U.S. Senator Larry Craig: Whose Waterloo?

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's (R-Idaho) motion to withdraw his guilty plea will be heard in a Hennepin County District court room this week.

You read it here first: Contrary to conventional wisdom, Craig will win this motion.

I was out of the country and completely unplugged when the Larry Craig story broke. The only U.S. news I saw while I was in Egypt and Jordan were the mimeographed news sheets printed from an international Internet news service that were hung on hotel room doors each morning. Certainly it was amusing to see the men's room at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport achieve international importance. And, certainly the only rational conclusion from these news sheets was that Craig was, of course, guilty of soliciting gay sex in the men's room.

When I returned to Minneapolis, rather than reading the news stories first, I pulled up the motion Craig's lawyers had filed to withdraw the guilty plea. And, rather than read the motion, I first read the original source documents (the exhibits):

1. From the report filed by Minneapolis Airport Police Investigative Sergeant Dave Karsnia, we learn that putting your carry on bag in front of you in a bathroom stall is, in and of itself, lewd coduct. Writes Karsnia in his report, "My experience has shown that individuals engaged in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall." [Remember that next time you're in a stall in a bathroom airport...and never mind that there's no other place to put the bag in the stall.]

2. From the transcript of Karsnia's interview with Craig, we learn that Craig was patently offering that if Craig signed a guilty plea, that would be the end of the matter. Said Karsnia, "There'll be a fine. You won't have to explain anything." Further, "[Y]ou're going to have to pay a fine and that will be it. Okay. I don't call the media. I don't do any of that type of crap."

3. From the mailed form Craig used to enter a guilty plea of misdemeanor to a disorderly conduct charge, we learn that Craig circled the "I am not" represented by an attorney choice.

These documents also included discussions of eye contact, hand waving under the stall divider and foot tapping. Maybe all that is a gay code of conduct about which I know nothing. But the acts, themselves, would easily meet Disney's standards for a G-rated movie.

This is the stuff that can derail a U.S. Senate career? You've got to be kidding me.

Then I read the motion written by Craig's lawyers. Turns out that in 2006, Idaho's hometown newspaper, the Idaho Stateman, had been investigating allegations relating to Craig's homosexual activity, "The Stateman's investigation included such tactics as contacting scores of the Senator's friends and family, demanding the Senator's FBI file and patrolling bars and restrooms with the Senator's picture." [Emphasis mine.]

Classy. When all was said and done in the paper's investigation, the best the Statesman could deliver was a story "based on a [gay activist] blogger and three anonymous sources." The paper did not run the story at that time (it ran after the Minneapolis airport story broke). [Of note to Minnesotans, the Idaho Statesman editor is Vicki Gowler, who used to have the same job at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.]

The applicable Minnesota legal standards on entering a guilty plea are that it must be "accurate, voluntary and intelligent," and that a defendant may withdraw a guilty plea if the withdrawal is "necessary to correct a manifest injustice."

Strikes me there was nothing "voluntary" about agreeing to sign a guilty plea in exchange for Karsnia not calling the media. That's coercion, plain and simple.

As for "manifest injustice," Craig has already manifoldly suffered that. First, from the Idaho Statesman. Writes Gowler, "In a conservative state like ours, whether our senior senator had has sex with other men was something I believed our readers had a right to know." I, for one, could care less, what the good Senator does in his personal life. Second, the rest of the media. All the late night talk show jokes cannot be retracted.

Finally, there's the manifest injustice delivered by Craig's peers. Senate Minority Leader U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) called Craig's conduct "unforgiveable" and forced him to announce his resignation (which Craig has retracted). U.S. Sens. Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) and John McCain (R-Arizona) called for Craig to resign. That call speaks not to Craig's conduct and court proceedings, but rather to Coleman's and McCain's political expediency needs. Coleman faces a tough reelection battle in 2008, and McCain, of course is running for President.

The Boise Weekly wondered whether this whole matter was "Larry Craig's Waterloo?" I don't. This should be a waterloo for mainstream media, its collective rush to judgment and its eagerness to hang a conservative Senator. As well it should be a waterloo for pols like Coleman and McCain, who care only about their own electoral prospects. But, it won't be.

About the only justice Craig can expect is from one Hennepin County District Judge Charles A. Porter, Jr . Appointed by then-GOP Gov. Al Quie in 1982, Porter enjoys the reputation of being a straight shooter.

This waterloo is full of losers. The straight shooter will rule for Larry Craig.

Don’t enjoy it.

The double standard is a sign that Republicans have something over Democrats.

Craig’s staying will be a sign that 2008 will be like 2006.

Craig’s staying proves that personal perqs beat the need for embarrassed Senators to go away for the good of the party and nation.

And Craig btw is RINO enough on amnesty.

The man needs to leave the Senate.

Please. This guy is guilty of at the very least being stupid. There is nobody I know who would pick up toilet paper off the floor in a public bathroom. Touch someone’s foot, or put their hand under the wall of the other side of the guys toilet area. Sorry this guy wanted some sex period. I cannot see how anyone can excuse this guy. Then after all that, he goes and pleads guilty...

Even Senators have stupid episodes sometimes. It's silly to think they're infallible. And those who are being chased at every turn by the sickening MSM are bound to slip up.

But I wouldn't exactly generally characterize a long-term 97% ACU rated conservative Senator as being stupid. That's actually pretty stupid.

Idaho politics are not like the rest of the US...it is fairly easy to be connected to what’s going on. I’ve been aware of the rap about Craig’s orientation for many years but have always disbelieve them...until this stupid afair.

Larry, just go away.

Yeah, well, the problem is that IF we can get him out prior to the primary, we can get his replacement in sooner. That gives him seniority over all the newly elected senators. We’re losing a senator who had at least enough seniority to be a committee chairman and replacing him with one with no seniority. We have no control over what happens in count in Minnesota, but we have the moral authority of people who have trusted him and have been betrayed. He voted for the immigration bill, which effectively eliminated him from reelection. He had already decided not to run again (albeit not publicly announced.) His replacement has been selected and is truly a fine man. There is no one more dedicated to the Rule of Law than myself, but we, here in Idaho have no say as to the outcome of the legal procedure. We do, however have control over the pressure we can exert for Senator Craig to do the right thing and resign. It’s time.

But I wouldn’t exactly generally characterize a long-term 97% ACU rated conservative Senator as being stupid. That’s actually pretty stupid

Could be right but 97 percent is pretty good. I just think he should take his medicine and do what is best for the party. This new trial or whatever it will be will deliberately last a year...just in time for 2008 elections. If it were me (ROTFLMAO), I would resign and enjoy my huge retirement check. I mean he is in his late 60’s so it is retirement time.

Could be right but 97 percent is pretty good.

Pretty good? Very good I'd say.

That's why I say Larry Craig should not be called stupid. He's cast a lot of excellent votes, and a man who has lasted over 20 years in the Senate is not a stupid man.

Your right. In fact, I wonder if he would have a higher conservative record than I would. I am pretty darn conservative, but with a 97 you have to have pretty close to a flawless record on conservatism.

"Larry Craig is not a straight shooter."

He's as narcissistic as hillary. That's why he will never go away. He would shrivel up and die if he wasn't in the spotlight. It's all about him, not his constituents who now have to live with the continuing embarassment of having this bathroom pervert in the news.

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