You can hear the tape of Larry Craig's police interview here. He says over and over that he disagrees with the officer's recounting of the events that took place but that he wouldn't fight them in court. Obviously, he was afraid of society's homophobia and sexophobia crashing down on his head. It should be noted that he helped to foster those two things, so maybe it's some poetic justice.
But even though I think he was cruising that bathroom based not just on the police report but also on Craig's lame excuses afterwards (he repeats the "wide stance" defense), I can't help but think that in this dispute between him and the officer that he had no power and the officer had it all. Each time he disagrees with the officer's retelling of the events, he reassures the officer that he's not going to fight this in court. He has every reason not to and every reason to try to make it go away. While he probably was soliciting in the bathroom, considering that he really had no real chance to contest this in court, and since the court would just ditto the officer anyway, I can't see how due process was served here. In spirit, not in letter.
Towards the end of the tape, after Craig has already talked about his wide stance and how he was just picking up a piece of paper off the floor and said that he's going to enter a guilty plea, the officer starts browbeating Craig, saying that it's now about the guilty plea or the fine, that he just wants Craig to admit what he did, that it's about "respect". You've got to wonder how much this officer was enjoying it, knowing that he can say that he's "disappointed" that Craig wouldn't agree with his story. What was the point in trying to get Craig to go further than a guilty plea?
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2 Comments
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Awesome. Hopefully the Supreme Court will rule in our favor, but even if it doesn't this is a huge victory. More and more states are folding. No longer are we limited to same sex marriage news from New England. We have finally made it into the Midwest. Even though we still have 17 months left with this president, I think that we will see a lot of progress as an overall backlash to the Republican party and their hypocrisy. Congratulations Iowa.
UAFA | August 30, 2007 8:01 PM
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As much as I am happy to see Craig dethroned, and the antigay industry further dented by the revelation of the deep hyprocrisy of one of their stalwarts, I think it’s repulsive that the police released this tape, and I hope that it backfires on them. I’ve observed enough cops in action and had enough of my own encounters with them to know how many put on their no-limits omnipotence and self-righteous omniscience before they put on their uniforms not to be surprised at the rising indignation in this cop when Craig keeps challenging him, however mildly. “This is not entrapment. ....I'm disrespected right now....you're sitting here lying to a police officer.”
But the startling thing comes at the end when Officer Krupke says in exasperation, “No wonder why we’re going down the tubes.”
Who is “we”? America? And what does he think is causing America to go down the tubes? What does it have to do with what basically amounts to a pubic nuisance arrest? The mere existence of gays? Gay senators? Aggressive women who don’t know their place? Uppity Blacks? [Karsnia: “I expect this from the guy that we get out of the hood. “] Illegal immigrants? The cancellation of “7th Heaven”?
It’s hard sometimes to read the minds of The Great Defenders of the Status Quo or genuinely grasp what they viscerally believe threatens it. When “Brokeback Mountain” was released, one Indianapolis man I know of observed, “I’m just thankful John Wayne isn’t still alive to have to see this.”
And what talents got Karsnia promoted to soliciting men in the bathroom from his recent job in charge of airport “cart enforcement”? Whatever it was, this is not his first time on national TV. Almost four months to the day before he played footsy with Craig, Karsnia appeared briefly in a spot on “Good Morning America” about the success of the Minneapolis airport in bringing down their high rate of motorized cart accidents:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2859245&page=1
Does all of this come down to the awakening of just another media whore? CBS gave us Reichen. Do we and Senator Craig have ABC to blame for Krasnia? “Lance, er, Mr. Bass, sir. There’s a Sgt. Dave holding on Line 1.”
And what of the rush by Craig's fellow Repugs to throw him overboard with a lavender anvil chained to his tap dancing feet? Did they learn from their mistakes in “Le Folie de Foley? Are they so petrified of losing even one religionist fascist’s vote in 2008 that they’d literally crucify Craig if that’s what it took? “Ecce homo.” It’s certainly the only explanation for Giuliani and Romney and McCain slithering backwards from their earlier less homophobic positions.
But back to Craig. Before anyone goes too soft on him as this saga gets sadder and sadder, read through the items below of his vote history taken from the wonderful site, www.ontheissues.org. I was surprised that I actually agreed with him on one or two things [none listed here], but was also surprised to see how otherwise Troglodytic he really is.
• Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
• Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
• Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
• Voted NO on setting aside 10% of highway funds for minorities & women. (Mar 1998)
• Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
• Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)
• Rated 100% by the Christian Coalition: a pro-family voting record. (Dec 2003)
• Voted YES on ending special funding for minority & women-owned business. (Oct 1997)
• Voted YES on recommending Constitutional ban on flag desecration. (Jun 2006)
• Voted YES on Amendment to prohibit flag burning. (Dec 1995)
• Voted YES on banning affirmative action hiring with federal funds. (Jul 1995)
• Voted YES on loosening restrictions on cell phone wiretapping. (Oct 2001)
• Rated 25% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)
• Voted NO on $52M for "21st century community learning centers". (Oct 2005)
• Voted NO on $5B for grants to local educational agencies. (Oct 2005)
• Voted NO on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education. (Mar 2005)
• Voted NO on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction. (Apr 2001)
• Voted YES on $75M for abstinence education. (Jul 1996)
• Voted YES on requiring schools to allow voluntary prayer. (Jul 1994)
• Voted NO on national education standards. (Feb 1994)
• Rated 20% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes. (Dec 2003)
• Voted YES on rejecting racial statistics in death penalty appeals. (May 1994)
• Voted NO on including oil & gas smokestacks in mercury regulations. (Sep 2005)
• Voted NO on continuing desert protection in California. (Oct 1994)
• Voted NO on factoring global warming into federal project planning. (May 2007)
• Voted NO on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska's ANWR. (Nov 2005)
• Voted NO on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
• Voted NO on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%). (Jun 2005)
• Voted NO on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
• Voted NO on targeting 100,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2010. (Jun 2003)
• Voted NO on removing consideration of drilling ANWR from budget bill. (Mar 2003)
• Voted YES on drilling ANWR on national security grounds. (Apr 2002)
• Voted YES on defunding renewable and solar energy. (Jun 1999)
• Voted YES on do not require ethanol in gasoline. (Aug 1994)
• Voted YES on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers. (Jul 2005)
• Voted NO on banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers for gun violence. (Mar 2004)
• Voted NO on background checks at gun shows. (May 1999)
• Voted YES on more penalties for gun & drug violations. (May 1999)
• Voted YES on loosening license & background checks at gun shows. (May 1999)
• Voted YES on maintaining current law: guns sold without trigger locks. (Jul 1998)
• Rated A+ by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun rights voting record. (Dec 2003)
• Voted NO on requiring negotiated Rx prices for Medicare part D. (Apr 2007)
• Voted YES on limiting medical liability lawsuits to $250,000. (May 2006)
• Voted NO on expanding enrollment period for Medicare Part D. (Feb 2006)
• Voted NO on increasing Medicaid rebate for producing generics. (Nov 2005)
• Voted NO on negotiating bulk purchases for Medicare prescription drug. (Mar 2005)
• Voted NO on allowing patients to sue HMOs & collect punitive damages. (Jun 2001)
• Voted YES on funding GOP version of Medicare prescription drug benefit. (Apr 2001)
• Voted NO on including prescription drugs under Medicare. (Jun 2000)
• Voted NO on increasing tobacco restrictions. (Jun 1998)
• Rated 0% by APHA, indicating a anti-public health voting record. (Dec 2003)
• Voted NO on implementing the 9/11 Commission report. (Mar 2007)
• Voted NO on preserving habeus corpus for Guantanamo detainees. (Sep 2006)
• Voted NO on requiring CIA reports on detainees & interrogation methods. (Sep 2006)
• Voted YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. (Mar 2006)
• Voted NO on restoring $565M for states' and ports' first responders. (Mar 2005)
• Voted NO on adopting the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. (Oct 1999)
• Voted NO on allowing another round of military base closures. (May 1999)
• Voted YES on deploying National Missile Defense ASAP. (Mar 1999)
• Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex basic training. (Jun 1998)
• Voted YES on favoring 36 vetoed military projects. (Oct 1997)
• Voted NO on banning chemical weapons. (Apr 1997)
• Voted YES on considering deploying NMD, and amending ABM Treaty. (Jun 1996)
• Voted NO on restricting employer interference in union organizing. (Jun 2007)
• Voted YES on repealing Clinton's ergonomic rules on repetitive stress. (Mar 2001)
• Rated 0% by the ARA, indicating an anti-senior voting record. (Dec 2003)
• Voted NO on restoring $550M in funding for Amtrak for 2007. (Mar 2006)
• Voted NO on disallowing FCC approval of larger media conglomerates. (Sep 2003)
• Voted YES on telecomm deregulation. (Feb 1996)
• Voted NO on investigating contract awards in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Nov 2005)
• Voted NO on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Apr 2007)
• Voted YES on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. (Jul 2006)
• Voted NO on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)
• Voted YES on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions. (Jun 2000)
• Voted YES on banning human cloning. (Feb 1998)
The prosecution rests.
Michael Bedwell | August 30, 2007 10:09 PM
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