September 10, 2007
I’m sorry Senator, but you’re just too slow-witted to serve
I really wanted to stay away from this whole Larry Craig disaster. I just feel bad for the guy, I feel bad for the people who voted for him and those he represented who supported his opposition. But he keeps making it worse, and now, since he obviously doesn’t understand the real reason his Minneapolis airport incident is so disgraceful, I’m going to have to explain the revelations that spring from his sad story.
If you don’t know the background, the Republican Senator from Idaho was arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in a Minneapolis airport bathroom back in June. Last month the story came to light after Craig’s guilty plea to disorderly conduct charges and under intense pressure from his own party, the champion of “family values” and opponent of gay rights announced his intent to resign while making a ringing declaration that he was not gay and had “never been” gay.
He was right to announce plans for this incident, and not because of the blatant hypocrisy of his actions nor the new repugnance with which the homophobic big wigs on his side of the politics now viewed him. But it was good enough that he was stepping down without suffering the further embarrassment of publicly admitting his lack of intelligence, and in fact entering it in court.
See, Craig decided his job and his reputation were worth fighting for. He’s sticking to the “I’m not gay” talking point and pushing it up a few notches with today’s announcement that he’s filing papers in an attempt to reverse his conviction by withdrawing his guilty plea. The reason he should be allowed to take back his plea; stress caused by media inquiries into his sexuality.
Larry Craig was so afraid of being called gay in the local papers that he became mentally incapacitated after his arrest and entered his plea in a state of panic. That’s what he’s going to argue in court. The evil media made me lose my mind. I thought I could keep this quiet because if anyone found out, they might call me gay. He’s actually going to try to argue that from June to August he was so panicked from the media that he never once thought to contact a lawyer about his case.
His argument to keep his job is basically going to be that he is incompetent, lacks a basic understanding of our nation’s court system and its media. He’s going to argue that he never once thought to consult a lawyer for two whole months. Then if he succeeds at this, he’s going to head right back to Idaho and tell those people he’s competent enough to represent them in the Senate. I guess hypocrisy is a hard habit to break.
This whole thing has little to do with whether Larry Craig is gay, straight or just likes to hook up between connecting flights. It’s all about his decision to plead guilty in an attempt to keep everything quiet. His actions in the airport didn’t reflect in any way on his ability to do his job, but his choices since then sure show he’s missing many aptitudes I’d like to think are required for service in the Senate. It’s his lack of understanding of legal and media matters that show him unfit for his chosen profession.