GOP Plots to Gay-Bash Craig Out of Senate

[Leo 9]

BLOG | Posted 10/03/2007 @ 11:37am
GOP Plots to Gay-Bash Craig Out of Senate

John Nichols

Idaho Senate Larry Craig is fast becoming the inconvenient truth of Capitol Hill. The senator who first said he would resign after pleading guilty to charges related to an alleged bathroom-sex solicitation and then said he was going to try and beat the rap and stay now seems to be intent upon remaining in the Senate indefinitely.

This creates a big political problem for Senate Republican leaders. Already facing the prospect of losing as many as a half dozen seats -- in Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Virginia, Colorado and Alaska -- in a 2008 election cycle that is shaping up as their nightmare scenario, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his compatriots are terrified that Craig will extend his stay for months.

Craig's refusal to relinquish his grip on the Idaho seat creates trouble in that state, as it prevents Republican Governor Butch Otter from filling the vacancy with a Republican who would be set up to claim the seat in 2008. The longer the delay, the harder it is for Idaho Republicans -- a notoriously contentious lot -- to get their affairs in order and secure a seat that ought not be vulnerable.

But Idaho is not McConnell's biggest concern. He and his aides are more worried that the sordid stories associated with Craig, as well as his continued presence in the GOP caucus, will further erode enthusiasm among evangelical Christians and social conservatives for the party's candidates. The fear a scenario similar to the one that played out when Florida Congressman Mark Foley's page-boy scandal highlighted hypocrisy in the GOP ranks shortly before the 2006 election.

The threat faced by McConnell -- himself up for reelection in 2008 -- is real. And so to is the threat they are now preparing to direct at Craig. According to the Washington Post, McConnell is "threatening to notch up the public humiliation" in order to force the Idaho senator to quickly quit. What does that mean? Republican strategists quietly acknowledge that McConnell is talking about ginning up an open-to-the-media ethics committee inquiry with full public hearings designed to examine the many allegations regarding Craig's sexuality and sex life.

snip

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=239539

[CottonBear]

1. Don't quit Larry! Hang in there unitl the bitter end of your term!

:rofl: The restroom blow job state rep in Florida won't quit either! He's back at work too!

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Despite being literally locked out, apparently. n/t

[CottonBear]

10. I know! (He finally got in but I bet he was a bit worried.) n/t

[Leo 9]

3. Larry Craig for President

Results 1 - 10 of about 635 for "larry craig for president".

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22larry+craig+for+president%22&btnG=Search

[thereismore]

6. Yes, Larry, you have the best conservative credentials. Save your party! nt

[Leo 9]

13. Craig vows to stay in Senate despite ruling

Craig vows to stay in Senate despite ruling

By Rochelle Olson and Kevin Diaz
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Published on: 10/04/07

MINNEAPOLIS — A defiant Sen. Larry Craig vowed to stay in the U.S. Senate despite a Hennepin County District judge's ruling Thursday that his guilty plea to disorderly conduct in the Twin Cities airport restroom was accurate, voluntary and intelligent.

Craig, R-Idaho, said he is innocent and disappointed by the ruling. "I will continue to serve Idaho in the United States Senate, and there are several reasons for that," he said. "As I continued to work for Idaho over the past three weeks here in the Senate, I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively."

Craig's decision is expected to trigger an awkward standoff with Senate GOP leaders who have been pressing him for weeks to step down or face an immediate ethics investigation. And while Craig justified his decision by citing his seniority on several Senate committees, Republican leaders have already stripped him of his rank on those panels.

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign of Nevada called for Craig to honor his original agreement to resign if the judge did not reverse his guilty plea. "He gave us his word that he would resign," Ensign told reporters on Capitol Hill. "If he loves his party, and he loves the Senate, the honorable thing to do is to resign."

snip

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/10/04/CRAIGARREST.html

[tularetom]

4. From what I've heard McConnell may want to be careful

how hard he pushes such a strategy. Some details might emerge that he would want to keep quiet.

The guy who outed Craig made reference to Mc Connell (also Lindsey Graham) on a radio show (can't remember which one) about a week after the Craig episode hit the media.

[TomInTib]

8. Or maybe that's precisely why McConnell is in a hurry,

Get it all "behind" him, so to speak.

[rodeodance]

5. how utterly sick of the McConnell et al----to use gays.

[Carrieyazel]

7. This is wrong. Craig hasn't done anything that wouldn't allow him to finish up his term.

[riqster]

9. Thus always to hypocrites

Craig the gay-hater is getting what is due him in the public arena. In the Minnesota courtroom, you are correct.

[truebrit71]

12. You mean, OTHER, than pleading gulity to a criminal offense right?

...

[youthere]

11. But, he's not gay!

Remember? He kept telling us over and over that he's not gay!