If Larry Craig was a Democrat, we'd be hearing a lot from liberals in the media about how he was bravely exploring his sexual identity. We would hear indignant objections to this policeman who, obviously having nothing better to do with his time, was doing surveillance in airport bathrooms in search of innocent people to harass and victimize. The ACLU would be right in there, asking about Craig's right to privacy and wondering why such ambiguous evidence (he placed his bag in front of the door, he tapped his foot) was enough to warrant arrest and prosecution. Even Craig's guilty plea would be employed in his favor: look, the man is at least being honest about what he did, and why should he be ashamed of being who he is? If Larry Craig was a Democrat, the system, not Craig, would be on trial.
Unfortunately for Larry Craig, he is a Republican and a conservative to boot. We've been hearing a lot about conservative hypocrisy in the past several days: turning on CNN, I saw anchor Soledad O' Brien, correspondent Candy Crowley and legal pundit Jeff Toobin all having a great time with the subject. None of them saw fit to comment on the Himalayan hypocrisy of the liberals, undoubtedly because they embodied it.
So where is the liberal hypocrisy? Consider: the cardinal values of today's liberalism are the right to personal freedom, the right of consenting adults to do what they want as long as they do not trespass on the rights of others, and the right to privacy. Larry Craig's conduct may have been unseemly, but he did not violate any of the liberal values. He wasn't assaulting the man in the other stall, he was approaching him to seek his consent. Whatever he was doing, he wasn't doing it in the Oval Office like Clinton but in a men's room stall. Notwithstanding the obscure "signaling" that was apparently going on, Craig didn't actually engage in any kind of sexual activity. No cigars were inserted into any private orifices. Craig's home, in contrast with Barney Frank's apartment, was not used as a full-service prostitution venue. Craig hasn't figured out, like Gerry Studds, that you don't have to forage in airport restrooms when there are pages to be turned over on Capitol Hill itself.
In all those cases--Barney Frank, Gerry Studds, Bill Clinton--liberals rushed to the defense of their guys and proceeded to attack their critics as the real threat to civil liberties and social freedom. (Bill Clinton's approval ratings on the left actually rose when his sexal misconduct came to public light.) Therefore in the Larry Craig case, liberal indignation stands exposed as largely opportunistic. Here is a chance to hoist the conservatives on their own petard, to hang another scandal on the necks of the GOP, and to undermine the case for moral standards in society under the pretext of upholding them.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 9)
1. I whole heartedly agree. This issue has exploded into a big mess of nonsense. After hearing Ben Stein go on a tirade about it on CBS Sunday Morning, I finally realized that the whole debacle is just a giant waste of time and Craig himself is just a poor victim. He’s been left to hang by his own party and mocked by the party who would in turn support him if he was a liberal democrat.
Another reason why American politics are going straight to hell, but then again I suppose we've been doing similiar nonsense since the days of Washington.
Blayze at 2:08AM on Sep 4th 2007
2. Who cares?
Is whining about how "unfairly" this panned out going to change 1) that it happened, or 2) the end result?
Move on, please. Thank God for Mo Rocco - he writes, we read, we laugh. Everyone else writes (about the same thing over and over), we read, we die a little inside. Enough already.
lin at 2:31AM on Sep 4th 2007
3. Washington Politics is one of the worst in the world. None of these Senators, etc. have any moral values or conciencious of anything any ordinary citizens must deal with in order to survive. They are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites, pretenders and liars. Everything is about money and power.
My question is: Why would a US Senator want to plea guilty about something so sensitive by pretending he wanted to go away? One would think a Senator is Smarter than that. But apparently Larry is familiar with these bathroom rendez-vous.It is not the first time we're seing people with power living a double life and cover it very good.
Ray at 2:58AM on Sep 4th 2007
4. Ahhh.... First of all it's "If Larry Craig were a democrat," not "was a democrat." You're a fellow at Stanford University, and you don't know basic grammar? Pick up a grammar book, and open up the chapter on the subjunctive.
