“At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions,” he said. “I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously.”
“At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct,” he said. “I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously.”
I smell a motion to set aside guilty plea.
[/QUOTE]
Hmmmm… I wonder if he tried to handle this without counsel in order to keep it from getting into the newspapers. Mission not accomplished.
Also, if I were wrongly charged with lewd behavior in a public bathroom, I would fight it with everything I had, instead of copping a guilty plea. At least the good Senator didn’t justify his behavior by explaining that he was afraid of being attacked by a group of black men.
There is only one thing to do. We must have a full, public and very, very graphic court hearing on this! Justice demands no less.
This poor innocent man was tricked into pleading guilty. Senators are so naive, we must protect them from their natural tendency to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit.
(Not that it matters, but the HRC gives Craig 0%.)
I really wonder if there’s some sort of common mental problem here … closeted Republican pols almost always seem to be gay bashers. The one who was so hot for the young male pages was a huge oppeoent of child molestation. Is there some weird form of psychological compensation going on here? Call it Roy Cohn syndrome …
[QUOTE=Sampiro]
Craig’s is fairly boring by sex-scandal standards, but I love how the more conservative the more messed up the scandal usually. Not that it much matters since he’s no longer a senator, but if Santorum ever gets caught in a sex scandal- man, it’s probably going to involve chickens, dead hitchhikers, electrodes, and Cher wigs.
[/QUOTE]
Where is your sense of poetry, man? Anything but an arrest involving man-on-dog allegations would be a great disappointment.
Serious question: Where do, you know, “do it” in a busy airport bathroom if the guy in the other stall accepts the invite?
If one joins the other in a single stall, a lot of people will notice 4 wingtips and some funny noises when they are in the bathroom. Airports aren’t usually deserted at noon.
[QUOTE=T_SQUARE]
Serious question: Where do, you know, “do it” in a busy airport bathroom if the guy in the other stall accepts the invite?
If one joins the other in a single stall, a lot of people will notice 4 wingtips and some funny noises when they are in the bathroom. Airports aren’t usually deserted at noon.
[/QUOTE]
Well, I learned in an SNL sketch that you can bring a large department store shopping bag with you, and stand in it so all people see are two feet and a bag.
[QUOTE=Leaper]
Well, I learned in an SNL sketch that you can bring a large department store shopping bag with you, and stand in it so all people see are two feet and a bag.
[/QUOTE]
Heh, actually the article sorta mentioned this too, one of the things the cop noticed was that the Senator placed his bag so as to block the view of people looking under the stall (don’t think he was standing in it though). All these scandals, I’m learning a lot of useful tips if I ever decide to go gay and wanna solicit sex from strangers.
One thing I didn’t see in the article, did he have a plane ticket? His story would be at least semi-believable if he had some valid reason to be in the airport.
[QUOTE=T_SQUARE]
Serious question: Where do, you know, “do it” in a busy airport bathroom if the guy in the other stall accepts the invite?
If one joins the other in a single stall, a lot of people will notice 4 wingtips and some funny noises when they are in the bathroom. Airports aren’t usually deserted at noon.
[/QUOTE]
Well, one places his bag (no, the luggage, silly) in front to block the front view (as the good Senator did), then incredibly desperate man #1 stands crouching on the toilet seat (to hide his wingtips) while incredibly desperate man #2 does his incredibly desperate business.
And no, I do not know this from experience (although I’m gay). But I have to admit that when I was in high school, a very popular jock boy and I sat looking at each other’s ever-so-glacially meeting feet under the stall for about an hour before we both finally chickened out. So to speak.
Senator Craig is screwed - both literally and figuratively.
The only way he might have an excuse would be some bullshit explanation such as “I was framed by the left-wing liberal Democrats, the biased media and the gay lobby who in order to promote their pro-gay agenda, decided to disgrace a conservative “family values” politician …”
NAH !!!
I think his career choices and any chance of the voters believing his public apology are now about the same as Michael Vick’s.
Hey he could say it was just a “mistake”!
Of course, it just might have been an “accident”. After all, how many times has your foot strayed over to the next stall only to end up touching the other guy’s foot? (None? Yeah that’s what I thought).
If this ever happens to Fred Phelps I just might start believing there is a God !!!
[QUOTE=wolf_meister]
I think his career choices and any chance of the voters believing his public apology are now about the same as Michael Vick’s.
[/QUOTE]
It wasn’t an apology.
