# Larry Craig spends nearly half a million defending his wide stance **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 25, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783 "2008-04-25T01:32:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/1 "2008-04-25T01:32:45Z")
First of all the guy is a liar. Sitting in a toilet stall, at best he has a wide _stoop_. He has spent **$407,000 of his sentate campaign fund** to appeal his conviction. [This muckety.com article](http://news.muckety.com/2008/04/24/larry-craig-racks-up-legal-bills/2391) is based on a Washington Post articale, but adds an interesting chart which I kind of like, but says hardly anything. Anyway, he’s now having to fund his defense out of pocket, as the sentate ethics committee says he can’t use his fund anymore. BTW, his penalty for the original charge was around $500, so he’s outspent that amount by nearly a thousand to one. I’ll bet his stance, and his stoop, is a little narrower now. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/2 "2008-04-25T07:20:17Z")
I’ve racked up hundreds of dollars trying to fix my wide stance. Damn tough game. I’ve been tempted to give up golf more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/3 "2008-04-25T07:22:02Z")
I always said that asshole shouldn’t have been cast as James Bond. Now look what he’s done. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/4 "2008-04-25T13:36:05Z")
There’s a tremendous humour potential to this, with absurdities climbing on top of absurdities, but I actually feel very sorry for Craig, even though the entire trainwreck was his fault. I mean, surely we’ve all had a situation where you’re hiding a secret, and you really, really don’t want someone to find out, and when you think it might be out you panic and have that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach and rush around trying to hide it again? I dunno, maybe the world is full of people who have lived perfectly honest, secret-free lives, but I don’t think so. Well, I’ve tried to hide some pretty big things from people, and it’s a really awful feeling and you learn a lot about regret and shame. I didn’t mention to my parents that I’d dropped out of university my first go through, and held that back for months, and it felt really awful and even though things turned out fine in the end and I went back, I still remember how bad that felt, how scared I was, and I regret to this day that I had not stopped that deception before it began and handled it differently. Larry Craig’s secret is about a HUNDRED times bigger than anything I, or most people, have had to hide, at least to him. It was so shameful that I suspect he even kind of hid it from himself, engaging in a lifetime doublethink where he was trolling for gay sex and at the same time pretending he was a gay-hating, straight-arrow Republican Man \. He’s constructed an entire, very public, life around the lie that he is not what he is, and now his life is flying apart, and his kids are giving him the hairy eyeball (and you know they are no matter what they say in public) and his wife’s smile is looking a little less sincere, and his career appears to be hopelessly doomed. All this because of something that he never had any say in and couldn’t control and was probably raised from childhood to think was terrible and awful. He has probably torn himself apart over being gay since he was nine years old. Before anyone goes off on me, no, I don’t think it SHOULD be shameful to be gay. I don’t agree with an ounce of Larry Craig’s politics. I’d vote for the flamingest queen in the Castro district before I voted for Larry Craig. He is 100% responsible for everything that’s happened and he has handled it almost as badly as I can possibly imagine. Using money from he campaign fund to defend himself is tantamount to theft, assuming it’s not his personal money. But he’s still a human being who was dealt a tough hand and played is badly and he’s in an awful spot, and even as I admit it’s his fault, I feel really sorry for him. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/5 "2008-04-25T14:28:32Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] There’s a tremendous humour potential to this, with absurdities climbing on top of absurdities, but I actually feel very sorry for Craig, even though the entire trainwreck was his fault. [/QUOTE] “Love the sin, but hate the sinner”, isn’t it, or is that the other way around? So easy to get it mixed up, especially in teh politix. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/6 "2008-04-25T14:45:22Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] “Love the sin, but hate the sinner”, isn’t it, or is that the other way around? So easy to get it mixed up, especially in teh politix. [/QUOTE] Durn high pollen count is playing tricks on my poor eyes. I first read this as “Love the sun, hate the sunner,” then I squinted, and it said, “Love the sim, hate the simmer.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/7 "2008-04-25T15:00:31Z")
