Wednesday, September 05, 2007

The case against Craig is weak

I wonder if any US Senator has been booted from office on such flimsy evidence as Larry Craig. All we know is that:

Craig peered into the stalls at an airport men's room, and waited for a vacant one.
A policeman in a sting operation said that Craig tapped his foot, and claimed that it was a signal.
The cop said that he saw Craig's hand near the floor, but was unsure whether it was his right hand or his left.
Craig disputed the cop's account, but agreed not to contest a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge when the cop promised to keep the story out of the press and to not charge him with a sex crime.
Craig reacted with a mixture of defiance and embarrassment.
An Idaho paper did a year-long investigation into whether Craig was gay, interviewing 500 witnesses, and ended up with some tenuous evidence that it was reluctant to publish.

Craig has also opposed same-sex marriage, as have all of the major Democrat presidential candidates.

Meanwhile, former NJ governor Jim McGreevey is now teaching is teaching ethics, law, and leadership at Kean University, and studying to become an Episcopal priest. McGreevey was someone whose scandalous personal life really did lead to him abusing his official responsibility.

A reader asks, "Why would it matter if he used his right or left had to solicit sex from an undercover officer?"

Craig was not charged with a sex crime. He apparently reached towards the floor with one hand. Craig and the cop had differing accounts, and whether it was his right or his left hand has a direct bearing on the plausibility of those accounts. The fact that the cop cannot say which hand it was undermines his credibility. The cop only had to observe about four things, and be able to testify about them. The hand was one of those things. Either the cop was confused, or he embellished his story, or he wasn't paying careful to Craig.

I don't know whether or not Craig is a degenerate. The Idaho paper interviewed 500 people for a story, and the result was inconclusive. I don't believe that he committed a crime at the Minneapolis airport incident.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Craig peered into the stalls at an airport men's room, and waited for a vacant one.
A policeman in a sting operation said that Craig tapped his foot, and claimed that it was a signal.
The cop said that he saw Craig's hand near the floor, but was unsure whether it was his right hand or his left."

"-- and waited for a vacant one"? He stood there for a very long time then, waiting, peering in, watching.

"--and claimed that it was a signal"? I believe the "claim" as you put was uncontested by the Honorable senator from Idaho.

And finally, the right hand left hand bit you just threw in there to try and confuse people. Why would it matter if he used his right or left had to solicit sex from an undercover officer?

More to the point, what do you gain by defending a degenerate?

--Sincerely, Flippin