Posted on 10/16/2007 7:48:18 PM PDT by RDTF
WASHINGTON -- Idaho Sen. Larry Craig said he was entrapped in a sex sting at an airport men's room and was not aware of the bathroom's reputation as a spot to cruise for gay sex. "Well, I certainly am now," Craig told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview aired Tuesday night.
"Were you prior?" Lauer asked.
"Not at all," Craig responded. "I go to bathrooms to use bathrooms."
Craig said it was a "tough call" when he decided not to tell his wife or children about the arrest.
"I didn't want to embarrass my wife, my kids, Idaho and my friends," Craig said. "I should have told my wife. I should have told my kids. And most importantly, I should have told counsel."
Suzanne Craig said that when her husband told her the story was about to break, "I felt like the floor was falling out from under me. And I felt almost like I was going down a drain for a few moments."
-snip-
Craig, 62, says he is not gay, and in the NBC interview, he and his wife said their marriage was based on love. Asked by Lauer whether theirs was a marriage of convenience to cover "a gay lifestyle," Suzanne Craig responded, "I would never do that. ... That's almost like selling your soul for something
-snip-
Craig also discussed his relationship with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Craig was Senate liaison for Romney's campaign, a post he abandoned when the scandal became known. Romney called Craig's conduct "disappointing and disgraceful" and immediately dropped Craig when the guilty plea was revealed.
"I was very proud of my association with Mitt Romney," Craig said. "And he not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again."
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Disorderly conduct in Minn. includes lewd (obscene) behavior.
He wasn't doing that.
When he found out that it was a police officer in the other stall he fled it.
He did not enter that stall to use it for its normal purpose.
Yes, the more serious charge (gross misdemeanor) was that of 'peeping'.
He was checking the stall out.
OK, now I understand- I thought that it was a plea reduction or something. So he DID plead guilty as charged-so he is now SOL unless he gets a lenient appeals judge and/ or a good lawyer.
Yea, right!
So you renege on resigning and then appeal your decision to plead guilty and then go on national television.
He was breaching the peace, thus, the guilty plea to disorderly conduct.
He was charged with two counts, one a gross misdemeanor which was 'peeping' and a lesser charge, a misdemeanor, of disorderly conduct which includes offensive and obscene behavior.
He pled guilty to the lesser offense.
Here are the details.
http://news.findlaw.com/usatoday/docs/crim/mn-larry-craig-70207cmp2.html
At 1.00 PM in the afternoon?
He wasn't just tapping his foot, he moved his foot into the other stall, hence his claim of having a 'wide stance'.
There are two club locations in the Lindbergh terminal, one out at Gate C12, the other is back on the terminal’s main concourse.
“one thing I remember Lauer saying to him in this interview (that I hadnt heard prior) was that the cop said Craig looked into the stall he was in, through the door crack, so close that he could see the color of his eyes”
That begs the question of whether the cop was just sitting in there fully clothed (as would be assumed). I had not heard that about Craig looking inside the stall either. Assuming the cop was sitting there fully clothed that does seem wierd. If I saw someone just sitting in a toilet stall fully clothed, I would tend to pick the stall the farthest away from them.
Some of you folks trying to defend this dirtbag must believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy as well.
I live in Idaho and the vast majority of the people here want Larry Craig to do the right thing and go away. Of course, he’s been in the Senate so long he thinks like a typical self-aggrandizing pompous a$$ho!e politician and doesn’t believe that Idaho or the USA could get along without him.
Larry - your’re a queer. Admit it. Stop lying to yourself and the citizens who elected you. You are not an honorable man.
Sounds like a he said/he said situation. Who to believe.........MMmmm. Dem guy who hangs in bathroom hoping to catch someone, or the guy who’s wide stance was seen round the world. I don’t like either one of those choices.
....the guy whos wide stance was seen round the world.
Uh, okay...
The whole thing is just sad and sordid. And he’s not helping matters any.
Uh... yeahhhh..... I think that was the general idea.
Did he then show you his badge?
Exactly correct.
Moreover, if there were an empty stall further away from an occupied one, that would the one most men would choose, not one next to an occupied one.
And I believe the 'sting' made sure that there were empty stalls.
Craig knew exactly what he was doing and doesn't deny the acts that the police described, only that they were 'misconstrued'.
For the record: I believe 1) this was a set up; 2) had he contested it, he would have won in court but been almost as harmed as he is now; 3) I don't care if he's gay, but I do care if he's trolling in a public bathroom where a 12 year old might happen in; 4) despite the legal case being more than questionable, I think he was trolling for all the reasons others have listed above.
Regarding your point about the timing: This came out very soon after the Hsu story did. As soon as the Hsu story started to grow legs, this became the major story, thus deflecting negative attention from Hillary.
I believe her blackmail machines have been setting up as many Republicans as possible in order to spring the "news" right before the '08 election which will probably be as effective as the Foley stuff was.
She just needed to pull one of the triggers early to deflect the spotlight at a moment critical for her IMO. If I'm right, we need to worry about how many other Republicans are compromised in some way she can use.
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