"Did the press enable Craig through the years by remaining silent about the mounting rumors, leaving those stones tastefully unturned? Or was that the right call all along?"
Yes.
In my opinion, private things should stay private, but there should be a hypocrisy clause. If you rail against marital infidelity and get busted for sleeping around, that's fair game. What's happened with Craig is tragic, but his support for bills against homosexuality tells us he's being a hypocrite. The fact that he's being thrown under a bus by his former friends is sad. It would be nice if he could just accept his sexuality and get on with life. He might not win reelection, but at least his psyche would be in one piece.
This is what the closet does to people.
Agree with Jeremy. It's good to know that sometimes the press will let private things stay private. People don't deserve to have their entire lives turned inside out and then destroyed just because it would sell papers.
However.... if that person is actively destorying other people's lives, then yes, they should be stopped. Hypocrisy deserves to be exposed, and anyone who yells about how homosexuality is immoral, if not illegal, behavior, completely deserves to be exposed for their "immoral" behavior.
It's not really any fun watching a man like Larry Craig self-immolate. It's really kind of sad.
No it isn't. It's appropriate and necessary. The concept of hubris is of value to society. Sometimes the mighty have to fall, and when they do, it must be public and loud.
Lets say you have a guard dog. You can only afford to feed it kibble. Your richer neighbor wants to control your dog and turn it against you. He feeds it steak through the fence. The dog's loyalties change. Soon it's not guarding your property. Before long, your neighbor gives it a command and it begins mauling you. And when the rich man has driven you off the property...he takes your bag of kibble and feeds it to the dog. No more steak for the traitorous Fido; the dog is back to being what it always was to the rich man: a cheap and easily discarded tool.
'Watchdogs of the press'? We haven't seen their like, save with vanishingly few instances, in over 20 years. But then, maybe they never really were ours:
"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it.
"There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty_four hours my occupation would be gone.
"The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press?
"We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." - John Swinton, 19th century newspaperman.
What's that old saying about the more that things change, the more they stay the same?
The forced closeting of homosexuals is tragic. There is NO WAY that a straight marriage with a homosexual promotes "family values". Every woman and every man deserves a spouse who desires them. Forcing people to do otherwise hurts families. This is an excellent example.
The press should and must report this stuff.
You know, just as a kind of casual comment, committing acts of fellatio or sodomy in public places *is illegal.* I know I'm a prude, but that's how it is. If I'm in a restaurant, I don't want to have to eat while the woman at the next table is being bent over her chair and T-boned by the two men with her. A public bathroom is a public place, there is no compelling need to use it for sexual assignations.
Now, it might be a minor crime, a victimless crime, but in addition to the ick factor, its also highly toxic. Men in this 'lifestyle' are extremely vulnerable to transmission of venereal diseases which, by nature of transmission, are impossible to track. Worse, men in this 'lifestyle' are vulnerable to assault, sexual assault, robbery and pickpocketing and the illicit nature of their activities discourages their reporting - thus public bathrooms can become a zone for predators. Meanwhile, there's a continuing risk of fag bashing. And of course, children use these bathrooms, so it's not really an appropriate place for trysts.
So essentially, there are very good public policy and health and safety reasons for proscribing these activities in these locations.
There is no shortage of locations and forums where consenting males can socialize and engage in all sorts of recreational acts. So it isn't as if there's a compelling need.
We have a Senator who was apparently habitually engaged in this criminal/illegal activity?
How is that different than a Senator who likes to beat up prostitutes, or go on crystal meth fueled jags, or who willfully ignores traffic laws, who enjoys shoplifting or breaking into houses or otherwise flouts the law.
I'm sorry, but if it was common knowledge that the Senator was doing this, its not respecting his privacy, it is ignoring and effectively abetting a continuing pattern of lawlessness.
It's okay to be gay. It's not okay to be dealing blow jobs in a public mens room.
How is this difficult to understand. And how is it that the media never picked up on this fine distinction before the story exploded.
