Posted on 09/04/2007 7:48:46 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast
Ben Stein: Gestapo Tactics Got Larry Craig
Tuesday, September 4, 2007 7:39 PM
Former Sen. Larry Craig didn't do anything illegal and was railroaded with "Gestapo tactics," says actor and commentator Ben Stein.
Appearing recently on Your World With Neil Cavuto program, Stein remarked: "I don't like the idea that people are sitting in the next stall from you at a public bathroom listening to whether or not you tap your foot. This is, as I said, Gestapo tactics. Gestapo, Gestapo, Gestapo. It's not America."
Stein says Craig, who was arrested June 11 by Minneapolis police and pled guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct, is a victim of "pure police entrapment and thuggery."
"The police have real work to do at the airport," Stein says. "It's an airport, hello. There are security problems at airports. Al-qaida: Are you listening? Our security people are entrapping perfectly honest U.S. senators in lavatory stalls instead of looking for you terrorists."
Stein charges that police intimidated Craig into pleading guilty to disorderly conduct after he was arrested for tapping his foot in a bathroom stall at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.
Police say foot tapping is a common overture used to signal interest in a sexual encounter. Minneapolis police had reportedly made several arrests in recent months for lewd conduct in restrooms at the airport.
"A policeman drags him off, or verbally drags him off, starts browbeating him, essentially threatens he's going to ruin his career if the guy doesn't plead guilty right away," Stein tells Cavuto. "This is Gestapo tactics in Minneapolis-St. Paul. It's not nice."
Stein adds that it was wrong for GOP stalwarts to join the drumbeat for Craig's resignation: "This is some way to treat the people who have been loyal members of your party for many years. What did he do wrong? Suppose he was soliciting for gay sex. Gay sex is not illegal in the United States, the Supreme Court has said that. If it were illegal, it would be a different story. It's not illegal. He didn't do anything illegal, they're just bludgeoning him into a confession."
The Craig scandal points out a fundamental question about the balance of political power, according to Stein.
"On trumped up charges, they bring down the legislator and change the balance of power within the United States generally," he says. "This is a really serious case of police overreaching and the victim here is Larry Craig and the Constitution of the United States."
Craig has represented Idaho in Congress for over a quarter of a century and was up for re-election next year.
Ping!
He’s right because minorities are trying to destroy the America the majority wants to have.
Yes he is.
“essentially threatens he’s going to ruin his career if the guy doesn’t plead guilty right away”
Craig didn’t plead guilty until two months after the incident.
Part of me says Craig should resign and another part of me says all the Rep Senators should go up to the mic during the one minute speeches and out themselves, even if they are not gay.
essentially threatens he's going to ruin his career if the guy doesn't plead guilty right away,"
Exactly what originally disturbed me about this whole incident. I would feel the same way if this was a democrat. I don't know Craig's voting record, and I might wish him out of office if I did. However, unlike the Dems I am not willing to trample out Constitution and wreck havoc with our system to do it.
susie
LOL that’s kinda funny!
susie
I’ve always wondered if Craig wasn’t framed. Dimocats paying for the fake investigator??
Oops.
Dimocrats paying for the fake investigator??
I’ll be watching to see who falls for the dems plan to keep this silly story in the news. Everyone screaming he was railroaded is either just making it easier for the MSM to manipulate them or intentionally helping the dems keep their hope alive.
The Senator has said he intends to retire. I’ll wait and see if he knows how to keep his word to his constituents and party. In any case, stick a fork in him, he’s done. We need learn not to let the news world control us.
Maybe he is right about the police.
But if the fool had not gone into a public restroom seeking gay sex, it never would have happened.
I expect far more of Republican senators.
We are at war, this guy is off trying to get gay sex in public?
Yeah there is a double standard, life ain’t fair.
In all the coverage and investigation was Larry Criag even read his Miranda Rights?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I heard the interrogation again tonight on Anderson Cooper 360. Left hand, right hand, palm up, palm down, whose foot touched whose, when do they get to the part about what the crime is?
Larry Craig is real victim, the victim's victim, a real poster boy for victimhood. Larry has been practicing for victimhood his entire political career. In fact, in his first years in Washington during another congressional page sex scandal, he was so anxious to play the victim, he was denying accusations of things he was NEVER accused of.
You think it's fine for men to cruise for sex in public men's rooms!?
Ben’s off his rocker and a drama queen to boot. There’s a BIIIIIIIG difference between the tactics used by the Nazi Gestapo and the arrest of a perverted 62 yr old Senator in a filthy public bathroom.
The other morning in a local club parking lot a cop approached a car and found someone asleep behind the wheel. He knocked on the window, the guy in the car jumps out and punches the cop in the noise. After the fight, you should see the mug shot, the guy is arrested and thrown in jail. Turns out he's a cop from Kingsport Tennessee. LOL, accept a cops word , not likely!
Wasn’t Larry just tapping the dirt off his shoes so that he could use the special muslim foot baths?
Ben Stein is ALWAYS right. Period.
conventional women utterly detest these unseemly antics in a nasty public toilet of all places. i don’t care if he was set up. You really want to lose the base, disillusion women about what the party represents. Hopefully Ben Stein will be able to exercise his preference outside the purview of the unassuming public.
Yep. Finally another brave one tells it like it is instead of responding like the mob of sheep did a week ago.
What do you mean by this?
susie
and assuming the governor will appoint a republican to replace Craig, the only change in the balance of power occurs if you have an interest in being duly represented by reststop perverts.
hopefully he’ll learn from craig and mcgreevey and try to find love in all the right places.
