The next time you're in a public place and some politician peers into your eyes, broadens his stance, taps for your attention, and begins spouting "family values" rhetoric, run for the nearest exit.Read More......
Two men sealed the state's first legal same-sex marriage with a kiss Friday morning, less than 24 hours after a judge threw out Iowa's ban on gay marriage and about two hours before he put that ruling on hold.Read More......
It was a narrow window of opportunity.
Polk County Judge Robert Hanson temporarily cleared the way for same-sex couples across the state to apply for marriage licenses in the county when he ruled Thursday that Iowa's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed marriage only between a man and a woman, violated the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection of six gay couples who had sued.
County attorney John Sarcone promised a quick appeal and asked Hanson to stay his ruling until that appeal was resolved.
Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will announce Saturday he will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men’s room, Republican officials said Friday.6:57 PM The article above has been UPDATED with these lines:
Craig's communications director Dan Whiting told the Idaho Statesman, "I won't say either way."
The Idaho Statesman independently confirmed the report.
Craig's office declined to confirm or deny a resignation.
Read More......
Sen. Larry Craig plans to make an announcement Saturday about his future.Read More......
"We haven't quite scheduled anything, but we're looking at doing something tomorrow," said Craig's spokesman Sid Smith. "We haven't set a time or place yet."
The only kind of "morality" that this movement knows or embraces is politically exploitative, cost-free morality. That is why the national Republican Party rails endlessly against homosexuality and is virtually mute about divorce and adultery: because anti-gay moralism costs virtually all of its supporters nothing (since that is a moral prohibition that does not constrain them), while heterosexual moral deviations -- from divorce to adultery to sex outside of marriage -- are rampant among the Values Voters faithful and thus removed from the realm of condemnation. Hence we have scads of people sitting around opposing same-sex marriage because of their professed belief in "Traditional Marriage" while their "third husbands" and multiple step-children and live-in girlfriends sit next to them on the couch.And don't forget, there was much said in the bible about adultery and divorce, a tome the Right frequently drags out to beat gays with. And what about the whole shebang about wearing mixed fibers and eating shellfish? Oh, yeah, that doesn't matter either with that crowd. Read More......
... It goes without saying that no gay candidate would stand a chance of receiving the presidential nomination from the party that stands for Traditional Marriage. And indeed, the Idaho Family Values Association (entitled to great respect), in the wake of the Craig scandal, just called -- explicitly -- for the Republican Party to purge all gay politicians from the party:The Party, in the wake of the Mark Foley incident in particular, can no longer straddle the fence on the issue of homosexual behavior. Even setting Senator Craig's situation aside, the Party should regard participation in the self-destructive homosexual lifestyle as incompatible with public service on behalf of the GOP.But they would never call for the exclusion from the Party of political figures who dumped their wives and are on their "second marriage" or "third marriage" -- actions at least equally deviant from principles of "traditional marriage" as anything Sen. Craig did and which wreck the lives of Our Children far more -- because so many of their pious supporters engage in the same behavior, as Idaho's traditionally high divorce rates (.pdf) demonstrate.
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter already appears to have settled on a successor — Lt. Gov. Jim Risch — Republican officials in Idaho said today.Mitch McConnell also reports several of Craig's colleagues want him to resign:
Risch served for seven months as governor last year after former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was named Interior Secretary. Risch had said earlier he was interested in Craig’s Senate seat if Craig did not seek re-election in 2008.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell today called Craig’s conduct “unforgivable” and acknowledged that many in his caucus believe Craig should resign.The Republicans are getting might sanctimonious about Craig. Just wondering what David Vitter and Ted Stavens have to say? What about Lindsey Graham?
“We have acted promptly to begin the process of dealing with this conduct,” McConnell said. “We will see what happens in the coming days.”
Read More......
On a Sunday morning in early August, just hours after Congress had recessed for the summer, Representative Jan Schakowsky and five of her colleagues boarded a military jet at Andrews Air Force Base. Three flights and a Black Hawk helicopter ride later, they were lunching on asparagus soup and lobster tortellini at the home of Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker in Baghdad.Somehow, lobster tortellini isn't the first thing I would expect in Baghdad. But, it's all part of the show.
Brief, choreographed and carefully controlled, the codels (short for congressional delegations) often have showed only what the Pentagon and the Bush administration have wanted the lawmakers to see. At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security whisked the man away before he could make his point.You can't make this stuff up, although the Bush administration makes stuff up about Iraq all the time. Read More......
