OpED: Get government out of the bathroom ("makes craig look like a hypocrite"

[rodeodance]

HA HA------of a sudden its hands off?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-gillespie29aug29,0,1699515.story?coll=la-home-commentary


The GOP should abandon the culture war that makes conservative Sen. Larry Craig look like a hypocrite.

By Nick Gillespie

August 29, 2007
As we all look forward to more sputtering news conference antics from Sen. Larry Craig, here's hoping that the Idaho politician will eventually draw on traditional Republican principles and stand up for his right to engage in consensual sex in toilet stalls with men. Craig, a critic of the Patriot Act who weakened some of its worst provisions during last year's renewal vote, clearly understands the need to keep the government from snooping willy-nilly on its citizens.

At first flush, the news that the 62-year-old senior senator from the Gem State pleaded guilty Aug. 8 to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct in a Minnesota airport men's room is not simply embarrassing but humiliating -- especially to the people of Idaho, who returned him to office for the third time in 2002 with 65% of the vote. According to police reports, Craig tapped his foot near and ran his hand alongside his toilet stall divider, which the arresting officer said he recognized as a come-on for sex. After the cop, who was sitting in the adjacent stall, flashed his badge and made the arrest, Craig compounded his poor judgment by trying to invoke senatorial privilege. He handed the police officer his U.S. Senate business card and intoned, "What do you think of that?" Craig paid almost $600 in fines and fees and was sentenced to a year of probation and 10 days in a county jail (the latter was stayed).

It is easy -- because it is accurate -- to savor the rank hypocrisy of Craig's personal and public behavior. An arch-social conservative, Craig voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that barred national recognition of gay unions, and he is a strong supporter of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. It seems nothing short of pathetic that Craig, who had brushed off rumors of homosexual activity for years, would deny the option of matrimony to some of the same men from whom he supposedly sought sex in restrooms. (Craig said Monday that his actions had been misconstrued and denied engaging in any inappropriate conduct.)

But the Craig scandal also provides the Republican Party, battered into minority status in Congress after years of domestic and foreign overreach, a golden opportunity to recover its attractive minimal-government heritage, at least when it comes to using the state to police sexual behavior among consenting adults........

[PDJane]

1. So,

If a dem does it, it's a character defect. If a Rethug does it, it's a generic problem???

These folks must be really flexible, to get into these interesting poses.

[Totally Committed]

2. Even worse... it's a problem with strategy!

Stop pushing the values card, so Craig (and the other Republicans to be named eventually) won't look like hyposcrites?

Like all they have to do is stop talking about it and it won't count. Reprehensible.

TC

[baldguy]

3. The thing that made Larry Craig look like a hypocrite

Was Larry Craig.