Craig Vows To Stay In Senate Until End Of Term

Despite failing at his efforts to overturn his guilty plea, Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) says he will not resign from the Senate until his term ends in January 2009. A statement released moments ago:

Craig Reaction to Court Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Idaho Senator Larry Craig issued the following statement in reaction to today's ruling by the State of Minnesota District Court Fourth Judicial District allowing the guilty plea to stand:

"I am extremely disappointed with the ruling issued today. I am innocent of the charges against me. I continue to work with my legal team to explore my additional legal options.

"I will continue to serve Idaho in the United States Senate, and there are several reasons for that. As I continued to work for Idaho over the past three weeks here in the Senate, I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively.

"Over the course of my three terms in the Senate and five terms in the House, I have accumulated seniority and important committee assignments that are valuable to Idaho, not the least of which are my seats on the Appropriations Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee. A replacement would be highly unlikely to obtain these posts.

"In addition, I will continue my effort to clear my name in the Senate Ethics Committee - something that is not possible if I am not serving in the Senate.

"When my term has expired, I will retire and not seek reelection. I hope this provides the certainty Idaho needs and deserves."

UPDATE: Much more from the AP:

Craig's lawyer, Billy Martin issued a statement saying his client was considering whether to appeal the ruling.

"Senator Larry Craig maintains that he is innocent and there is insufficient evidence to support a finding that he is guilty," Martin said. "Thus, we renew our arguments that it is manifestly unjust to deny Senator Craig's request to withdraw his guilty plea. Senator Craig continues his steadfast denial that any inappropriate behavior took place at the airport."

Craig, in his separate statement, said he was disappointed in the ruling. "I am innocent of the charges against me," he said.

Comments

[Mr.Fitz]

I have a conscience, oh wait, no I don't.

[ContraEgoiste]

LOL

[provgrays]

Senator Craig has my sincere thanks for helping to drive the GOP into the ditch for good. These dinosaurs (some adept at foot tapping) are the most destructive force on the planet. For this particular species of politician, self extinction can be a beautiful thing.

[BWonka]

Liar liar, his dick's on fire.

Another ReTHUG who refuses to keep his word. "It is my intent to resign...".

Thanks Larry! We appreciate your efforts to further destroy the GOP.

P.S. - Yes, you ARE gay - that is why you went there to have sex.

[Qbear]

GOP Minneapolis Convention here we cum

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-8/1210139/diapersdragqueensurinals.jpg

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

If you think the airport incident was something, just watch him screw the elephant!!

[Qbear]

I bet Mitt Romney is fit to eat glass, seeing Larry Craig...his man in Idaho ,staying in the spotlight....yikes

[Thalia]

And Repubs are STILL too stupid to admit they were wrong to open this Pandora's Box with Clinton.

They owe the Clintons and this country and Iraq and the world an apology.

But Repubs never admit they're wrong.

So live with the fallout, Repubs.

[Captain EdwardGraham]

Late-Night Jokes about Sen. Larry Craig's Bathroom Sex Scandal

"There's another scandal in Washington. One of the senator's from Idaho, Larry Craig, was arrested in airport men's room. Gives new meaning to the word caucusing.'" --David Letterman

"Sen. Craig said he made a mistake by pleading guilty. And I was thinking, maybe that was your second mistake." --David Letterman

"The way I look at it, anyone who spends more than two minutes in an airport men's room is guilty of something." --David Letterman "My idea of getting lucky in the men's room is when the motion censor works on the faucet" --David Letterman

"There's a very simple explanation for all of this. Larry Craig is gayer than a barrel of Andy Dicks." --Jimmy Kimmel

"The undercover police officer said the senator tried to reach under "the stall to touch him, but the senator said, no, he wasn't trying to touch him, he was only trying to pick up a piece of paper off the floor.

Who picks up paper off the floor in the men's room? I don't even like when my shoe laces touch the floor in the men's room." --Jay Leno

"You know who I feel sorry for in this whole thing? The undercover cop. How'd you like to have that job. Sit in an airport bathroom all day, your pants around your ankles with a coffee and a donut waiting for guys to hit on you." --Jay Leno

"Sen. Craig is married. Apparently he told his wife, don't worry about having dinner ready to me. I'm going to wolf down a hot dog at the airport." --Jay Leno

"The Democrats may have control of the House, but the Republicans have control of the bathrooms." --Jay Leno

"Sen. Craig gave a press conference today where he said, I'm not gay, I've never been way. Then he apologized to his wife, Liza Minelli." --Jay Leno

[Thalia]

Lol.

