From The Founder's Desk
columnist: Walt Thiessen

Topic: Political Parties
Republican Immorality and Sen. Larry Craig

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Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Tony Rudy, Mike Scanlon, Bob Ney, Randy Cunningham, Mark Foley, I. Lewis Libby, David Safavian, and...Sen. Larry Craig?

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by Walt Thiessen
(Libertarian)
Monday, September 10, 2007

What do Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Tony Rudy, Mike Scanlon, Bob Ney, Randy Cunningham, Mark Foley, I. Lewis Libby, David Safavian, Claude Allen, Brian Doyle, James Tobin, and now Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho all have in common? They have all been indicted (and in most cases convicted) of various crimes. They are also all Republican Party movers and shakers. The difference is that while the others were indicted and/or convicted of much more serious crimes, Sen. Craig was convicted of playing "footsie."

The Sen. Craig story borders on the Twilight Zone, and it shows just how little Republicans are actually interested in "being moral" and how much more they would rather place the emphasis on "looking good." Apparently, this is what they really mean each time they euphemistically make references to "family values" in their political campaigns.

To summarize, Sen. Craig has been successfully pressured into quitting the U.S. Senate because he pled guilty to soliciting sex from another man (an undercover airport cop) in a men's room. His solicitation took the form of moving his foot toward the edge of a stall while sitting on a public toilet. This made him a homosexual in the eyes of the law and of the Republican Party faithful, which therefore makes him immoral and not worthy of sitting in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Craig is now applying to get his original conviction reversed, to which he originally pled guilty in the first place in order to make the whole thing go away. Now, his attorney is filing to reverse his original plea, because he didn't do anything wrong.

Anyone confused yet? I sure am. But mostly I'm confused about where the heck the Republican Party's values are located these days, because they sure don't reflect anything close to what I'd consider to be good values. Let's randomly address just a few of the insanities that this case has brought up:

1. Sen. Craig moved his foot in a public men's room. Therefore he's a homosexual who tried to solicit sex. Now is that screwball logic, or what? I mean, what's the signal for, "meet me outside and we'll do lunch"? A piece of toilet paper stuck to the wall? And what does that undercover airport cop do with his time anyway? He doesn't seem to have anything better to do, like tracking down known Al Qaeda members or bringing actual, real criminals to justice. Wow! Nevermind that homosexual men have apparently had to resort to men's rooms to meet other homosexual men because society has deemed their behavior so awful that it mustn't be allowed in polite company.
2. Former Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Torricelli of NJ, who himself lost his seat because he was implicated in a bribery and campaign finance scandal involving David Chang, a convicted Korean businessman, said of Craig, "Few people who knew Larry Craig were probably surprised by the news of his arrest. Washington isn't known as a city to keep secrets and his sexual orientation was generally understood. What was surprising was the speed and intensity with which his Republican colleagues separated themselves from him." In other words, if we can believe another disgraced politician from across the aisle, Republican have long known that Craig was a homosexual, but they did nothing about it until he was convicted of playing footsie in a public men's room, whereupon they dropped him like a hot potato. Moral guardians, indeed!
3. Republicans have been gleefully playing the homo card for the past few election cycles, knowing that it plays so well with voters. Why? Because the Bible says that homosexuality is "an abomination." In other words, if you believe the Bible, God is disgusted by homosexuality according to the Old Testament (Jewish Law, the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, or however else you want to describe this source.). Therefore, society must be saved from homosexuality. Of course, we must simultaneously ignore the fact that these same sources all also say that anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death; that daughters may rightfully be sold into slavery as long as the correct forms are followed; and that eathing shellfish is an abomination. By the way, this section of the Bible also says that homosexual men should be put to death. Should Sen. Craig's execution be by electric chair or by lethal injection? Or should we simply stone him to death?

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2007 Walt Thiessen, all rights reserved.
Published: Monday, September 10, 2007
Last modified: Monday, September 10, 2007

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