Open thread: Craig news conference - 'I'm not gay and never have been gay'

I hope he takes his cues from

say, Jim McGreevey or (eventually) Pete Rose, rather than, say, Bob Allen or Gary Hart.  That is, I hope he goes for integrity and honesty no matter how painful.  If he can stand the pain, he could choose to be a role model for human salvation.  That's my hope, but my prediction is that some form and degree of weaselty will be on display.  The pathology of the closet tends to not be very easy to shake off.

It's also very remotely possible that the train station, airport, etc. etc. etc. have all been a series of misunderstandings.

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by: KC @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 14:45:46 PM CDT

2 and 3

2) resign, 3) say he's heading to the nearest ex-gay or booze rehab facility/say he's found Jesus

I just went to  www.redstate.com to check out their take, and they are pissed.  Several of commentors were still in denial, but the consensus is that he is no longer fit to be labeled a republican.  How fucking hilarious is that?  haha hahah haha haha

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by: dstavro @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 14:47:02 PM CDT

Craig will deny deny

Larry Craig will deny each and every detail, that is his m.o. He is just like these serial killers who can go on a murder spree and then sit down and eat a Big Mac. He is totally psycho and scary with his ability to completely bock out his memory of any behaviors or consequences. I would not want to be alone in a room with someone who can literally blot out reality and deny something right after they do it. That is insane.

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by: Ralph4159 @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 14:50:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

He could be

a Log Cabin Republican, couldn't he?

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by: Jami @ Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 09:12:47 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

However...

Does anyone else think that the base would support him if this was a Vitter type situation and didn't involve teh gay?  I'm seriously getting the feeling that this isn't a matter of thinking that he is a hypocrite but more a matter of being a gay hypocrite.  Homophobia striking yet again.

My America includes LGBT families.

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by: Mena @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 14:51:55 PM CDT

For sure, Mena

They've turned on Craig only because he's gay.

"Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain" -- Iowa state motto

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by: Sportin' Life @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:10:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oh yeah Mena

I totally agree. The list of exposed straight hypocrites-in-sex still basking in conservative love is long indeed.  As far as I know, there is still a warm fondness in the GOP and at Faux News for Newt "I was cheating on my wife while stoking the flames of Lewinsky-gate" Gingrich.

Electricity's for light bulbs!

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by: n8nyc @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:11:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Based on past behavior

I would guess that he is going to take a defiant (and wide) stance, insisting that despite the decades of rumors and speculation he is a practicing heterosexual.  It was all just a misunderstanding, don't you know?  A misunderstanding, and/or a set up.

I look forward to hearing new excuses. 

"I did put my hand under the partition, but I wasn't making a sexual gesture.  I  just wanted to attract the attention of the occupant of that stall and ask him if it were safe to leave, or if there were any stocky black men hanging around the airport."

"I saw a bug crawling on the other gentleman's shoe, so I put my foot under the partition and stepped on that bug."

"I was peering through the crack of the door because the person seemed to be of Middle Eastern descent - That's also why I was caressing his foot.  I wanted to ascertain if he had a bomb hidden in his shoe."

"I was recently the victim of identity theft.  That wasn't me at the airport at all."

"There was a tune I just couldn't get out of my head.  Unfortunately it was hip-hop artist Deadlee's "Suck Mah Gun".

The last thing I expect to hear:

"Hell yes, I'm gay.  So fucking what?" 

 

 

 

 

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by: Paul In SF @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 15:12:02 PM CDT

Vitter

The right is screaming for his head because another, possibly dumber, Republican will be put in his place.  Vitter's replacement would have been a Dem.  Simple.

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by: blogenfreude @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 15:29:13 PM CDT

How about?

"I am completely heterosexual. Give me money, so I can get reelected and then you'll go to heaven," a la Ted Haggard.

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by: emily2 @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 15:39:29 PM CDT

"I am not gay. I have never been gay!"

