Specter: Craig Should Withdraw Resignation, Fight Conviction

Bloomberg:

``I think he could be vindicated,'' Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program.

Specter, of Pennsylvania, said that Craig ``hasn't resigned'' from the Senate, only that he ``intends to resign'' as of Sept. 30. That gives Craig a month to fight the case in court, Specter said. If the case went to trial, Specter said Craig ``wouldn't be convicted of anything.''

Read the whole story: Bloomberg

Comments

[mommadona]

02:59 PM on 09/03/2007

Dear Senator Specter,

I hope that rail up your ass becomes very uncomfortable.

Sincerely. Very, very sincerely,
Mom

[CarmanK]

01:56 PM on 09/03/2007

Arlan Specter is just plain wrong. Craig pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge, hoping that the unpleasantness would just go away. A familiar fantasy of Bushies everywhere.
Craig is a pathetic character, who grew up in a household that demonized homosexuality, so that he is stuggling with his true identity by denying his natural tendencies, getting married
etc... he could be bi-sexual or just curious. He was in a public restroom, under surveillence because of numerous complaints of sexual misconduct by patrons. (personally can't surmise more demeaning duty for a cop, than to be assigned a shift in a men's bathroom). He did the right thing by offering his resignation and saving his family further embarassment.

[smokeystover39]

12:59 PM on 09/03/2007

Say what you like about Spector "parsing" Craig's resignation, but what is ANYONE going to do if Craig withdraws the "resignation"? Craig has been reported to have hired "Maddog" Vick's attorney to help him "fight" the legal battle to clear his ♂ good name ♂.

Sounds all good to me. In fact I've refurb'd the popcorn machine in anticipation of the show which Craig will be providing. We will have a year or more of watching this pompous putz get shredded by his GOP buddies and political advisories. It may even rival the show Clinton provided: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman......."

Stay tuned for the fun.

[geobushono]

12:48 PM on 09/03/2007

YEA....oh PLEEZE....withdraw the plea so we can watch him twist-in-the-wind just a little longer....and somebody hand him a rope.

[Maxbyte]

12:28 PM on 09/03/2007

I will never understand Senator Specter. On the one hand, he has a tendency to go after Bush at times - sort of; on the other hand, he pulls stuff like this in which he goes 180 degrees backwards.

Senator Craig has convicted himself in the eyes of his constituents, and he had already lost a great deal of Idaho support before entering a guilty plea.

Even if he could retract his plea, a conviction or acquittal in court would make no difference in his damage to the GOP, or to his electability next year.

Specter's comment seems to be predicated entirely on his now ancient stints as a prosecutor. He is not considering the ethical and moral consequences that rural communities often rely upon as a higher standard than beating a charge with legal technicalities.

[TerryFL]

12:10 PM on 09/03/2007

.

MEET NEW SEN. JIM RISCH VIA HIS POST-KATRINA COMMENTS

"Here in Idaho, we couldn’t understand how people [in Louisiana] could sit around on the curbs waiting for the federal government to come and do something. We had a dam break in 1976, but we didn’t whine about it. We got out our backhoes and we rebuilt the roads and replanted the fields and got on with our lives. That’s the culture here. Not waiting for the federal government to bring you drinking water. In Idaho there would have been entrepreneurs selling the drinking water.


First off, what kind of greedy monster sells drinking water to dehydrated and dying disaster victims who just lost everything in a flood?

APPARENTLY JIM F#$%ING RISCH.....welcome to the Senate, you dirtbag.

.

[xcrunner77]

11:44 AM on 09/03/2007

Please, oh please, let it be so.

[NYC07]

11:44 AM on 09/03/2007

Trust Me?????? Who the hell are you that I should trust you ??? Without absolute proof of Craig's intentions were. And how do you know what goes on in men's rooms ? If Craig was going to engage in sex I asume it would have been in the stall ( if he had come out and unzipped his or the cops pants then it would be a clear case and not entrapment) so if it took place in the stall you would have known because .... you like to peek into stalls in men's rooms ???? Someone call the police on this guy !!!!!!

[hjo4]

01:05 PM on 09/03/2007

I am a man first of all asshole,secondly whose to say that I myself haven't engaged in that type of behavior.You have a problem reading between the lines moron.

[Blutus]

11:36 AM on 09/03/2007

Entrapment?
Gag me with a spoon.

Maybe someone should give Larry
the number of that evil left-wing

ACLU!!

[NYC07]

10:37 AM on 09/03/2007

As a Democrat and a liberal I have no great love for Craig but I am very troubled by what happened to him. What exactly did he do that warranted his arrest? He tapped his foot , he put his hand under his stall oh horror arrest the man. Does this not disturb anyone that you can be arrested for this . I could see him being arrested if he slip a note under the stall requesting sex, I could see him being arrested if he was outside the stall and showing his genitalia or even rubbing his crotch in a suggestive way then it is a clear indication of his intent . What he did may be suggestive in the mind of the police man as wanting sex but then that’s only the cops opinion he decided to interpret Craig’s actions for what HE the cop believed them to be. Did he read Craig’s mind and know that’s what Craig wanted? How exactly was Craig going to engage in sex through a wall unless there was a hole in it? This is entrapment. If Craig farted loudly in the stall would that also be a signal he wanted sex ?? There is no clear cut action on Craig’s part that said that he was looking for sex and not doing exactly what he said we was doing. Are supposed actions now to be interpreted by the police as possible crimes ???? Where is the absolute proof that this was a sexual pick up? Craig should never have pleaded guilty and should not be forced to resign. We are becoming a police state. Watch what your thinking . Watch what you doing the police obviously know what your actions mean even if you don’t.

