Specter: Larry Craig Should Fight and Not Resign

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 11:48:50 AM EST
Tags: Larry Craig (all tags)

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Raw Story reports that Sen. Arlen Specter said on Fox News Sunday that Sen. Larry Craig should use the time between now and Sept. 30 to withdraw his plea and fight the case and not resign as planned.

Specter notes that Craig didn't resign, only stated his intention to step down.

"I'd still like to see Senator Craig fight this case. "He left himself some daylight Chris, when he said that he intends to resign in 30 days. I'd like to see Larry Craig go back to court, seek to withdraw his guilty plea and fight the case.

"I've had some experience in these kinds of matters since my days as Philadelphia district attorney, and on the evidence Senator Craig wouldn't be convicted of anything, and he's got his life on the line and 27 years in the House and the Senate and I'd like to see him fight the case 'cause I think he could be vindicated."

RS also provides the video.

More...

"That, well he hasn't resigned," Specter said. "Bear in mind Chris, if you look closely, listen closely to what Senator Craig said he said he intends to resign. Once you resign, you're out. But when you have a statement of intent to resign, that intent can change. And if he could change the underlying sense of the case, feel of the case.... Listen, you can go to court and you withdraw a guilty plea."

Newsweek has a profile of the cop who arrested Craig and some numbers on the bathroom sting operation.

Due to that Web chatter—and complaints from travelers—the Minneapolis airport police went undercover inside that restroom in mid-May. Since then, they have arrested 41 men, including business executives and airline and airport employees, according to police reports. Several undercover cops have pulled the shift inside the stalls and at the urinals. They don't initiate contact, says airport police spokesman Patrick Hogan. Instead, they wait for a lingering glance, a head nod or that familiar foot tap. "Sometimes it does involve a considerable amount of time," says Hogan. "It's not glamorous work."

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Specter: Larry Craig Should Fight and Not Resign | 12 comments (12 topical)

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I say fight it also (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by Repack Rider on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 12:03:11 PM EST

And I don't even have a dog IN this fight.

There are far more serious crimes to be punished among the senators. Larry didn't kill anyone or cost the Republic any money, but his actions are a symptom of the self-hatred it takes to be a gay Republican.

The reason I want him to fight it has nothing to do with justice or his being gay. I want this to stay in the headlines for as long as possible so other Republicans will be forced to discuss it.

i agree (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by amare on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 01:05:32 PM EST

If Vitter can stay, Craig should fight this. Shame on his party for doing their best to force him out, and taking no action with Vitter.

Seems like it would benefit (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by oculus on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 01:20:41 PM EST

Republicans to some extent if Craig stayed and fought the criminal case. Look at all the attention pd. to this situation. Isn't there more important news to discuss on a daily basis, such as the number of people dying daily in Iraq?

He should have resigned (none / 0) (#2)
by glanton on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 12:03:41 PM EST

After this 1999 interview.

Funny because, hard to beleieve this is a grown man, let alone a Senator, actually putting these words together on national television. Sad because this once passed for a United States Senator.

: Craig's words (none / 0) (#8)
by womanwarrior on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 04:24:51 PM EST

You definitely got him good (sorry for grammar) with that one. Not to mention his facial expressions.
But nobody discusses why the most Honorable Arlen Spector is taking this stand. Nothing to lose as a "principled" moderate on this one? Or was it that he got to talk to a reporter and be quoted?
Wonder where the "moderate" Specter is on the latest "leak" through the Murdoch paper that there is a Bush/Pentagon plan to bomb all Iranian military installations.
My question is how many files like this one on Craig does Bushco have on every member of Congress? I am so paranoid, I think they sacrificed someone, relatively unimportant where there would be a safe appointment, to make the message clear to the rest of Congress. Why else do those wimps keep voting for the destruction of our rights and waste of our money to make Bushco and friends wealthier than God? They know there is such minimal support for it from their constituents. I'd be willing to bet Kerry gave up so easily on Ohio because they have something on him.

It's About Time (none / 0) (#5)
by Dulcinea on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 02:21:12 PM EST

Craig, Specter, the media ghouls, and the holier-than-thou harpies think about the cost to Craig's family of continuing this saga. Whether guilty or innocent of the charges, Craig should be reflecting on what his Senatorial actions have done to the rights of gays and how he can remedy some of the harm he has done.