He told the reporters at the news conference.  He then went on to say "I regret how I handled the situation.  I know that it brought a cloud over Idaho."

Yes, Senator.  We know those clouds.  Once they start gathering, you know that a storm is going to follow.  One in which it is "Raining men".

Sad little man. 

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by: Paul In SF @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 15:56:08 PM CDT

Craig is not Gay... Craig is a Pervert

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by: RogernDC @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 22:33:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Needs a better speech writer

The first line of his statement was "Thanks to all of you for coming out."

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by: Paul In SF @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 16:02:04 PM CDT

It's his unconscious

He's leaking.

Think of it as psychological pre-cum. 

 

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:14:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

What?

I just watched his news conference.

Who in their right mind would ever plead guilty to a charge that they didn't do? It's a poor excuse to skate out of self-realization, and a sad sad day for this man. 

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by: jasknight @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 16:04:34 PM CDT

OMG - look at the picture of the cop

Hell, I would throw caution to wind for this guy...

http://www.thesmokin...

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by: Paul In SF @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 16:20:34 PM CDT

yummy

and you kinda gotta admire craig's apparent self-esteem (well...and arrogance...) to go after a nice slice like that and think that he was actually going to get some play. 

The gays stole my lunch money

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by: matt in mpls @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 16:27:24 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Pam You got mention in The Nation today

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45 

Pam Spaulding has more background on Craig's anti-gay voting record here. It's also worth recalling Craig's 1999 interview with Tim Russert in which he mocked Bill Clinton as a "naughty boy" for his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

 

They linked to this:

 

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2779

 

Way to go, your coverage of our issues and the homophobic closet cases is getting NATIONAL PRESS EXPOSURE.  Seems everyone wants to read about the Republicans problem with public exposure...

The trollish sounding blogger formerly known as BURNSEY

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by: R.K. Wright @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 16:29:56 PM CDT

Writing on the Wall

I have a feeling the RNC and Idaho will tell him in no uncertain terms NOT to run for re-election if he knows what's good for him (which he doesn't appear to at this point).

Personally, I think all these Taliban, of the Republican Party and the Religious Right, f**king up would make a great reality TV show!  It could be called "Who Wants to Self-Destruct?".

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by: Jon Michaels @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 16:35:46 PM CDT

This is soooo sad

Please.  I cannot believe this is a practicing gay man who is still in such heavy denial. I guess he has to keep denying and denying to keep what is left of his constituency.

I always wondered why more of  these "outed" gays, rather than just keep denying and denying and have to ultimately drop out of politics because they look so ridiculous, don't simply come out and then change their constituencies so they could retain some credibility.  I mean, sure they can't do a 180 on economic issues, but they could begin appealing to the fiscal conservative-social liberal Republican/Independents 9and a few Dems) and that's a much larger group, don't you think?

 

Soner or later the dichotomy between what Craig has stood for politically and how he lives his life, will eclipse him and destroy him.  But this is laughable because it is all so unnecessary.  There are plenty of voters who would accept him as an openly gay man who is also pro gun and for lower taxes. 

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by: joannegmurphy @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 16:45:38 PM CDT

In Idaho???

I mean, sure they can't do a 180 on economic issues, but they could begin appealing to the fiscal conservative-social liberal Republican/Independents and a few Dems) and that's a much larger group, don't you think?

In Idaho, that group is outnumbered by the roster on the Boise State University football team.  And if you're limiting it to just Idaho Dems, they're outnumbered by BSU's basketball squad.

Remember, Idaho and Utah are the only states to consistently give George W. Bush a net positive approval rating since 2004.  At one point (don't know if it's still true) Idaho's state legislature was 92% Republican, a national record of imbalance, I believe.

"If people let government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." -- Thomas Jefferson

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by: RadicalRuss @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 18:45:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yes, But I can't help wondering

If there are no gays in Idaho, as you seem to be implying, how did HE get so queer?  Surely there must be kindred spirits out there. I feel that NOTHING will change until people come out of the closet.

