The amazing speed with which the GOP hustled Larry Craig off the stage was pretty startling. Crooks and Liars has the video of his departure. The all-out effort to push him out stands in stark contrast not only to what happened with David Vitter but also the rash of other GOP miscreants and freaks who simply find Jesus and go on with business as usual until they are indicted.
Julia digs up this bit from 2005 which might indicate why Craig got sacked so quickly:
Barr, one of the most conservative members of Congress when he served in the House, leads an increasing group of disenchanted Republicans who have had enough of Bush’s misuse of the law and encroachment of civil liberties that are supposed to be protected by the Constitution. He has joined with fellow conservative firebrand Phyllis Schlafly and the ultra-liberal American Civil Liberties Union to fight renewal of many of the rights-robbing provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
And he’s not alone. Republican Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Larry Craig of Idaho and Olympia Snowe of Maine question Bush’s actions along with Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.
[]
Bush is also angry with Craig, a conservative who joined with Democrats in a filibuster to defeat permanent renewal of the Patriot Act. As a meeting recently, Bush referred to Craig as “a goddamned traitor” and told the National Republican Senatorial Committee to start recruiting someone to run against the Idaho Senator in 2008.
Such anger against those who dare oppose him is typical for a President who all too often launches into obscene tirades when his policies are questioned. Bush, on many occasions, has called political opponents “traitors” and, in private, refers to Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter as a “lily-livered bastard.”
Craig, however, is unfazed by all this and says the Patriot Act “doesn’t do enough to protect the civil liberties of innocent Americans.”
Dubya is the undisputed head of the party. He gets what he wants. If Ari Fleischer is running one million dollars’ worth of pro-war ads in the Pennsylvania area putting pressure on Republicans to support his pet war, it sure ain’t because he’s off the reservation.
Larry Craig thus becomes a powerful lesson to anyone in the party who might think of crossing the Boy King, be it over the war or FISA or anything else: do so at your own peril. I think all those “Republicans of conscience” that everyone was predicting we’d see in Magical September are going to be something of an endangered species.
Related posts:
- HJC Schedules “Get Democrats to Cave on PATRIOT” Hearing
- Greg Craig in Trouble – But for What?
- Leak Blames Ousted Counsel Craig for Dawn Johnsen’s Stalled Confirmation
- PATRIOT Renewal Hearing, Day One Wrap Up: Who Protects Us from the Protectors?
- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to Be Tried in NYC, al-Nashiri by Military Commission, No Mention of Abu Zubaydah; WH Counsel Craig to Resign
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Geez, let’s apply that axe to Vitter, too…
Tillman
OK, that snippet with Craig and the Patriot Act? Whoa. Just…WHOA.
buh-bye, Senator Potato Head…..
and here I thought they went after him for getting teh sex for free instead of paying for it like the rest of them
EPU’ed
Who else noticed that Lusty Larry was wearing the exact same pants he wore on Tuesday? They didn’t look like they had made a trip to the dry cleaners in the mean time.
Same belt, too.
Changed his shirt, though.
So why’d W call Craig today after he quit? The whole lot of them make me ill
Looks like they used this as the ‘last straw’ to get rid of an occaisional dissenter. Hypocrite though he is, he’s still not falling in party line. So of course, he gets the boot.
Sorely typical of this admin.
Of course, if Idaho had a Democrat in the Governor’s Mansion like Louisiana (home of Diaper Dave Vitter), he’d be safe as houses and the GOP would be defending him tooth and nail.
Well, deep down you knew all along it wasn’t really about sex. They’ve tolerated and covered up all kinds of aberrant behavior among their members for forever, as long as they were good little Rethugs. This makes a lot more sense…
Maggie @ 6
Both Larry and his pants seem to have great trouble getting off.
aliasofwestgate @ 8
And especially since they can guarantee a “better” republican replacement, why not toss him overboard?
But I think it does make it very, very, clear that Diaper Dave stays where he does because of politics and not sex. I think we should push on this a bit, somehow.
preznit giv me turkee @ 5
You’re right, that does make him a bit of a communist.
This is a story of Johnny Rotten,
Gone but not forgotten…
oh jeebus -
Larry and his pants seem to have great trouble getting off.
Oh somebody get Glenn Greenwald on the horn.
I just found the Cinnamon Life we bought at the grocery store and then couldn’t remember where we put.
It’s all over now.
Well, I think any GOP-er who has any skeletons in his closet is going to be extremely careful from now on. “One step out of line and we will throw you under the bus.” As long as they are loyal and toe Bush’s line, they are safe as houses. One step away and they are done. Simple enough.
peanutbutter @ 3
Sure does put things in a different perspective.
DING! DING! DING!