Priorities (none / 0) (#6)
by glanton on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 02:32:06 PM EST

Craig should be reflecting on what his Senatorial actions have done to the rights of gays and how he can remedy some of the harm he has done.

this aint high on his list, to say the least. The important thing is that he convince us he's not gay. What could be more important than that?

"It's not glamorous work." (none / 0) (#7)
by cpinva on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 02:57:09 PM EST

no, i would imagine not. which causes me to wonder why these police officers would volunteer for it? since mid-may, they've arrested 41 men. that would be out of the 1,000's who use that airport daily. this just doesn't strike me as a cost effective use of scarce, allocable resources.

in fact, my guess is that the police see this as easy pickings; how many of those 41 arrested actually fought the charges? few, if any, i'll bet. when it comes time for the annual review, these arrests/convictions buff up their numbers. that little improvement in public safety is accomplished pales beside the quest for increased budget funding.

i'd like to see sen. craig withdraw his plea (not that it did him any good, PR wise), and force the police to explain to a jury just how it was this officer knew he was being hit on, even though no words were ever spoken. make him bring his crystal ball(s) into court, and share it with the rest of the class.

but, that's me, and i'm not sen. craig, he has to do what he thinks is best for him and his family.

: I can't even call it work..... (none / 0) (#12)
by kdog on Mon Sep 03, 2007 at 08:45:06 AM EST

sitting on the crapper for an 8 hour shift, just waiting for somebody to make a pass at ya so you can slap the cuffs on 'em. That's work?
Personally, I'd be ashamed to make a living that way.

Why not Vitter? (none / 0) (#9)
by OkieFromMuskogee on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 04:52:03 PM EST

I'll be the first to admit that I don't understand the way Republicans think, but I can't understand why Craig or anyone else thinks that Craig should have resigned. All that Craig did was tap his foot and wiggle his fingers. If he had met someone, and they got a room, is that such a big deal? He didn't have a sexual encounter, and there is zero evidence that he intended to have a sexual encounter in a public place.

On the other hand, there's Senator "Diaper David" Vitter, who has admitted to engaging prostitutes and accepting their services in at least two jurisdictions where that is illegal. Yet the Republicans give him a pass.

Homophobia or simple politics? Or both?

Do a Lieberman, Larry (none / 0) (#10)
by Lacy on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 07:30:05 PM EST

Whether Larry Craig is homosexual or not, he now knows he has been sold down the river by his former comrades, and needs to review whether their politics he has shared are as perverse as their beliefs.

Sure they were also his expressed beliefs, but like GWB in 1986, he is from the party that gets reborn to a new life or beliefs whenever necessary or essential to the situation. And rebirth in this case is the reality that he has been languishing in hypocrisy in a party that hates the very fundamentals of his life. Reject the hate, Larry, and do what GWB, Tom Delay, and dozens of other of their kind did, and reject your past...And you can do it for the RIGHT reason, not to escape the consequences of what your former collegues call gross immorality. Join those who understand and accept modern social and cultural life, where people don't have to be ashamed if they're different, and you can live a life that's free from the effects of the repressed and anal-retentives, even if that's been your own past life!

DEMOCRATS! Get with it. Be like Republicans, and welcome this reformed sinner and hypocrit into your midst! Hell, he was just re-elected last year, so that's until the year 2012! Remember Lieberman? The jerk who lied and sold his party (and country) down the river? If you lose by the process, why not gain?

I'm sending a note to Larry today. I'll ask him to talk to those who can help him become an honorable person, and abandon those who would make him a degenerate and pervert. If Specter is right, it's not too late. And when he hears well expressed opinions from his new friends, I'm sure he will see the errors of his past politics.

Specter Is FOS (none / 0) (#11)
by squeaky on Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 10:18:43 PM EST

It is a good distraction. Specter motives are meant to keep the story alive and hopefully keep the seat. He will do nothing.
As Jeralyn says the

Craig story became so big it knocked Alberto Gonzales' resignation, the Iraq War and the FISA rewrite off the news is astonishing. Craig is so unimportant by comparison. Yet the media treated it like its latest missing white girl story, 24/7 front and center for days.