Update:  Lauer’s interview style was terrible.   There were no probing (pun intended) questions.  It was a waste of time.

Just in case you are wondering Senator Larry Craig is going to appeal his most recent court decision. He also feels that Mitt Romney has treated him unfairly.

Give me a break. The Senator has become Britney Spears. He does something stupid. The press covers it and he whines.

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From CNN.com:

Sen. Larry Craig says he will file an appeal Monday over a judge’s refusal to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea stemming from his arrest in an airport bathroom sex sting.

In an interview Sunday with KTVB-TV, Craig repeated he will not resign his post in the Senate and said he will continue to work his legal options.

“It is my right to do what I’m doing,” said Craig, an Idaho Republican. “I’ve already provided for Idaho certainty that Idaho needed — I’m not running for re-election. I’m no longer in the way. I am pursuing my constitutional rights.” (more…)

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From WaPo:

Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) vowed to serve out the remainder of his term yesterday despite losing his bid to withdraw his guilty plea for disorderly conduct in an airport men’s restroom.

Craig, who said earlier that he would resign if unable to withdraw his plea, said he is considering appealing yesterday’s decision by a Minnesota judge. The judge ruled that some of the senator’s legal arguments were “illogical.” (more…)

So, now the judge in Minnesota says no way Jose to Larry Craig’s petition to have a re-trial. TPM has a great paragraph that sums up this whole case -

So Craig’s fellow Republicans basically do everything short of physically forcing him to resign. He “resigns”. Only it’s not a resignation. Rather, it’s a rather ingenious ploy to let the temperature ease off on the story, a post-dated resignation. Then it’s not a resignation. He’s going to fight the guilty plea — something of a novelty in the annals of jurisprudence. He’ll stay in office if he can get his plea withdrawn. And now he can’t get his guilty plea withdrawn so, well, too bad. He’s staying anyway.

It is kind of remarkable that it is the Republicans that look impotent for once.

BTW, he shouldn’t get a retrial. If his judgment is so BAD that he pleads guilty to something that he is not guilty of then he needs to be removed from the Senate for being too stupid to govern. On the other hand, if he was soliciting sex like I think he was, he needs to be removed from office for being a 2-faced liar. There’s his choice. I look forward to him choosing.

Yep, I went there. This whole thing is so ridiculous, you have to go there. For the women out there that haven’t been in a men’s restroom, there is a protocol. It is just like getting in a elevator where no one talks, in the mens room there is very little chitchat. There is very little eye contact. You go. You do your business. You leave. Done. There is no foot touching. That just doesn’t happen. Never. There is no time when your stance is wide enough so that your foot goes under the stall divider. NOT. NEVER.

BTW, have you ever heard of someone pleading guilty then trying to take back him/her guilty plea? I’m not talking about 16 year old kid but instead, a 62 year old veteran of national politics.

I, personally, think that he should stay so that everyone can see the hypocrisy of the Republican “Family Values” party.

(video later.)

The Carpetbagger Report has been all over Larry Craig – here, here and here.

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From MSNBC.com:

Sen. Larry Craig is reconsidering his decision to resign after his arrest in a Minnesota airport sex sting and may still fight for his Senate seat, his spokesman said Tuesday evening.

“It’s not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign,” Sidney Smith, Craig’s spokesman in Idaho’s capital, told The Associated Press.

“We’re still preparing as if Sen. Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we’re able to stay in the fight — and stay in the Senate,” Smith said. (more…)

To give you a sense of how Republican Idaho is, the Senate seat to be given up tomorrow by Larry Craig has been held by a Democrat for a total of just under 8 years since Idaho Statehood in 1890. The last time was in 1946.

Don’t despair though—Idaho did elect for it’s other Senate seat the great liberal Frank Church between 1957 and 1981. Senator Church was a great champion of Civil Rights. He lost his seat in the 1980 Reagan landslide which cost Democrats the Senate.

Senator Church was the last Democrat to represent Idaho in the U.S.Senate.

The above picture is of a public toilet back in ancient Rome days. It looks quite open in terms of making a covert solicitation.

His story was not believable. He should resign. Not for being gay and not for engaging in homosexual activities. He should resign for lying and being a hypocrite.

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From MSNBC.com:

Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig will announce Saturday he will resign from the Senate amid a furor over his arrest and guilty plea in a police sex sting in an airport men’s room, Republican officials said Friday.

Craig will hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. MT and say that he will resign effective Sept. 30, three state GOP officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The announcement follows by just five days the disclosure that he had pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to a reduced misdemeanor charge arising out of his arrest June 11 at the Minneapolis airport. (more…)

This is nuts (here is the transcript of the arrest interview). Larry Craig pleaded guilty. He plead guilty to a crime in which he was accused of lewd behavior. Now, there isn’t a heterosexual man in America who would admit to being Gay if he wasn’t. It just doesn’t happen. It is like a White guy walking around saying that he is Black. That doesn’t happen. (Except in that stupid Hollywood Movie Soul Man)

What’s up with him getting arrested and not telling his wife? If Craig truly thought that he was wronged wouldn’t his wife be the first person that we would tell? The only way that I don’t tell my wife is if I’m trying to hide something from her. Something like being accused of propositioning a police officer in a public bathroom when you have been plagued by rumors of homosexual activity for over 25 years!!

