Mark Foley

I think if Craig decides to stay in Senate that would be good for the Democrats. I don't think the actual actions of what he did are so bad, but his hypocrisy on gay issues makes it very bad for him. It will also provide a great tool out on the campaign trail, as him being in the spotlight also reminds people of Mark Foley and David Vitter.

The real problem of Craig sticking around is for the Republicans. They were quick to hang him out to dry on the issue, so they won't be able to circle the wagons and protect him next year like they wish. It also keeps the hypocrisy of the Republican party overall in the spotlight. The GOP leadership ignored Mark Foley going after children for years, yet they jumped on Craig for something involving another adult. Zing against the GOP. Numerous Republicans went out defending David Vitter's problems with an escort service, yet jumped on Craig. Another zing, and one that needs even further explaining.

There is a reason why Vitter's case is much worse than Craig's. It is one thing to hide your sexual orientation and try to secretly act upon it. It is another thing to use an escort service for what could be considered blatant adultery. Either way this really harms the family values platform, but I think Vitter's case puts a bigger ding in it if the case is presented to the people in the right way.

I did notice some interesting reactions on cable news last night. First off, Pat Buchanan seemed intent on making this a Democratic issue. He kept talking about how the Democrats would handle Craig not resigning. The problem is the Democrats have been playing this great all along. They have essentially remained silent on Craig and left the talking points to the GOP. The Democrats need to maintain this silence, no matter how hard Buchanan tries to drag them into the fight.

The other thing I heard that really shocked me was on CNN. Joe Johns was talking about Craig and said "if you listen to the interview tapes he never admitted guilt to the officer". That would be a great point if this was at trial, but the fact that Craig pleaded guilty means he didn't have to tell the officer he was guilty.

Over all I find what Craig is doing to be a total mockery of our system of justice. Will Craig go back to the judge and say "I want to pull my verdict out. I wasn't guilty. Instead I chose to lie to the court to try and save my career". And what kind of career can a lawmaker, who apparently knows so little about the law, have. Craig's own actions and statements in this entire fiasco proves he has no understanding of the law and shouldn't be involved in writing them.

Finally I suspect we will see the GOP leadership playing the polls very closely on this. If Craig looks vulnerable in the next couple of weeks, then they will push to get him removed from Senate. They already stripped him from his committees, which I found odd. They sure didn't strip Duke Cunningham from his committees even though he was under indictment for crimes which he committed in his committee positions. The GOP could hurt themselves in Idaho by taking this tough stance against Craig if the polls show he has support, yet still drops out. It could even be the kind of hurt that makes Idahoans elect a Democrat just to get back at the GOP.

It is going to be very interesting to watch this, but I must emphasis again the Democrats need to maintain their silence on it. Let the GOP tear itself apart over this then we can swoop in like the heroes.

Thanks Larry (and I mean that!)

The outrage over Larry Craig's conviction is still loud and strong. I find it interesting to see all the outrage on the right. Today's USA Today highlights some of this.

I am still baffled by the outrage over Craig's conviction by some of the same people who came to the defense of Mark Foley. Foley's actions are far worse than the actions of Craig.

Thinking back to last fall, remember how a lot of these Republicans even went as far as to attack the children Foley was after?

I think everyone needs to call their Republican members of Congress and Senate and ask why there is such a disgusting double standard. It is disgusting because there is no real victim in Craig's crime. There were victims in what Foley did - victims that are children.

I guess it could be summed up best by saying that the Republican party does not care about children. This proves that their priorities are only within votes. They are truly the party of disgust.

Malkin today on the Craig incident:

He’s a supremely arrogant, lying crapweasel. Blaming the press. Non-apology apologizing. How do you spell creep? C-r-a-i-g.

Malkin during the Foley scandal:

Very damning evidence. If it is all true, and it seems very likely that it is, Rep. Foley has shamed himself, his office, his district, and his party.

While she didn't come out and defend Foley, she sure seems to be much more upset with Craig than Foley. Does soliciting sex from an adult of the same gender group deserve more outrage than trying to solicit sex from a child of the same gender group? I think any reasonable person would answer that with a big "Hell No". So what is the difference now? I guess that would be the fact that we are over a year away from the next election, as opposed to being a month away from the election, as was the case when Foley broke.

Dave Kurtz has a very interesting post up at TPM asking exactly what Senator Craig did wrong.

We've had lots of back and forth discussion here internally about what conduct by Sen. Craig in that Minneapolis airport restroom was actually illegal. We've posted the arrest report, so take a look and reach your own conclusions.

Leering stares, foot tapping, a lingering presence. Are any of those, even taken together, what most reasonable people would call criminal? Is it because they happened in a bathroom? God knows they happen every night in bars and other public spaces, among gays and straights.

Please take a moment and read the entire post. I have been trying to wrap my brain around this very question.

The charges do seem very far fetched, and I highly doubt they would have stuck if Senator Craig would have decided to fight them. The problem is he knew what he was planning on doing and in turn pleaded to the charges. I got a funny feeling this decision was made by him in hopes of saving public embarrassment, a plan that did not pan out how he wanted.

So a man soliciting sex from another man in a restroom is worthy of a sting operation. Does the same apply if a man solicits sex from a woman, or vice a versa? It appears that this case really exposes the hypocrisy of our legal system and those charged with enforcing it.

This makes me think more of the To Catch A Predator series on NBC. We see people getting arrested on national television who are supposed to be soliciting sex from minors. The problem is that they really aren't committing crimes, instead they are "thinking about it". Some states do have laws that you can not engage in sexual discussion with a minor online, but in a world of cyber anonymity, how does one know who they are really talking to? Chat services such as Yahoo stand strong behind their privacy agreements, and that opens up the possibility of someone engaging in some dirty talk with a person who says they are 18, but in fact are only 13.

Last year we saw one of these cases unravel in the national spotlight. Mark Foley was a member of the U.S. Congress and engaged in sexual discussion online with minors. The problem is that Mark Foley may not even face charges for what he did. He engaged in the exact same behavior that some of the people arrested on To Catch A Predator did, and those people are sentenced for their crimes.

I agree that there should be different levels of punishment for common citizens and members of our government, but I don't think the current standards should apply. Instead when a member of Senate or Congress gets convicted of a crime, they should face stiffer penalties. They not only committed a crime against their victim, but also committed a crime against the people they represent. Our leaders are supposed to lead, and by that I mean by example. That must be considered in all sentencing.

So perhaps Senator Craig did deserve getting busted, as he should lead by a higher standard than most (a standard which he actually campaigned on), but the same must now face Mark Foley. Claiming that investigators can not look at Congressional computers due to privacy concerns can not be the reason to halt justice. In this new world that George Bush has created of extreme executive privilege and secrecy for those of power, we need to re-examine if this is what our country stands for. If a crime is suspected then there should be no denying investigators access to possible data if they can obtain a legal warrant. This includes the administrative and executive branch.

Of course this is also a product of our national system of justice and the fact that it all lies under the executive branch. Perhaps it is time to look at how much we cherish living in a country where we are supposed to have a balanced system of justice and perhaps divide the enforcement of that justice more equally amongst all three branches.