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Ear to the Ground

Scandals Rattle Republican Ranks

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Posted on Aug 29, 2007
Larry Criag
AP Photo / Douglas C. Pizac

In better times:  The arrest of Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho is but the latest in a string of high-profile scandals to rock the Republican Party.

The GOP is undergoing a bit of an ethical crisis following the recent string of scandals involving prominent Republicans—the most recent being, of course, the media hullabaloo surrounding Sen. Larry Craig’s run-in with an undercover policeman in a Minneapolis airport men’s room.  Oh, and then there’s that whole Iraq war issue.


The New York Times:

Forget Mark Foley of Florida, who quit the House last year after exchanging sexually explicit e-mail messages with under-age male pages, or Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist whose dealings with the old Republican Congress landed him in prison. They are old news, replaced by a fresh crop of scandal-plagued Republicans, men like Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, whose phone number turned up on the list of the so-called D.C. Madam, or Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona, both caught up in F.B.I. corruption investigations.

It is enough to make a self-respecting Republican want to tear his hair out in frustration, especially as the party is trying to defend an unpopular war, contain the power of the new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill and generate some enthusiasm among voters heading toward the presidential election in 2008.

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By KYJurisDoctor, August 30, 2007 at 12:34 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Good. He resigned from Senate Committees. Next? Force him from the Senate!

http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/u-s-senator-larry-craig-delays.html#links

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By Frank Cajon, August 30, 2007 at 1:04 am #

The Grand Old Party would do well to adjust its Religious Right arrangement if we have to continue every few months to have another GOP Senator get in trouble, because he can’t excercise self-control. Whether Craig is gay is not important, but we had to tolerate a pervert hitting up adolescent male pages last year, then of course the infamous Senator in the DC Madam’s little black book, and now I really don’t want to hear this guy’s protestations that he ‘isn’t gay’ after a history of crossing the line with behavior that finally got him arrested. The GOP is sweating the Senate seat out so bad I am sure that Rove was consulted about how to spin this. Maybe if these damn guys weren’t such hypocrites, and just got a damn room once in a while like normal people, it wouldn’t become a hot-button topic for me. Where I work, it you pull this kind of stuff, you are outta here. These guys are US Senators. WTF?

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By RAE, August 30, 2007 at 12:31 am #

It’s one thing when an unattached, horny teenager throws caution to the wind in search of “satisfaction” but quite another when an experienced, mature adult, especially a public figure with family obligations, behaves so irresponsibly.

Boys will be boys… but MEN should have their brains operating a little higher up in their bodies!

Craig’s private and public life are in ruins. The universe is unfolding as it should.

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By williamf, August 30, 2007 at 12:01 am #

He plead guilty.  Spin that anyway you want, he plead guilty.  Now, if he would just resign and go home, a large chunk of the American public would be extremely grateful.  He really should just be quiet and do the right thing.  Be a good soldier and just…fade away!

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By Marshall K, August 29, 2007 at 10:19 pm #

Just another phony conservative weasel closet gay senator.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

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By Louise, August 29, 2007 at 9:56 pm #

Again?

Still?

Or, ho-hum, whats next?

Breaking News!
ABC has just found an honest republican!

Honest!

Details at 10:00

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By 127001, August 29, 2007 at 8:23 pm #

OMG!!!

Do you really think there are any “self-respecting Republicans” left?

Were there ever?

Actually, let’s expand that to both parties.

How about lumping all politicians into the same category?

Are there any “citizens” left?

Integrity, morality, honesty (etc., etc., etc.) are just words to NOT live by.

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By lawlessone, August 29, 2007 at 7:06 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Are all the vehemently outspoken anti-gay rights Republicans perverts and pedophiles?  It seems like almost every month another Neocon zealot is newly caught doing the very thing they decry.

In actuality, do the antigay Republican hypocrites who continue to loudly pontificate that gays are evil do so to persuade others they themselves are’t?  Are they using the rhetoric as camouflage because they are trying to deter or deflect exposure of their own secret sexual activities?

Or, is it simple projection?  Do the hyperbolic hate mongers fear they might actually be or turn gay?  Are they using the hateful mantra to convince themselves they are not?

Whatever the reason, it sure makes for fun watching when loud mouths hypocrites like Republican Senator Larry Craig are hoisted on their own petard.  Fortunately, the Republicans seem ill equipped to learn anything.

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By PatrickHenry, August 29, 2007 at 6:21 pm #

I hope the good folk of Idaho know what to do.

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By rowdy, August 29, 2007 at 5:38 pm #

my lover and i have been together for 30 years. we both think that marriage is absurd, straight or gay. people stay together because they truly love one another. however we would like to have the same rights as straight people. since my lover is the real breadwinner in our house we would have another 10,000 dollars in our personal treasury each year if we had the same rights as all the homo-haters. our relationship was begun as an open relationship and we lived in san francisco for 3 years. we both fucked around…a lot. for the past 20 years our relationship has been monogamous. in truth, the idea of actually touching a complete stranger is terrifying. it gives me the creeps. ooh, bathroom sex, totally out of the question,even with my lover. we have had many friends and acquaintances die of aids. these were all people who got it before anyone knew. we consider ourselves damn lucky. did this fool craig practice safe sex or was he willing to allow his wife to take her chances? maybe she was smart enough to quit fucking him. maybe he just couldn’t get it up for her any more, lucky woman. i have never been closeted and if a stranger bluntly asks about my sexuality,i will quickly say,yes i like to suck dick,you should try it sometime. i have had sex with hundreds of men, and a score of women. i had a 10 year relationship with a woman,put her ass through school. i made the choice to be a fag, mostly because i found mr. right. most of the women i had sex with came in the period when we both fucked around,my lover had no problem with this. i made my choice and i wouldn’t trade our life together for sex with anyone. just call me “happily married”.

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By mikem, August 29, 2007 at 5:36 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Where do the Republicans keep getting these guys from? Is there an endless pool of candidates in the Republican party? Do they just place an order to “Lying Hypocrites ‘R Us” and up pops another one of these guys? I guess we just shouldn’t be surprised anymore.

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By LMAO, August 29, 2007 at 5:25 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

can anyone say KARMA???????  but still I ask, where is the outrage?  How long will we as American’s let this go on and re-elect these idiots??????

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By cyrena, August 29, 2007 at 4:04 pm #

Oh Well….

That payback can be a real monster. Pops up when one least expects it.

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