I’d Like To Thank All Of You For Coming

Bob Armstrong writes:

At a news conference today Idaho’s Senator Larry Craig opened with a great gaffe: "I’d like to thank all of you for coming."

A story in USA Today includes his booking photo taken by the Minneapolis Airport police after he was popped in the restroom for lewd behavior. The three term Republican senator is up for re-election in 2008. Over the past couple of years there has been much speculation that the 62-year old senator would not run again despite his youthful vitality. The restroom rendezvous will likely seal his fate.

Be cool if he came out of the closet and ran as a reactionary queer. Instead he dug deeper into the reality-challenged pit: "Let me be clear," he said, "I am not gay and I never have been." The Idaho Statesman reported that Idaho’s other Republican senator, unfortunately named Mike Crapo, said he takes Craig’s word that nothing inappropriate was going down in the airport toilet stall.

As Luke well knows given his investigation of the Los Angeles mayor, mainstream reporters frequently know about sex scandals in the higher circles of power. For a variety of reasons, sometimes justifiable, sometimes not, the story remains under wraps. This can get even trickier if a politician is in the closet. If he gay bashes in the public arena, as some have, he should be outed and that’s usually what happens. Craig has not done that. But like many other gay politicians, he’s married and has a family. If reporters know about a politician’s other life with men, they generally do keep that quiet along with keeping a watchful eye out for greater transgressions.

A reporter for the Idaho Statesman did just that. A story in the paper today noted one of their reporters had an audio tape of a man claiming he had sex with Craig in the Union Station restroom in Washington, DC. This alleged incident took place long before the Minneapolis meltdown. So now we have the balmy precious fluids from two restrooms splattering across the newspaper pages. No doubt more to come.