As weak and pathetic as cruising public bathrooms is, Ben is right.. Wonder what other questionable "stuff" Craig was "into"..
actually Ben IS RIGHT about the tactics. They are outragious and should allow for a set aside of the plea.
HOWEVER, that said, I think Craig was a KNOWS “toe tapper” and this was just an oportune excuse to prune a foley from our ranks.
KNOWS = KNOWN
sorry about the typo.
Craig made a beeline for that particular rest room. From what I understand that rest room was not even near his gate at the airport. That leads one to believe that Craig had been there before since he knew what to do. That rest room has been a known haven for Gay activity at that airport and that is why undercover police have had it staked out. So Mr. Stein take another look at the facts, Craig got caught end of story!
Gestapo tactics?
HE PLEADED GUILTY!
-—Former Sen. Larry Craig didn’t do anything illegal and was railroaded with “Gestapo tactics,” says actor and commentator Ben Stein.-—
What a load of bull. I guess Craig was just trying to expose himself to broader spectrum of voters.
Imagine someone’s 12 year old in that stall instead of a cop.
Anderson Cooper afraid his dating scene is in danger?
The constitution states: “They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same;”
Craig was travelling home from congress during a session. So was trolling for sex a felony? He pled guilty to a misdemeanor — but he should be immune from any misdemeanor charge during his travel.
I am Spartacus?
He's either guilty or stupid, and either way the Senate is better off without him.
Interesting.
So, people you disagree with are gay?
susie
Are you suggesting that all homosexuals are pedophiles?
-—Are you suggesting that all homosexuals are pedophiles?-—
Hardly! I’m suggesting our children use public restrooms.
I thought maybe he just wasn't smart enough to read!
So what if Craig was sending a signal? Ben Stein pointed out that it is not illegal to be gay in the U.S. and therefore, Craig did nothing wrong. Now - if he were looking to perform said act with another fellow in the restroom, THAT would be illegal. But the fact that he was merely tapping is foot in a restroom that was not in the immediate proximity of his gate is no cause for an arrest.
His morals are definitely askew, no doubt. He more than likely DID go to that particular restroom looking to meet someone. But again - that in and of itself is NOT illegal.
Ben is right. What kind of sleazy freak cop would volunteer for the gay sex public bathroom detail. Like a toilet brush and nutty aunt in the basement, some things are best left out of sight and mind.
there was cruising going on in this bathroom. people began complaining. a lot, evidently. so the cops found out how the cruising was done. they found out about the hand and foot signals. the peeking through the stalls. everything.
the cops looked in their Ohio penal law and found the definition for disorderly conduct. they were amazed how ambiguous this law reads, and they concluded that because the behavior in that bathroom was in public and offensive to the public, these acts constituted disorderly conduct. they arrested multiple offenders. one of the offenders happened to be a US senator.
if it was heterosexual sex and other people found it to be offensive, the same result would have occurred.
But the officer at the time implied that it would all be hushed up if Craig would only plead guilt and be on his way.
Investigative Sergeant Dave Karsnial#4211 (OK) and Detective Noel Nelson #62 (NN) INTERVIEW WITH Larry Craig (LC)
Case 07002008
LC: Am I gonna have to fight you in court?
OK: No. No. I'm not gonna go to court u11ess you want me there.
LC: 'Cause I don't want to be in court either.
OK: Ok. I don’t either.
(inaudible)
DK: Um, here's the way it works, urn, You’ll you'll be released today. okay.
LC: Okay
DK: All right. I. I know I can bring you to jail, but that's not my goal here, okay? (inaudible)
LC: Don't do that. You You
DK: I’m not going to bring you to jail
LC: You solicited me.
DK: Okay. We’re going to get. We’re going to get into that. (inaudible)
LC: Okay.
DK: But there’s the, there there’s two ways, yes. You can, you can, ah, you can go to court. You can plead guilty.
LC: Yep.
DK: There’ll be a fine. You won’t have to explain anything. (inaudible) I know.
LC: Right.
DK: And you’ll pay a fine, you be (inaudible) done. Or if you want to plead not guilty, as, and I, I can’t make these decisions for you.
LC: No, no. Just tell me where I am (inaudible) I need to make this flight.
- Craig stood outside Karsnia's stall, more than once peering through the crack and pulling on his fingers in a suggestive way, and also making suggestive motions with his feet;
- After entering the stall on the seated Karsnia's left, Craig sat down, tapped his toes several times and then pushed his right foot under the stall wall and into Karsnia's stall where he bumped his right foot against Karsnia's left foot;
- Craig then reached across his seated body with his left hand (wedding ring showing) in order to run his palm along the bottom of the stall wall between himself and Karsnia from the front towards the rear in a suggestive manner.
It's clear that Sgt. Karsnia did not invent these three crucial facts about what transpired in that restroom. And since Karsnia did not know who Sen. Larry Craig was before all of this transpired, the suggestion that Karsnia did anything other than carefully observe Craig's behavior with the intent of arresting him if he tried to initiate lewd behavior in a public restroom is without merit. Also, the notion that a United States Senator could be browbeaten by a Minneapolis cop into pleading guilty in such an embarrassing case is ludicrous.
Ben Stein's a smart guy, but about this case he's mistaken.
Can cops be gay?
Ben makes some good points. Not that I’m saying Craig is a saint. But the whole episode was just handled badly.
It is interesting too that defenders of Michael Vick say he should have his day in court and that he has been convicted of no crime yet. They are right. But Sen Craig, who did not do anything as serious or violent as Vick is alleged to have done, was not extended same defense.
So if I go into a bathroom in that state and take a crap I can be arrested for crapping in public! Damn, not going to go there!
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