Tauscher called it "the Green Zone fog."
"Spin City," Moran grumbled. "The Iraqis and the Americans were all singing from the same song sheet, and it was deliberately manipulated."
But even such tight control could not always filter out the bizarre world inside the barricades. At one point, the three were trying to discuss the state of Iraqi security forces with Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, but the large, flat-panel television set facing the official proved to be a distraction. Rubaie was watching children's cartoons.
When Moran asked him to turn it off, Rubaie protested with a laugh and said, "But this is my favorite television show," Moran recalled.
Porter confirmed the incident, although he tried to paint the scene in the best light, noting that at least they had electricity.
During their summer vacation, Americans discovered that Gen. David Petraeus doesn't take one. And his energy and urgency have shifted the Iraq debate in some fundamental ways.You see, everything in Iraq is hunky-dory. We are on our way to winning. How could anybody doubt these optimistic asessments? Oh yeah, this report from yesterday:
A few months ago, it was the received wisdom that Iraq was in the midst of a rapidly escalating civil war. That claim is no longer plausible.
While the level of violence is still unacceptably high, the surge has disrupted the cycle of escalation and proved that progress is possible. Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno's briefing this month was an antidote to pessimism. "Total attacks," he said, "are at their lowest levels since August of 2006." Some of the most violent and lawless regions of Iraq, such as Anbar and Diyala, have been stabilized with the cooperation of local Sunni leaders who have turned against al-Qaeda thuggery. Insurgents are being pushed out of population centers and then targeted in further operations. Sectarian murders in Baghdad have gone down by more than 50 percent in a few months, reaching their lowest levels since the Samarra mosque bombing. And new sectarian provocations -- such as the al-Qaeda bombings in Nineveh -- have not resulted in the usual spiral of revenge murders
Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.These bozos have no credibility left. How can we possibly believe anything they say? Read More......
The strikingly negative GAO draft, which will be delivered to Congress in final form on Tuesday, comes as the White House prepares to deliver its own new benchmark report in the second week of September, along with congressional testimony from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq.
"I believe that there are millions of Americans who know that our security and prosperity are at risk if we don't address the challenges of our time," Thompson said in a statement.Read More......
The formal announcement will come in a webcast on September 6, followed by a tour of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. A second leg will hit Florida and wind up at home in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, on September 15.
"We enter this campaign in a strong position," said campaign manager Bill Lacy. "Fred is consistently near the top in the polls, and conservatives across the country have put together the closest thing to a draft in recent presidential campaign history in an effort to bring about this day."
But Thompson's long-delayed formal entry had made some supporters anxious and sparked complaints he was violating Federal Election Commission laws by running a shadow campaign.
The U.S. troop surge in Iraq has thrown al Qaeda off balance and led to a reduction in sectarian violence and bombings, the U.S. commander in Iraq was quoted on Friday by an Australian newspaper as saying.Petraeus says the sectarian violence is down, but that doesn't mean it's true. Ilan Goldberg found some abnormalities when looking at the numbers from the Pentagon on sectarian violence:
"We say we have achieved progress, and we are obviously going to do everything we can to build on that progress and we believe al Qaeda is off balance at the very least," General David Petraeus told the Australian in an interview after briefing Australia's defense minister, Brendan Nelson, in Baghdad.
Petraeus and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker will testify before the U.S. Congress on either September 11 or 12.
I really have no idea why these numbers are so inconsistent, but it does lead me to call into question the violence numbers that are being reported by the Administration, when it touts progress. Clearly certain types of violence have been taken out and others have been added. What we need is some transparency. Congress needs to take a very careful look at the numbers that come before it in SeptemberCongress should take a very careful look at everything anyone from the Bush team says about Iraq. Read More......
Good evening.You also had Soledad O'Brien (who never should have left the morning show, p.s.) do an hour long special on called "Children of the Storm."
We don't care much for anniversaries on this program, solemn remembrances of stories long since past. But, tonight, we come to you from New Orleans to report on a story which is still very much unfolding.
Two years ago tonight, these streets were filling with water. Levees poorly built over decade on shifting sands failed. And, two years ago tonight, what was a natural disaster became very quickly a manmade one.
Now, two years later, the recovery of this city, this region, is under way. And it, too, is manmade. Two years ago tonight, governments failed. The people here have not. New Orleans is rising again.