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by: joannegmurphy @ Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 11:51:58 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

His comments are very revealing...

"I'm not gay, nor have I ever been gay."  That statement implies that gayness is a choice, since from it I infer that one could be gay and then switch teams and become straight.  So, Senator Craig CHOOSES to not be gay.  Even having sex with men won't make him gay.  It's just sex.

 

In reality, I think the senator is bisexual, something he doesn't deny, nor does he deny ever having sex with men.

 

In the classic sense, the senator is not gay.  I consider a gay person to be out, honest, and comfortable with their orientation.  That leaves the senator out of being gay, in his mind and mine.  He is, however, either a homosexual or a bisexual, probably the later. 

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by: Storm @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 16:51:10 PM CDT

he isn't gay

"gay" as i understand and use the term, means living your life openly and honestly in some realm outside of the accepted normal majority.  "i am not gay and i never have been gay" would mean that craig issued an honest statment, in my opinion.  which is why i also don't have a problem with someone claiming to be "ex-gay"--that person is suppressing their homosexuality to conform to heterosexual norms, and is not gay.  fair enough.  now if they claim to be "ex-homosexual", then i would cry foul, but strangely even those deplorable people seem to understand the concept that we abide by: that homosexuality is a human trait, and that it is its manifestation that's an individual decision.  ex-gays choose to live their lives in shame, fear and unhappiness, while gays choose the self-fulfilling roles that gods wants from us.  

but craig might still be a homosexual, and probably is.  he certainly isn't heterosexual.  heterosexual men don't make silly finger gestures to hot young undercover policemen in public restrooms under the stall. 

The gays stole my lunch money

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by: matt in mpls @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 16:58:32 PM CDT

um, maybe he was

practicing the grand old GOP tradition of under the stall hand puppetry! It's a little known tradition that's apparently very popular in conservative circles.

I'm sure both he and Bob Allen were practicing forms of this art.

Electricity's for light bulbs!

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by: n8nyc @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:19:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

my brain has been going crazy too, trying to figure out

exactly what kind of puppet dance those fingers were doing under that stall.  was he acting out a little x-rated play, with one hand starring as himself and the other hand starring as the hot young undercover cop-stud?  were his fingers just sort of rubbing the ceramic tile flooring suggestively?  how did he manage to get his foot all the way under and to the other side to engage that guy in "footsie"?  and just who the hell propositions strange guys by means of "footsie" these days? 

these are the sort of questions that should have been addressed at the press conference. 

The gays stole my lunch money

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by: matt in mpls @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:32:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hah! Now

that would be a press conference. lol.

Electricity's for light bulbs!

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by: n8nyc @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:36:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Craig's Upcoming "Unpology"

At this point, the Craig Scandal script will write itself. After his initial denials, Senator Larry Craig will issue the obligatory Republican "unpology" to anyone he "may have offended or disappointed." But it won't be enough. If he does not resign his seat outright, Craig will abandon his 2008 reelection campaign.

For more, see: "The Unpology: How Republicans Never Say They're Sorry."

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by: AngryOne @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:03:02 PM CDT

If this is happening in Idaho...

If the GOP in Idaho can't place a true red-blooded American hetero-homophobe in a Senate seat, then our homosexual agenda is progressing nicely!

Electricity's for light bulbs!

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by: n8nyc @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:25:08 PM CDT

My spouse!

My psychologist spouse is quoted on the Craig affair on ABCnews.com:

http://abcnews.go.co...

He's frequently called by journalists who know his expertise is the theory and treatment of shame-based syndromes. 

But the quotes don't always get used.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:38:10 PM CDT

Way cool!

I remember when a Yahoo article about computer chips linked to my husband's web site.  It's a great feeling when a really wide audience realizes that the people you love are awesome, isn't it?  We knew it all along.

My America includes LGBT families.

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by: Mena @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 17:59:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks!