That’s the real reason he’s being booted, the arrest and guilty plea are just the excuse. This also explains why the arrest was kept quiet until the day it was needed, when Gonzo resigned. And what shiny object has the media been following all week, rather than examine the meltdown at the DOJ?
This smells like Rove from top to bottom. (Eww, sorry. Didn’t mean to gross out anyone.)
I expect and ask nothing of the Republicans. The same is not true for my party. There are some in my party I do not trust.
peanutbutter @ 12
There’s also the factor of party discipline in this. The Democrats aren’t half as ruthless, and we can see that plainly the way the votes split so much along caucus lines.
Both points really need to find some airplay and even over to the congress critters offices. If we can’t find a way to agree to disagree and get things passed regardless in our own party, this cutthroat discipline on the Repug side is going to take over framing and we’ll lose out badly in congress seats. Not a good thing, for what we need to do to rebuild.
Saw some speculation early on that perhaps a staffer of a Rep with an eye on the senate tipped off the Hill on the arrest.
After reading this, I’m convinced that tip came from much higher up. Rove, anybody?
I know whatcha mean, Kirk; getting your pants off can take from Tuesday to Saturday sometimes. Maybe he put Cinnamon Life in the pockets to freshen ‘em up…
Maggie @ 23
So THAT’S where Glenn put them.
Toby Wollin @ 17
Between the closet and the boardroom (routinely criminal business deals), isn’t that pretty much all the elected goopers?
[except for the independently wealthy celibates
and the indepedently wealthy neuters, I suppose]
A coincidence that the Craig resignation was announced on the Saturday of a long weekend holiday?
You know, it’s astounding that Phyllis Schlafly hasn’t vaporized from her own wretched sarin gas type fuming. She is a quite horrible person who would make a decent villain in a James Bond movie. As to her access to reality, she has her own dimension of thte DSM-IV.
CocoaBeach @ 7
LItle Boots (in best Marlon Brando voice): “here’s the offah ya can’t refuse…You must respect me as your Godfathah! Instead you disrespect me and cast your lot with the Barzinicrats!”
Maggie @ 23
sure gives “fluff-and-fold” a new meaning….
Is there a lawyer here who can tell us of a criminal statute Vitter — as best we know — has violated. And for which violation, he can and should be prosecuted.
Craig, after all, is guilty of a (minor) crime.
As I see it, Vitter very likely could be gotten for a felony.
yellowdogD @ 22
You know there is the hypocrisy and doubtless Craig deserved a certain amount of ridicule.
But to lose his job over an infraction that is as far as I’m concerned about on the same level as a parking ticket – there certainly seems to be some manipulation going on. Rovian, if not Rove himself.
And clearly a lesson to any Republicans who are tempted to break party discipline.
Jane,
So, who dropped the dime on Craig? Who tipped John McArdle at Roll Call to Craig’s arrest and plea? (McArdle has stated that he only learned of it because someone provided a tip.)
I’m thinking that it was someone with exceptional access to non-public information, a political ratfucker who can nurse a grudge like no-one else, and “issues” re: closeted gay men.
Guess who?
Seems like someone(s) at the RNC is in a sorry situation with regard to the missing emails and knowing that the Bush admin was using its system instead of the official WH site for official business. I wonder if there is someone being yanked around? Why don’t we hear anything about this?
SYDNEY (AFP) – A massive steel and concrete wall was being erected around Australia’s largest city on Saturday as Sydney stepped up its preparations for the APEC summit with an unprecedented show of security.
Australia has taken unprecedented security measures to ensure the safety of the 21 world leaders, who include US President George W. Bush, China’s Hu Jintao and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, while they take part in the annual APEC meeting.
…police are taking no chances as they aim to avoid the violent demonstrations seen in Melbourne during the World Economic Forum in 2000 and last November’s G20 economic leaders meeting.
CocoaBeach @ 7
W misses Jeff Gannon?
OKK — link, please.
Peterr @ 36
http://www.afp.com/english/new…..n81b0.html
Lots of speculation on who phoned in the tip to Roll Call. I’m going to disagree with the grand conspiracy theories here. I think it was probably someone in the Minnesota justice system who realized that this gossip was just too juicy to not pass on.
kirk murphy @ 35
I was going to go with an offer of an overnight stay in the Lincoln Bathroom.
kirk murphy @ 35
No, it was the in yer face FOAD call. “You crossed me and look what happened, heh, heh, heh,” kinda call. On the surface it sounded very polite, but the subtext was humiliation.
kirk murphy @ 35
If one digs into the Franklin scandal, one is given reason to believe both shrub and poppy have been in the arena of illegal sex (i.e., sex involving children of both genders).
not a lawyer, but isn’t hiring a prostitute is illegal except in Nevada?
