You know, the men who were caught cheating on their wives that have long been forgotten. Spitzer was wrong, but weren't they as well? Why are both still in office while Spitzer has resigned? Spitzer was wrong but I'm still trying to figure out how it is that he resigned within days yet Larry Craig and David Vitter are still in office. The GOP was rolling on the floor laughing this week when Spitzer went down but I'm almost surprised that Fox didn't interview Newt Gingrinch, Vitter or Craig and have them tell us about the evils of sex outside of marriage and how it's destroying America much the way the media has used Bill Bennett when they are seeking moral guidance on one issue or another. It's a tricky game to understand who is supposed to resign in disgrace when you see this.
Meanwhile while Wall Street and the GOP were all laughing Americans shoveled $200 billion to Wall Street all based on a guarantee of $200 billion in subprime loans that nobody was ever going to buy. Funny, isn't it? Ha, ha, ha. Joke's on us.
The Senate Ethics Committee said Wednesday that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig acted improperly in connection with a men's room sex sting last year.
In a letter to the Republican senator, the ethics panel said Craig's attempt to withdraw his guilty plea after his June arrest at a Minneapolis airport was an effort to evade legal consequences of his own actions.
Craig's actions brought discredit on the Senate, the letter said.
The six members of committee — three Democrats and three Republicans — told Craig they believed he "committed the offense to which you pled guilty" and that "you entered you plea knowingly voluntarily and intelligently."
"Conservative" Republican Senator Larry Craig, the guy arrested for tapping his foot in an airport men's room, continues to hold his seat (ba dum pum) in the Senate. (I actually had the pleasure of walking by Larry Craig yesterday in the Senate. And no, I didn't ask directions to the bathroom.) Well it's looking like the Senate is stonewalling his ethics investigation. It's good to be Queen.
Joe had a cocktail party yesterday for blogger Pam Spaulding, and who was there at the party, none other than David Phillips, one of the guys who says he slept with GOP Senator Larry Craig. I took the opportunity to interview David for a podcast. The podcast is occasionally explicit, due to the subject matter, and therefore not safe for work. You can listen it to here.
As always, you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes here, you can subscribe to the podcast's RSS feed here, or you can just listen to the file directly here (it's an mp3). And you can listen to any of our old shows via the iTunes link or the Feedburner link above.
I spoke on a panel at a state legislators' conference with Pam Spaulding and Jane Hamsher today. We then went to a nice little cocktail party Joe Sudbay hosted for Pam at his place. Was really a nice gathering, and it included a number of interesting people, including David Phillips, one of the men who says that he slept with Larry Craig. While at the party, I interviewed David for a podcast that I'll be publishing later on Monday (if you subscribe to my podcast via iTunes you'll be getting it automatically in a short while).
* Listen to David Phillips' account of being led into a house on Capitol Hill by Larry Craig on a late afternoon in 1986 and their engaging in oral sex. * Listen to David Phillips' account of Larry Craig performing anal sex on him and how Craig's mood changed when the act was complete. * Listen to male escort Mike Jones describe having sex with Larry Craig. * Listen to male escort Mike Jones describe the end of his encounter with Larry Craig. * Listen to Greg Ruth describe his encounter with then-Rep. Larry Craig in a men's room at a Republican convention in Coeur d'Alene in 1981.
Audio clip disclaimer: Some of the audio interview excerpts contain explicit descriptions of sex not appropriate for children and listeners who find such content offensive. The Statesman provides the excerpts so Idahoans can hear these accounts and decide for themselves about accusations against Sen. Craig....
David Phillips is a 42-year-old information technology consultant in Washington, D.C., who says Craig picked him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex.
Mike Jones is a former prostitute who told the world he had sex with the Rev. Ted Haggard last year. The former Colorado Springs evangelist at first denied it but eventually confessed. Jones says Craig paid him for sex in late 2004 or early 2005.
Greg Ruth was a 24-year-old college Republican in 1981 when he says he was hit on by Craig at a Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene.
Tom Russell, now 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah. Russell said his encounter with Craig occurred at Bogus Basin in the early 1980s.