Gersh has been writing about shame for 30 years, and his work influenced the Recovery Movement and beyond.  Writers quote from him without knowing it. 

And then there's this:

In Clueless Alicia Silverstone talks about a "shame spiral," a term he invented.  We started laughing when we first saw the movie, and I said, "See!  Most people have to be dead before they make an impact." 

Not long after, my sister and I were at a play in New York and someone else used the term and she kept nudging me through the rest of the show. 

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 19:14:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Very cool

Your hubby's quote helps make it into a reasonably fair article--something that one might not expect given the subject matter and the fact that it's the ABC new department.

"Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain" -- Iowa state motto

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by: Sportin' Life @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 18:03:56 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

There's schadenfreude--

--and then there's taking a deeper look at what it all means.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 19:14:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Of course he's not Gay! Gay is an identity!

See, he's a homosexual!! Not gay at all!!

I've been reading waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much Ex-Gay material, obviously.  ;)

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~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 18:48:00 PM CDT

And

he was not trying to pursue sexual relations with that man.

But a blowjob or a handjob, yes.

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by: KC @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 19:07:17 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

While

I do think it's possible that he is not gay, but does have some compulsive behavior relative to pursuing gay encounters.  Some straight men have some profound emotional stuff going on (the origins of which are typically not conscious, or fully conscious) such they are aroused by homosexual attention, or humiliation, and may not be able to easily control their act-outs.  That Matt Sanchez guy, I believe, fits this category, as well as other straight men who get involved in the sex industry in same-sex situations.  Some become rather prolific as gay porn stars, even.  But they are not fundamentally gay.  I mean, I really believe Matt Sanchez and many gay porn stars are, in fact, not fundamentally gay.  They are not without some major emotional/psychological issues, of course, but their fundamental orientation is heterosexual, and not even bisexual.  So Craig could actually be being honest by saying "I am not gay."  I do believe Matt Sanchez's statement to this effect.  Now, if Craig said, "I've never had or pursued sex with men," however, that might well be a big honkin' lie.

 

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by: KC @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 19:49:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It's simple, check his computer

if he has cookies from squirt or cruisingforsex, he was checking out the sites to find out where to hook up at the MSP airport.

MSP is my home airport and I know the layout (being a frequent flyer) of all concourses.  The restroom he was busted in was in the area inside security, located roughly behind the ticket counters in the "mall" area that connects all the concourses.  It's a nice area if you have some time to kill in MSP.

However, if you are connecting on most NW flights it is not the most likely place you would pass by.  I suspect he found out about the restroom from a cruising website and decided to pass some time on his blowover layover practicing his fellatio skills on a fellow traveller or flight crew (hey...there are some cute/hot FA's and pilots, even on NW).

Check his computers...find the cookies! 

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by: bkmn @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 19:07:29 PM CDT

Hmmm

Sounds like he did his research?  Or was in playing the odds?  because if he'd gone to a Northwest Club, that would have been too obvious, I suppose.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 19:16:35 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

if the man was a chronic closet case

which the evidence suggests to a lay reader, he was cruising.

will the powers that be behave like law enforcement and track leads or will this be dumped by the powers in charge?

if they go after his computers, he is done for... 

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by: bkmn @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 20:22:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

ABC News' 1982 News Report Where Craig Denies Involvement With Congressional Paiges

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~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 21:23:15 PM CDT

Meet The Press - Craig called Clinton "a bad boy, a naughty boy"

I was watching MSNBC Live, and listened to the panel wondering aloud if this Meet The Press comment by Craig -- given Craig's recent behavior -- was somehow indicating that Senator Craig was sexually aroused by Clinton's escapades.  Nice.

From TPM Election Central:

GOP Senator Larry Craig, who we now know was arrested for lewd conduct in a men's room in June, had this to say about Bill Clinton on Meet the Press on January 24, 1999, at the height of Monicagate:

MR. RUSSERT: Larry Craig, would you want the last word from the Senate be an acquittal of the president and no censure?

