Oct. 4, 2007
Humiliation For A Resignation
The Nation: GOP Leaders, With An Eye On 2008, Hope To Force Larry Craig Out Of The Senate
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Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, takes part in a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing in Washington Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007. (AP)
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., gestures while meeting reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007, to discuss a conversation he had that morning with Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
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Play CBS Video
Video
Hearing For Sen. Larry Craig
Lawyers for Sen. Larry Craig spent the day in court trying to withdraw the guilty plea he submitted after an airport restroom sex sting. Manuel Gallegus reports from Minneapolis.
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Video Craig Returns To Capitol Hill
Bob Schieffer talks to Harry Smith about Sen. Larry Craig's likely resignation and the continuing congressional divide over Iraq.
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Video Sen. Craig's Lawyer On Charges
Sen. Larry Craig's attorney, Bill Martin, maintains his client's innocence and vows to take this case to trail, no matter how long it takes.
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Timeline
The Larry Craig Case
Follow events in the arrest of, and subsequent guilty plea by the Idaho senator.
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Photo Essay
Larry Craig
Idaho senator embroiled in scandal after arrest at Minneapolis airport comes to light.
Idaho Senate Larry Craig is fast becoming the inconvenient truth of Capitol Hill. The senator who first said he would resign after pleading guilty to charges related to an alleged bathroom-sex solicitation and then said he was going to try and beat the rap and stay now seems to be intent upon remaining in the Senate indefinitely.
This creates a big political problem for Senate Republican leaders. Already facing the prospect of losing more than a half dozen seats -- in Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Minnesota, Virginia, Colorado and Alaska -- in a 2008 election cycle that is shaping up as their nightmare scenario, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his compatriots are terrified that Craig will extend his stay for months.
Craig's refusal to relinquish his grip on the Idaho seat creates trouble in that state, as it prevents Republican Governor Butch Otter from filling the vacancy with a Republican who would be set up to claim the seat in 2008. The longer the delay, the harder it is for Idaho Republicans -- a notoriously contentious lot -- to get their affairs in order and secure a seat that ought not be vulnerable.
But Idaho is not McConnell's biggest concern. He and his aides are more worried that the sordid stories associated with Craig, as well as his continued presence in the GOP caucus, will further erode enthusiasm among evangelical Christians and social conservatives for the party's candidates. The fear a scenario similar to the one that played out when Florida Congressman Mark Foley's page-boy scandal highlighted hypocrisy in the GOP ranks shortly before the 2006 election.
The threat faced by McConnell -- himself up for reelection in 2008 -- is real. And so to is the threat they are now preparing to direct at Craig. According to the Washington Post, McConnell is "threatening to notch up the public humiliation" in order to force the Idaho senator to quickly quit. What does that mean? Republican strategists quietly acknowledge that McConnell is talking about ginning up an open-to-the-media ethics committee inquiry with full public hearings designed to examine the many allegations regarding Craig's sexuality and sex life.
It's a sleazy scenario, especially in a Senate that has traditionally kept such matters cloaked. But if it is openness that McConnell wants, perhaps the Senate Democratic majority should give it to him. The Craig inquiry could come right after the public hearings regarding the sexuality and sex life of Senator David Vitter, the Louisiana Republican and McConnell confidante whose penchant for patronizing prostitutes -- an illegal act that some Republican stalwarts might even consider immoral -- has been much in the news of late.
If Larry Craig's bawdiness in bathrooms is worthy of an ethics investigation then, surely, an turn-the-TV-cameras-on inquiry regarding David Vitter's frequenting of a house in New Orleans will help to usher in Mitch McConnell's new era of openness.
By John Nichols
Reprinted with permission from the The Nation.
| If you like this article, check out www.thenation.com for more investigative reports, timely editorials and incisive columns |




He skrewed as many ho''s as he could while raising lovely daughters and married.
He strategically finds that God forgave him and so everything is cool.
He''s back in without having to check himself and family for diseases while he shakes voters hands and kisses little babies.
Lovely.
He knows to much about to many.
A few senators will talk a lot, but the rest will just duck their heads.
you are missing the point. No one really cares about his being gay one way or the other. It is his subsequent behavior (I didn''t mean to plead guilty, I made a mistake!! Please take my guilty plea back) and the whole idea of his trying to hide his embarressing behavior in the first place is the problem.
reps are having a lot of scandels over ethics violations and getting caught with their pants down in embarressing situations.