On the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Glenn Beck takes his distain and outright hatred for the city and people of New Orleans to another level. He just comes right out and says it, that we should not spend a single dime to rebuild New Orleans.So what is it, CNN? Do we believe Anderson and Soledad that your network cares about the people of New Orleans? Or is Glenn Beck the voice of CNN? More and more, it seems that the Beck's warped world-view is what Jonathan Klein wants his network to be. Read More......
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/29/gb.01.htmlGLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): Tonight, two years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and everybody`s still talking about rebuilding. I say don`t spend one thin dime. I`ll explain why.
BECK: Hello, America. Do not adjust your set, the truth coming your way. Possibly for the first time on Katrina.
It was two years ago that Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, and the gulf region. Thousands were left homeless, causing well over $150 billion in damages. And without question, Katrina is the worst national disaster in national history.
President Bush, Congress responded over $100 billion in aid to rebuild New Orleans. A lot of people, including me, think the president has blown it. Here`s the point tonight.
How much do I think should be spent rebuilding New Orleans? Zero. Nothing. Not a dime. And here`s how I got there.
...the expectation at this point is that they do think that Senator Craig will likely resign pretty soon. That is sort of the sense that people are getting.Read More......
Justice Department investigators are examining the truthfulness of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' testimony to Congress on the firings of federal prosecutors and domestic wiretapping.Read More......
The effort, disclosed in a letter released on Thursday, is a sign that political controversy over Gonzales' conduct will continue well beyond his resignation announced this week.
"The current attorney general is leaving, but these questions remain," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who sought the examination.
Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine said in a letter released by Leahy that concerns over the truthfulness of Gonzales' testimony to the committee on July 24 and other times would be covered as part of probes already under way.
The officer who arrested Sen. Larry Craig in a police undercover operation at an airport men's room accused the senator of lying to him during an interrogation afterward, according to an audiotape of the arrest.Read More......
On the tape, released Thursday by the Minneapolis Airport Police, the Idaho Republican senator, in turn, accuses the officer of soliciting him for sex.
"I'm not gay. I don't do these kinds of things," Craig told Sgt. Dave Karsnia minutes after the two men met in a men's room at the airport on June 11.
"You shouldn't be out to entrap people," Craig told the officer. "I don't want you to take me to jail."
Karsnia replied that Craig wouldn't be going to jail as long as he cooperates.
At one point during the interrogation, the officer told Craig: "You're not being truthful with me. I'm kind of disappointed in you, senator."
The president, in losing control of the war in Iraq and clinging to what he wants to see, and not the reality, now has nearly a full-scale revolt in his own military that just isn't willing to go along for the ride anymore. The GAO surely interviewed a number of people on the ground for their report and got messages that didn't support the administration. The military can't come to an agreement on what to tell the president other than that this is his problem now. And the Secretary of Defense, who has strayed from the White House message a number of times, learns of administration war funding proposals from the Washington Post.So another part of Bush's legacy will be that he destroyed the U.S. military -- and the Republicans in Congress have let him. Read More......
I take no joy in seeing this happen. Our troops are the best in the world. As they are fighting and dying in 130 degree heat, they've had to look to the East to see an Iraqi government that didn't care and went on vacation. Now, they look back to the West and see their department falling apart like a neglected Pinto, because this president is stubborn.
Maybe this president doesn't care because his administration is over. But I care. And I'm going to continue to care long after this president rides off into the sunset to clear brush for the rest of his life.
OMFG, how humilating.Dan Savage from Slog, whose reader Dave Coffman discovered Ted's request for cash was to flow through a dissolved non-profit run by a convicted sex offender, said:"Mr. Haggard's solicitation for personal support was inappropriate," his church supervisors said in the statement. The statement came one day after the four-member team of ministers responsible for overseeing the spiritual restoration of Haggard met with him in Phoenix.
Last week, Haggard had e-mailed a KRDO-TV reporter in Colorado Springs, asking that supporters send contributions to Families with a Mission, a Monument non-profit run by Paul Huberty, a twice convicted sex offender.
..."It was never the intention of the Dream Center that Mr. Haggard would provide any counsel or other ministry...Mr. Haggard will not be moving in or working with the Dream Center. He will not be doing any ministry. He will be seeking secular employment to support himself."
Oh, man. What a great day. I fucking live for the day when every asshole out there bilking gullible Christians out of their hard-earned dough -- from the Nazi pope on down -- is told the same damn thing: Get a fucking job, you parasite.Hat tip, Paul in SF. Read More......