A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, offered a recent and telling account: He was in a men's restroom at Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider. Alarmed, the man said he waited outside the restroom and then identified the man in the adjoining stall as Craig, whom he had met in Idaho.
Note to our friends in the media: The religious right groups lie. Do not quote them unless they prove what they're telling you, because they lie. The American Family Association, one of the largest, and most extreme, religious right groups is selling a video promoting the notion that you can "cure" gays. The guy on the cover of the video? Michael Johnston, an HIV+ man who claimed he was "cured" of being gay, but then was accused by numerous witnesses of having unsafe sex with other men at gay orgies. (The religious right groups subsequently admitted that Johnston had fallen.) You'd think having unsafe gay orgy sex while HIV+ would be a deal-breaker for serving as a spokesman of the "I was cured of my homosexuality" movement. But not with this crowd. The American Family Association is still hocking Johnston's face right there on the cover of their video.
At least it's good to know that Larry Craig will have a place to go after he leaves the Senate. I mean, what's a little gay bathroom sex compared to this?
"Meet the Press" celebrates itself today. The other shows are doing real news -- like the presidential election. Three candidates, Thompson, Edwards (twice) and Huckabee, are on today.
"My concern is not with myself but with the posteriors of those in the audience" -- Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), on being given an extra 2 min. to speak at today's EPW hearing (Last Call! sources).
Of course this is the guy whose first line at his "I am not gay" press conference was to "thank everyone for coming out today."
For that matter, what does GOP Senator Larry "Wide Stance" Craig think? (I actually had to explain, and translate, "wide stance" for the Spanish - that was fun :-)
The state GOP is now sending a robo-call throughout the state featuring none other than Pat Boone, warning that as a Christian he is concerned that Democratic nominee Steve Beshear, who has been way ahead in the polls, will work for "every homosexual cause."
"Now do you want a governor who'd like Kentucky to be another San Francisco?" Boone asks. "Please re-elect Ernie Fletcher."
And at a campaign stop last night, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports, the Republican nominee for Lt. Governor made a direct attack upon the Democratic ticket: "Do you want a couple of San Francisco treats or do you want a governor?"
TPM Election Central also has the tape recording of the anti-gay robo-call.
I'm sorry, but the fact that the vice president's daughter, Mary, is a lesbian, and a lesbian parent to boot, makes this issue relevant for the White House and the national GOP. Does the White House, or does it not, endorse gay-baiting, Mary-Cheney baiting
PS For that matter, what does GOP Senator Lindsey DADT Graham think?
For the record, I'm not saying that Lindsey Graham IS gay. I'm just saying that I can't recall ever hearing a straight guy open his mouth and come off as quite as big a fag. (Nor can I recall many gay guys.)
Which they got from a memo from 2003. That wasn't taken seriously then. That was talking about Al Qaeda's setting fires in Wyoming and Idaho and a few other interior states, but didn't mention California.
Or as they call it at Fox, just another day at the office.
More interesting, however, is the secret report Fox also received on other potential Al Qaeda methods of attack. It hasn't been shared yet, but I thought I'd present it to the ABLOG faithful. So look out for the following:
Larry Craig is undoubtedly the most famous Republican in America these days. He's getting more TV time than all the GOP presidential candidates. Must be driving Mitch McConnell insane.
Larry Craig did a media blitz today. John was on CNN to dissect the current state of affairs surrounding the Senator who has become Mitch McConnell's biggest nightmare:
UPDATE: Well speak of the devil. CNN just called and they want me to on during the 8 o'clock hour (Eastern) tonight to talk about yet another mea culpa interview that Larry Craig is doing with the Mrs. this evening. We're going to be responding live to Craig's interview - a bit of live-blogging, as it were, from CNN. This is going to be fun. Any and all Larry-Craig-puns that I can use during the interview are most welcome (things like "Larry Craig has put Republicans between a rock and a hard place").
It's apparently "Larry Craig Day" on NBC. Excerpts of the big interview with Matt Lauer were shown this morning. The full thing airs tonight at 8 PM EST. This media blitz has got to be driving Mitch McConnell crazy.