I think what saves Vitter’s bacon is that the DC madam hasn’t been convicted yet. If she gets convicted, I think it resurrects Vitter’s behavior.
Reminding people that hiring prostitutes is usually illegal would help put this in context, since the R’s are saying that he pled guilty to a crime. Had Vitter been caught in real time, he would likely have been charged with a crime. Let’s remember that.
Frank Probst @ 38
I’d agree with you IF this had been leaked closer to the arrest or plea. Someone sat on it for almost 3 weeks. It was in Roll Call the day Gonzo resigned, and then the details stretched out over several days. First the wacky statement, then the arrest details, then the audio of the interview. No, this was orchestrated. And done very well, I might add.
What is cinnamon life? Google tells me it’s a cereal and a book.
TheOtherWA @ 44
Bingo, for me.
Well at least bush will take down the whole stinking lot of them when he goes.
The article mentions Spector as one of the ones who dare confront bush.
That is TOTAL bullshit. I gave up long ago with his righteous indignation, when he did nothing to correct the abuses of this administration. All talk and no action.
It’s encouraging to see repukes cannibalize each other after backing themselves into a corner.
Good riddance.
I think Vitter has statute of limitations on his side. Can’t remember who said it, but someone trusted here at FDL.
Found this on Buzzflash, Touchtoe Larry calling Bill Clinton, “a nasty, naughty, boy.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lvMYgIAAkk
Karma comes back big time:-D
The White House has been pretending that up is down since 2001. The media won’t call them on it so it is probably time that we do. Phone calls help to representatives but not in deep red states, so we need to be more creative. It’s time for somebody to laugh at the media and say I can’t believe your buying this same old sh*t again.
Peterr @ 36
Peterr, for detailed coverage from local activists, the Sydney Indymedia site will be great.
Wilsons’s almanac looks pretty good, too!
[the first indymedia site - Seattle - was created for the ‘99 WTO protests there.
since then indymedia has grown into a global progressive DIY news and info network…
with good mods, much of the content is still useful! woo-hoo!]
peanutbutter @ 3
He did speak out against it, originally, and voted against the extension.
I was a member of a local coalition that came together to try to get it repealed. And we wrote letters to the editor telling them of Craig’s position on it to try to explain to people that it wasn’t a partisan issue but rather a civil rights issue.
The vote and issue didn’t hurt him in any way – I don’t think – because the Libertarian types in Idaho – and the West – see the Patriot Act and the horrible FISA revision as the government intruding into peoples lives – which they do
APEC is a conspiracy.
Wonder of there will be any NAFTA-CAFTA, WTO, Caryle Group, DLC and other unsavory types slithering about at APEC?
I disagree with citizen above.
I think hammering on the Craig wedge is a very effective tool to splinter the GOP with the potential to suppress wingnut turnout.
That helps dems.
It ain’t pretty, but exposing the rank hypocrisy really is vital.
Plus, you better believe that in reverse circumstances, they wouldn’t hold back.
Sure, other issues are more important, but there are lots of components to battling them, which, in my view, includes shaking up the GOP center of gravity.
Note, Bushie boy is a vindictive SOB and is having his own schadenfreude. Count on it.
OT, just wondering how low interest rates will go and if it’s time to get set on a refinance or line of credit…
BBC
OKK at 54
IMO, there needs to be a revolution.
I’m not an historian, but from what I’ve read, I believe a revolution needs (a) a central idea, and (b) a leader.
Is there any evidence of these Beloved Leader’s “L’etat c’est moi!” outbursts that goes beyond the level of hearsay? I mean, something that will finally convince the country that he and his crime syndicate present a far greater threat to the country than terrorists ever could? (Face it, terrorists can only kill Americans. These thugs are hell-bent on destroying America itself.)
Oklahoma kiddo @ 37
Looking at the picture of the workers erecting that wall/fence, it makes me think of the “walk-through” zoo, that are designed to be more animal friendly.
I can hear the park ranger’s voice now: Here we are at the APEC enclosure, where you will soon be able to see world leaders in their natural environment. They are extremely skittish of appearing in public, or engaging directly with ordinary people, because of their fear of predators. Sadly, given what some of them have done, this fear is not entirely unfounded.
Frank Probst @ 38
i agree. craig said he hadn’t told anyone including staff and family about the arrest so it would most likely have to have been someone in minnesota.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 54
As the transnationals created the WTO and NAFTA-CAFTA in order to impose corporate rule over local and national law, rest assured the will be represented in both “leaders” retinue.
The transnationals are the masters – the money party (GOP/DLC in the US; Howard in Australia) are their hired help.
Bush and Howard are the front men, though Shrub got off message when he found messiah.
The masters will be observing the help, discreetly.
Jonathan
Think revolution? Think detention camps. It is just what they’re waiting for. Might want to rethink the parameters of that revolution thing.
