No, seriously, why doesn't Larry Craig give up already?

[Lago_AM3P]

His party is shunning him and his constituents think he's a joke now. His entire Senate career will be marred with his ironic hypocrisy. As if finding a gay partner isn't hard enough as is douchebags like him create an environment that promotes this entrapment.

So why doesn't he retire? Seriously, what does he have to gain from not retiring right now? Is he staying out of spite?

[CalibronXXX]

I'm pretty sure I know who you're talking about, but I think I'd be better able to contribute to this thread if you provided a link to the relevant news story.

[JonSetanta]

Edit: woops my mistake, thought this was the preacher-turned-crack-junky that had a male prostitute. That was someone else.

*reads wiki*

Wow, so there's more eh...

[Catharz]

IMO the only reason (aside from his politics) he is a douche is how he keeps on changing his story. "I plead guilty" "I plead innocent" "I'm going to resign" "I'm not resigning".

Anyway, I'll be happy if his sticking around hurts the conservative agenda more than his resigning.

On an unrelated note, why the hell would an MSP airport bathroom stall be a place to solicit sex? It's not like the airport is near anything except the MoA, and that seems like it would be a better place anyway. Is this like the mile high club? Is there a gay airplane subculture or something?

[Lago_AM3P]

You haven't heard about Larry Craig (R-Idaho)? Sheesh, they've been talking about him for half of August and most of September.

Long story short, he went cruising for a cheap quickie at an airport known for being a gay cruising joint. A certain police officer was aware of this, too, so hung out around the restroom undercover. Larry Craig gave all of the signals to indicate that he was interested in an encounter. He was charged with disorderly conduct on May 13 but pled guilty, presumably to keep this on the down-low. It almost worked, too.

However, a LGBT blogger famous for outing closeted conservatives broke the story and the mainstream media picked it up. A homophobic, married GOPer was soliciting for hot, adulterous gay sex.

YOU WANT LINKS I GOT LINKS.

Republicans throwing Larry Craig to the wolves.

His own homophobic constituents think that he should resign.

Larry Craig being shunned even though he continues to vote like a right-wing extremist.


Larry Craig's arrest in his own words.

[Crissa]

Who cares?

He didn't get charged with anything more serious than any other currently sitting Republican Senator, nor has he been accused of doing anything any currently sitting Senator has been proven to have done.

So he realized they couldn't force him out, so didn't resign. Besides, all he said was, "...It is my intention to resign." He never actually did resign.

Apparently it's pretty easy to get this guy to cop to anything, if you turn the heat up on him - this is why we have Miranda rights, and all.

-Crissa

[Lago_AM3P]

He didn't get charged with anything more serious than any other currently sitting Republican Senator, nor has he been accused of doing anything any currently sitting Senator has been proven to have done.

No, the crime in itself isn't the big deal. The most he got was a 500 dollar fine. The part that's a crime is that he supports a party that tries to do hateful things like pass an Anti-Gay Marriage amendment while violating the sanctity of his own marriage by trolling for men.

That should be obvious. So here's why I made my post:

What's pathetic is that he continues to side with the party that thinks he's an evil bastard for being gay even though they embrace clowns like David Vitter and Ted Stevens.

So apparently he loves the conservative agenda soooooo much that he's willing to put up with a party that hates him that pushes it. But if he loves the GOP so much then why doesn't he just resign? He has to realize by now that his presence is poisonous to their agenda and the homophobes that support them.

So the only reason I think he's staying in power despite the fact that his constituents and his associates want him out is either pure spite or become he wants to wheedle out another 15 months of power.

[Prak]

well, to add to the senatorial nonsense, apparently there was some senator give a presentation at a school who accidentally put a picture of a topless woman up. He popped in a memory stick that was "a gift" from his liason, and instead of a picture germaine to the presentation, up popped a soft core pic. He's claiming he doesn't know how the hell the picture got there.

right.

Why the hell can't politicians admit their just as perveted as we are?

If I were a politician and any of the Clinton, Craig, or this other fuck's scandals happened, my responses would be:

-Yes, I got my knob polished by lewinsky, so what?
-yes, I had sex with men in a public bathroom, what's your point?
and finally:
-Shit. wrong memory stick.

