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A Scandal-Scarred G.O.P. Asks, ‘What Next?’ (NYTimes, Of course)
NYTimes ^ | August 29, 2007 | SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

Posted on 08/29/2007 6:40:03 AM PDT by RDTF

-snip-

Just when Republicans thought things could not get any worse, Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho confirmed that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer accused him of soliciting sex in June in a Minneapolis airport restroom. On Tuesday, Mr. Craig, 62, held a news conference to defend himself, calling the guilty plea “a mistake” and declaring, “I am not gay” — even as the Senate Republican leadership asked for an Ethics Committee review.

It was a bizarre spectacle, and only the latest in a string of accusations of sexual foibles and financial misdeeds that have landed Republicans in the political equivalent of purgatory, the realm of late-night comic television.

-snip-

It is enough to make a self-respecting Republican want to tear his hair out in frustration, especially as the party is trying to defend an unpopular war, contain the power of the new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill and generate some enthusiasm among voters heading toward the presidential election in 2008.

“The real question for Republicans in Washington is how low can you go, because we are approaching a level of ridiculousness,” said Mr. Reed, sounding exasperated in an interview on Tuesday morning. “You can’t make this stuff up. And the impact this is having on the grass-roots around the country is devastating. Republicans think the governing class in Washington are a bunch of buffoons who have total disregard for the principles of the party, the law of the land and the future of the country.”

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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To: pissant
Let’s drum Larry Fag out of office, now please.

Mens-room hijinks today... highway, rest-stop naturism tomorrow.

41 posted on 08/29/2007 7:07:30 AM PDT by johnny7 ("But that one on the far left... he had crazy eyes")
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To: what's up

“When conservatives blame Hastert for Foley’s problems, that’s not fuel...that’s stupidity on the part of conservatives.”

I absolutely agree. If a lot of Republicans stayed home because they were upset over the small handful of House members involved in scandal, then these non voters, who helped hand power over to Pelosi/Reid and the far left, should not complain over the election outcome.

For decades though it has astounded me at how the actions of a few, or even the one (to paraphrase Mr Spock!) can affect the voting patterns of a nation. Obviously most people vote to support their ideology. But because one senator from a state thousands of miles away engages in bad conduct I don’t see why it would dissuade me from voting for his party. As much as I am angered by Democrat scandals, I don’t vote against them because of that. There are plenty of other reasons to oppose them.


42 posted on 08/29/2007 7:09:05 AM PDT by TNCMAXQ
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To: Wil H
you are doing it to communicate that you wish to indulge in an illegal act

Gosh...I would have thought you actually would have had to proposition someone....like ask for sex or flash what you've got.

OK...Tapping foot = illegal.

Talk about Orwellian.

43 posted on 08/29/2007 7:10:00 AM PDT by what's up
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To: johnny7
Let’s drum Larry Fag out of office, now please.

Craig's biggest crime isn't behavior, it's his bare-faced LYING about it to the nation.

He needs to go now, Fortunately, Idaho has a Republican Governor who hopefully will appoint a re-electable candidate.

This is actually a good thing that we are dealing with this now, it stopped the Dems from "bringing out next October to get a "Foley factor" out of the situation.

Craig is no better than bill clinton, a lying, arrogant, pervert.

44 posted on 08/29/2007 7:12:55 AM PDT by Wil H (Islam translates to "submission", not "peace" - you can figure out the rest.)
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To: TNCMAXQ

Agreed 100%. In my congressional district, one of the new Dems (Hodes) won. The interesting thing is that he drew only a few more votes than during his previous, unsuccessful run, while his R opponent (Charlie Bass), received far, far fewer, meaning that alot of Republicans stayed at home in my District, and caused Hodes (a Pelosi acolyte) to be elected. Sad.


45 posted on 08/29/2007 7:13:12 AM PDT by dashing doofus (Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber)
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To: TNCMAXQ
What a paradox. Foley is gay, so conservatives blame the Speaker.

And what do they end up with?

The rep from San Franciso as Speaker whose district includes the gay activist capital of the world.

How can conservatives be so stupid?

Despite claiming to hate the MSM, they follow the media's lead time and time again.

46 posted on 08/29/2007 7:13:13 AM PDT by what's up
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To: claudiustg

Agree. Let’s weed out the cretins and RINO’s out of the GOP. Make room for new youngblood patriot conservatives.


47 posted on 08/29/2007 7:13:42 AM PDT by tflabo
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To: mewzilla

Very succinctly put. The leftists are trying to demoralize us to make us say f-it, we’re not going to promote family values any more since we can’t expect everyone on our side to live up to them.


48 posted on 08/29/2007 7:17:48 AM PDT by Menehune56 (Oderint Dum Metuant (Let them hate, so long as they fear - Lucius Accius (170 BC - 86 BC)))
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To: RDTF

I would like to go on the record predicting the GOP will last longer than the NYT.


