Breaking: McCain Calls On Craig To Resign
John McCain, on CNN just now, becomes the first Presidential candidate to call on GOP Senator Larry Craig to resign over wide-stance-gate:
MCCAIN: I believe that he pled guilty, and he had the opportunity to plead innocent, so I think he should resign.JOHN KING: And suppose he comes back to Washington and says "I want to serve"?
MCCAIN: Well, that'll be a decision that he will make and most importantly the people of the state of Idaho, but my opinion is that when you plead guilty to a crime then you shouldn't serve and that's not a moral stand, that's not a holier-than-thou, it's just a factual situation. I don't try to judge people but in this case it's clear that it was disgraceful.
We're digging to see what McCain said, if anything, about David Vitter. We can't find anything yet. Any readers recall anything?
Video of McCain soon.
Late Update: Here's the vid:
Later Update: CNN is also reporting that Craig is stepping down from his committee assignments. "Temporarily," the network says.
Still Later Update: The Senate GOP leadership pushed Craig out of his committee slots. Here's the leadership's statement:
"Senator Larry Craig has agreed to comply with Leadership’s request that he temporarily step down as the top Republican on the Veteran Affairs Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, and Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. This is not a decision we take lightly but we believe this is in the best interest of the Senate until this situation is resolved by the Ethics Committee."
Comments (21)
chicago recluse wrote on August 29, 2007 3:50 PM:I don't recall that any Republican has called for Vitter to resign and the cynic in me doesn't think it likely that anyone of them will as Louisiana's governor is a Democrat.
Greg wrote on August 29, 2007 3:58 PM:indeed...that's exactly our point...
joejoejoe wrote on August 29, 2007 4:01 PM:I believe Sen. Craig pled to misdeanor disorderly conduct. I have to believe there are other members of Congress who have committed misdemeanors while in office. Is that the standard now for McCain - if you plead to a misdemeanor you should resign?
fuzz wrote on August 29, 2007 4:25 PM:Maybe my memory is fuzzy, but did Vitter actually plead guilty to a crime? If not then McCain's statement doesn't seem to be promoting a double standard in that case
I guess we'll see what happens if Filner is convicted, joejoejoe.
scott wrote on August 29, 2007 4:29 PM:Funny, I don't recall any Repubs taking such a principled stand when Gov. Bob Taft was found guilty on corruption charges in the mother of all swing states.
Greg wrote on August 29, 2007 4:31 PM:my take on this is they're only using the guilty plea to have an excuse not to say, "we shouldn't rush to judgment till all the facts are out..."
Michael Croft wrote on August 29, 2007 4:31 PM:John "Keating Five" McCain has a lot of nerve saying that, doesn't he? I guess he never did plead guilty to causing the Savings and Loan Scandal so he has the moral high ground over some dude who wanted a blowjob.
manu wrote on August 29, 2007 4:35 PM:This whole thing is kind of turning into a witch hunt no? Casting aspersions on Craig seems an easy way for Republican bigots to score points with the values voters crowd. All these good go-fearing christians should know better...
BB Pdx wrote on August 29, 2007 4:38 PM:Is it just me, or do these GOPers basically want him to resign because he's gay? Surely this incident was embarrassing, and will hurt his re-election chances, but he needs to resign immediately? Why? This needs an ethics probe? It seems like the GOP is overcompensating. I guess they want to be sure to alienate the gay vote along with the latino vote before 2008.
thomas wrote on August 29, 2007 4:39 PM:'Diaper' Dave Vitter can't be the only one. It's time for Larry Flynt to start dropping the names.
This could become really interesting.
I too wonder how many Senators have been convicted of misdemeanors such as disorderly conduct, or public drunkenness, or the like.
I can't imagine that any of them were expelled from the Senate on those grounds alone. I'd be curious to know if any penalty would have been exacted against them.
Bryan lamb wrote on August 29, 2007 4:59 PM:Maybe its because I live in San Francisco, but I really feel sorry for Craig. Even the hypocrisy of of his political stance doesn't outweigh my sympathy for his current situation. Either he is bi or gay, and because of his cultural background, cannot resolve his desires with the overwhelming feeling of guilt. Because he believes it is wrong to have such desires, he is forced to closet his behavior and winds up projecting his self-loathing onto the entire gay community. Also, he gets nabbed doing what in much of the gay/bi community is acceptable behavior. Now he is in a position to really lose just about everything.
Pretty tragic to face the type of consequences he is facing just because he happens to have sexual desires for members of the same sex.
Personally, (not being a member of the public restroom subculture) i would not have paid any attention to a person tapping their foot in the next stall - thus would not have replied -- and thus would not have been offended by a guy tapping his foot. It seems to me that he plead guilty to a victimless crime (or behavior that should not be considered a crime.) I'm not saying i approve of people having sex in a public restroom, but i know of plenty of women and men who have engaged in hetrosexual semi-public sex for the "thrill" of it, and i have not heard anyone say -- that should be a crime.