It is difficult and unpleasant to call on Idaho's senior senator to end a career in public service. We don't do this casually, or unanimously.It should be noted that Barney Frank (D-MA) says Craig shouldn't resign -- he should face the voters at the ballot box.
However, we cannot abide an elected official who didn't disclose a lewd conduct arrest until the story broke 77 days later -- a lie by omission and a violation of the public trust. We cannot believe Craig can effectively serve Idaho, under the shadow of his guilty plea on a lesser charge of disorderly conduct. We cannot afford, as a state with but four congressional representatives, to have a senator who merely provides fodder for bloggers and late-night talk show hosts.
"What he did, it’s hypocritical, but it’s not an abuse of his office in the sense that he was taking money for corrupt votes," Frank told the Associated Press.Yeah, Craig may be blogger fodder, but he brought it on himself. And where are the calls for the resignation of David Vitter who admitted to the crime of solicitation? Isn't that conduct unbecoming a Senator and "a lie by omission and a violation of the public trust?"
"I think people should resign when they have clearly done the job in a way that is dishonest."
Frank went on to tell the AP: "It’s one thing to say that someone can’t be trusted to vote without being corrupt, it’s another to say that he can’t be trusted to go to the bathroom by himself."
I don't know what it is that he has apologized for, and until it's clear that there's some kind of crime that was committed, that was of such a nature that he should resign, it seems to me that talk is a little premature.Prostitution's not only a crime, Senator Kyl, but for those of the bible-beating set, adultery is a sin punishable by death. The sleazy act Craig pled guilty to was a misdemeanor. If Craig's forced to resign, then Vitter should pack his bags as well. Read More......
Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.That would be more useful. But, the Bush administration doesn't work with details and data. That crowd deals in spin and public relations ploys.
The strikingly negative GAO draft, which will be delivered to Congress in final form on Tuesday, comes as the White House prepares to deliver its own new benchmark report in the second week of September, along with congressional testimony from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq.
The draft provides a stark assessment of the tactical effects of the current U.S.-led counteroffensive to secure Baghdad. "While the Baghdad security plan was intended to reduce sectarian violence, U.S. agencies differ on whether such violence has been reduced," it states. While there have been fewer attacks against U.S. forces, it notes, the number of attacks against Iraqi civilians remains unchanged. It also finds that "the capabilities of Iraqi security forces have not improved."
"Overall," the report concludes, "key legislation has not been passed, violence remains high, and it is unclear whether the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion in reconstruction funds," as promised. While it makes no policy recommendations, the draft suggests that future administration assessments "would be more useful" if they backed up their judgments with more details and "provided data on broader measures of violence from all relevant U.S. agencies."
Yes, it's these pathetic hetero-identified closet cases making their way to these restrooms to engage in their same-sex desires, regardless of the impact on those families that they prize for social acceptance.
"The majority of these men, they have families...You would think that it would be a gay issue but overhwhelmingly more and more, we're seeing that these are people with families."
He claimed a higher moral ground while he was cruising for sex in bathrooms because... well, because his fundraising clearly depended on it. It's doubtful that a gay man in Idaho would get elected Senator but I might be wrong about that. Regardless, if he wanted to be in the closet, still stay married, be a Senator, well, I can understand all of that. It's not easy to be out, it means job discrimination, it means physical harassment and sometimes violence, it means not being able to have your loved one be your legal spouse or any of those benefits. It means, often, losing your family and friends. It's not an easy path. I can respect anyone who chooses to live in the closet on one condition:***
They don't actively fight for laws in an elected office that allow for discrimination, hate and bigotry. If Senator Craig needs a pick me up every now and then from the men's room, I think that's pathetic, but ... to each his own and understand, you're going to get caught.
Since Sen. Craig clearly attempted to engage in gay sexual behavior but publicly denies a gay sexual identity does this mean that he is in sexual denial or perhaps deeply closeted? Not necessarily. Often men who engage in the underground culture of public restroom, rest stop, tea room sex do so as an act of sexual titillation, sexual release, and an immediate sexual gratification.He covers the differences on how black and white DL men are treated in the media, as well as the reasons why many blacks refer to themselves as same-gender-loving (SGL) because of the media-driven image of what "gay" is. This is also the case for Larry Craig, who finds no identification with "gay."
