Ben Stein Says Craig Was Lynched Twice

CBS Sunday Morning ^ | 2007-09-02 | Ben Stein

[libravoter]

(CBS) Sunday Morning commentator Ben Stein has a few words for the Minneapolis police's behavior in the arrest of Sen. Larry Craig, and for the Republican leadership's response - and they're not very flattering.

The whole story of Senator Larry Craig, the Republican of Idaho who announced his resignation yesterday, is a nightmare of out-of-control police and weak politicians.

Senator Craig has been the innocent victim of a set-up by the evil-minded police of Minneapolis-St. Paul that Stalin would have admired.

Here's the deal: Senator Craig went into a men's room at the Twin Cities airport. He entered a lavatory stall. He tapped his foot. He may or may not have reached his hand down under the lavatory partition to pick up a piece of paper or to make a signal.

That's it. That's the whole thing. There was no sex act of any kind.

So the policeman who happened to be in the next stall walks Senator Craig off, starts bullying him, accusing him of lying and, implicitly, threatens to ruin Senator Craig's career.

ALL FOR A MAN TAPPING HIS FOOT IN A PUBLIC BATHROOM.

This is insane.

(excerpted from full article)

[libravoter]

But I thought, "Very few on FR will have seen this broadcast and most will be so off-put by the mere topic of what was on a CBS News program that they will not be interested." Amazed to find this thread.

CBS News is unwatchable, but Sunday Morning is a fine quality show in my humble opinion. And they have folks like Ben Stein on regularly.

[County Agent Hank Kimball]

You miss the point entirely. Tapping one’s foot in a washroom, in any sane universe, shouldn’t require “rationalization,” much less the retention of a defense attorney.

This is ludicrous. The man did NOTHING.

Hank

[SergeiRachmaninov]

Apparently there was more going on than toe-tapping...

I believe that Craig stated that he saw a bit of paper on the floor of the stall so he reached down to pick it up!

To me, this proves that he is either a pervert or so nasty that he should be removed from any position requiring him to shake hands with the public.

Who is such a tidy, good citizen that he picks up scraps of paper from toilet stalls?

[HawaiianGecko]

  "Are you saying that you think the officer was lying about that?"
No, I didn't say that.  I clearly said I don't know what happened. I'm not the one jumping to conclusions.  Your question does make me wonder how I would act if I were a young policeman and just discovered the homosexual I thought I was legally bashing turned out to be a senior United States senator.  I just don't know.

"I cannot vote for him but his vote in the Senate does affect me as an American citizen."
Are you saying he has taken any position on any vote in the U.S. Senate that has any bearing on this?  Can you please cite them if he has?  The following is all I can find with a quick 10 minute search. It appears to me that actual documented facts indicate he is maybe anti-gay or at least can put aside his personal issues when it's time to get serious.

Senator Craig: http://www.issues2002.org/Senate/Larry_Craig.htm

• Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
• Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
• Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
• Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)

• Rated 100% by the Christian Coalition with a pro-family voting record

"What if it hadn't been an officer in that stall but another deviant and the senator was able to complete his act?"
I just don't know. Normally I'm pretty good at hypothetical questions, but this one slays me.  What if it was Charles Manson?  What if it was Dexter from that silly Showtime series? What if Whistler's Mother had a scrotum?  I just don't know.

"The officer had a boyish look, am I the only one disturbed by that?"   Did I read a bit of arousal in you with that line about boyish look?  Maybe this "thought police" activity I'm reading about in here is communicable.

[Lancey Howard]

1) Craig went out of his way to “go to the bathroom” in that particular men’s room in a terminal distant from his own flight terminal where bathrooms were much closer at hand.

2) From postings on homosexual websites, it was well-known that the bathroom in question was the one homosexuals at the Minneapolis airport used for casual sex in a public place.

3) After entering the men’s room, Craig cruised one of the stalls by peering through the crack at its door jam, while he waited 13 minutes to occupy the particular stall adjacent to it.

4) Craig then used all the agreed-upon homosexual “signals” for soliciting sex. The odds of somebody doing this by chance are nil.

5) During this time, Craig’s hand and foot crossed the divider between the two stalls repeatedly, making physical contact with the undercover cop’s foot at one point.

6) Craig’s reaction and subsequent utterances at the time of arrest strongly suggest that he knew exactly why he was being arrested and exactly what signalling behavior he needed to deny or rationalize.

7) After failing to intimidate the arresting officer with his senatorial status, he did not retain legal counsel, he let it be known that he would not put up a court fight and gave every indication that he just wanted the matter over with — quickly, cleanly and above all, quietly.

8) By dropping the more serious charge, the prosecutor’s office made it very easy for Craig to follow through with his plea arrangement, paying the $575 fine and accepting the one year unsupervised probation in lieu of $1,000 fine and one year of incarceration.

