What bugs me about the Larry Craig case...

[Junkdrawer]

The police report begins with ole Larry eyeballing the officer through the stall crack.

Now, either one of two things are true:

1.) Senator Larry Craig routinely peeks through stall doors hoping to pick up the odd partner.

2.) A WHOLE lot of come-hither enticement went on trying to bait Larry into the his later actions.

Now, since Larry doesn't walk around with busted teeth and black eyes, I'm going to guess it's 2.

So it probably was a police sting operation. Now, that leads to several more choices:

1.) A whole lot of aggressive gays were cruising that bathroom and complaints led to the police doing a sting.

2.) Someone has it out for gays in the police force.

3.) Larry has more enemies that we here imagine.

4.) :shrug:

[GOTV]

1. Wuy does 1) or 2) need to be true. They could both easily be false.

[Junkdrawer]

2. What's your scenario? Once in a blue moon he peeks through stall doors...

and he just happened to pick a stall with a cop? :shrug:

[Deja Q]

3. How big was the cop's nightstick?

:evilgrin:

[Bucky]

22. Given how some NY cops used their nightsticks on Amadou Dialo, I can't laugh

[GOTV]

4. Yes, it's possible....

... he picked a bathroom that was popular for anonymous gay sex right?

[Junkdrawer]

6. Is that what they're saying in the news?

:shrug:

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

7. So, you went from reasoned opinion to helpless hypothesizer?

:shrug: right back atcha. MKJ

[Junkdrawer]

11. Huh?

I'm just tring to get a handle on what went down.

[WinkyDink]

35. So to speak.

[GOTV]

9. I don't know what they're saying in the news. I'm just saying your premise isn't sound....

.... hence your conclusio0n may be shaky as well.

[mondo joe]

10. I think you're missing something. There had been complaints about

sex going on in those restrooms, so a cop was there undercover.

The cop wasn't random - he was placed in a known cruising spot. And Craig was cruising in a known cruising spot.

Nothing random about it - which doesn't mean the cop enticed him at all.

[Junkdrawer]

18. Also, thanks.

:hi:

It just strikes me as odd that an airport restroom is a cruising spot. I guess it's possible, it's just odd.

[Dr. Strange]

36. I believe in that room...

it's called the "inch-high club." (For people who are afraid of heights and/or planes.)

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

5. What bugs me is that the same day he copped a plea, he voted against censuring Gonzales.

What also bugs me is that he voted against gay marriage, but seems just fine with gay sex.

And, it bugs me that he called out Bill Clinton as a "nasty boy" on Meet the Press.

Now, if there was entrapment, he could have called his lawyer and plead not guilty.

A sitting United States Senator claiming that Constitutional law was violated. He could have won in a "cakewalk".

He didn't call his lawyer and he plead guilty.

Why?

MKJ


edited to add, and all this happened on the way to the vote. :shrug:

[Junkdrawer]

8. Well, "they entrapped me with the handsome officer"....

was clearly non-choice if he wanted to hide his sexual preferences...

Not apologizing for Larry, just wondering why the sting...and also wondering how aggressive the sting was...

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

12. As the Senator chose to "hide his sexual preference" he was running Romney's campaign.

jd, this is your M.O., I hesitated to respond, because it was you.

I won't make that mistake twice. MKJ

Maybe I should have a sigline which reads, there I go again, ascribing honorable intentions where there are none.

[Toasterlad]

14. According to the Police Report, It Was Definitely a Sting.

The police set up the operation in the bathroom specifically because they said they had received a number of complaints about gay cruising there. So 1) is probably true, and 2) is possibly true.

And you're right: if the guy in the stall had not been a cop trying to make a bust, and had instead been just your average Joe Breeder, he would have signaled his displeasure at Craig looking in on him long before two minutes had passed, if not gotten violent with him. People tend to overlook the fact that that the straight guy in question was a police officer trying to give Craig enough rope to hang himself, which is what happened. No one who didn't want Craig's attention would have held Craig's attention for long: he knows how the game is played, and so did the officer, which is why he did NOTHING to discourage Craig. If the guy hadn't been a cop, things would not have progressed to the toe-tapping stage, let alone the toe-touching stage or the hand under the stall.