They are fueled by the sexual thrill of getting caught, doing something that is taboo and the potential danger of seeking out homoerotic encounters with men who otherwise would strictly identify as heterosexual.
So in every sense and definition of the word, the sex that these men have is truly, utterly and exclusively recreational. It is void of emotional value, love, respect, intimacy or an expectation of a romantic relationship to come. For them having male-to-male sex is truly a sport, a hobby, a distraction and a pastime or rebellion against convention with no emotional attachment or desire for more.
Today for an individual to self-identity as gay, they seemingly must take on an image created by the media that is based upon societal stereotypes. For men, we must be either feminine or super gym macho bunnies. We must be either florists or hairdressers or super witty, smart, affluent and overly-successful. But all too often, the gay identity most exclusively seen and portrayed is that of white men and their lives (i.e. Will and Grace, Queer as Folk).I urge you to read the rest and comment. Read More......
Sen. Larry Craig rejects this identity, because simply this is not who he is. He is a conservative, married man who has very little in common with America’s gay identity. In fact he is perfectly valid in stating that he is not a gay man.
"The positive development in the security situation is owed to national reconciliation much more than to our security forces or coalition troops. Some would want to hide this fact, but it is a fact not to be hidden," he said.The interview covered a variety of topics, and is absolutely worth reading for anyone interested in the details of Iraq. Frankly, Maliki comes across as having a fairly accurate read on his circumstances, if not entirely believable on the issues of sectarianism. This sums things up well, in terms of his hold on power:
At one point, asked if Iraq's parliament could agree on anything, let alone replacing him, he laughed and said, "So, the government is safe, then."Maliki certainly hasn't distinguished himself as a transcendent leader, but it's not clear to me precisely what he's supposed to do given the demographic and political realities of the country. In the same position, Allawi failed and then Jaafari failed; it's not like Maliki took over a great situation and ran it into the ground. The US set up a political system in which unhappy minorities can derail most legislative efforts; disbanded the military and much of the government bureaucracy, preventing the national government from having power of either force or services; sponsored elections that virtually guaranteed a divided and crippled government; and then expected Iraqis to compromise in wholly unlikely ways.
Read More......
"It seems like the people who are the most vocal, the most condemning, the most judgmental, seem to be people struggling deeply with their own personal conflicts, and that's where the scandals come from whether it's the church or politics. It's fairly routine. Find someone banging the drum of hysteria around an issue, and you'll find someone, generally speaking, who is wrestling themselves internally."However, you would be wrong if you thought the fringe right couldn't come up with a "better" rationalization for all the moral falls from grace, as it were.
Should private behavior matter in public leaders? Some political observers say yes, arguing that morality is the only way to ensure a politician's voting record stays consistent with his or her personal values. But others say the recent revelations only prove hypocrisy, and some politicians say public expectations can be unreasonable.Note to readers: bookmark this post; you will want to refer to the following mind-blowing quotes from this article time to time.
"If someone's walk doesn't match their talk, of course it's relevant. But a politician's conduct "also has to be evaluated in light of other considerations, and we aren't electing saints here," Smith said. "All of us are fallen and subject to sin. We're not looking for perfection. But we do want integrity."They accuse the left of moral relativism and hair-splitting? On to Father Tony Palazzolo, priest and pastoral consultant at the Diocese of St. Augustine:
"Is it a one-time indiscretion, or a pattern? Was there an apology? Repentance? It seems to me your religious values determine how you make a decision about right or wrong and good and bad, and if you're willing to compromise those values in your private life, it seems the same thing would hold true for a person's public life."How about this, from John Stemberger, of the Florida Family Policy Council Inc. (he's working to pass a same-sex marriage ban amendment in the Sunshine State). The article notes that he suggests a "sliding scale" when evaluating a politician's fall from grace.
"If I'm going to hire a plumber, their primary job is to do it right, and I'm not too concerned with their character and moral life. When does it become relevant? To be a lawmaker and then a lawbreaker means there has been a violation of trust. Character does matter."Oh, so it only matters if you're caught breaking the law. What this is really about is going back to the good old days where "forbidden immoral acts" occurred on the DL on Saturday night, and you turned up in church in your Sunday best the next day -- and no one knows you broke your marital vows by blowing that guy in that highway rest stop, potentially exposing your spouse to STDs. That's correct "Christian" behavior.