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From MSNBC.com:

… “You are sitting here lying to a police officer,” Karsnia (the arresting police officer) responded. “People vote for you. Unbelievable.”

…Craig pleaded guilty on Aug. 1 to a charge of disorderly conduct, but the case didn’t come to public light until Tuesday. Craig held a news conference then and said that despite his guilty plea, he had done nothing wrong and had hired an attorney.

He has received little public support from Republicans, however. Several GOP lawmakers have suggested he resign, some citing the fact that he pleaded guilty in the case.

C&L have a nice post on Bush’s really terrible week.

One of my favorite blogs is The Carpetbagger’s Report. Steve has a great post on the Idaho Values Alliance. First, what a stupid name. Anyway, check out his post.

Jeff (frequent reader of Where’s the Outrage?) sent me his take on the Senator Larry Craig flap. This is sung to the Tony Orlando and Dawn tune – Knock 3 times.

The Ballad of Senator Craig

Hey man, what’s that panting I hear
From over there on your side of the divider?
I visualize your big [BLEEP] swaying,
And with it I want to be playing!
Just one seat from me, oh that’s so crummy, I love you….

(Refrain)
Knock three times on the stall wall if you want me!
Or flash your badge if I’m under arrest!
Knock, knock, knock means you’ll [BLEEP] me in the men’s room.
Or that damn badge means I’m going to jail.

When I peek thru the crack in the door
He looks so cute all my judgment goes right out the window….
I don’t care if I get busted,
Politicians can’t be trusted,
But hey, we promise we’ll obey the law come tomorrow….

(Refrain)
Knock three times on the stall wall if you want me!
Or flash your badge if I’m under arrest!
Knock, knock, knock means you’ll [BLEEP] me in the men’s room.
Or that damn badge means I’m going to jail.

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From WaPo:

… In a highly unusual move, the entire Senate Republican leadership team issued a statement minutes before Craig’s press conference complaining that none of them were told of Craig’s legal troubles until yesterday. Craig issued a statement Monday confirming his arrest and guilty plea, which were first reported in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. The GOP senators asked the Ethics Committee to investigate the matter, vowing to consider other punitive sanctions.

“This is a serious matter,” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and three other elected GOP leaders said in their joint statement. “Due to the reported and disputed circumstances, and the legal resolution of this serious case, we will recommend that Senator Craig’s incident be reported to the Senate Ethics Committee for its review. In the meantime, leadership is examining other aspects of the case to determine if additional action is required.” (more…)

I find it interesting how the Republicans jumped on the resign bandwagon. Remember they really never came out and denounced Rep. Foley. They helped Denis Hastert badly fumble what should have been a cut and dry case of immoral behavior.

Check out Senator Craig’s statement (see vid below). He plead guilty with out telling anyone. Either he is dumber than dirt or he is lying. Then way he should never be elected to any post high than dog catcher.

Again, Glenn Greenwald has a great take on this. He points out the right wing hypocrisy.

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From MSNBC.com:

Under fire from leaders of his own party, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig on Tuesday said the only thing he had done wrong was to plead guilty after a complaint of lewd conduct in a men’s room. He declared, “I am not gay. I never have been gay.”

“I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport,” he said at a news conference with his wife, Suzanne, at his side.

Craig also lashed out at the Idaho Statesman newspaper, which reported Monday that, according to an anonymous source, Craig had a homosexual encounter in a Washington train station. Craig accused the paper of waging a witch hunt against him. (more…)

So, Bob Allen of Fla propositions a cop in a bathroom just a couple of months ago. His explanation for what happened as racist at best. Now, we have Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. It appears that there was some lewd conduct in a men’s restroom. Of course, Craig is trying to spin this.

Update: It appears that Craig was a big supporter of Mitt Romney. They even had a commercial together. Now, that commercial has been pulled by Romney campaign. I can’t find a copy of it on the web anywhere.

Update II: Well, well, well. It appears that Larry Craig has a little history of homosexual behavior. At least he was accused of the behavior. Check out this video from 1982! Wait for the last 60 seconds of the video. (BTW, look at Lisa Myers!!! OMG!!!) Oh, if you look and look, you can find just about anything on the web. LiveLeak had a copy of this Craig’s pitch for Romney.

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From MSNBC.com:

Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho pleaded guilty this month to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after being arrested at the Minneapolis airport.

A Hennepin County court docket showed Craig pleading guilty to the disorderly conduct charge Aug. 8, with the court dismissing a charge of gross misdemeanor interference to privacy.

The court docket said the Republican senator was fined $1,000, plus $575 in fees. He was put on unsupervised probation for a year. A sentence of 10 days in the county workhouse was stayed. (more…)