Oh, and by the way, even if it wasn't a matter of ongoing criminal activity, rank hypocrisy is still a factor.
It was Craig himself who made homosexuality and homosexual behaviour an issue with his political stances. That made his personal life fair game.
My only comment on this whole Larry Craig bit is this: In spite of having more than a few gay friends I have never inquired about the intricacies of public cruising behavior. I always figured the clues had to be subtle but being ignorant I was only at risk of sending them out accidentally, and if I didn’t know what they were I didn’t have to risk being offended. Thanks to Larry Craig I now know more about this coded system than I ever wanted to. The reactions from the right are kind of interesting though.
Given the general publics prior lack of knowledge of these codes Tucker Carlson’s story is starting to seem even less likely. The original story about getting hit on in a bathroom seemed strange, not because it’s unlikely to happen but given the furtive nature of the come on described in the Craig case you’d have to know it was happening in the first place.
Tuckers story version 2, “I was groped and came back with a buddy and held him till the police arrived.” Right, some violent homosexual was hanging out in a bathroom groping folks with the intent of what, getting arrested? So did you call the cops before you detained the fellow, did you or a buddy go get the cops or was there a third buddy. Additionally he didn’t smack the guys head into a stall this time. Exactly how is this story better than the first, other than not assaulting the guy this time?
As far as I can tell either Tucker was trying to build some tough guy cred (note to Tucker lose the bow tie), or he got carried away by the scent of blood and told a partial truth. Just where that partial truth starts and stops only Tucker knows for sure, but it’s pretty obviously a story at this point. It makes me wonder how much self control the right wing actually has, one of their own gets caught in hypocrisy and they fall all over themselves trying to simultaneously run away as fast as possible while throwing stones.
John Benson, one of the things about being a female is the ever present possibility of being threatened--verbally or otherwise. Unless cornered, most of my women friends and I simply walk/run/jump out of the situation as soon as possible--without trying to engage the perpetrator IN ANY WAY.
I imagine that something similar happened to Carlson and he behaved "like a girl" in short, he simply left the restroom as soon as he realized he was being prositioned, without retaliating. The rest of the story is purely inventive wishful thinking on his part.
LCforevah;
Not sure if that changes the basic challenge Tucker seems to have with adherence to reality.
I've always been in favor of political outings. I'm sorry but if you're gay or bi and using your closet as a weapon to cause harm to the gay community, I have no problem with people kicking you out of your closet against your will.
No. It. Don't.
But adherence to reality seems to be quite a challenge to most in the GOP. As for Tucker, doing his wishful thinking outloud on national TEEVEE? I don't even know what to say to that. Do these people forget that they are in front of a camera?
It seems pretty clear to me that the Senate GOP leadership couldn't have asked for better leverage over a member of their caucus than to have him be a closeted gay hypocrite with a mile of buried sexual scandals just waiting for somebody in the press to be tipped off.
Did the press inadvertently help the GOP elite keep Senator Craig on a short leash by keeping all those potential scandals buried?
There's a reason we worry about granting top secret security clearances to closeted gays. They're vulnerable to blackmail and extortion as long as they're afraid or unwilling to come out of the closet. Don't you think we ought to worry about that with our elected public officials too?
"The forced closeting of homosexuals is tragic."
Please, gays have been out for over a generation. That is not what this is about. This is about a guy who made the choice to lead a fraudulent lifestyle. This is about a man who pretended to follow a moral code he secretly looks down on. This is about a grifter. I have little doubt that there are many more men and women in the Republican Party like Larry Craig. Craig used his pretended sexual identity to achieve a political advantage. The voters of Idaho who believed Larry Craig was someone else were the victims.
Good post, except for this: Craig was keeping those rumors about a gay lifestyle...Could you please delete the phrase "gay lifestyle" from your vocabulary? There is no such thing as a gay "lifestyle" anymore than there is a straight "lifestyle." That damn "lifestyle" word is so obnoxious and insulting. It's a word used to stereotype people and this website of all places should know better than to toss it around.
Privacy is one thing; hypocrisy is another.
