just made a bad decision [hand gestures can be easily misinterpreted...in a bathroom].

I actually don't know whether or not I support him in his quest to stay as the senator. This really is a personal matter so it's not a direct correlation to his work as a senator. I guess all I think is that he's brave for stickin it to the man? =P Oh, and he's a republican so it makes this task twice as hard

The only thing i don't understand is when gay scandals arise the politician almost imediately [can't spell] resigns. Like its an embarassment to be gay. Like that govener of CT [i think it was]. I can undertand being ashamed of cheating on your wife but lots of people [unfortunetly] do it.

ColleenStarship:

The only thing i don't understand is when gay scandals arise the politician almost imediately [can't spell] resigns. Like its an embarassment to be gay. Like that govener of CT [i think it was]. I can undertand being ashamed of cheating on your wife but lots of people [unfortunetly] do it.

He's a republican. And many of the gay scandals have involved republicans. And also the cheating thing yes. [But notice how Craig emphasizes he's not gay rather than, I did not cheat on my wife. Once again, republican.]

Franny.:

ColleenStarship:

The only thing i don't understand is when gay scandals arise the politician almost imediately [can't spell] resigns. Like its an embarassment to be gay. Like that govener of CT [i think it was]. I can undertand being ashamed of cheating on your wife but lots of people [unfortunetly] do it.

He's a republican. And many of the gay scandals have involved republicans. And also the cheating thing yes. [But notice how Craig emphasizes he's not gay rather than, I did not cheat on my wife. Once again, republican.]

but the reason most of the people are mad is not beacuase he is gay, it's cuz he tried to molest a guy in the bathroom!

BayareatasticPolexia:

Franny.:

ColleenStarship:

The only thing i don't understand is when gay scandals arise the politician almost imediately [can't spell] resigns. Like its an embarassment to be gay. Like that govener of CT [i think it was]. I can undertand being ashamed of cheating on your wife but lots of people [unfortunetly] do it.

He's a republican. And many of the gay scandals have involved republicans. And also the cheating thing yes. [But notice how Craig emphasizes he's not gay rather than, I did not cheat on my wife. Once again, republican.]

but the reason most of the people are mad is not beacuase he is gay, it's cuz he tried to molest a guy in the bathroom!

Yes, that's exactly it. He broke a law, yet all he can say for his defense is that he isn't gay. He didn't try to molest a guy, he tried to have sex with him. He definitely harassed the guy though.

Is he definitely resigning now? I haven't been following it since the only thing on the news lately is OJ and Clinton's health care plan...how very deja vu

Franny.:

Yes, that's exactly it. He broke a law, yet all he can say for his defense is that he isn't gay. He didn't try to molest a guy, he tried to have sex with him. He definitely harassed the guy though.

Is he definitely resigning now? I haven't been following it since the only thing on the news lately is OJ and Clinton's health care plan...how very deja vu

yeha thats what i ment

he wants to unresign now I think, I know he said he wants his guilty plea to be rewritten

BayareatasticPolexia:

Franny.:

Yes, that's exactly it. He broke a law, yet all he can say for his defense is that he isn't gay. He didn't try to molest a guy, he tried to have sex with him. He definitely harassed the guy though.

Is he definitely resigning now? I haven't been following it since the only thing on the news lately is OJ and Clinton's health care plan...how very deja vu

yeha thats what i ment

he wants to unresign now I think, I know he said he wants his guilty plea to be rewritten

He's just plain not resigning. End of September rolled around and he's still around. And his guilty plea is staying the same. The main thing that's bothering me is that he lied about his resignation. No one forced him to resign but it just seems like the appropriate thing to do. You can't break the law and still be an acting part of the government.

On a side note, he's being inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame this weekend [maybe it was today?]. This shows that he's not a bad man, he just made a bad decision.

Franny.:

He's just plain not resigning. End of September rolled around and he's still around. And his guilty plea is staying the same. The main thing that's bothering me is that he lied about his resignation. No one forced him to resign but it just seems like the appropriate thing to do. You can't break the law and still be an acting part of the government.

On a side note, he's being inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame this weekend [maybe it was today?]. This shows that he's not a bad man, he just made a bad decision.

oh i thought he resigned, sorry I was in a small town in Wisconson with my small cousens when this happend. my aunt told me to turn off the news when she heard the word "homosexual" I was like "well I think the issue with him is that he is asking people to have sex with him in bathrooms, not that he is gay"

His interview with Matt Lauer throws me off a little. I'm not going to say he was lying during the interview, but some of it I was definitely skeptical about. But many of his answers were within reason, and if I were to make a defense for him, it'd be that he's from Idaho and was at a Minnesota airport. How would he know about the "sign language" people there use for sex? If he looked it up on the internet, which he claims he doesn't use, it would be found. I just think this wasn't investigated enough and the cops pretty much just took the word of another cop completely.

It does seem quite unfair to Craig now that I look at it closer, but his black mark will not leave his records anytime soon, he should do what's right. He should resign and be over with. Idaho is starting to get bad rep. from this.