[Lago_AM3P]

-Yes, I got my knob polished by lewinsky, so what?
-yes, I had sex with men in a public bathroom, what's your point?
and finally:
-Shit. wrong memory stick.

You know what? Out of all of these cases, the Clinton one is the one that makes me the most angry.

Goddammit Clinton, you KNEW that the '94 Congress was one of the most partisan and divisive sessions in the history of ever, you KNEW that people were riding your nuts over the Paula Jones things, you KNEW that fuckin' Ken Starr was going to investigate the living hell out of you...

And you fuckin' let her suck you off anyway. You fucking asshole.

I won't even get into the fact that you've totally tarnished the reputation of your capable wife and thanks to fucking YOU she's probably the reason the carpetbagger association is going to fucking stick forever. I still hear this shit at work. Oh, look at Hilary, she wants power so much she's willing to overlook her cheating husband WHY DIDN'T SHE DIVORCE HIM NO SHE WANTED TO USE HIM FOR POWER.

Motherfucker. We won't even get into the issue of cheating on your wife. I don't know what kind of relationship you have with Hillary but unless she knew ahead of time this makes you scum. The fact you were doing it when people were WAITING for you to fuck up (LITERALLY THIS TIME HURR) so patiently that they were able to follow a semen stain like a huge neon sign straight to your cock makes you a dumbfuck of galatic proportions.

MOTHERFUCKERS!!!






Sorry, had to get that out of my system.

Yeah, the first two are scum.

[Prak]

meh, if clinton wants to cheat on his wife, that's between them. If craig wants to have sex with men in airport bathrooms, that's his perogative. He can even be in denial as to his sexuality and be self-loathing all the fuck he wants, seriously, doesn't affect me in the least. And I say this having been a young man so desperate for sex he was trying to find glory holes before his current relationship. Really, I just want the politicians to fess up and not act like they're fucking eunichs.

[Username17]

Clinton actually had the might of the law on his side though. In the long and pointless court case he was involved in they drew up a very long and explicit definition of "sex". What he did with his interns very precisely did not conform to those definitions and thus his statement in court that he had not had sex with Lewinsky was technically correct.

And about half of America actually agrees that those actions don't count as sex. So it's entirely possible that he believed the statement at the same time as he was saying it.

What makes my head explode is that the Ken Starr report goes on and on about the purient details of exactly what he thinks may have happened in gaphic language and reccommends that Clinton be impeached (which means tried before congress) - yet none of the actions described actually involve lying in court or otherwise. It's just an inuendo-based attack. Ken Starr wrote a fucking Clinton fanfic long enough that it distracted people from the fact that there was still no legal basis behind the impeachment.

It's not the same thing at all.

-Username17

[JonSetanta]

If anyone's seen the first X-Men movie, this guy is just like Senator Kelly, the guy transformed into a mutant. A mutant persecuted under the same biased laws he was trying to pass.

[Crissa]

Senator Craig voted against ENDA this last week.

Apparently he thinks it's appropriate for men to troll for men in restrooms, and also to be arrested for it.

-Crissa

Stupid typo.

[Desdan_Mervolam]

Craig is still trying to convince people that he's NOT gay, and that the "Wide Stance" bullcrap he threw out is actually true. He seems to be of the impression that if he says that he's not gay often enough, and he continues voting against anything that is even marginally related to gay rights, people will actually believe that he's not actually gay.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota courts decided that he did infact know what he was doing when he entered his Guilty plea, and therefore cannot just call takebacks on it just because he's a national laughingstock now.

-Desdan

[tzor]

1191567981[/unixtime]]If anyone's seen the first X-Men movie, this guy is just like Senator Kelly, the guy transformed into a mutant. A mutant persecuted under the same biased laws he was trying to pass.

Only in Senator Kelly's case he probably could have really used the law as his mutant powers eventually turned him into a glop of gloop.

[RandomCasualty]

I'm surprised people make such a big deal of this. I've never even seen the big deal about sex scandals in politics. Who cares? The majority of these guys are backstabbing bastards, is it any surprise they also cheat on their wives?

We should really focus on all their actual political flaws. Because there's enough to talk about there.

Bush and Cheney should be the ones considering resignation, not Larry Craig.

