Sen. Larry Craig Caught With His Pants Down

The Nation -- Republican Idaho Senator Larry Craig is the latest Conflicted Conservative in Crisis to be caught with his pants down. According to Roll Call , Craig was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men's public restroom. He has pleaded guilty to the charge.

Craig has faced pointed rumors of same-sex affairs in the past. Craig responded to these allegations with strident denials. Now, as details of Craig's recent arrest emerge, he seems increasinly cockeyed, so to speak.

This story would not matter if Craig wasn't using his position to advance the Republican Party's officially homophobic agenda. In November, 2006, Craig flamboyantly endorsed Idaho's successful anti-gay constitutional amendment, HJR 2, which banned gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships in his state. Pam Spaulding has more background on Craig's anti-gay voting record here. It's also worth recalling Craig's 1999 interview with Tim Russert in which he mocked Bill Clinton as a "naughty boy" for his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Craig is up for re-election in 2008. Will his carnality in public restrooms put an end to his career in public life? Idaho conservatives may be willing to reward bigotry, but lying is another matter.

Here's the full story on Craig's men's room exploits, according to the sub-only Roll Call: According to the incident report, Sgt. Dave Karsnia was working as a plainclothes officer on June 11 investigating civilian complaints regarding sexual activity in the men's public restroom in which Craig was arrested.

Airport police previously had made numerous arrests in the men's restroom of the Northstar Crossing in the Lindbergh Terminal in connection with sexual activity.

Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and about 13 minutes after taking a seat in a stall, he stated he could see "an older white male with grey hair standing outside my stall."

The man, who lingered in front of the stall for two minutes, was later identified as Craig.

"I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, 'fidget' with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes," the report states.

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia's and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.

"My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall," Karsnia stated in his report. "From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me."

"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area," the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that "I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider."

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.

"With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, 'No!' I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn't want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom."

In a recorded interview after his arrest, Craig "either disagreed with me or 'didn't recall' the events as they happened," the report states.

Craig stated "that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine," the report states. Craig also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor.

"It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper," the arresting officer said in the report.

On Aug. 8, the day he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in the Minnesota court, Craig appeared via satellite at a ceremony that took place in Idaho in which former Idaho federal Judge Randy Smith was invested into his new position as a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Larry Craig’s upcoming resignation from the Senate is unfortunate only because it didn’t happen earlier this year. The toughest anti-Invasion candidates running for his seat and a war vet, Robert Vazquez, dropped out of the race in April for lack of funds and support from the RINO-led GOP in Idaho. Vazquez, a superb speaker who takes no quarter from anyone, would have been an excellent candidate.

That’s the problem though. The conservatives WON’T point all of this out. There isn’t one with the courage of his/her convictions that would do that. PC. That’s the name of the game. Too bad...PC will KILL this country.

Craig should have resigned entirely from politics back in the early `80`s. Not because he`s gay, but because he`s in the closet and he could be blackmailed if he hasn`t been already. I mean think about it, he was caught with this bathroom “Jim McGreevy” type of scene. How many times has he done this before without being caught? How many times was he threatened with exposure if he did do certain things or vote a certain way? This idiot should be nowhere near anything having to do with politics. Vazquez should do everything he can to get back in and present everything that is the exact opposite of Craig. That the RINOS don`t support a guy like that shows how full of it they are. This is what drives me crazy, when good candidates have to drop out for lack of funds. Yet all these sh*tbags pull in money by the truckload. Look at Duncan Hunter; Hands down the best Repub candidate for President since Reagan, yet he just doesn`t have the loot and therefore the country will suffer when it elects some moron like Guliani or Hitlery.

Our conversations appeared on Pandagon.net. The former Blogger in Chief Amanda Marcotte of John Edwards. Hey Amanda how come you have not answered my emails?? I will retract my views When Hell Freezes over. There is a double Standard as usual at work here. If Roberts is a closeted Gay. Why does that make him evil? Note if your’e Gay and a “Progressive” you are correct. If you are a Conservative and Gay you are a Traitor or turncoat.

On this count Ann Coulter is 100% correct. Oh and your Buddy’s wife deliberately omitted the rest of Coulter’s quote. That makes Elizabeth Edwards a Liar.

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