[hjo4]

11:01 AM on 09/03/2007

The cop was correct.You have no idea of what goes on in mensrooms.If you're not involved that type of behavior, it seems odd and like entrapment but it wasn't.Senator Craig was cruising that young hot looking policeman.Trust me.

[9Hockeyman]

11:46 AM on 09/03/2007

Well Dumbass, when you stare in another stall for any length of time and then you rub your foot on another man's foot. Jesus Christ, only someone looking for sex would do something like that. Then you go rubbing your hand underneath the stall hoping the other guy will put his cock in your hand. This is what Craig did. Have you not read the story or do you have the Republican party up your ass farther than Bush had Gannon up his.

[NYC07]

12:14 PM on 09/03/2007

Listen you homophoic idiot where in the story does it say that Craig wanted the cop to put his cock in his hand that's an assumption on your part . When in a stall with a crack I put a piece of toilet paper over the space so that no one can look in . This is entrapment pure and simple. I have no problem with a cop being outside the men's room and I'm sure that in an airport there are plenty of them and if you see inapproprite behavior going on going and getting a cop and as you a witness and not involed with either parties you can appear in court and the police will win the case. You love this story because it concerns a Republican hypocrite. I dispise this man too for his votes on Gay issues BUT the rule of law must apply to everyone, and you need proff of a crime not "This is what I THINK he wanted" or are you going to tell me that after 9/11 things are different and we have to be careful of Gay Terrorist roaming our men's rooms Saint Thomas Moore said that he would give the devil himself protection under the rule of law if it applied to him . If you don't know who Thomas Moore is go get an English history book and read. Why is it that prostitutes and drug dealers can only get arrested if caught in the act by Craig can be arrested for what a cop THOUGHT he was going to do. As I stated before if Craig had made an indisputeable approch for sex then he should be arrested but not when there is no absolute and indisputable proof. This is how our justice system works dispite over zelous cops who want to make a bust. This is why we have judges and juries.

[hjo4]

10:36 AM on 09/03/2007

Any attorneys in the house? Is it possible to withdraw a guilty plea and go to trial when it was established you weren't mentally impaired during the plea.Any answers

[Tabasco]

10:15 AM on 09/03/2007

In a way, I hope Specter convinces Craig to hold on and fight.

It would drag the GOP down even further, assure a Democrat gets elected to his Senate seat, create a lot of fuel for stand-up comedians and give me an opportunity to laugh at all the duck & cover Craig's collegues will be giving him throughout that eventual circus.

Regardless of what happens, sit down and enjoy the show everyone. There's a good reason a big chunk of the GOP is unraveling. And the only ones who DON'T see it happening are its politicians and its pundits.

This is WAY too funny.

[Blutus]

10:01 AM on 09/03/2007

Arlen doesn't get it. Again.

Craig pled guilty to a "lesser charge" to "make it go away."

The "it" is the fact that he enjoys having
sex with men.
Which is what this particular benjo
was all about.

Lets not spin ourselves to death here.
This guy is not a blushing virgin.
He has been one of the most unctious
of moral scolds in the Senate and has always
spoken as if speaking for god almighty.
He is also up the ass of the NRA and always
has been. Like Dick Cheney.

So, lets ponder: a 25 year careet is gone,over,
goodbye.

And it was not because of fucking entrapment!!

I love the moral microsurgery the right is engaged in now. At least from those who haven't told Craig to walk the plank and not cry about it.


But it could be Clinton's fault!!

[TheIndependenceParty]

09:51 AM on 09/03/2007

Arlen, ... I won't waste stamp or a milliamp writing your office any longer. As your constituent I am telling the whole world (who doesn't already know it) that you are a goofball, and a nut case. You were once a DA in Philadelphia, ... and you tell Larry Craig to appeal his GUILTY PLEA? On what grounds? Insanity? Discrimination? Unrespected Status as a Senator?
~
In short, while some once heralded you as perhaps the finest legal mind of our time (I was never among them) you now come off sounding like Consiglieri to the Reich. If he were an Independent or a Democrat, you would not have spoken a word inhis defense! And that, sir, is where your belief in JUSTICE has reached its lowest ebb. I am ashamed to call you my Senator!

[dumbosrus]

09:42 AM on 09/03/2007

All legalities aside, Specter should be the next one to go.

Both of our ethically challenged, crooked, and corrupt major political parties need to clean house - especially in the Senate.

Too bad the Dumbacrats don't have the balls to do so. What a gutless organization.