[tzor]

If it wasn't for the double flip flop, (I'm guility, no wait I'm innocent and I'll resign, no wait I won't) I wouldn't even give it a second thought. Where I live across a small body of water called the Long Island Sound, I see mayors arrested for sex with minors. That's serious stuff, not this minor offense.

Oh and I previously failed my spot check. I'm taking 10 now.

1191572895[/unixtime]]Apparently he thinks it's appropriate for me to troll for men in restrooms, and also to be arrested for it.

Wait ... I think if you want to troll for men in restrooms, there needs to be a different law passed. First we have to abolish the seperate but equal clause in restrooms. :tonguesmile:

Now I could direct you to the "Modern," a resturant that is next to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in Manhatten which has a unisex restroom. Unfortunately each stall is a seperate closet with not only three solid walls but a solid door.

[JonSetanta]

1191587034[/unixtime]]

1191567981[/unixtime]]If anyone's seen the first X-Men movie, this guy is just like Senator Kelly, the guy transformed into a mutant. A mutant persecuted under the same biased laws he was trying to pass.

Only in Senator Kelly's case he probably could have really used the law as his mutant powers eventually turned him into a glop of gloop.

I swear Kelly didn't die. His power was some type of shapeshifting. He probably became water only to reappear later.
(A pity X-Men 3 sucked big time though)
That kind of wacky shit happens throughout Marvel universe.. time travel, evil twins, Dimension Underpants, whatever.

[CalibronXXX]

After reviewing this thread I have only one question. Why do you care what this idiot did? Seriously? I mean I understand that we can't just ignore him entirely since he's a Senator, but why do you even care about his personal fuck ups? For the most part why does anyone care about a politician beyond his political stances and tract record of effectiveness/truthfulness/whatever? U.S. politics shouldn't be some big drama infused reality show; it should be running the fucking country. No more, no less.

[Lago_AM3P]

Clinton actually had the might of the law on his side though. In the long and pointless court case he was involved in they drew up a very long and explicit definition of "sex". What he did with his interns very precisely did not conform to those definitions and thus his statement in court that he had not had sex with Lewinsky was technically correct.

Ken Starr's investigation was also astoundingly crooked and in a fair and just world wouldn't have even gone down in the first place. The American public also saw that the GOP was full of shit on this issue and handed them their asses.

But that's not the point.

My point was that Clinton knew that he had rabid investigation teams on his ass BEFORE HE WAS EVEN PRESIDENT and was still dumb enough to chase after hot intern sex.

That's what pissed me off more than anything. He took a huge risk for little reason and completely blew it.

[Lago_AM3P]

After reviewing this thread I have only one question. Why do you care what this idiot did? Seriously?

it should be running the fucking country. No more, no less.

Bush and Cheney should be the ones considering resignation, not Larry Craig.

My original point was that:

1) Larry Craig for the most part completely buys into the whole conservative agenda.

2) His presence is hurting the GOP's image and is ticking off his constituents.

3) This means that staying in makes it less likely that his conservative agenda will get implemented.

He's holding a position that would normally help get the laws passed that he wants to get passed--the problem is that even if he goes away in 2009 his being in the GOP UNTIL THEN hurts other candidates in his party and makes them less likely to be elected.

He also has an extremely low approval rating among his own constituents. If you're an incumbent with <40% then break out the jam because your ass is toast.

Republicanism in general is still very strong in Idaho. If he stepped down it's very likely that an equally conservative Republican would replace him.

So... given that he's not following the two obvious reasons why one would be a Congressman (to represent your own district/help get laws you want passed), I'm concluding that there is a third and unknown reason why he's staying.

So far I have spite and self-delusion, but both seem insufficient to explain his continued presence as a Senator. That's the point of this thread.

[CalibronXXX]

Oh.

[cthulhu]

Democratic party plant/bribe.

[CalibronXXX]

I was going to suggest that, but it sounded too silly.

[Crissa]

2) His presence is hurting the GOP's image and is ticking off his constituents

What about Senator Vitter? Caught with his pants down at a brothel. The only reason he didn't face legal charges is that the evidence came up after the statue of limitations (two years wtf?) and he's not facing GOP ethics committee sanctions... Why?

Basically it's all BS. GOP'ers don't care what you did as long as you don't cop to it and are embattled - if you can be replaced and copped to it, Sen Craig can be replaced via a GOP Governor, then out you go.

-Crissa