That was so staged! A made-for-TV-damage-control-event. Wasn’t it odd there was no PA system? I know the guardian loves the clear air view from that vantage point, but too bad there wasn’t a bunch of smoke in the background today.

You think it was staged? You mean a press conference in which you invite the national media would be staged? Great reporting, Mr. Woodward!
The only thing more staged than the staged press conference were the three homeless ladies holding those signs. What, did the Boise Weekly pay them 13 bucks an hour so they could steal them from picketing across from the Owyhee Plaza Hotel?

There were people at the press conference to support Craig, but I noticed several absences. Where were Crapo, Simpson and Risch?
Although some people do have sympathy for Craig, most people are still having trouble identifying with the situation he is in. It’s not as if the average person can say, “there but for the grace of God go I.”

I understand Craig has hired Michael Vick’s attorney in his attempt to reverse his guilty plea. Isn’t there an attorney available somewhere out there not linked to such a noteworthy client?

And one more thing:
In all the blogging, public pontificating, etc., nobody seems to be talking about one thing that I find disturbing.
The law.
Arrested for making “signs” that might mean, hey, buddy, want to hook up?

As a First Amendment fan (disclosure: long-time journalist), I always thought free speech included sign language. Apparently not, eh?
While I’m not defending the method, and I don’t think a public restroom is the best place to seek a liaison, how different is it, really, than hitting on someone (whether same or opposite sex) in a bar or other place open to the public?

If Larry had simply walked up to the guy (if the guy ever comes out of that booth???) and said, hey, you’re cute, wanna make out? or something equally blatant, would the same law apply, or would it be free speech? If he’d offered dinner and a drink first? Or maybe a movie? If he’d signaled to an “opposite sex” being, would that be different?

Quick survey: How many of you (OK, which one of you, if any) have/has never approached someone with the intent of getting acquainted and secretly hoping it would lead to something sexual? Aw, c’mon, saying no will make you sound like Larry.

???

I don’t get what you’re saying boiserider. Are you goofing on me for pointing out the obvious? Sadly, I don’t think productions like that ARE obvious to many people.

Regarding your comment about the homeless ladies; I was there, I saw them, I spoke with them and I’m certain they were NOT homeless. I’m certain they were NOT paid to be there either. I was there to jeer Craig and nobody paid me.

I can’t help wondering why he didn’t just come out of the closet and announce his resignation from a gay bar and then go on the comedy circuit. Really, what’s he gonna do now? I don’t think anyone wants to touch him with a, ahem, 10 foot pole.

Gordon,
I guess I did wonder why the police officer didn’t wait till the “perp” tried to enter his stall in order to have an open and shut case. It makes sense that it would be the act itself, not the suggestion of the act that would be illegal.

boisecynic
I wouldn’t spend a lot of time worrying about what Craig is going to do. First the congress has a great retirement plan. He is set for life
Second my bet is a deal was cut with the Rep. party to use him…. quitely on many issues. Craig has spent many years in the Senate and still has many IOU’s out there. Give him a year and I’ll bet you $100 that you will see his name on the door of a law firm in Boise or in Washington DC!

I will use the example of good old Bob Packwood…Soon after leaving the Senate, Packwood founded a lobbying firm called Sunrise Research Corporation. Among other projects, he played a key role in the 2001 fight to repeal the estate tax.

Don’t worry about members that have been kicked out of the club. In some ways they are now set free to make more money than ever!

Boiserider seems to be a tad sensitive about the “pervert” language.

And I agree with Gordan. The cop needed to do some more work before flashing the badge (though I fully understand why he’d be reluctant to do so).

There was no crime committed, though I’m positive Larry would have willingly provided the evidence if given the opportunity.

I completely agree with Ferris B’s comment regarding Senator Craig’s attack on the Statesman — the Senator was wrong to do that. Beyond that, however, Ferris B needs to show a little perspective and a little compassion.