You’re a better man than I, **RickJay**. My greatest desire is still to see the hypocritical, 0-rating-from-the-Human-Rights-Campaign-getting motherfucker torn apart by a pack of wild dogs. But I’m spiteful that way. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/8 "2008-04-25T16:21:56Z")
He should have admitted he is gay. But the money saved his job and that is what he wanted. Money well spent so far. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/9 "2008-04-25T16:38:56Z")
Really another example for us poor benighted hetrosectarians how corrosive living in the closet is. I feel sorry for him. I feel very sorry for his family. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/10 "2008-04-25T17:09:10Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] You’re a better man than I, **RickJay**. My greatest desire is still to see the hypocritical, 0-rating-from-the-Human-Rights-Campaign-getting motherfucker torn apart by a pack of wild dogs. But I’m spiteful that way. [/QUOTE] I’d settle for a photograph of him with a dick in his mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/11 "2008-04-25T17:17:31Z")
I would love to be able to feel sorry for him, but I don’t. The level of hypocrisy in his life is simply staggering. [QUOTE=RickJay] All this because of something that he never had any say in and couldn’t control and was probably raised from childhood to think was terrible and awful. He has probably torn himself apart over being gay since he was nine years old. [/QUOTE] I grew up with that being ingrained in me as well and got past it. I know this is horribly insensitive of me, but I really have zero respect for the whole concept of having to ‘stay in the closet’. I find it to be a bullshit excuse, even more so for someone like him who actively campaigns and works against gays. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/12 "2008-04-25T17:55:48Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] I’d settle for a photograph of him with a dick in his mouth. [/QUOTE] So would Mark Foley. But, you know, purely for evidential reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/13 "2008-04-25T18:20:14Z")
I’m not sure what his motivation is anymore. I would think that as far as convincing his family, that’s a lost cause. They have to have seen a lot of signs that, even if they did not give the game away at the time, do so in retrospect, and pretty conclusively. Maybe he just wants to keep some reputation among conservative Idahoans. I’m thinking some of them are sufficiently unworldly that they’d think: Hmm, he says he didn’t do it, and of course, it doesn’t make any **sense** that someone would want to have sex, with a male stranger, in a **restroom** , so maybe he’s telling the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/14 "2008-04-25T18:22:56Z")
I’m in the middle of reading Jasper Fforde’s _The Fourth Bear_ with a similar situation in whichA popular politician is scared of people finding out he’s living a closeted straight life. The damage it would do to his reputation as a leading gay PM is just unthinkable. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/15 "2008-04-25T19:44:30Z")
Unfortunately, I will always think of him as Larry Craig, (R)-estroom. The Village People claymation video was damn funny, though. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zzf049rgMI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zzf049rgMI) if you haven’t seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/16 "2008-04-25T20:35:47Z")
Well, we now have sound and footage: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nplMndlEVkg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nplMndlEVkg) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/17 "2008-04-25T21:13:07Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] He should have admitted he is gay. But the money saved his job and that is what he wanted. Money well spent so far. [/QUOTE] The money didn’t save his job. Money spent battling to throw out his freely given and consequence-understood guilty plea has nothing to do with his remaining in the Senate. He’s in the Senate until he dies, resigns, reaches the end of his term or is removed by the body itself, and spending $400,000 of campaign contributions is not what is keeping any of those things from happening. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/18 "2008-04-26T00:22:24Z")
How about a Larry Craig action figure? http : // www. [stupid.com/](http://stupid.com/) fun/LCAF.html (Cut & paste; this link plays an audio file when the page loads.) “Thank you all very much for coming out today…” ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/19 "2008-04-26T09:36:10Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] So would Mark Foley. But, you know, purely for evidential reasons. [/QUOTE] Based on past history, I very much doubt Mark Foley is interested in pictures of a 63-year-old man. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/larry-craig-spends-nearly-half-a-million-defending-his-wide-stance/446783/20 "2008-04-26T09:40:00Z")
Also, he caused the spending of something like another quarter-million dollars of our money to prosecute this case, and then defend it against his various appeals.