Secondly, do you read in the news the subject you're blogging over? It's not the "liberals" who urged Sen. Craig to resign, it's the members of his own party. The reason he resigned is that the Republicans stripped him of his committee positions, and told him that his resignation would be for the good of the party. It's the soon-to-be ex-Senator who embarrassed himself, not by playing footsie, but by the hypocrisy and lies to his constituents, family, and nation.
I do agree that what he did was no big deal (and probably not even illegal). But he chose to plead guilty and try to push it under the rug rather than fight it honestly like a man. He chose to pursue a gay-bashing agenda in Congress rather than being honest with himself, his constituents and his family. Marrying someone and using this woman as a cover for your political career. How low can a man get? Yuck! How can he face himself?
Surely, his constituents wouldn't have elected him if they knew who he was, and they wouldn't re-elect him if he ran again. I don't know how he can show his face in Congress again, knowing what a hypocrite and a liar he is. How can he not be embarrassed to death? He should wear a bag over his head.
Belgo at 3:32AM on Sep 4th 2007
5. Hey Din Din, isn't Craig part of the "conservative hypocrisy" or don't you know how to define that? I'm sure "liberal Dems" are glad to see such a God-Fearing, God-obeying kook gone (although a more rational man they may have rallied behind; however, your wingnuts are who pushed for his demise)for someone who doesn't speak out of both sides of his mouth and will work for ALL people instead of for the 10 percent of wingnuts. Sorry Mr. Craig -- live by the sword, die by the sword.
brian at 6:24AM on Sep 4th 2007
6. Dinesh D'Souza if you were a writer with any talent, not was a writer, but if you were a writer you would know and follow the basic rules of grammar. You have the writing skills of a tenth grade student. Do you ever think to have your thrown together articles proof-read now and again?
I witnessed one right after the other members of the Republican party step up to kick Larry Craig in the kidneys while he was down. I heard nothing from the other side. He admitted guilt. He resigned. This is all his own doing. He has lied to his constitutes his wife and himself. You speak of police officers who have nothing better to do than patrol bathrooms and run dirty old men out of the stalls. Well, I for one am very happy to have that kind of behavior kept out of the face of the public, and the sign on the door says public restroom. Children share these facilities as well as adults. How can you or any other person go light on this? The man was busted. Take him down and take away all the trust and power we entrusted in him. You know as well as anyone that the man plead guilty to disturbing the peace because he was sweating and praying to his republican god that this would all go away if he cooperated a tiny bit. Would you yourself have plead guilty to anything if you were only trying to take a quick dump before your flight? He knew he was caught and he panicked especially facing the charges this policeman was leveling against the man. Decades of lies and deception all came to an end for this sad man. Now at least he can take out his secret purple wig and wear it in one of those fun parades like he has always secretly wished to join. Tap your toes if you are a gay republican! Did you tap your toes Dinesh? Loud and proud, that's the way!
Dinesh D'Souza you should honestly give up trying to be a writer. All you seem to do really is read other peoples articles and try to add your own twist. That is not reporting, it is closer to plagiarism. If nothing else please replace that pitiful picture you keep posting. You look like you just tossed your grandfather's salad with that grinning possum stare out into space.
Steven Parker at 10:06AM on Sep 4th 2007
7. I am not sure if Mr. D'Souza is asking Craig to stay and fight or just using a lame, tired and rather hamfisted argument to try and paint the democrats with the hypocrisy of the republican right/family values power structure. While it is of course true that there are democratic gays as well as republican gays, the similarity ends there. The democratic party embraces gays( mostly) while the republican party denies them. Democratic gays are generally out of the closet while republican ones.... well, you know. A closet gay is dangerous to others and self. I knew of one teenage gay who killed a pre teen who threatened to expose him to his own father. The closet is no place for humans to reside. Shame on the republican party for chasing out their senator just cause he is gay. It is not because of the lack of judgment( if he was trolling for hetero sleazy sex they would not have been so quick to bums rush him we all know) and shame on D'Souza for trying to blame democrats. What a tool.
