Senator's story is a shame, for many reasons
When he leaves office September 30th, Idaho Senator Larry Craig will become a footnote in history. "“Who was Larry Craig?"” people will ask, and the reply everywhere outside his home state will be simply "“the senator caught playing footsie in the men’'s room."” The sad thing is that it’s not clear that he actually did anything wrong at MSP last June. It'’s the suspicion that he'’s gay that cost him his seat. In the die-by-the-sword world of Republican politics there’s little room for a “family values” conservative with a secret in the closet– even if that secret is simply a wish to hide an embarrassing misunderstanding with an undercover cop.
There are few enough reasons to leap to Craig’'s defense. He is among the most conservative members of the Senate, a man who has spent a career working against the interests of average Americans and in support of extremist positions that benefited the few at the expense of the many. His long voting record provides ample fodder for analysis, which progressive interest groups have scored as follows:
0% from the Alliance for Retired Americans for opposition on senior issues
0% from the League of Conservation Voters for his votes against the environment
0% from the American Public Health Association for his votes against health care
0% by SANE for his votes against peace policies
0% from the Human Rights Campaign for his votes on GLBT issues
15% from the AFL-CIO for supporting workers
20% from the National Education Association for supporting public schools
25% from the ACLU for supporting civil rights
In contrast, Craig’s ratings from the American Conservative Union, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Christian Coalition, the CATO Institute, the NRA, and the anti-tax National Taxpayers Union are all above 75%. He has been an outspoken supporter of school prayer, privatizing Social Security, an expanded death penalty, school vouchers, gun rights, and President Bush’'s policies in Iraq.
Despite his history of opposition to progressive policies across the board, many liberals find themselves uncomfortable with the situation Craig is in. Seeing his political positions rejected in an electoral defeat would have been cause for jubilation. Watching him dragged down in a sleazy media frenzy has been far less satisfying, especially because it’s just not clear what he did wrong. Granted, there may be a problem with men having sex in the restrooms at MSP. But is setting up a sting, using undercover cops to lure lonely men into confessions, a wise use of public resources? Are we really at a point where foot tapping is grounds for arrest? Where even the intimation of homosexual behavior can be criminalized? Should we be destroying people'’s careers by making private behaviors so public?
People will soon forget the details of this affair, just as they'’ve long forgotten Craig’'s role in the 1983 House page sex scandal, where two other members admitted to having sex with seventeen- year-old male pages. Dogged by rumors of homosexuality through much of his political career, Craig has been an ardent proponent of “family values” and backed a successful anti-gay marriage amendment in his home state in 2006. But there’'s much more to Craig than his sexual orientation, whatever it might be. In an ideal world it just wouldn'’t matter and voters would judge him on his political positions rather than rumors about his private life. Of course, our political world is far from ideal.
Pleading guilty to misdemeanor lewd conduct is hardly the worst crime ever committed by a sitting US senator. One need only listen to the posturing of Craig’'s Republican colleagues in the Senate, racing to outdo one another in condemning him, to understand that the issue is not the crime but the implication that he may be a closeted gay man. In his political world there are few worse crimes, and that’'s the true shame in this story. That, and that possibility that he is indeed a gay man who spent his career vilifying people like him for political reasons, and then threw that career away because he was unable to openly admit his true identity.
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