Let's be clear what voters of faith are saying. They're not saying that every single politician who professes a conservative viewpoint should live up to that standard. It's really the opposite. None of us are perfect, and we all fall short of God's grace. A lot of times that gets lost when someone's failing becomes politicized."Yes, working to elect people to deny tax-paying, law-abiding LGBT citizens civil rights while those self-loathing pols cruise for gay sex makes perfect sense.
"I live a pretty good Christian life, but in the eyes of some people I'm being disrespectful because sometimes I like to drink wine with dinner. That's frustrating. Elected officials are expected to live a totally different life than their neighbors."Stay out of our wombs and bedrooms and then we'll stop talking about the moral hypocrites when the stories hit the front pages. Read More......
She has every right to speak her mind (and she's paid well to do it, her $20,000+ speaking fee equals about $5 for every Xavier student). But we speak our minds, too; for values like compassion, equality, and diversity. The same values Xavier students work to uphold with groups like Xavier's Gay-Straight Alliance, Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, and Earthcare.Very cool. Thank you to the students at Xavier. Read More......
Here’s where you come in: While Coulter pollutes the air with her divisive message on one side of Xavier’s campus on September 6, on the other side we’ll be presenting a check to Xavier student organizations working to make their campus – and Ohio – a place where everyone feels at home.
Can you spare just $5 – an Abe Lincoln – to support the same communities Coulter regularly bashes for pay?
We’ll also send her a ‘thank you’ card signed with your name, and let her know how much money we raised.
Craig "represents the Republican party," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the first fellow GOP member of Congress to urge a resignation.Where's all the outrage in the GOP about David Vitter? Read More......
Craig said Tuesday he had committed no wrongdoing and shouldn't have pleaded guilty. He said he has only recently retained a lawyer to advise him in the case that threatens to write an ignominious end to a lifetime in public office.
Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Norm Coleman of Minnesota joined Hoekstra in urging Craig to step down.
McCain spoke out on an interview with CNN. "My opinion is that when you plead guilty to a crime, you shouldn't serve. That's not a moral stand. That's not a holier-than-thou. It's just a factual situation."
Coleman said in a written statement, "Senator Craig pled guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator."
"Having sex in a public men's room is outrageous. It's also really common. I've been bothered in men's rooms." Carlson continued, "I've been bothered in Georgetown Park," in Washington, D.C., "when I was in high school." When Abrams asked how Carlson responded to being "bothered," Carlson asserted, "I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the -- you know, and grabbed him, and ... hit him against the stall with his head, actually."Here's the video, with Joe Scarborough and Dan Abrams yukking it up with Tucker (the talk of the bashing is about 3 min in):
Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men's room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men's room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.Read More......
Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That's absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn't angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me.
55% in Idaho Say U.S. Senator Larry Craig Should Resign: Less than 36 hours after the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call first broke the story of Larry Craig's arrest in an airport bathroom, 89% in Idaho are aware. SurveyUSA interviewed 600 Idaho adults the evening of 8/28/07 to measure initial reaction, including 475 registered voters who have heard the news accounts. Of Idaho voters, 55% today say Craig should resign. 34% say Craig should remain in office. 11% are not sure. Among Idaho Republicans, 45% say Craig should resign, 42% say Craig should remain in office. Democrats and Independents overwhelmingly say Craig should resign. There are many sides to a complex story, and as new facts come to light, opinions can be expected to change.I'm beginning to wonder if Larry Craig will even return to DC next week when the Senate reconvenes. With these poll numbers and that debacle of a press conference yesterday, the odds are increasing that he'll just resign. There's going to be enormous pressure from Republicans to get him out of office. Maybe that will be Rove's last task before he leaves the Bush administration at the end of the month. And as if on cue, CNN just reported that a Bush spokesperson said that the Bush administration is "disappointed" with Craig. And, they think Craig and the Senate leaders need to address it. Uh-huh.
Job Approval for Craig down 26 Points to 34%: Among all Idaho adults, 34% today approve of Craig's Job Performance, 58% disapprove. When SurveyUSA last recorded Job Approval numbers for Craig and fellow U.S. Senator from Idaho Mike Crapo, in November 2006, Craig had a 60% Job Approval, 26 percentage points higher than his approval today. Crapo had a 61% Job Approval in November 2006, identical to his Job Approval today. Over 19 consecutive months of tracking Craig, his SurveyUSA Job Approval among Idaho Republicans ranged from 71% to 82%. Today, among Idaho Republicans Craig's approval is 46%. Among Idaho Conservatives, Craig's Job Approval for 19 months ranged between 70% and 80%. Today, among Conservatives, Craig's approval is at 51%.