If Craig had spent all his time publically railing against gambling - but kept sneaking off to Vegas and Atlantic City to hit the blackjack tables, the press would have no trouble outing him on that.
If Craig had spent all his time increasing prison sentences for casual drug use and outlawing medical marijuana - but got stoned every weekend, again the press would have no trouble outing him on that.
So, what's the deal with sex? Why is it different? Is it part of that American Puritan streak that just can't handle the concept? Is it because the press, like most Americans, has a hard time dealing with sex publically?
Or, is it something simpler? Is it that subtle corruption of knowing something and ignoring it in exchange for access and being part of the inner circle?
Given how badly America is currently being screwed by politicians who lie about all kinds of things with the greatest sincerity - and the connivance of the press - maybe it's time to rethink this whole journalism thing.
Craig is quoted, "Jiminy God."
Jiminy God??
It's not just Craig's hypocrisy which is disturbing. His lack of loyalty to the queer community is just as bad. For him to promote discrimination and violence against his own is reprehensible.
That is a far more serious issue than bathroom cruising. The fact that the sex is the issue in the media shows what a sexually repressed and homophobic society this one still is.
You might notice, as I have, the right wants the discussion to turn on sin And since we are all sinners...
It has nothing to do with sin. The two subjects which are relavent are first, legality, and second, hypocrisy.
As far as Mr. Craig being arrested for tapping his foot and moving his gym-bag in a salacious manner; well, welcome to the US you helped make Mr. Craig, welcome to the national homosexual panic. How d'ye like it?
I've pretty much reached the point where I don't care what circumstances lead to the downfall of a right wing authoritarian political type. If they slip on a banana peel and wind up with a "career ending" injury, I'm just buying more bananas.
James, that would just lead to lawsuits demanding personal injury damages plus rails installed on all bananas.
Now if we could get Gary Bauer or Jim-boy Dobson...oh, dream on, pete, dream on!
Good riddance! Larry Craig supported Bush's immigration "reform" bill. He was just another fake phoney corporate conservative.
I heard they are going to out that scum Lindsay Graham next, another Mexican-lover (probably in more ways than one). Lindsay Graham definitely looks like a pillow-bitin' tearoom cruiser.
Death to kosher corporate CONservatism. It's dying hard, in airport bathrooms and in the bloody sands of Iraq. In its place will be the Buchanans and the Brimelows and Barlettas many waiting in the wings whose names have not yet made it to the SPLC smear sheets.
"Whiteman" has shown that his ability to badly mix metaphors is only surpassed by his stupidity and bigotry.
An amusing little whine dominated by homophobia with a strong racist note. Serve with rancid meat and finish with raw sewage.
Great read/take Dave,
One of the best I've read or heard all week.
Gail, your Bro's Mother-in-law
No, Whiteman has it exactly right! His movement is overwhelmed and overrun by phony conservatives. You know what they need before they can really unite against the rest of us? A purge. Lots and lots of purges. A purge every week. Purging for years. Ever refining their ideas, their values, ever kicking out the slackers, the malcontents, the diverse, until they have reduced their movement to a core of pure shining, red blooded, apple pie eating, true men (no women), and then they can conquer the world.
The both of them. Together. In a manly way that no one would mistake for homosexual bonding.
I have a suspicion that this cruising thing is a subset not necessarily completely included by gay.
My suspicion is that it is an andrenilan kick cruisers are looking for. I remember shoplifting as a kid -- it was the fear of getting caught that drove me.
If there really was no percieved stigma to being gay -- or whatever -- there would be no kick from fear of exposure and maybe no cruising?
That occurred to me,also,Chuck Cliff.Craig gets off on the rush of 'sordid' bathroom sex-he's the 'dirty' boy he accused Clinton of being.
Put me down in the column that believes the press should stay out of private lives,but only as long as private behavior doesn't conflict with public posturing.