First, I didn’t agree with everything Craig stood for — especially immigration. And I also don’t walk in lock step with the Republican Party, or any other party for that matter. But he served Idaho for almost 30 years and that means he was elected by the people of Idaho. If you attack him and the party he represents enough, you eventually attack the people that voted for him. Do those attackers respect them or not?

Second, there are a lot of politicians Democrat and Republican who have not matched their public rhetoric with their private behavior. At the same time, we’re voyeristically wanting to know more and more about the private habits of these politicians, while wanting them to look better on TV than to bring us substance and frankness. “The fault, my dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves,” to quote a rather famous writer.

I suggest we step back and try to learn the lessons of Craig, Foley, McGreevey, Clinton, etc. instead of becoming the almighty harbingers of all that is good.

Craig’s early resignation and admitted guilt are the silver linings in an otherwise sad chapter. Yet it is only a chapter of a larger book. The man, whatever his faults and failings, did something most people on these postings and most readers of this and other publications are either too afraid or too lazy to do — run for office to serve the public.

“I’m sure that there will be those Bill Cope types that will see to it that we don’t move forward despite the counter-intuitive “progressive” badge worn by many.”

You’ll need to define your meaning of “move forward” before I have any freakin’ clue about what that sentence means.

I find a bit of sympathy on a human level for Craig; a man who in a dark moment of indescretion damaged an entire career.
However, his hypocrisy knows no bounds. As a conservative Republican he used his power to oppresss a minority class of people in this country, and even after being caught red handed (so to speak) he continues to stand in defiant gesture toward his own nature.
Many Idahoans I think are full of hypocrisy as well, and contribute to the problem. I get sick of hearing people call into radio shows or even on this message board say that the problem isn’t that he’s gay but more what he did and that he lied. What bunch of crap. If he were to just come out and say “hey, i’m gay but I would like to continue being your senator” the fine people of this state would run him out of office in a hurry.
I also think that the Republican party really showed its true colors when they so viciously turned on their long time friend and colleague. It was a stark display of loyalty being trumped by politics.

Gordon, you make a good point. People hit on each other all time (usually in bars but sometimes at parties and in supermarkets). As long as they don’t have sex in public, it’s not a problem. If you hit on someone in a bathroom, why is that necessarily in and of itself against the law?

Craig had his best chance to defend himself prior to pleading guilty, if he really believed he was innocent. What has the world come to if you can be arrested for seeking sex in a public restroom just because you tap your foot or it wanders into the next stall? Some stalls are extremely narrow. If you took it to trial, you would have a good chance of establishing that tapping your foot, etc., isn’t enough to establish that you want sex – that you need to do something more overt.

Of course, if Craig would have defended himself in court, The Statesman would likely have published Pokey’s anonymous source story, all the old and new rumors would have come out and the result would have been the same, it just would have taken a year or so. Someone might have been able to pull off such a defense 10 years ago, but in the age of the Internet, open rumors both true and untrue would have put a trial in a very different context. Either way, Craig would have been too weakened to seek reelection.

Also, I have to wonder if Craig would been treated differently – if he would have treated himself differently – if his sexual tendencies were heterosexual and he was busted for soliciting a female prostitute. Would it have made a difference? I want to think not, but something tells me it would have been easier for him somehow.

Wonk, I think the legality of the issue is only a sidenote to all of this. Whether what he did is legal or not the good people of Idaho will not stand for a Senator who seeks gay sex in a public restroom or anywhere else for that matter.
And yes, if he were seeking a hookup with a woman instead of a man it would make a huge difference. We already have recent examples of Republican politicians caught in heterosexual encounters such as this, but they weren’t run from office.

Hats off to Larry. He’s reconsidering the resignation. It doesn’t get any better than this. Maybe he’ll even change his views on the hot button “social” issues.

Craig has simply fallen into desperation. He can’t face that his long political career will be wrapped up by scandal, so he chooses to waste tax payer time and money in a lame attempt to turn the tide. However, it just can’t happen now. Even if the Minneapolis court retracted the guilty plea, which seems doubtful, there will still always linger the notion of what he did and who he is. He has become pathetic.