I just can't imagine what his family, his wife, and children are going through. Beyond the worst day of my life by far.
Randall Thoman wrote on August 29, 2007 5:17 PM:I'm not saying i approve of people having sex in a public restroom, but i know of plenty of women and men who have engaged in hetrosexual semi-public sex for the "thrill" of it, and i have not heard anyone say -- that should be a crime.
Actually, that would be a crime. Let's remember, however, that it is a VERY MINOR crime. Gay Larry's penalties were also very paltry. He isn't facing any jail time and had to pay an fine barely exceeding that of a traffic violation.
According to MN statute, disorderly conduct is: "Whoever does any of the following in a public or private place, including on a school bus, knowing, or having reasonable grounds to know that it will, or will tend to, alarm, anger or disturb others or provoke an assault or breach of the peace, is guilty of disorderly conduct, which is a misdemeanor:... Engages in offensive, obscene, abusive, boisterous, or noisy conduct or in offensive, obscene, or abusive language tending reasonably to arouse alarm, anger, or resentment in others."
As you can see, it is pretty broad. Of course, the penalties are pretty minimal as well.
Had Gay Larry retained counsel, the lawyer probably could have challenged the "reasonable cause" aspect of the arrest and perhaps had the charges dropped.
Disorderly conduct charges are often abused by the police--most despicibly at political protests where they round people up indiscriminately. But they do allow police a "tool" to diffuse escalating situations.
Given the fact that the site of Gay Larry's arrest was well-known as a place for public sex, it is not unreasonable that the officer arrested him.
Let's remember that Gay Larry plead guilty and acknowledged the accuracy of the officer's explanation of events. As such, he admitted to committing a crime.
Genevieve wrote on August 29, 2007 5:20 PM:How about Congressman John Hostettler, R. Ind., who pled guilty to carrying a concealed deadly weapon in 2004? From the Louisville Courier-Journal: Rep. Hostettler "was sentenced yesterday to 60 days in jail on a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed deadly weapon into Louisville International Airport in April 2004. The sentence was conditionally discharged providing Hostettler, R-8th District, has no legal problems in the next two years." http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives (linked from Wikipedia)
Don't recall Republicans asking for his resignation. . .
SocraticGadfly wrote on August 29, 2007 6:13 PM:I love that Uncle Wiggly is now saying he is now going to retain a lawyer.
What, does he think he can "unplea" a guilty plea? Using his Senate business/let me out of jail free card?
Cal Damage wrote on August 29, 2007 6:38 PM:Did he really open by thanking people for "coming out"?
Craig's protest that "I am not gay, and I have never been gay!" implies allegiance to the theory that homosexuality is an orientation that can be changed. By his statement he implies the possibility that he COULD have been in the past and not be gay now, so he must assure us that he wasn't then as well as isn't now.
This gives insight into his personal torment: Always denying his actual orientation, and hoping that it will change through willpower, while giving in to his true self on a regular basis.
Note that his statement later says that he loves his wife, his children, and has served the state of Idaho. Through this, he implies either that homosexuals could never truthfully say/be those things OR that saying these true things about himself somehow proves that he would never screw up his relationship with any/all of them.
Finally, even though he didn't play the usual GOP trump card of asking God's forgiveness, his self-hatred and the acts that have resulted, (from destroying his family to his being a Republican,) illuminate the need to heed the Bible: love others as you love yourself. And since these Republicans actually hate themselves, fear others finding them out, feel so insecure about themselves and their positions in the world, they do the hateful things they do...
They need to clean their houses first, before they go around pointing fingers at other people's ability to be good people and good citizens.
JNagarya wrote on August 29, 2007 8:10 PM:"joejoejoe wrote on August 29, 2007 4:01 PM:
"I believe Sen. Craig pled to misdeanor disorderly conduct. I have to believe there are other members of Congress who have committed misdemeanors while in office. Is that the standard now for McCain - if you plead to a misdemeanor you should resign?"
Don't look HERE! -- look OVER THERE AT MY UNEVIDENCED SPECULATION!
Point of clarification:
The kids are not "his."
They're the product of Mrs. Craig's first, and failed, marriage.
He adopted them after they were married.
Between the TPM front page headline of Craig Shrinking Fast and Craig thanking everyone "for coming out today" I have had some great belly laughs the last couple of days.
Peter Duffy wrote on August 30, 2007 4:49 AM:What happens if Senator Craig toughs it out and refuses to resign and stays in the Senate until January 2009.
If the GOP rough him up, he could prove to be a loose cannon when it comes to voting.
Larry Craig should be able to be as naughty, bad and nasty (his words) as he wants to be. I don't care what he does in public restrooms. I do, however, object to Senator Craig using his impaired judgment to vote in congress on matters concerning my future and the future of this country.
His arrogance is despicable, the people of Idaho and the US deserve better. Get him out of the Senate.
