They've been through a lot these Republicans. Not that I really care, I'm just saying...
It's been really rough for them, from failing to prevent 9-11, starting then losing the Iraq War, to Jack Abramov, Tom Delay, Brownie, Dubai, Jeff Gannon/Guckert, David Kuo, David Safavian, Claude Allen, Mark Foley, Ted Haggart, James Comey, Carol Lam, Monica Goodling, Tim Griffin, David Iglesias, David Vitter, Donald Rumfeld, Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzale's resignation and now... Larry Craig.
Although I myself have been so overjoyed by some of these developments I could have been found doing a drunken table dance in a Britney Spears schmatta (i.e. bottomless - even though I'm male) watching the GOP bus do donuts on the body Craig's flailing political career strikes me somewhat differently.
The problem I have is the odd familiarity of this particular sad and sordid story from Roll Call.
"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area," the report states.
Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that "I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider."
Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.
Fortunately I happen to remember where I've heard this story before.
Over a decade ago I read "On the Trail of Assassins" the book written by Judge Jim Garrison, which was eventually adapted by Oliver Stone into "JFK." Putting aside the issues brought up by the shooting of Kennedy himself, or the case which Garrison brought in a New Orleans court room against Clay Shaw as a co-conspirator in that shooting, the Craig scene struck me as oddly similar to an event which nearly entrapped Garrison some years after the case had concluded.
Because the Shaw trial had frankly, pissed off a ton of people, including those in the FBI and CIA where Shaw apparently had some connections, Garrison would normally keep his traveling plans confidential. On one of occasion one of his staff warned him that there was a plot against him and insisted on accompanying him to the airport and ensuring he got onto his flight safely, which he did. In the process that assistant was able to discover his flight number, destination and arrival time.
At his destination Garrison went to the bathroom and while he was sitting in his own stall someone else - in a room full of empty stalls - sat down right next to him. Garrison, who during these days was on high alert and who had previously been an FBI agent, decided this was more than a little fishy and decided to leave immediately. Outside the restroom he found a near army of law enforcement waiting to pounce. The entire thing had been a setup to damage him in his next run for New Orleans District Attorney based on a tip-off from his (soon to be former) assistant.
Narrowly, he had escaped it.
(These events were actually filmed for "JFK" and are included on the extended Director's Cut - but the event has been time-shifted forward so that it takes place during the Shaw Trial. I also want to note that this was the only incident in Garrison's book that even broached the subject of Homosexuality - while the Stone film was practically drowning in it, claiming that it was the key link between most of the suspects and Shaw - on this point the book and film are very, very different!)
Compare these event almost 40 years ago to the George Michael arrest in a Beverly Hills Bathroom ten years ago.
George Michael: "Well, I was followed into the restroom, and then, this cop – well, I didn't know he was a cop at the time, obviously – he started playing this game. I think it's called ‘I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you show me yours, I'm gonna nick you!'"
What has been consistent in Michael's story, is that the "officer" flashed him first, and he responded in kind.
Now, I don't know whether Craig is genuinely guilty of these accusations or not, I don't know if he's gay or not -- but I would say that what he's accused here is certainly fairly minor. Exactly what was his crime here - Footsie? Improper hand signals? Clipping?
Rather than fight the charges, or contact a lawyer he choose to do what a lot of people faced with a nuisance ticket tend to do (particularly when they have something to hide and to risk) - settle. He paid about $500 in fines and all jail time was suspended - but that doesn't mean he's literally guilty and even if he is - so what?
If this had been a heterosexual event, say in the back corner of a bar or a nightclub - would it be a matter for the police?
Why is it that David Vitter's phone number showing up in the black book of the DC madam warranted a thunderous ovation for him, but Craig get this response from the GOP before he finally resigned...
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN): "Senator Craig pled guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator. He should resign."
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): "I believe that he — that he pled guilty and he had the opportunity to plead innocent. So I think he should resign."
Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI): "However, he also represents the Republican Party, and I believe that he should step down as his conduct throughout this matter has been inappropriate for a U.S. senator."
Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN): "While additional concerns are being raised, Senator Craig already demonstrated that he is unfit to serve in the U.S. Congress when he pled guilty. I believe that he needs to step down."
Reps. Jeff Miller (R-FL), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL), Bobby Jindal (R-LA), and Ron Lewis (R-KY): [A handful of Republicans] urged Craig to step down...including Jeff Miller and Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida, Mark Souder of Indiana, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Ron Lewis of Kentucky.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has also stripped Craig of his committee leadership positions and called for a Senate ethics investigation into the affair.
It may be that the vehemence of this reaction by the GOP leaders is simply the result of scandal fatigue. A desire to simply get this one off the table as fast and quickly as possible and not let it linger into next November the way that the Foley scan hung like a black crusty cloud over the Repubs last year.
But then again maybe something else is going on...
Why do we have male cops in bathrooms enticing people like this anyway? Do we have a mad outbreak of Gay PDA's going on?
Would anyone take seriously the idea of a female cop in a female bathroom arresting girls for trying to "hook up"?
Frankly, We all know it's far more likely that surveillance footage of this would wind up on the next edition of "Girls Gone Wild", not the local court house.
And this is why, even as a devout partisan democrat, I can't be proud or happy about the loss of Senator Craig. I'm not suggesting that this was a "set-up" to trap Craig in the way that Garrison alluded to in his book, it's rather that the rank and vile hypocrisy of this process of targeting male gays in this way really should be addressed.
Look at how both Dan Abrams and Joe Scarborough laugh, while Tfucker Carlson describes being "bothered" in a bathroom and then coming back with a friend to "slam the guys head into the stall."
Tucker commits a HATE CRIME and then tries to portray himself as the victim.
Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men’s room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men’s room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.
Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That’s absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn’t angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me.
So at one point the guy was "bothering" Tucker and now that he's been called on it - it's a sexual attack? Yeah, right.
Is that what Larry Craig did, commit a sexual attack by wiping his hand on the bottom of the stall too many times? Did George Michael commit a sexual attack when an undercover cop flashed him? How about Jim Garrison?
This is a big load of BULL AND CRAP.
Yes, there are indeed genuine sexual predators out there who take advantage of the naive and the young. Case in point: MARK FOLEY! But what many, particularly those on the right seem to forget is that what was wrong with Foley wasn't that he was gay, it's that he was/is a predator.
To the right, this distinction is lost. Listen to Gen Peter Pace as he compares homosexuality to adultery.
The right-wing's atavistic terror of the gay, has not been diminished by the passage of time. I've long argued that this is largely because these people are misogynists to the core, and what the truly fear is the idea that another man just might treat them - the same way they treat women.
Shock and Awe!
What this incident shows is that this dread is as strong and virulent now as was during the late 60's, yet at the same time so many of those in the GOP are so extremely GAY. Just look at Gannon/Gucker, Andrew Sullivan, former GOP shill David Brock (now the repentant head of Media Matters) and for that matter the guy who tried to pick Brock up in a West Hollywood nightclub Matt Drudge.
I do not blame Craig for denying being gay, many gay people remain in the closet simply because they can't afford to be out due to the consequences (like Drudge or Melhman), such as those exampled by General Pace, and also the fact that many people have to come to grips with the reality of their own sexuality on their own terms and in their own due time as George Michael eventually did only after his own arrest.
Although another GOPer has bitten the dust and generally that's a good thing for Democrats, in this case it is not. With Idaho Govenor C. L. "Butch" Otter more than likely to appoint a fresh new rubber stamp to Craig's seat - we gain nothing, they lose nothing.
But if we stand up and cheer this, if we revel in taking of this scalp - just what is it that we're really cheering for, the continued hunting, vilification and criminalization of male gays?
Sorry guys, although I'm straight, I'm simply not down with this kind of naked bigotry being something that Democrats should applaud or stand for.
Vyan
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