Gary Kast at 6:28AM on Sep 4th 2007
8. All the things you say are true had Craig been a Democrat. Unfortunately for him, he was a Republican caught in a scandal in a year already filled with GOP scandals. So instead of coming to his defense, laughing at the outlandish 'evidence' against him, explaining his little indiscretion away and/or showering him with support from all levels of conservative government, his right wing teammates found it more prudent to just hang him out to dry, demanding his resignation in record time. I have never seen a group so eager to distance themselves from someone who just a day before had been a trusted pal.
Had Craig been a Democrat, things would have turned out a lot differently for him, that's for sure. Of course, he was a moron for pleading guilty to an obvious entrapment, but his conservative collegues should have backed him instead of running for cover. In times like these it is very clear who your friends are.
Imagine if you will if Republicans had an ounce of sense and took the page from the Dem playbook that you described... Imagine if it had been conservatives that shouted 'indignant objections to this policeman who, obviously having nothing better to do with his time, was doing surveillance in airport bathrooms in search of innocent people to harass and victimize.' Or if conservative talk show hosts questioned Craig's 'right to privacy and wondering why such ambiguous evidence was enough to warrant arrest and prosecution.'
Yes, had Republicans acted like Democrats, 'even Craig's guilty plea would be employed in his favor.' Instead you were the first in line to lynch him.
The only Republican I've heard come to his defense has been Ben Stein who insists Craig was railroaded. The Republican response to that notion is to call Stein a lunatic.
m.l. at 6:37AM on Sep 4th 2007
9. No.... Larry Craig plead guilty to a crime. This was his biggest mistake. He would've been better off contesting the charges against him. If Clinton had plead guilty to a crime, then Democrats would have called for his resignation too. But he didn't.
Tony Messinger at 6:45AM on Sep 4th 2007
10. Dinesh,
I agree with those who find your reasoning questionable, to say the least. If you have a problem with Craig's resigning, take it up with Craig, or with the Republicans who forced it to happen. It's not a Democrat issue. And it's not at all true that all liberals supported liberals such as Clinton in the case of misconduct. Many of us were profoundly disillusioned with him and with others over that. I don't support any of that, any lawbreakers, of any party.
Give it up. You're thinking on this issue seems very personal and obsessive.
mw
michael white at 6:49AM on Sep 4th 2007
11. If pigs flew, if Dinesh only had a brain, if wishes were fishes. Well Dinesh, it isn't going to happen and your supposition is full of it.
Dennis at 7:21AM on Sep 4th 2007
12. "If Larry Craig was a Democrat, we'd be hearing a lot from liberals in the media about how he was bravely exploring his sexual identity."
That is it DS, I have seen it for years and years, defend your party no matter the cost.
tony at 7:51AM on Sep 4th 2007
13. If Larry Craig were a Democrat then chances are he would not have been a closet queen and therefor not needed to go looking for sex in an airport bathroom in the first place. He could do something like search the personal ads of the Washington Blade instead Maybe find himself a sexy Jeff Gannon type. Repeat after me wingnuts. Larry Craig is a Republican. Just like Mark Foley. You're basically right though DD. If Larry Craig were a Democrat nobody except people like yourself would care about his sex life. It's the hypocrisy stupid. Most of America got over the Gay thing long ago and have better things to do than worry about the sex lives of politicians. One day maybe you'll grow up and understand that. At the point it will never be a serious issue for your side either. Let's hope you grow up soon. Then maybe the media can focus on those more trivial things like being lied into half a trillion dollar wars in the wrong damn country.
Joe at 8:25AM on Sep 4th 2007
14. get real!
It was his republican colleagues who gave him the bum's rush. i don't remember hearing one condemnation from any of the senate democrats.
zeke at 8:21AM on Sep 4th 2007
15. If bush and cheney had been democrats the so-called liberals would have helped the conservathieves throw them in jail. But Dinesh doesnt understand that about America being a foreigner. The main problem with promoting a propaganda campaign is that the promoter like dinesh will come to believe their own BS.
gshort3011 at 8:29AM on Sep 4th 2007