Ben Stein Says Craig Was Lynched Twice

(CBS)  Sunday Morning commentator Ben Stein has a few words for the Minneapolis police's behavior in the arrest of Sen. Larry Craig, and for the Republican leadership's response - and they're not very flattering.

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The whole story of Senator Larry Craig, the Republican of Idaho who announced his resignation yesterday, is a nightmare of out-of-control police and weak politicians.

Senator Craig has been the innocent victim of a set-up by the evil-minded police of Minneapolis-St. Paul that Stalin would have admired.

Here's the deal: Senator Craig went into a men's room at the Twin Cities airport. He entered a lavatory stall. He tapped his foot. He may or may not have reached his hand down under the lavatory partition to pick up a piece of paper or to make a signal.

That's it. That's the whole thing. There was no sex act of any kind.

So the policeman who happened to be in the next stall walks Senator Craig off, starts bullying him, accusing him of lying and, implicitly, threatens to ruin Senator Craig's career.

ALL FOR A MAN TAPPING HIS FOOT IN A PUBLIC BATHROOM.

This is insane.

If a police officer can wreck a man's career over this trifle, then we might as well not have a Constitution or a Bill of Rights.

Look, I spend a lot of time in Idaho. These are good people. I can readily see why a Senator from there would quietly plead guilty to a small charge rather than risk a public fight - even though the police seem to have wrecked Craig's career anyway.

What I don't understand is why the GOP is tossing Senator Craig overboard as if he were a terrorist.

Even if it turns Senator Craig is gay, so what? Barney Frank is gay and he's one of the best members of the Congress. There are lots of fine gay public servants.

Senator Craig has been the victim of a police lynching. A party that believes in individual rights should be rallying to his defense, not making him walk the plank.

Shame on the GOP leadership, and utter disgrace to the airport police and their thug behavior.

These are security people in airports. Hello! An airport? Don't they have anything better to do?

[canyondancer]

Stein has it right. What''s in your closet?

[xiilh]

Stein seems to be in pretty deep denial about what happened in that Minneapolis restroom. The police officer wasn''t there to arrest people for random foot tapping. He was there because of repeated complaints about lewd behavior taking place there. The lewd behavior going on was ***, in a public restroom. This behavior, as the police were well aware, followed a series of signals shared between two interested parties. These signals aren''t themselves rude. But when they are carried out in a particular order, they signifiy willingness to engage in illegal, public sexual behavior. The signals are, by design, particular enough so as not to be confused with ordinary bathroom behavior. Otherwise they wouldn''t even work for their intended purpose. Everyone knows this. The odds against Craig accidentally making all of these signals in this particular restroom are astronomical. Stein knows this too, or else he''s an idiot.

[xiilh]

Stein seems to be in pretty deep denial about what happened in that Minneapolis restroom. The police officer wasn''t there to arrest people for random foot tapping. He was there because of repeated complaints about lewd behavior taking place there. The lewd behavior going on was ***, in a public restroom. This behavior, as the police were well aware, followed a series of signals shared between two interested parties. These signals aren''t themselves rude. But when they are carried out in a particular order, they signifiy willingness to engage in illegal, public sexual behavior. The signals are, by design, particular enough so as not to be confused with ordinary bathroom behavior. Otherwise they wouldn''t even work for their intended purpose. Everyone knows this. The odds against Craig accidentally making all of these signals in this particular restroom are astronomical. Stein knows this too, or else he''s an idiot.

[oleander8]

I am amazed that this article would even get published. Talk about reaching for straws. Mr Stein, you have seriously damaged whatever credibility you had. THE MAN PLED GUILTY!

[pilgrimbrent]

Ben says that all the Senator did was to tap his foot. Ben, you''re missing the point. If the senator was innocent, and meant nothing by this, he would have said to the policeman, "What on earth are you talking about? I never heard of such a thing!" Instead, he said "You solicited me" and "you entrapped me." That is, he knew very well that foot tapping, accompanied by shoe-touching and the hand under the divider means "I want ***." His admission of knowledge of these secret codes among gay men seeking toilet room ***, and his attempt to remove suspicion from himself by attempting to turn the tables on the cop, show very clearly what he intended by these acts -- which for other people, would have been innocent. His comments showed that they were not.

[david75701]

Maybe Ben is upset because maybe Ben is gay. These days, who knows? The whole deal is that Craig went about railing against *** while he himself behaves, well, gay. He dragged the private bodily functions of others into the political arena and found his own put up for display.

[faithnomoor]

We as Americans have a right and responsibility to put an end to this and if think someone else will do it, we%u2019re wrong.
It doesn''t matter if Craig is or is not gay. It doesn''t matter if he did or didn''t ask this cop for ***.
He did not commit a crime and his "confession" was coerced.
What is your confession going to be coerced with? An ACOD? Your home? Your children?
You need to watch these real court TV shows. If you are a man accused, you are guilty until you prove innocence, and innocence is not obtainable; for your crime is simply being a man and the government has sent out so much propaganda against men that everyone fears them and that alone fits the legal description of harassment under domestic violence laws. $$$$
Others have stated: %u201CIt''s not Stalinist to curtail lewd behavior in public places so that the rest of us who may happen to walk in with our six year old son don''t have to hear two men grunting and groaning- disgusting.%u201D
Yes it''s crude for perverts to approach children but honestly here, Craig didn%u2019t, so what does your children have to do with this?
"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."
Is this what you believe?
Well people, guess who said this and why...Stein was right and he really should know.
ADOLPH HITLER
"Mein Kompf"

[idmom1]

Thank you Ben Stein. Shame on those who kicked Larry Craig while he was down. All of these hypocrites who have blasted him, making gross assumptions, wouldn''t stand up to their own judgements!

[dirtydog55]

Apparently, this cop was pissed because no one had hit on him that day. He was tired of being ignored or not found attractivfe enough to be hit on. Posted by bebe28 at 09:41 AM : Sep 04, 2007
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Apparently, you are just concluding that something is the case on the basis of only limited evidence or intuitive feeling.

[nordeck52]

Who cares what Ben Stein thinks? Craig has a history of homosexual behavior and has been able to hide it due to his profession.
Posted by ravnslikbals at 02:03 PM : Sep 04, 2007

Who cares whether Larry Craig has a history of homosexual behavior? While I do have a problem with the truth being hidden because of one''s profession, it doesn''t make any difference whether Craig is gay or not. Seriously people, calm down.