Craig vs. Vitter.
Jane, is it possible that Bush put out the word to his party operatives to dig up dirt on Craig, and that this is how this weeks-old case entered the public limelight? The timing of the outing of this seems odd to me, both the time distance between the actual event and when it hit the newsstands, and the timing of right before Labor Day weekend and the return of Congress to Capitol Hill. How did this case actually get into the newspapers?
They (the GOP) got Craig out because they knew they could. They just reminded him of the couple of strikes he had against him.
But, Vitter, who they think they’re ‘safe‘ with is going to be yet another embarrassment further on down the road.
The media needs to get on and stay on Vitter.
e.c. @ 59
My guess is that the White House knew shortly after if happened.
Next week would be excellent timing for Larry Flint to drop the dime on another Republican family values hypocrite or several. BAM BAM BAM. Keep punching them as they stagger.
There are few things more disdainful than a sanctimonious, lying hypocrite a/k/a republican.
Maggie @ 62
What I have in mind, vaguely, is not the sort of chaos and bloodshed at the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention.
Rather, a tidal wave that sweeps all before it.
Bush has contempt for the American people.
But I think tyrants like him quietly fear the people.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:29 pm
aliasofwestgate at 21 says:
Yeah, but I don’t think Democrats have enough if any party discipline, party loyalty, or unity of purpose. At least some degree of all of those needs to be, or a party doesn’t really exist. That’s why they’ve been acting like wet cats trying to get away from the water!
But then, of course, how to get there from here? Which brings me to another point: Any bets someone is blackmailing Hagel bigtime? I saw his brother on TV a few months ago talking about the fact that he thought his brother had made up his mind to run based on a phone conversation they had (this was right after the press conference that didn’t really materialize in the way it seemingly should have.) Very little has been heard from Hagel since. Seems mysteriously quiet to me.
“Republicans of conscience” ceased to exist when all Republicans sold their souls to the Bush family.
Bush has contempt for the American people.
But I think tyrants like him quietly fear the people
ABSOLUTELY!!!
helloooo firepups…..sooooo anything new ;o}? hehehehehe…ole wide-stance bit the dust huh….ok vitter -your move is next….
Badwater @ 69
Republicans haven’t had any conscience since Barry Goldwater.
hear hear hackworth!
One of the chief challenges for folks at FDL, in my opinion, is to figure out how to reach out to all the nameless and faceless Americans who are trying to get by and who think all their problems are caused by intellectual elites.
Maggie @ 55
Yes! Use the Craig’s stall / Sen. McConnell’s nellie/ Rep. McHenry’s rough trade ‘n “sleepover” frictions to divide the Goopers’ social networks.
Setting them fighting among one another in gooperland drains resources they’d use to fight us here in the Republic.
Hurt their morale, divert their energy, divide their support networks, remove their leaders.
AND keep focused on tyranny at home, Imperial War in Iraq, and Cheney’s need to bring human civilization to the same ruinous condition he’s brought upon his own flesh.
We’re the Lake. We can do it.
Just know, I’m havig a great time kicking larry’s political corpse around the blogosphere. I could do it each mionute for a week and still not equal the number of forest groves Senator Potato Head laid waste.
Hope he kneels the rest of his sorry life on a desolate clear-cut floor in high summer. At noon.
Nice to see a real eco-criminal go down.
juslin @ 71
Looks like old Craig couldn’t go the distance.
TheOtherWA @ 40
As is Bush’s custom!
Let’s put the blame exactly on the right shoulders: IDAHO voters. They elected this sanctimonious prig for 18 YEARS! He was their kinda guy, and he did their bidding. Larry Craig = Idaho.
juslin @ 71
The important element is that Idaho’s republican governor will appoint another republican hypocrite and all is well. Craig was expendable. He stepped out on a limb. Its expedient to cast him aside. He is no longer useful to the thugs.
Because the democratic governor of LA would appoint a democrat, they’re glued to Vitter. They must be tied to Vitter and his diaper antics in the school of public opinion.
Why was a diaper so funny when the astronaut lady was purported to be wearing one? It should be funnier for Vitter. Let’s all yuck it up.
I’m with hack, I hope another hypocrite trump card floats onto the table early next week and staggers them, again.
How about Huckleberry Graham?
Hatch? Specter?
next stop for craig – off to de-gaying camp where foley is stashed….hehehehe but first the “stalls must be widened…..ok i’m having a tad too much fun with this!
RockPaperScizzors @ 48
amazing how much it resembles this one, http://youtube.com/watch?v=QvRH-8eF6l0 about 7.30 in.
first a spanking….and then the oral sex
juslin @ 81
lol, that’s a real d*ck slapper.
and speaking of vitter – La dems are strangely quiet….whats up with THAT? or does rep jefferson have something to do with dems silence? just wondering…..