SEN. CRAIG: Well, I don't know where the Senate's going to be on that issue of an up or down vote on impeachment, but I will tell you that the Senate certainly can bring about a censure reslution and it's a slap on the wrist. It's a, "Bad boy, Bill Clinton. You're a naughty boy." The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy.

I'm going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy. The question issue now is simply this: Did he lie under oath? Did he perjure himself and did he obstruct justice? And that's where we're trying to go now in this truth-seeking process.

-----
~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 21:42:35 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm not straight, never been straight

Im not straight, not straight, not straight, never been straight

Now can I vote against different sex marriages?

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 21:54:51 PM CDT

The answer my friend is blowing in the men's...

He probably actually believes he's not gay. He may consider himself a victim of demonic possession or something. I think it's very telling that when these publicly homophobic politicians give in to these "unnatural" desires, they seek out the absolute sleaziest and most degrading situations possible. Not to mention absolutely anonymous and impersonal. It would never occur to one of them to seek out an above-board, ongoing relationship with a decent person of the same sex who has similar inclinations. THAT would be GAY. Blowing a stranger in a men's room is just... well, blowing a stranger in a men's room. I imagine there's a great deal of self-loathing that goes along with this. And in a warped and tortured fashion, it's a way to be gay withut being gay.

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by: drsivana99 @ Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 00:01:55 AM CDT

Matchmaker fot the GAY OLD PARTY

I can see it's time for an aging queer matchmaker to get these NASTY naughty bad boy loose cannon Republicans into nice stable relationships, otherwise young Republicans won't get any sleep, and restrooms all around the country will become cruising cesspools.
Who can I match Larry with???
Now Rove's Miss Piggy nickname would lead you believe dirty t-room sex would be his cup of tea, but he ran off with that Mr, Virginia Leather daddy and Larry could never carry off a$$less chaps. Mehlman likes older men but they tend to be stocky hairy teddybears.
Gannon/Guckert is such rough trade, and Bob Allen prefers Cops with a little thug attitude, Glenn Murphy Jr, likes chicken, Dreier is married to his top aide,Hastert is likewise taken.
Eureeka I got just the guy...Scotty McClellan, his boyish baby-face would satisfy Larry's taste for that cute as a button Minneapolis cop, and Scotty seemed to really enjoy being dicked around by Cheney and Rove.

Whew! Saving the Nation one queer Republcan couple at a time, is hard work.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 01:57:54 AM CDT

Let's get something--er--straight...

...Craig isn't gay.  He just likes to have a bit of sex with men on the side.

In all seriousness, if he refuses to resign, the only way to get rid of him is for the Senate to vote to exclude him, much as the House did with Adam Clayton Powell in the late 1960s or early 1970s.  The Constitution does not provide for a recall election. 

It is the Members that have the exclusive authority to determine who should be seated, and why--or why not.

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by: raj @ Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 05:52:16 AM CDT

He's not gay--Hilary Rosen from Huff Post

This is wonderful:

"Larry Craig isn't gay. Thank god cuz we don't really want him to be. Ick. Now that he has told the country that he isn't gay in a press conference, I am so relieved.

 

I don't want him to be gay because he is such a pathetic figure. Bearing his outrage but not his shame before the cameras today. Fine Senator. Don't be gay. There are lots of people who don't identify as gay but DO have sex with guys (or women) sometimes. But those people usually don't have the power to pursue discriminatory laws against gays and lesbians or promote hostile viewpoints towards us in the halls of Congress. We all have enough information about how hypocritical it would be if someone like Senator Craig were to actually BE gay and vote in such an anti-gay manner. I won't bother making that point since I frankly don't think voting to hurt people is justified no matter what your sexual orientation."

more at: 

http://www.huffingto...

BTW, has anyone seen a mention anywhere of Nixon's "I am not a crook" in reporting this story? 

 

 

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 06:30:39 AM CDT