Before you scoff at the idea of an Idaho race being competitive, remember Larry Grant in ID-01 in 2006. The Republicans and the Club for Growth were forced to spend hundreds of thousands to get that seat. Freakin' Dick Cheney actually had to come to the state to campaign for Sali. Yes, Sali being the nominee helped the Dems, but it didn't take long for the Republican establishment fully embrace his campaign to protect that seat. A Senate seat is a taller order, but it still can be credibly challenged, even in Idaho.The Republicans are going to have to compete to keep a Senate seat in Idaho. They're going to have to work really hard for it. Read More......
The request is being prepared now in the belief that Congress will be unlikely to balk so soon after hearing the two officials argue that there are promising developments in Iraq but that they need more time to solidify the progress they have made, a congressional aide said.Bush is convinced he can roll Congress -- again.
Most of the additional funding in a revised supplemental bill would pay for the current counteroffensive in Iraq, which has expanded the U.S. force there by about 28,000 troops, to about 160,000. The cost of the buildup was not included in the proposed 2008 budget because Pentagon officials said they did not know how long the troop increase would last. The decision to seek about $50 billion more appears to reflect the view in the administration that the counteroffensive will last into the spring of 2008 and will not be shortened by Congress.
Read More......
"Upon walking into Union Station one day, I made eye contact with a well-dressed older gentleman whom I recognized as Sen. Craig. We, after having made eye contact for 30 seconds or so, we began walking towards one of the restrooms in Union Station.There's also audio with the full interview. Read More......
"I followed him in there. We went to the urinals, where we both unzipped ...
"The restroom became busy, too busy to do anything. So we zipped up and then followed each other to the second restroom in Union Station, where we began the same process. And had a -- I also performed fellatio for a very, very short amount of time, as that restroom became busy as well. At that point we both zipped up and left and went on our separate ways.
Just when Republicans thought things could not get any worse, Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho confirmed that he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct after an undercover police officer accused him of soliciting sex in June in a Minneapolis airport restroom. On Tuesday, Mr. Craig, 62, held a news conference to defend himself, calling the guilty plea “a mistake” and declaring, “I am not gay” — even as the Senate Republican leadership asked for an Ethics Committee review.Wait....What is a "self-respecting Republican"? Is there such a creature? Read More......
It was a bizarre spectacle, and only the latest in a string of accusations of sexual foibles and financial misdeeds that have landed Republicans in the political equivalent of purgatory, the realm of late-night comic television.
Forget Mark Foley of Florida, who quit the House last year after exchanging sexually explicit e-mail messages with under-age male pages, or Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist whose dealings with the old Republican Congress landed him in prison. They are old news, replaced by a fresh crop of scandal-plagued Republicans, men like Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, whose phone number turned up on the list of the so-called D.C. Madam, or Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona, both caught up in F.B.I. corruption investigations.
It is enough to make a self-respecting Republican want to tear his hair out in frustration, especially as the party is trying to defend an unpopular war, contain the power of the new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill and generate some enthusiasm among voters heading toward the presidential election in 2008.
The French Quarter, relatively untouched by hurricane Katrina, is bustling, and businesses are being courted to New Orleans, but a good deal of the rest of the city and the Gulf region remain devastated. Awash in corruption, cronyism and incompetence, the reconstruction effort is a mess. Billions of money designated to the effort is not getting to those in need -- 42% of funds set aside for rebuilding and relief has not even been spent. The federal H2B "guestworker" visa program was set up for employers to hire people for the rebuilding effort. Because of the lack of oversight, abuse of workers, kidnapping and even modern-day slavery is occuring on the Gulf Coast.On September 15, 2005, President Bush pledged that our nation would "do what it takes, and stay as long as it takes," to rebuild the Gulf Coast. Yet over 60,000 people are still in "temporary" FEMA trailers, and houses, hospitals and schools across the region remain shuttered. For thousands of people, the Katrina recovery has failed.Read More......
The study, published in collaboration with Oxfam America and the Jewish Funds for Justice, looks at 80 statistical indicators and draws on interviews with more than 40 Gulf Coast leaders to identify roadblocks to recovery, and ways federal leaders can tackle critical needs in the region like housing, jobs and coastal protection.
