Thursday, August 30, 2007

Republican Hot Potato

If you fly at all, airports are not fun places to be these days. Either you're being treated like a criminal in the security lines (whether you're 8 or 80), or you're forced to sleep on a cot because your flight's been delayed or canceled.

Now, just when you thought it was safe to use the airport restroom . . .

Larry Craig, a three-term Republican senator from Idaho, was arrested in June at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for disorderly conduct. According to police records, Craig allegedly solicited sex to an undercover officer in the men's room.

The senator originally pleaded guilty to the charges. But after the story broke, he called a news conference to say that he was innocent and is not gay. Then we heard audiotapes of the interrogation, in which Craig claimed he was entrapped. The officer interviewing the senator accused him of lying.

Top GOP officials, from Senators John McCain (Arizona) and Norm Coleman (Minnesota) to the White House, are withdrawing their support of Craig, calling on him to resign. Craig is up for re-election in 2008.

Once again, a conservative "family values" politician/Reverend/radio talk show host who crusades against abortion and alternative lifestyles gets caught with his pants down. If this pattern of hypocritical behavior continues, should the Republican Party reconsider its pandering to the Christian Right?

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