Regardless of the stupidity the law or moral ambiguity of stings like this, what Craig did is illegal, and he was legally arrested. More importantly, he's a self-loathing hypocritical asshole who intentionally made life unfair for gay Americans across the country while engaging in gay activities himself. He deserves whatever he gets.

[Junkdrawer]

15. Thanks.

:hi:

[coco77]

13. When everyone starts listing the sex scandals..

don't forget the repuke who was working on someones campaign I think mc cains, who was having oral sex on the man while he was sleeping.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

16. It was the national chairman of the Young Republicans.

MKJ

[Fresh_Start]

17. supposedly that restroom was publicized on an adult

website as the place to find anonymous sex in MN.

In that case, Larry was merely well prepared for his business trip having researched the locale.

[Junkdrawer]

19. Weird....

Was it a little used men's room out of the way?

[Fresh_Start]

20. I know nothing of mens' restrooms

I saw it in a news story from one of the ID papers

[mondo joe]

23. There are publicized lists of such spots. I'm sure you can look them up online.

:-)

[Roon]

29. Yes, there is a site

I was going to post a link but the first page shows a lot of nudity so I decided to spare everyone. But yes, there is a site you can go to to find the local cruising spots.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Not at all.

It's the men's bathroom in the central area of the terminal, where all the concourses come together in a kind of mini-shopping mall; there are a number of restaurants and rather upscale shops nearby, so it's not in an out-of-the way or seedy area. It's inside the security checkpoints so the people who use that restroom are all passengers, probably waiting for connecting flights. Apparently it's a known "cruising" spot -- at least 15 years ago a gay friend told me it was one of the prime locations in this area for that sort of thing (that was before you had to go through security to get to it).

[JuniperLea]

21. Oh please...

I'm a little more than tired of all the Craig apologists today.

He is scum. He has a long history of being scum. He was caught red-handed being scum.

[Junkdrawer]

24. Sigh...I laughed my ass off watching Craig's presser...

I clearly missed the part in the news about all the complaints that led to the sting.

But, to tell the truth, it still strikes me as passing odd that a public airport men's room was a know gay cruising spot.

[JuniperLea]

25. You're kidding, right?

I've been warned about airport restrooms since I was a kid! And certain park restrooms around town too! I didn't know about these supposed "signals" though... guess I'm not in the loop for such things:)

[Junkdrawer]

26. Not kidding...and, in 1979, I worked across the street from the spot...

where Limbaugh supposedly picked up gay partners. It took a while before I realized why all the cars would slow down while I was waiting for the bus after work.

As you say, not in the loop.

[JuniperLea]

27. Hahaha!

And you thought they were just being friendly:)

[juno jones]

30. It was horrible bad luck

He just happened to get detective Mancuso who has been haunting the Min-St Paul airport in disguise since the NO bus station likely no longer exists. At least Mancuso finally found his weirdo... Otherwise, I was not really surprised to see the 'R' after the name 'Craig', were you?

[soothsayer]

31. bad luck, like that poor repug in FL who offered $20 to blow an undercover cop

who was just in there going potty, not staking out the john!

[goodhue]

32. No need to guess

It has been reported that there were complaints about cruising that led police to conduct sting.
And it seems pretty obvious that Craig was engaged in a familiar routine.

[Terran]

33. Exactly

...it seems pretty obvious that Craig was engaged in a familiar routine.

From the details I've read, he is clearly an old hand at this sort of thing. It didn't take any entrapment on anyone else's part; Craig was in there for only one purpose.

[TahitiNut]

34. Craig's reasons for peeping, footsie, and reaching are (imho) IMMATERIAL and IRRELEVANT

A Peeping Tom is a Peeping Tom. If someone is caught peeping into other people's windows, I really don't care what their sexual orientation (if any) is. Craig engaged in behavior that meets "Disorderly Conduct" criteria. All the rest seems to be prurient interest.

Disclaimer: I'm not above or against a little "prurient interest" - it's just that it's irrelevant.