49 posted on 08/29/2007 7:18:06 AM PDT by elizabetty (Was it Dolly Madison or Dolli Madison? First Lady's should not end their names with "I")
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To: RDTF

Craig should resign.

However, the media bias is, as always, pandemic. Why is it that when a GOP politician gets involved in some sordid scandal, the press blames it on the entire GOP? You’d never see a New York Times headline about Barney Frank such as this: “As Frank Scandal Grows, Scandal-Plagued Democrats Run For Cover”.

If the GOP had investigated Craig before this happened, they’d have earned negative headlines accusing them of “homophobia” and we’d have read quotes from anonymous sources saying the investigation was reminiscent of the witchhunts of the McCarthy era. Even as we speak, the same liberals who are blaming the entire GOP for Craig’s disgusting conduct are whining about a crackdown on sex in public restrooms in Ft. Lauderdale, calling it “homophobic”.

Of course, this is from the same press corps that ranted for weeks about pedophile priests even as they accused the Boy Scouts of intolerance for not sending little boys on camping trips with homosexuals.

I have no problem with Craig getting bad press. He deserves it. But I have a very big problem with every GOP member being tarnished over it, when nothing of the sort would happen to the Democrats if one of their guys got caught doing the same thing. I also have a problem with liberals practically endorsing sex in public restrooms (how else could one interpret their opposition to the Ft. Lauderdale proposal?) and then attacking someone for soliciting it **IF** he happens to be of the politically incorrect party.


50 posted on 08/29/2007 7:24:57 AM PDT by puroresu
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To: puroresu
Why is it that when a GOP politician gets involved in some sordid scandal, the press blames it on the entire GOP?

Because they know it influences conservatives.

Haven't you seen the number of people on this thread alone blaming the entire GOP?

51 posted on 08/29/2007 7:29:02 AM PDT by what's up
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To: RDTF
CHARACTER DOES MATTER!!!

It's a good thing the Republican front-runner for President is a man of solid values and unquestioned moral character. /s

52 posted on 08/29/2007 7:30:15 AM PDT by stockstrader (We need a conservative candidate who will UNITE the Party, not a liberal one who will DIVIDE it!)
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To: what's up

You’re right.


53 posted on 08/29/2007 7:30:53 AM PDT by puroresu
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To: RDTF

Have the NYT’s talked about Hillary’s Chinese funny money scandal?


54 posted on 08/29/2007 7:31:41 AM PDT by Osage Orange (Molon Labe)
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To: what's up

Orwellian?

The man plead GUILTY to soliciting lewd behavior!

A “Tapping Foot” isn’t illegal on it’s own but he did the following:

A: Went to a place known (by promiscuous homosexuals) to be a rendezvous for gay sex acts.
B: blocked the gap under his stall door with his luggage, a known ploy used by gays to give them added privacy.
C: Peered through the partition at the guy in the next stall to the extent that the other guy could make out his blue eyes.
D: Tapped his foot repeatedly, a known (to gays) signal that he wished to indulge in a sex act.
E: Slid his foot under the partition so his tapping foot would be clearly visible to the person in the other stall.
F: Ran his hand underneath the bottom of the partition multiple times, presumably as a further signal to the person in the other stall.

In other words, the policeman was left with a clear indication that Craig was trying to:

1) communicate with him, and
2) the communication was that he wished to have gay sex in a public restroom.

“Tapping his foot” isn’t illegal, soliciting sex in public definitely IS..


55 posted on 08/29/2007 7:35:11 AM PDT by Wil H (Islam translates to "submission", not "peace" - you can figure out the rest.)
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To: what's up
"Tapping someone's foot (even if you're gay) is illegal? "

I still don't know what crime was committed. Lewd behavior? It may seem creepy, but a crime?
56 posted on 08/29/2007 7:37:56 AM PDT by jaydubya2
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To: RDTF
"It's only about sex", nothing to see here, just move along.

They sure played a different tune when the Chief Law Officer of the Land was getting sexually serviced on-the-job, on our company property, by a subordinate, and lying under Oath to deny it!

57 posted on 08/29/2007 7:38:27 AM PDT by traditional1
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To: Wil H
I responed to 'what's up' before I read your summary.

“Tapping his foot” isn’t illegal, soliciting sex in public definitely IS..

It is? It happens in nightclubs all the time.
I admit being ignorant on the subject...
58 posted on 08/29/2007 7:44:00 AM PDT by jaydubya2
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To: RDTF
I don't need the New York Times lecturing us about morality but I want the GOP to know there is no place for those in our party who can't comport themselves with dignity in public.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

59 posted on 08/29/2007 7:44:31 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever<p><font color="blue"><small> "Sho)
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To: Diogenesis

Unfortunately, the governing class in DC thinks that we Americans are buffoons also.


60 posted on 08/29/2007 7:49:04 AM PDT by rock_lobsta (Doing my part to warm up the planet... Because Bikinis Beat Burkas!)
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