Craigs behavior in the first place, his waffling over responsibility in the second, and his bullheadedness about thinking about himself first and what is good for his party third.
They don''t need this clown along with everything else.
He knows to much about to many.
A few senators will talk a lot, but the rest will just duck their heads.
Posted by bill1fj
I think your right. The press will be instructed to quit talking about it. They will obey as they always do, and the story will die.
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Posted by tburzio at 03:28 PM : Oct 04, 2007
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Actually, I don''t think the Democrats are going to say anything. It is the Republicans, if you read the article, that are wanting him out.
For him to stay in office is the Democrat''s dream. Being gay isn''t the issue for Democrats. His voting record is.
Like Foley - - Another - Closed door Investigation by - The FBI
Craig would of never - Continued his Child and Homosexual Predator activities If he did not feel - He had the Protection - To continue those Endfavors
Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, Larry Craig and many - many Others
Even The FBI - Has of its own History - of Providing Youngsters for : S*E*X*
The FBI is Completely Plagued and Corrupt with - Contemptible Disgusting Acts of Nepotism and Patronization within its own Ranks - It Cannot Function as an Independent : Law Enforcement Agency
To Patronize and Fraternize - The Republican (Nazi) Party is
The Only - Job Description - of the FBI
The Only Duty of the - Justice Department
Lastdance
Republicans are the worst when it comes to telling others how they must live.
Or perhaps he''s hoping to be treated like Barney Frank (D) who admitted to knowing that a friend openly ran a prostitution ring out of Frank''s Capitol Hill apartment and received only the support of Democrat colleagues on the hill.
It appears hippocrisy is perhaps more HUMAN than partisan......
Hope he stays. Just one more reminder why the Republicans lost their majority and power. Power greedy dinks, most of them.
Larry Flynt (Hustler magazine) has reportedly paid out two million dollars bounty to two different individuals that are willing to go public with knowledge of this charlatan''s antics.
The Hearings will be taking place next Summer, in the heat of the Presidential campaigns!
"Yes Ma''am, Madame President Clinton!"
Larry Flynt (Hustler magazine) has reportedly paid out two million dollars bounty to two different individuals that are willing to go public with knowledge of this charlatan''s antics.
The Hearings will be taking place next Summer, in the heat of the Presidential campaigns!
"Yes Ma''am, Madame President Clinton!"
Larry Flynt (Hustler magazine) has reportedly paid out two million dollars bounty to two different individuals that are willing to go public with knowledge of this charlatan''s antics.
The Hearings will be taking place next Summer, in the heat of the Presidential campaigns!
"Yes Ma''am, Madame President Clinton!"
Larry Flynt (Hustler magazine) has reportedly paid out two million dollars bounty to two different individuals that are willing to go public with knowledge of this charlatan''s antics.
The Hearings will be taking place next Summer, in the heat of the Presidential campaigns!
"Yes Ma''am, Madame President Clinton!"
Larry Flynt (Hustler magazine) has reportedly paid out two million dollars bounty to two different individuals that are willing to go public with knowledge of this charlatan''s antics.
The Hearings will be taking place next Summer, in the heat of the Presidential campaigns!
"Yes Ma''am, Madame President Clinton!"
Larry Flynt (Hustler magazine) has reportedly paid out two million dollars bounty to two different individuals that are willing to go public with knowledge of this charlatan''s antics.
The Hearings will be taking place next Summer, in the heat of the Presidential campaigns!
"Yes Ma''am, Madame President Clinton!"
Larry Flynt (Hustler magazine) has reportedly paid out two million dollars bounty to two different individuals that are willing to go public with knowledge of this charlatan''s antics.
The Hearings will be taking place next Summer, in the heat of the Presidential campaigns!
"Yes Ma''am, Madame President Clinton!"
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by jacksteen1
October 6, 2007 6:52 PM PDT
- I look forward to the Senate Hearings where we will hear about the incidents and evidence that this Senator has been a whoring prersence at most of the well-known gaybars and outrageous parties in Washington during his entire 30+ years in that town - that Callboy services have him on record being one of their best clients.
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See all 25 CommentsLarry Flynt (Hustler magazine) has reportedly paid out two million dollars bounty to two different individuals that are willing to go public with knowledge of this charlatan''s antics.
The Hearings will be taking place next Summer, in the heat of the Presidential campaigns!
"Yes Ma''am, Madame President Clinton!"