Jonathan @ 57
Jonathan – here’s a central idea. The rulers of the US empire are the most ruthless, violent rulers in the history of our planet.
Physical aggression plays to their main strength – and they are in a defensive, entrenched position.
We stopped the WTO – global corporate rule – with 60,000 people over just two days.
The only thing the protesters broke was windows (and only a handful). That didn’t help, by the way.
We’ll defeat these war criminals in the national and international courts, in the impeachements to come, and in non-violent mass action to protect American values and the Constitution.
Maggie @ 42
Also, if he’d been caught with his pants down, so to speak. As far as I know, so far they only have the fact that a prostitute had his phone number in her book, and that phone records may show that they had been in phone contact. I don’t think they have enough to officially charge him with any crime yet, and I don’t know how old the phone records are, but I really doubt they’ll ever have legal charges against Vitter, or they’d have arrested him already.
Badwater @ 69
I think that’s called an oxymoron
Kirk Murphy,
As I think I understand, you’re an M.D. psychiatrist.
Question: If a smart young man discovers that he’s gay and learns that by being weak he’ll get fucked over, might he not seek power at any cost to his soul?
Craig’s voting record looks pretty standard republican except for the patriot act (hard to type that with a straight face) and drilling in Alaska. Course that would piss Cheney off big-time!
Craig is ushered off the scene and the Idaho Republican Party installs another right wing nut and the electorate in Idaho reelects the nut in 2008. If the “sacred” electorate weren’t so brain dead perhaps things could change but with a dumbed down public fascism marches on.
Veritas78 @ 79
Well in that case you would blame people like me for Darrell Issa…
the next to fall? Rep Patrick McHenry
http://downwithtyranny.blogspo…..te-to.html
Kirk at 86
In terms of a central idea, I was thinking of something simple, like the 1960s anthem, “Power to the People.”
kirk@85
9/15 demonstration is a beginning of a long process to stem the corrupt tide of bushco…rep conyers said impeachment is NOT off his table….
Calling Larry Flynt.
So what thoughts went through Miss McConnell’s dizzy little head while she was busy tut-tutting this week?
Was it “No tea rooms this weekend? Oh, dear!” or “Larry, Larry, Long Tall Larry! Well, we’ll always have Fargo!!”
Jonathan @ 89
I believe smart people make all manner of “ethicsectomies” in order to satisfy power – or stay in power.
Jeebus, that’s what the “medical directors” who deny your health coverage have chosen to do – they sold their consciences to Big Insurance for a nice fat salary.
hadn’t thought about the Eco-criminal Side of Lusty Larry, Kirk. Good point!
Could someone please write this on a postcard and send it to Specter? Might make his think twice before weaseling back to vote in Bush’s favor on every issue.
In this case, however, Bush is a good judge of character
Seems like if he apologized, he’s guilty:
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) apologized last night after his telephone number appeared in the phone records of the woman dubbed the “D.C. Madam,” making him the first member of Congress to become ensnared in the high-profile case.
The statement containing Vitter’s apology said his telephone number was included on phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates dating from before he ran for the Senate in 2004.
“This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible,” Vitter, 46, said in a statement, which his spokesman, Joel DiGrado, confirmed to the Associated Press.
OT – Cinnamon Life Greenwald is kicking arse and listing names on cspan 2.
Jonathan @ 56
Revolution! Hell, I’d settle for a coup d’état at this point!
New Thread…
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..n/#respond
Who actually thinks the American electorate, dumbed down and more knowledgable about Brittany Spears, Oprah and reality tv than issues that actually effect their quality of life, have the wisdom to throw off the conservative ideology that will ultimately usher in fascism and the ultimate demise of the republic. It would seem that many if not most Americans have abandoned the notion of a free people and now just want to feel protected by an overlord in a hostile world.
Ann in AZ @ 102
Russian troops, barefoot, poorly led and ill armed, returning from the debacle of WWI turned their weapons on the ruling elites and ushered in the Russian Revolution
Jonathan @ 67
So you’re looking for the French Revolution, replete with pitchforks and lanterns!
OK, guess we’ll have to make that the Russian Revolution, then. Just tell me where to show up!
Jonathan @ 94
Jonathan, I apologize for my harsh tone.
But over the course of more than a decade helping eco-activists, I’ve seen the threshold required to criminalize non-violent dissent steadily lowered…to sub-zero.
Today the SHAC 7 (seven animal protection activists) sit in Federal prison, convicted in Federal Court of criminal acts simply for speech on their website.
Calling for “revolution” seems to call for the overthrow of the US Government.
I would not choose to call for either in a public manner at this time – I certainly would not use another’s premises to issue such a call.
