This Week's Attitude
GOP Drops Senator Faster Than A Baked Idaho Potato
By Neil S. Friedman

Years from now, when former Senator Larry Craig is sitting around reminiscing about his career with his grandchildren, he'll probably overlook the time when he almost got caught with his pants down - engaging in attempted sexual misconduct during the encounter he had last spring with an undercover police officer in a Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport bathroom.

According to a published version of the police investigation, Craig's suspicious behavior, which began when he "peeped" through a space between the stall door and frame, signaled "a desire to engage in sexual contact" with the man in the bathroom stall next to him. That man happened to be an undercover police officer investigating reports of sexual misconduct in the airport restroom.

The report also noted that the senator entered the adjacent stall and touched the officer's foot with his own, which Craig later explained that he "has a wide stance" and the contact was unintentional. Police also said Craig tapped the officer's foot, which apparently is a known bathroom tactic to provoke lewd conduct.

The Idaho Republican consequently pled guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, paid a small fine and was placed on probation. Last week, after the incident was made public, the senator claimed he did that merely to put the matter to rest and keep the story quiet.

Yet, in today's fishbowl atmosphere, when almost everything public figures do winds up on the Internet, the incident managed to remain under the radar - albeit, probably with the knowledge of some Republican leaders - for a few months.

No sooner was the story revealed than some GOP politicians called for the senator's resignation. They wanted him gone ASAP. They dropped him like a just-out-of-the-toaster oven Idaho baked potato. They undoubtedly wanted to get past the embarrassing disclosure as swiftly as Craig, so they wouldn't have to deal with another shameful episode with key presidential primaries barely six months away.

Within days after Craig's arrest was publicly revealed, the 27-year career politician and GOP loyalist went from being a shoo-in to win reelection in 2009 to his party's pariah.

After defending himself, saying he wished he could withdraw his guilty plea, including passionate declarations that he was not gay, being dismissed from key committee assignments, Craig acquiesced to pressure from Republican colleagues and resigned last Saturday.

By the way, in 1999, while discussing the Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal, Sen. Craig told MSNBC's Chris Matthews that the president was "a nasty bad, naughty boy."

Now those mocking words have come back to haunt the senator who has been a representative of one of the most conservative states in America for nearly three decades.

Incidentally, when Craig was a sophomore congressman twenty-five years ago, ABC News reported he was allegedly tied to a scandal over improprieties with pages, but he quickly issued a public denial when he learned he would be implicated. According to some Internet sites, rumors among GOP officials have persisted for years that Craig was a closeted homosexual. The airport incident may have opened the door and put an end to his alleged private preference.

Once again, the party that has pompously paraded family values as its core philosophy ever since President Bill Clinton got caught with his pants down in the White House is now faced with another latest morality dilemma.

A year ago, GOP Rep. Mark Foley resigned after evidence showed he sent sexually explicit e-mails to underage congressional pages, but only after Republicans mishandled the crisis and a suspected cover-up before it was made public.

Last month, Louisiana freshman Senator David Vitter's name turned up on a phone list of a woman tied to an escort service. He was not asked to step down simply because the state's Democratic governor would have altered the balance of power.

While few believe politicians are squeaky clean - who of us is? - some might argue that the GOP is now a bunch of "Grand Ol' Phonies," after a handful of Republican politicians have been involved in sex or other scandals over the last few years.

Nevertheless, it does seem that Republicans were rather quick to shun the sixteen-year Senate veteran because the charges against him are of a homosexual nature. One wonders if they'd be as uncomfortable if Craig had an extramarital affair. Incidentally, all but one of the current GOP presidential contenders have admitted to or been linked to extramarital trysts or are divorced. Not exactly prime family values.

And don't forget, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney both have DUI convictions in their pasts, but Republicans obviously don't think a convicted drunk driver is as guilty as a man seeking same sex in public places.

Democrats have been wise to ignore and not exploit the GOP's latest scandal. After all, those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Despite the Craig outcome, it is, by and large, just another chapter in the escalating tome of hypocritical politicians who publicly express what they believe constituents want to hear and privately follow a different drummer for personal

gratification.

Like the Foley scandal, the Craig incident should be a lesson that, while family values may differ from one family - and one region - to the next, the most imperative value to respect is rather undemanding: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

The political party that preaches morality 'til it's blue in the face throughout red states is again flush with double standards as another skeleton emerges from the closet of hypocrisy.

Note: As of this writing, a spokesman for Larry "I'm not gay" Craig said the politician might decide to retain his Senate seat after all. This from the man who is trying to withdraw a guilty plea to charges of "lewd conduct," after being nabbed in what authorities believed to be a prelude to homosexual activity, to restore his good name. No doubt, if Craig decides to remain in office, not many Republicans will be too happy with a man who failed to live up to principles he espoused and his party eagerly flaunted.