I think the Democrats who have been guesting on the news shows should be bringing up Vitter more often than they have been.They've been correctly pointing out the hypocrisy thing,but they've been remiss in mentioning that despite the same morally bankrupt(I only call it that because of their public personas) behavior exhibited by Vitter(Democratic governor would replace him)no one has called for him to resign like they have Craig(Republican governor would replace him).
I missed Tucker's bravado.Actually,I would guess he's probably had alot of experience fending off advances from other men.He seems a little 'flamboyant'.I was surprised to learn he is actually married,with a family.Like Craig.Or Ted Haggard.
Uh,Den Valdron,could you give me directions to that restaurant please?
Look, Craig, like the rest of the GOP values voters and their representatives, actively sought the criminalization of consensual sexual relations between *lots* of different kinds of people. Some on the far right want a return to laws against miscegenation. Others want a return to, or creation of, stronger laws against contraception and abortion. Still others want stronger laws on things like religious indoctrination. What all of these "values/laws" people want is *more government interference in the private lives of *other people.* They want to allow, or even insist on, police interference with *lots* of things--just not the ones they think they themselves will get caught up in. So they don't want police investigation of spousal violence, or child abuse, or divorce. And they don't want the courts deciding who needs remeidial marriage counseling for second and gthird marriages. But they are willing--and more than willing--to have the police set up stings to catch men and men and women in victimless sex "crimes."
So what Larry Craig did, and has always done, doesn't begin to fall under the heading of "private behavior" and the newspapers should never have stayed out of it. He ran as a "family values" candidate, he worked for laws criminalizing and punishing behavior *in other people* that he was secretly pursuing himself. He and othe rright wingers insisgted that *nothing* was private and no political, nothing was private and out of bounds for government interference or media condemnation. Turning the sock inside out and exposing larry craig's private life and exploring its public implications isn't a violation of privacy at all. Its called justice.
aimai
Amai, thanks: that was a nice rap. I saw that because I agree with you. It's like re-reading "The Handmaid's Tale" whenever these republican neo-neanderthals start getting busted. The louder they are, it seems, the harder they fall. Or maybe that goes with the Viagra...
Ah, Whiteman again. He only cruises internet porn sites, but he hasn't figured out yet that it's the erect penises that really turn him on.
A real man would stay away from pictures of naked women. A real man would stay away from naked women altogether. --Shell Silverstein.
I have read that incest and sexual abuse are much more common among neo-nazis and white supremacists, but I cannot find the reference now. I will post again if I can find it.
There is some connection with the irrational need for dominance, to use power for it's own sake.
I'd like to see you writing some more about the press's take on this, as someone who was "there".
Craig's hypocrisy was particularly deep and personal. Did this actually *bother* the press, the fact that he was not just concealing something about his life but that he was helping to persecute people like him? Or did you-all just shrug it off as "one of those things"?
Anyone else catch the comment made by Chris Matthews on Hardball about how sex related stories require an additional "crime related" factor, i.e. sex+ before they are fair game game for reporting on. Remind me again what the + was in the Monica story??
I think it was in the play MacBeth I hears this quote '' "Methinks he doth protest too much". That was the first thing I thought of when I heard this horny phony old bastard.
Bill, the + was that Clinton "lied under oath." Which isn't exactly, precisely true. And not quite not true, either.
While there are certainly people who cruise public places for the thrill of it, the majority do so because it's the only homosexual contact they can get. Mostly these are married men who have nowhere else to go (try paying cash for a hotel sometime), or are too scared to bring someone home (the neighbors might see and wonder).
It's stupid and it's dangerous. And those facts won't stop it. All the arrests in the world simply shift the activity elsewhere. There are whole websites dedicated to tracking activity at cruising locations, with patrons monitoring the police stings and warning one another when things get too hot for comfort.
That's what the closet does to people. When you live a lie you get desperate, and desperate people don't think it through.
I used to have a friend who was smart and sensitive, but addicted to risky sex at interstate highway rest stops. He knew what he was doing, and this was a while ago, but there were gay bars around—this was I-5 between Ashland and Portland, OR—but it was the rush, he said.
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