But for mass protests and power to the people, I’m all ears! Good on ‘ya!
And very glad to see a schedule of mass protest coming together for the coming months.
I’m hoping fdl will form affinity groups for mass demos – if so, I hope I’ll have the pleasure of seeing you there!
I have absolutely no evidence of a Minnesota connection in delivering this tip to Roll Call, but a few details…
The decision to try and eliminate the crusing zone in the men’s bathroom at the Airport is not really new. After 9/11 the new security wall through which only employees and ticketed passengers can go, cut this particular bathroom off from the “outside” world. It was long a cruse area, long before 9/11, and many of the younger men doing tricks there for money were essentially cut out of the game. Some found ways through the security screen, got caught, and this went to the attention of the Joint Terrorism Taskforce in MN on which then Hennepin County District Attorney, Amy Klobuchar served. She is, since last January, Minnesota Senator. Once Craig did his plea, the court record was public if one knew where to look, and one can well imagine any number of ways old staff in the Prosecutors office and new staff in the Senate Office could trade gossip on something like this, post sentencing. It might not even be a lawyer on staff — any clerk could have looked it up.
The irony of it is that this “program” of conducting stings in that particular men’s bathroom has been going on for perhaps three years. The Hennepin County Courts make a decent living on it, given that most plead guilty — there were 41 arrests in the second quarter of 07, which if Craig’s fine and court costs are any indication, would have brought in about 250,000.00. But the origin of the program of doing the stings rests with the Department of Transportation and Homeland Security, who apparently pushed it initially because of the identity of the unauthorized persons caught getting through the security system. (trying to access their workplace so to speak.) So, ironically, one of the planners of the sting was, for the past 8 months, just sitting across the aisle from Craig on the floor of the Senate.
Should Craig try to get his plea thrown out, and get a trial, the new Hennepin County Prosecutor with whom he will deal, is Mike Freeman, son of Orville Freeman, former Governor and Sec. of Agriculture in the Kennedy-Johnson Administration. Mike was County Attorney before Amy — he didn’t run for re-election in 2000 as he ran then for the Senate Seat Mark Dayton won, and which Amy won by 20 points last fall. Any Jury would be drawn from a county that votes a little over 70% for DFL’ers.
The local paper didn’t run the names of any of the recent arrestees, but it did note employment, and quite a few were fairly high level businessmen, etc. Craig fit right into the mix.
ccmask @ 95
Calling Larry Flynt.
I’m seriously starting to think that Larry’s bluffing and laughing – again.
The DC Madam interview wrt Larry Craig:
TO 104, You certainly explain some of why the folks have been so passive in the face of this onslaught of lies and evil and loss of freedoms…like we’ve been sleeping through the whole thing. Frankly, I do think I stayed in shock for a long time after the 2000 election. I became truly depressed the day the Supremes stopped the vote count; followed by days of seeing the election be stolen. Alot of people racted much the same way after 9/11, and W have stirred that fear at every point.
An aside…hearing the Bush rant, really wanting to go after Doofus Craig, almost makes me sympathetic for the guy. We should all know by now that W is capable of anything. Ive always wanted Colin Powell to tell his story after he was used and promoted to help get W elected, then humiliated and disregarded.
jayt @ 109
I’m seriously starting to think that Larry’s bluffing and laughing – again.
Or, cross our fingers he is waiting until October 2008.
A couple of weeks ago I was so enthusiastic about the parallels I was finding in what Thomas Paine had to say about the politics in the U.S., England, and France circa 1775 to 1805 that I got the idea of typing quotes from “The Rights of Man” into the comments here at FDL. So, I said something like “am going to begin an occasional series”, hoping to achieve a tone of “droll pseudo-academic”; I think I only got to “pompous arrogance”, though.
For some reason, that phrase I wrote came back to me today, and I’d like to say, “Sorry” to the proprietors and readers here at FDL, as I expect that that must have rubbed some people the wrong way — it certainly rubs me the wrong way today.
I have a hard time doing “funny”. Probably I’d better stop typing if I feel that I’m even attempting it.
Bush, though, does seem like someone Paine would recognize as an ‘absolute monarch’ and certainly would only have envisioned as a President of his beloved United States in his worst nightmares.
