Washington Watch: Another Hypocrite Exposed

Apparently, Idaho's senator Larry Craig was attempting to do a little unauthorized "exit polling" in a public restroom recently:

Sen. Larry Craig said that he "overreacted and made a poor decision" in pleading guilty to disorderly conduct after his June arrest following an incident in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

Tuesday, in his first public statement on the arrest, the Idaho Republican said he did nothing "inappropriate."

"Let me be clear: I am not gay and never have been," said Craig, who has aligned himself with conservative groups who oppose gay rights.

With his wife by his side, Craig said he is the victim of a "witch hunt" conducted by the Idaho Statesman newspaper.

"In pleading guilty, I overreacted in Minneapolis, because of the stress of the Idaho Statesman's investigation and the rumors it has fueled around Idaho," he said. "Again, that overreaction was a mistake, and I apologize for my misjudgment."

He added: "I should not have kept this arrest to myself, and should have told my family and friends about it. I wasn't eager to share this failure, but I should have done so anyway."

A police officer who arrested him June 11 said Craig peered through a crack in a restroom stall door for two minutes and made gestures suggesting to the officer he wanted to engage in "lewd conduct."

Craig's blue eyes were clearly visible through the crack in the door, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport police Sgt. Dave Karsnia wrote in the report he filed.

"Craig would look down at his hands, 'fidget' with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again," Karsnia wrote in documents accompanying the arrest report.

Craig said the officer misinterpreted his actions.

After he was taken for questioning, the police report says, Craig pulled out of a Senate business card and asked the officer: "What do you think of that?"

Senate Republican leaders are calling for an ethics committee review. A GOP leadership aide said senators were especially concerned about the business card allegation.

The aide said the leadership discussed the matter by phone and decided to call for an investigation because they were concerned that Craig pleaded guilty and disputes the facts.

The GOP leadership consists of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Assistant Minority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, Conference Chairman Jon Kyl of Arizona, Policy Committee Chair Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, and Senatorial Committee Chair John Ensign of Nevada.

"This is a serious matter," the group said in a statement. "Due to the reported and disputed circumstances, and the legal resolution of this serious case, we will recommend that Senator Craig's incident be reported to the Senate Ethics Committee for its review.

"In the meantime, Leadership is examining other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required," the statement said.

Craig, 62, pleaded guilty August 8 to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge in the incident, according to Minnesota criminal records.

The senator said he "chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in the hope of making it go away. I did not seek any counsel, either from an attorney, staff, friends, or family. That was a mistake, and I deeply regret it."

On Tuesday, Craig announced that he has retained an attorney.

The officer wrote that he was on a plainclothes detail in the restroom because of citizen complaints and arrests for sexual activity there.

Karsnia wrote that when the person occupying the stall beside him left, Craig entered it and blocked the door with his rolling suitcase.

"My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall," the officer said in his report.

The senator then tapped his right foot, "a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct," Karsnia wrote, and Craig ran his left hand several times underneath the partition dividing the stalls.

"The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot, which was within my stall area," the officer's report said.

When the police interviewed him later, the senator said that "he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom" and that was why his foot may have touched the officer's, the report said.

Craig also told police that he had reached down to the floor to pick up a piece of paper, the officer wrote.

"It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper," Karsnia wrote.

"During the interview, Craig either disagreed with me or 'didn't recall' the events as they happened."

After Craig ran his hand underneath the partition wall three times, Karsnia held his police identification down by the floor so the senator could see it, the report said.

"With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, 'No!'

"I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet," Karsnia wrote.

The senator initially resisted the officer's request to go to the police operations center, he said, but finally did. There, he was read his Miranda rights, interviewed, photographed, fingerprinted and released, the report said.

As a traditional American conservative, I find the senator's alleged confessed actions to be particularly egregious.

It's bad enough when the opposition commits acts such as this (likely felon and impeached president Bill Clinton, for example) but when those who represent themselves as being strong supporters of traditional conservative values are exposed for being the hypocrites that they are, their lies and cover-ups only serve to provide Democrats with useful campaign fodder in their efforts to obtain further electoral victories and thereby obtain the legislative/judicial power that they crave in order to fundamentally re-orient the country in a leftward direction.

As a sitting United States Senator, Larry Craig should be held to a higher ethical standard than that of private citizens.

Craig should have known better.

And if the senator was innocent, then he certainly would not have copped a plea. I strongly believe that an innocent man (or woman) would never accept punishment for a crime that he or she did not do.

In my view, the man is guilty as confessed.

Senator Craig's actions are just the latest example of what is going-on in that cesspool of iniquity that is known as Babylon on the Potomac Washington, D.C.

So now, like all-too-many of the wealthy and powerful who have been caught engaging in deviant/criminal behavior, (such as pseudo-conservative, drug addict, and hypocrite Rush Limbaugh) Craig has hired an attorney in order to beat the rap.

Craig should not be allowed a "do over" merely because the MSM finally exposed him. He should "man-up" (so to speak) and (unlike Limbaugh) accept the consequences.

When pseudo-conservatives such as Larry Craig, Rush Limbaugh, and the hooker-chasing Senator David Vitter preach one thing and get caught doing another, their behavior only serves to further undermine the Conservative Cause.

It's time for traditional conservatives to stop justifying hypocrisy and insist that those who represent Conservatism both "talk the talk" AND "walk the walk." -----------------------------------See our latest entries.