9) More than two months later, when the Roll Call whistle blew, Craig had still not informed his wife, his lawyer, his colleagues or his staff of any of this.

10) Considered in its totality, the pattern of Craig’s behavior from start to finish is that of a man intent on soliciting others to commit overt sexual acts in a public place. It was not the behavior a reasonable person would expect of somebody who was innocently using a public bathroom for its intended purpose.

It was Craig’s ill fortune that a sting was in progress when he entered that men’s room. It was his good fortune that both the arresting officer and the prosecutor were inclined toward leniency in exchange for a plea arrangement.

In the end, Craig has shown himself to be a blockhead.

42 posted on 08/31/2007 10:47:03 PM EDT by Bonaparte
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[Eaker]

Yes, you're a big man, but what about the twelve year old, the eight year old, the five year old.

Another great point.

[Lancey Howard]

Mark Levin and now Ben Stein.
Just goes to show you, nobody is right all the time no matter how good they are.

[onedoug]

Then he shouldn’t have pleaded guilty.

[shhrubbery!]

Let's learn more about this cop and this sort of entrapment.

The cop's name is Sgt. David Karsnia.

Officer Karsnia was involved in another nasty incident at Minneapolis/St Paul airport last year.
See Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport / Cyclist says airport police went too far

In that incident, a cop (not Karnia) tackled a bicyclist from behind and threw him to the ground, then asked his partner to "tase" the bicyclist. The bicyclist was tased. His glasses flew off and the cop then stomped on the glasses and arrested the bicyclist.

Officer Karsnia, the cop who arrested Craig, is the officer was called to the scene and who supervised the arrest of the bicyclist.

Allegedly the only reason for the cops' behavior was that the bicylist "talked back" to the cops. This version of events seems to have been vindicated at trial, at which Sgt. Karsnia was called to testify. Trial info is posed on the bicyclist's website, here.

If you check the links, you'll see the bicyclist wasn't some drunken illegal weaving about, but a grandfather and concert violinist coming home to Minnesota to visit family.

[Petronski]

This is ludicrous. The man did NOTHING.

He pleaded guilty.

[Aquamarine]

Your argument is weak and for a bad cause which has taken your talking points into the gutter. You owe me an apology.

[sharkhawk]

He didn’t just tap his foot in his stall per the officer, he touched the officers foot, all the way in the other stall. Next time you’re in a men’s room (all alone) see how far away the stall is, and imagine the contortion you would have to go through to touch someone sitting on the next one. Also, why was he able to just get up and go speak to the officer? If he was in the stall for it’s intended purpose, he would have had to wipe, pull up his pants and flush.

[ichabod1]

In this country if you have a wide stance they screw you every time.

[gcruse]

This is unbelievable...just because a GOP pol was caught cruising for homosexual sex in a men’s bathroom, we’re all sounding like outraged liberals protesting government interference in private activities between consenting adults!

[Tenniel2]

Ben has a house at Sand Point. It’s the one he doesn’t mention when he lists his other digs in Malibu, West Hollywood, Rancho Mirage, and D.C.

[Tenniel2]

Passing a few tissues to a stranded neighbor is a fine and decent thing to do.
But folks -- ladies and gents alike -- how hard is it to check the paper supply before you sit down?

[Bonaparte]

"Mark Levin and now Ben Stein."
___________________________________________________________

Loyalty well held to a fool eats the sword it fights with.

-- Enobarbus, Antony and Cleopatra, Wm. Shakespeare

On homosexual cruising boards, such as Squirt.org, the main men's restroom of the Northstar Crossing in the Minneapolis Airport's Lindbergh Terminal has been prominently listed among the best spots for homosexuals to cruise and hook up in that area.

The recommended cruising "signals," now removed from Squirt.org, included the following...

1) gazing repeatedly or steadily into stall through aperture at door jamb, from a distance permitting occupant to see your eyes.

2) placing luggage against inside of stall door to block view of stall activity from the outside.

3) tap foot audibly and repeatedly on stall floor.

4) place hand on bottom edge of stall divider wall and slide it back and forth.

5) slide foot repeatedly under divider into adjacent stall, touching foot of neighboring stall occupant.

According to the arrest report, Larry Craig did all 5.

[Sir_Ed]

Uhh...you can rest assured I would NEVER tap another man’s foot with my own, nor would I reach for an imaginary piece of toilet paper on the floor next to the toilet (for that matter, I’d never grab a REAL piece of toilet paper on the floor next to a toilet!) nor would I slide my hand under another’s stall!

This is a classic sting operation, as seen in countless bathrooms across America, as well as inner-city street corners when the undercover cops are soliciting prostitutes or buying drugs. The cop was just doin’ his job.

Ed

[shield]

Craig having to resign over this is outrageous, IMHO. Weak kneed senate leadership needs to be sent packing...

[gcruse]

Hhhehehehehehehehehhh... You said, “Packing.”