Larry Craig and the Rs

Recently got a new printer. Actually, a scanner, copier, printer. And saving scanned images I can drag it from Picasa and post it to blog. Dave Oliveria's "Hot Potatoes" column of the Spokesman-Review (published edition), 30 August 2007 featured a full and well deserved rant about Senator Larry Craig and the Kootenai County Republican party.

The copy of his column is what appears here. Senator Larry Craig, since his arrest and conviction of misdemeanor lewd conduct in an airport restroom has become the butt of late night comedians, such as Jay Leno and David Letterman, according to the column. What was not surprising, was how quick the local Republicans were to defend Craig and the embarrassment he brings to the party, his Senate seat and Idaho. As Oliveria adroitly notes in his column, the Rs weren't quite so unwilling to attack immoral conduct when it came to Bill Clinton.

Yeah, I remember that very well. The papers were full of super religious Rs wanting President Clinton impeached on a variety of issues, including the fact that he supported abortion rights. And the Congressional Rs were definitely of the opinion that a man's sex life, if not impeccable by their definition, could be forced from office. Especially if he lies about it. Yes, the state of Idaho was all about driving Bill Clinton out of office. However, at the time, the Rs had put into office a woman, Helen Chenoweth, who had been a marriage wrecker. Which put the super religious Rs claims of sanctimony on particularly shaky grounds. They wanted a guy out of office for not staying true to his marriage vows and electing people who weren't about to support "family values" in their private conduct? The hypocrisy existed then, long before Craig got caught with his own pants down, literally.

So, in that column as well as HBO (Huckleberries--published or on-line), Sandy Patano encouraged the local Rs to stand by Senator Craig. About a decade earlier, the GOP attacked the Democrats for supporting Clinton for what amounted to sexual misfeasance. Well, a "sting operation" that netted some 40 arrests inclusive of an Idaho state Senator to which he had pled guilty at the time, can be considered sexual misfeasance and given what the cop also had to say, using the power of his office to try to bully his way out of an arrest, not even the Rs could ultimately prove this to be true of Clinton. Yet, the Rs locally are asked to stand by a Senator who now accuses the cop of one very grave misunderstanding and the Idaho Statesman (Boise, Idaho) of a "witch hunt." Interesting that Craig would say that. HBO recent poll, the supermajority of respondents said hell no, they didn't believe Craig.