It was So Much FUN to be there ! I have some pics & stuff from ” Craig Resigns ” at my blog today. My favorite is the one showing Lusty Larry shoving a camera-man with HIS OWN microphone !
another question is, why did Craig use this particular restroom? chances are good he has membership in at least one frequent flyer program and hence access to the private lounges with fancier digs
ELITE BITCHY QUEENS
They are all over Washington DC. Larry Craig was in the club. The crazy part of this story is the analysis of the talking heads. I believe they’re way off the mark. Larry Craig isn’t ashamed of being gay. He is greedy, he is evil and most likely diagnosable as a psychopath. He loved being part of the club. All the perks… travel, great salary, pension, best health care plan on the planet, access to the pages. It’s such a long list, there’s not enough time in the day to go through it. These guys don’t mind throwing people under the bus for their own personal gain. In fact, I would imagine they enjoyed it. Craig’s voting record is just one example of this. He’s a bad, bad, nasty, naughty boy. How disgusting where those words coming out of his mouth about Bill Clinton. What the fuck man. Really, you couldn’t write this stuff. This is crazy shit. Larry Craig didn’t give a flying fuck about the family values crowd period the end. In order for these crazy assholes to get the keys to the white house front door, they had to throw red meat to the 23%ers to get them into their voting block. And throw it they did. Clearly, without the family values crowd there was no access for them. They are PREDATORS, the worse of the worst. Rat Bastards.
Ann in AZ @ 106
The Russian Revolution took 22 years to finally achieve what the Bolsheviks intended and even after that it devolved into tyranny and murder.
However, one of the main ingredients of the revolution that celebrates its 90th year in November, was a solidarity betw soldiers who were dying at the front and the workers in the cities, mainly Saint-Petersburg (Petrograd at the time) and Moscow. Even in the countryside the peasants were still slow to come to the revolution although as food became scarcer and they became more deprived, they joined in.
Do we know where the soldiers come down in this instance? The government is providing local police departments with robots to be used in cases of civil disorder; there are unmanned drones available a la the Israeli Defense Forces which can scan urban populations and direct armed unmanned vehicles to points of rebellion.
Lastly, the good old right-wing is using that wonderful divide and conquer routine which worked so well in keeping whie and Black workers from common goals and is now criminalizing immigrants and making them appear as the bogeyman in this dying economy by framing them as competitoes for American jobs.
When is the last time an American worker applied for a job that requires cleaning out grease traps unless he was just released from prison or he was a high school minimum wage earner?
Re: the whiff of Rovianism…..
Maybe.
But what if it was Fast Eddie G’s first real test?
.
http://maruthecrankpot.blogspot.com/
On Link above:
Here is how (that lovely man) Tom Delay interprets the Craig message on Hardball. He says this shows how the DEMOCRATS have no character.
DELAY: No, Chris, I think it has to do with the lack of character in the Democrat Party. Character is shown by how you handle these situations.
Just go read the rest.
And why does anyone still have him on TV?
ccmask @ 112
I thought maybe this was the 2nd name from Larry Flynt’s list and that he decided to leak the names slowly instead of all at once. Vitter having been the first.
Oh now our frops are soooo sorry. Look at this article: http://www.politico.com/news/s…../5602.html Politico says they have a new strategy. It’s to actually hold the incompetent lawbreakers among them accountable. Uh huh. There would be how many left? Zero.
And they are indignant over Craig. Indignation from Fox Republican officials and politicians (frops)? You MUST be kidding me. What about the illegal warrantless spying? What about the illegal politicization of the Justice Department, with our lying purging personal lawyer to Bush and now ex-Attorney General? What about the TORTURE! For heavens sake, if somebody told me I’d be writing about rampant torture condoned by our President 7 years ago I’d have told them they must be on crack. What about the lies to goad us into needless wars? Now our President is stuck on Iran – only problem is that way more foreign fighters caught in Iraq, to the tune of 50%, are from Saudi Arabia. It’s the wrong country once again for our incompetent crooked frops.
So you tell me the frops are indignant over an attempted bl*wj*b. Again. I tell you they haven’t learned a thing. They haven’t learned a single thing. They are hopeless. The sooner we can vote all of them out the better.
~~~ModNote: Edited for content to clear filters.~~~
kirk murphy @ 107
Perhaps however, this is the precise reason for calling for such a revolution. It was written by our forefathers that if we (the people) felt our government is no longer representing us, or become a danger to us, it is our duty to overthrow it and reinstate a new government as we see fit.
I forget the actual quote, so forgive me for that. However restricting our rights in the manner you’ve mentioned (plus the manner in which everyone else is just starting to notice) and a myriad of other human, political and foreign rights being trampled on….
Its time.
Anok @ 122
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
preznit giv me turkee @ 115
Perhaps because someone who had access to the frequent flyer lounge is someone Craig might have to sit next to and acknowledge socially?
I found it odd that bush called him. Is it bush the sociopath? Was it a godfather moment? Here the guy is stampeded out of the senate for committing, as mitch mcconnell put an ‘unforgivable’ lapse in judgment/decorum, and the president of the United States pats him on the back and twists the daggar…There must be some posterior motive for bush to interrupt his vacation to offer a condolence to disgrace.
julia @ 124
Craig said to the cop that he came through that hub weekly. He apparently consulted, of all things, ‘Craig’s List’, for hot cruising sites.