This whole thing is just too strange. TG, IANAL but I’m at least familiar with the concept of probable cause. And this whole “foot tapping code” thingy just has my skepticism meter humming.
How was the undercover officer trained? I mean, all snark aside, who trained him to recognize these signals? From whence did they hire an expert? Or is it assumed that any touching of feet in a men’s bathroom is explicitly sexual? Something so widely understood that no expert testimony is needed, the only person who hasn’t heard is me.
And what if he’s simply flirting? What if his intention was to propose a carnal encounter, but not within the confines of the public restroom? Shirley that isnt an illegal suggestion, unless money is mentioned?
[QUOTE=elucidator]
This whole thing is just too strange. TG, IANAL but I’m at least familiar with the concept of probable cause. And this whole “foot tapping code” thingy just has my skepticism meter humming.
[/quote]
I can understand your skepticism, but I assure you that the footsy-playing is – at least in general – exactly what the cop thought it was. Have you never had the misfortune to have to excrete while driving a freeway at night where your only choice was to use a rest stop’s bathroom? I can practically guarantee that if there are truckers parked in the lot, you’ll be “approached” in the very manner Senator Craig approached the officer in question. I’ve decided that Lisa Nowak’s diaper-wearing is a better alternative.
[QUOTE=elucidator]
How was the undercover officer trained? I mean, all snark aside, who trained him to recognize these signals? From whence did they hire an expert? Or is it assumed that any touching of feet in a men’s bathroom is explicitly sexual? Something so widely understood that no expert testimony is needed, the only person who hasn’t heard is me.
[/quote]
I’m afraid that’s about the size of it, yes. There are all kinds of signals that people may miss. Hell, I probably miss most of them, too, but the feet-under-the-stall thing is an absolute dead giveaway. No room for ambiguity at all, really. I mean, have you ever accidentally peeked though the gaps for two minutes, wiggled your hand under the divider, and then touched another man’s foot all the way in the next stall? Never happens.
[QUOTE=elucidator]
And what if he’s simply flirting? What if his intention was to propose a carnal encounter, but not within the confines of the public restroom? Shirley that isnt an illegal suggestion, unless money is mentioned?
[/QUOTE]
You may have something there. Maybe the propositioning alone violates the statute?
[QUOTE=ambushed]
Hell, I probably miss most of them, too, but the feet-under-the-stall thing is an absolute dead giveaway. No room for ambiguity at all, really. I mean, have you ever accidentally peeked though the gaps for two minutes, wiggled your hand under the divider, and then touched another man’s foot all the way in the next stall? Never happens.
[/quote]
That would be a fun question to ask at a press conference. "Sir, why were you looking into another man’s stall for two minutes? Why was your hand far enough into his stall that the officer could see your gold ring? Why was your foot in his stall? If this was just a misunderstanding, then I’d like to know what was the purpose of the acts.
Ah, I see it was answer in the Roll Call article.
That’s one hell of a stance. I’d hate to see him play golf.
[QUOTE=Malodorous]
As I said before, I don’t think it matters much to him whether he is found guilty or innocent by the court (I’m sure he can cover the 500$ fine) as to whether he is perceived as being guilty by the voting public (though I seriously doubt even the most conservative of them think gay sex is worse then murder).
[/QUOTE]
Not from Idaho are you? If you can find a more conservative tight assed republican state I don’t ever want to visit it.
On the other hand he is the Republican candidate and this bunch of yahoos voted George Hansen back in to office while he was in a federal prison to keep from having to vote for a Democrat.
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net]
And he obviously pled guilty and took the sentence in the hope of getting through this undetected – without it becoming publicly known to his conservative voter base. (And that almost worked. Note that this happened back in early June – nearly 3 months ago, yet it’s just hitting the news now. Not that the conservative papers in his home state won’t ignore it for as long as they can, and then drop coverage as soon as they can. That’s what they did with the previous gay scandals by this guy.)
[/QUOTE]
Nope It was the first story on all four local news broadcasts tonight. It’s the first time 99.9% of the state has heard anything about it. But now that it’s broken it won’t go away so easy. And at least for now we Democrats can giggle at the stunned Republicans. Oh yes there are Democrat liberals here in Idaho. We all ride to the state convention in the same mini van but we are here.
edited for spelling. if there are any more mistakes it’s the pain meds not me.
Which is why you can assume that if someone acts like that, they are used to making the moves. Hell, I’ve never been approached in a stall, but someone sticking his foot and hand into mine wouldn’t be doing it because he’s bored.
