Posted on 09/04/2007 7:48:46 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast
Ben Stein: Gestapo Tactics Got Larry Craig
Tuesday, September 4, 2007 7:39 PM
Former Sen. Larry Craig didn't do anything illegal and was railroaded with "Gestapo tactics," says actor and commentator Ben Stein.
Appearing recently on Your World With Neil Cavuto program, Stein remarked: "I don't like the idea that people are sitting in the next stall from you at a public bathroom listening to whether or not you tap your foot. This is, as I said, Gestapo tactics. Gestapo, Gestapo, Gestapo. It's not America."
Stein says Craig, who was arrested June 11 by Minneapolis police and pled guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct, is a victim of "pure police entrapment and thuggery."
"The police have real work to do at the airport," Stein says. "It's an airport, hello. There are security problems at airports. Al-qaida: Are you listening? Our security people are entrapping perfectly honest U.S. senators in lavatory stalls instead of looking for you terrorists."
Stein charges that police intimidated Craig into pleading guilty to disorderly conduct after he was arrested for tapping his foot in a bathroom stall at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.
Police say foot tapping is a common overture used to signal interest in a sexual encounter. Minneapolis police had reportedly made several arrests in recent months for lewd conduct in restrooms at the airport.
"A policeman drags him off, or verbally drags him off, starts browbeating him, essentially threatens he's going to ruin his career if the guy doesn't plead guilty right away," Stein tells Cavuto. "This is Gestapo tactics in Minneapolis-St. Paul. It's not nice."
Stein adds that it was wrong for GOP stalwarts to join the drumbeat for Craig's resignation: "This is some way to treat the people who have been loyal members of your party for many years. What did he do wrong? Suppose he was soliciting for gay sex. Gay sex is not illegal in the United States, the Supreme Court has said that. If it were illegal, it would be a different story. It's not illegal. He didn't do anything illegal, they're just bludgeoning him into a confession."
The Craig scandal points out a fundamental question about the balance of political power, according to Stein.
"On trumped up charges, they bring down the legislator and change the balance of power within the United States generally," he says. "This is a really serious case of police overreaching and the victim here is Larry Craig and the Constitution of the United States."
Craig has represented Idaho in Congress for over a quarter of a century and was up for re-election next year.
Vick pleaded guilty to one count of "conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture"was carged with illegal gambling! And pleaded to same!
Facts are Facts!
Perhaps you should bring your own porta potty! ;)
susie
I guess I don’t see much of an analogy between McCarthyism and police undercover sting operations targeting solicitation of lewd behavior in a public restroom.
Craig plead guilty, therefore he is guilty.
If I was a United States Senator falsely accused by a policeman of soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom, I would not rest until my name was cleared - and that cop’s head was mounted on my living room wall.
I can see situations in which poor, weak, or uneducated people might cop a plea in a situation in which they were innocent. But a senator? No way.
um no, but you are using the facility how it was intended to be used. when you walk into a public restroom, you expect that kind of stuff. not gay sex cruising.
Reminds me of the discussion between Jules and Vincent about whether or not a foot massage is sexual or not in Pulp Fiction.
Ben is in favor of raising taxes, too...I think he’s lived in Malibu for too long.
So, then you suppose I am gay?
Hard to take you very seriously. I really thought that sort of name calling was reserved for the Dems.
susie
Perhaps the real outrage is that US Senators can’t behave themselves any better than this.
I have seen no one suggest here that we should tolerate actual sex in public places. I daresay everyone here would say that should be an is illegal. But, to protect our own rights, we probably need a higher bar than was put up in this particular case.
susie
There isn't any analogy. It's an example of how someone can be guilty as hell, but still the public nevertheless believes the tactics used to expose that guilty-as-hell person are unacceptable.
I’m fairly certain that the Minneapolis ordinances against solicitation of lewd behavior in a public place cover the sort of sting operation that Sgt. Krasnia was involved with. A restroom is a place where, for example, minors go; it must be possible to prevent predators from preying on minors and others there even if offers of money for sex don’t take place.
I'm sure that if I did someone on this thread would accuse me of been limp wristed. LOL
Yes, he was.
Amen to Ben!
I am no defender of Vick’s behavior, but as I have been saying on other posts the man’s dogs are his property and livestock. I’ve been hearing people for whom I have a high regard call Vick’s actions murder. Animals are killed and slaughtered. Humans are murdered. As for Craig, I sense he sought the quietest route and if that path of least resistance was to quietly plead out, then so be it. These cops could well have targeted a sitting US senator a la the GDR Stasi or KGB. In the sixties some “dropped out”. Today, good people are fleeing the public schools, their home towns, the television, newspapers, etc. In other words, good people are dropping out because they fear. And fear is the result of living with totalitarianism.
You hit on something interesting, Old Mil -
Let’s say for the sake of argument that Craig is gay. And he knew that that particular Men’s room was the place where he could go and possibly meet someone who is, shall we say - like-minded. Now, is it solicitation if two “like-minded” men meet up to exchange numbers and plan to exhibit their “like-mindedness” to each other in a more private place at a later time? Or is that just a conversation? Or is it really solicitation if one were to profit financially from it?
As Mr. Stein pointed out, it is not illegal to be gay in the U.S. (repugnant maybe, but not illegal). So then, where is the crime?
-—Nothing in the law books that says two people cannot get together no matter what form of communication they use. -—
So you won’t mind if someone comes up to you in the head and says he wants a blow job? How about 3 or 4 or 5? No law against verbal or non-verbal communication; I believe that’s what you said. And if it’s OK in the head, I guess it’s OK in a restaurant or bus or plane or any other damned place the perv feels the urge.
There was no minor involved.
susie
Oh, undoubtedly!
susie
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