This bathroom cruising thing is pretty ‘old school’…the creepy peeking through the crack in the stall really shows how pathetically self destructive he is. What if say, tucker carlson or some testosteroid wwf wrestler had been in that stall instead?
Wow! Never occurred to me Craig’s forced resignation might’ve been engineered by the White House. Fascinating. Can’t think of anything else to add to that. Would like to hear more.
Sara @ #108 seems well informed, and IMO nailed it.
There is a Mc’Donalds (known for years, as a notorious cruising spot) right off of my nearest parkway exit.
It is CONSTANTLY checked for lewd behavior because of complaints about creepy activity.
I don’t cruise for sex in bathrooms, and yet, even I know about how prevalent it is there.
I guess my point is, there are KNOWN places to pick someone up. It’s not as random as the good senator would like you to believe.
It’s simply unbelievable to think that “entrapment” would be floated on this one. He was looking for sex, and he got caught. The actual sex act has nothing to do with actively seeking it in a public place like an AIRPORT ! What an idiot.
TheOtherWA @ 19
They could’ve ‘Wellstoned’ him, he ought to be thankful. Could it be this is the reason the Dems are so afraid? Or maybe ‘everyone’ is afraid of ‘these guys’ today.
Jane, I’m really, really curious who tipped off Roll Call and why they chose that media outlet.
Wow, I finally get a major tactic in the Republican playbook:
Keep your eyes open for damning revelations on “friends”, then use this damning information to cut those friends’ throats with it. I bet Bush knew about Craig’s gay-ish-ness for years and saved that juicy little bit of info for the day that Craig crossed him. Is THAT a major way BushCo has been keeping Con-gress in charge? Through blackmail?!
[Mod Note: Edited by Mod for length. To help keep the FDL servers running smoothly and to avoid any copyright issues, please do not post entire articles — include a link instead. Thank you.]
Brilliant comment on how critical it is that MEN be protected from unwanted sexual advances.
Esquivalience
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
On playing footsie with cops
Or, “But My Entire World is Like an Airport Men’s Room in Minneapolis!”
I have several reactions to the soon-to-be-ex-Senator Craig “scandal”:
(1) I don’t like my news pre-Onionized for me. Really, I find it surreal and disconcerting to have senators talking about the width of their bathroom stances. Is it too much to ask for a sliver of a partition between news and satire?
[MOD snip; Linky]
newtonusr @ 123
Thank you! It was late when I posted, and I had a headache. LOL!
desertwind @ 130
Good point…it wouldn’t be my first, second or tenth choice of a leak.
It sounds like someone within the beltway. Roll Call is the Insiders gossip rag for those INSIDE the Beltway. It’s not even the WashPo or WashMoon in terms of having some external content.
My theory…Craig tried calling someone with the Republican Minnesota Congressional Delegation to “fix things” with a misdemeanor that happened at the Minneapolis Airport. Either that person, or someone on their staff…or the staff of someone THEY called in the Minnesoata Governor’s office got curious about what the crime was…pulled the court documents and said “Whooooooeeeee!”
Then they called “Roll Call”
Just to close the gate, it appeared in an Idaho newspaper first, was picked up by those tentacled by MSM to monitor said papers. Why it ‘came out’almost 6 meeks after the fact is a mystery.
I agree with the law enforcement assessment that this does not fall into any ‘gay’ catagory, but falls into ‘perversion’ catagory since it was a public restroom and a total stranger: it is the risk, novelty, and danger that is the motivator here. There is also an old-boy mentality: “I have the right to use someone else because they are lesser than I”.
I thought the taped interview only showed how pathetic a men the senator was. The explanations were so implausible. The details he spoke of so ridiculous and just weird.
WHen I was young, back in the 70’s, this sort of propositioning and weird perverse encounter thing happened to me whenever I went somewhere alone. Understand perversion- it is a strange compulsion of some (usually old) men involving stalking, ploys to gain domination of the victim’s attention, ritualistic movements, talk, or gestures. Bingo here.
I just hope the security officer isn’t disrespected further through all this.
When mothers travel with their children, they want to know that their kids can use the public restroom without some lude experience to tarnish the entire adventure they planned for the kids in the first place.
It’s truly shameful how the Rightwing is spinning this, since they seem to tolerate pedophilia and prostitution otherwise. Huh.
How about this theory
The top person at Norm Coleman’s Minnesota office was previously the head of the Metropolitan Airport Commission which oversees the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. She found out about this and the arrest, etc. slowly but surely made its way to Roll Call.
Remember – Coleman was one of the first senators to call for Craig’s resignation.
well, at least Coleman was useful for something.