The study also features "Where did the Katrina money go?" -- an in-depth analysis of federal Katrina spending since 2005. The Institute reveals that, out of the $116 billion in Katrina funds allocated, less than 30% has gone towards long-term rebuilding -- and less than half of that 30% has been spent, much less reached those most in need.
After being introduced by several state figures, including Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D) and Gov. Mike Rounds (R) in person and Sen. John Thune (R) via a taped video, Johnson was rolled out on a wheelchair and hoisted himself to the podium with little or no assistance.Read More......
“You guys are a sight for sore eyes,” Johnson said to widespread applause.
“It must already be clear to you that my speech is not 100 percent, but doctors tell me that it will get there. In fact, if you ask [my wife] Barb, she will say that I’m already talking too much,” he joked.
Johnson spoke for just more than 10 minutes before stepping back into his wheelchair and being wheeled off. He said he feels like he has a second chance at life and promised to work harder than ever for his state.
He is expected to return to voting in the Senate in the coming weeks.
UPDATE #5:This is why I love live blogging. Very, very cool.
Aniello Alito, who has been absolutely tireless in his efforts, and he is closing now, leading the group to Mitch McConnell’s house.
Apparently, HE IS HOME!!
I’ll have more when I can.
UPDATE #6:
Oh. My. God.
There was an absolute army, an seemingly endless stretch of people marching from Frazier Hall to Mitch McConnell’s home. Simply mind blowing.
Mitch had corralled about 20 bikers to stand in front of his house and intimidate us, but they pissed their pants when they saw 300 chanting, sign carrying protesters.
This was one of the most amazing scenes I’ve ever witnessed. Just 15 yards from Mitch’s house 300 people “screaming support the troops end the war”, “Hey Mitch, come out and face the people”. I can’t really put it into words so I’ll just post all of the pictures.
Read More......
Read More......
Read More......
Read More......
His future in doubt, allies denouncing his behavior and former staffers voicing disbelief at his arrest, Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho, is expected to hold a press conference this afternoon that may answer questions about his political future.So, what do you think Craig's going to say? Will he be: 1) insanely defiant (a la Bob Allen), 2) resign, 3) say he's heading to the nearest ex-gay or booze rehab facility/found Jesus? Read More......
..."If the accusations are true, then we think that he needs to resign," Bryan Fischer, the executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance told ABCNews.com. "We believe that character is an important qualification for public service and we believe if these accounts are true, then the Senator conduct has fallen short of what we should expect from public officials."
If Craig's actions in the restroom were misconstrued and he was not involved in any inappropriate conduct, as he said in a statement Monday, then why did he plead guilty?By putting out such ridiculous statements, Craig makes it obvious - he'd rather be thought of as an idiot than be thought of as gay. He hates his own orientation that much. How truly sad. Read More......
Craig says, in hindsight, he should not have pleaded guilty and "should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter." On the surface, it seems implausible that any educated professional — much less an elected official — would face criminal proceedings without hiring an attorney.
It just keeps getting better and better. This is just pathetic. Just days after his guilty plea for cruising an undercover officer in the mens room of the Minneapolis airport, Larry Craig wrote a constituent a letter propping up the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. In what could be called another of Craig’s "he said/he said situations," the Senator corresponded with a constituent (and SLDN supporter) earlier this month about why he’d never support repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." In the August 17 letter to his constituent, Craig wrote that, "The armed forces exist to wage war. It is unacceptable to risk the lives of American soldiers and sailors merely to accommodate the sexual lifestyles of certain individuals." He also noted that, "I don’t believe the military should be a place for social experimentation."No, that's what train station and airport loos are for, huh, Larry?
When the ethics committee voted to boot Bob Packwood from the Senate for lewd sexual harassment in 1995, Sen. Larry Craig lamented the difficult decision, but called it "the right one."Read More......
After Packwood resigned the next day, Craig, then a member of the Senate ethics committee, shared a tearful embrace with his former colleague.
"One particularly poignant moment came during an exchange between Packwood and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, a member of the Ethics panel," Edwin Chen reported in the Los Angeles Times Sept. 8, 1995. "Afterward, they shook hands and hugged one another. Then Craig began sobbing and quickly strode into the GOP cloakroom, his hands covering his face."
TWITTER ACCTS
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
© 2010 - John Aravosis | Design maintenance by Jason Rosenbaum
Send me your tips: americablog AT starpower DOT net