[BWonka]

LOL!!

[JaneC]

LMAO

[SunshineDaydream]

most excellant, capt!

[mrcontinental]

I'm glad that he's staying because the ethics committee (snicker) is gonna crucify him for all the world to see. And that will be quite entertaining ladies and gents. I can't wait.

[Ping]

No Senator has been expelled for anything less than a felony. I'm not sure they are going to bring him before the ethic committee, it would only serve to humiliate the Republicans further(good). They wouldn't dare put it on CSPAN would they?

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

I think this is a GREAT move! Larry Craig SHOULD stay and and defend his name.

If he is innocent, he will expose just how readily his shameless Senate colleagues were to dump him and deny him the opportunity to defend his name in the Ethics Committee.

If guilty, it will be just one more family values hypocrite revealed, while the Congress and the Press continue to give David Vitter a free pass to his whore house.

Larry Craig is the poster child for the utter moral bankruptcy of the Republican Party, and for what a cesspool Congress as a whole has become.

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

What Larry, REALY said is, "Now watch me fuck that elephant!".

[CynAnne]

... ROFL, Ockhams! You need to see the 'Publicans new logo (for their next convention) - we got a 'sneak peek' on MSNBCs "Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann" just a lil' bit ago, and if you haven't seen it yet, catch the 12:00 (EST) repeat of "Countdown"! Then you'll realize it was the ELEPHANT you overheard, NOT Sen. Craig..! ;) ...

[ElkoJohn]

well, at least Vitter is willing to pay for it & help out the working girls; Larry wants a freebee in the bathroom stall.

[ElkoJohn]

well, at least Vitter is willing to pay for it & help out the working girls; Larry wants a freebee in the bathroom stall.

[BlueStateMan]

perhaps the answer is in installing pay-toilets (remember the ones with the ultra-violet lights...for 'safety?)......

that way no republican will spend the money.

[LindaSmart50]

Craig was heard to say ''I am not GAY, slurp slurp, while wrapping his lips around some huge schlong.

I only do this as a hobby.

[JayWilliams]

I never had sex with that man;
I committed no crime;
I never plead guilty to a crime;
I am not gay;
I never said I would resign;
I am still a Republican.
//Larry Craig

[LittleGreenGreaseBalls]

What would life be without some hypocritical Republic congress-critter spouting Family Values and Bible Thumping his/her way to the gay orgy, hotel prostitute or pedophile conference? Let's hear it for Larry-fairy who will help turn all those hard-riding, fist-fighting cowboy states into Democratic states.
I still want to know what Jeff Gannon was doing in the White House for what 200 times or more?

[DeadCivilian]

Well obviously, Gannon had important business there. Sucking big hard, throbbing, dick.

(Notice I didn't say there was anything wrong with that). I don't care if its Monica or Jeff - I think more dicks need to be sucked. Dick Cheney, Dick Armitage, Dick Carmona, Dick Kempthorne, oh no wait, that's Dirk. As in Dirk Diggler. Sorry.

Yes, there are a lot of Dicks in the Bush Administration. And in the party in general. Dick Armey, Dick Thornburg, Dick Nixon...

Here's something I never got: If your name is Richard, it seems to me that you have 5 or 6 options of names or nicknames you can go by:

Richard
Richie
Rich
Rick
Ricky
or Dick - the only one that is also a slang term for the male reproductive organ.

I have a couple of friends named Richard, and know lots of others who would get really angry if you called them Dick.

So, why do so many Republicans PREFER to go by that? I mean really: If you were THE Vice-President of THE United States of America, doesn't it make more sense to be referred to as
Vice President Richard B. Cheney?

Unless.... no, wait a minute.... I .... oh, never mind. "Go f*#k yourself". I get it. It's so obvious: Penis envy.

That reminds me of an old joke:

Q: "What's the difference between Democrats and Republicans?"

A: "Democrats like to screw people one at a time"

[standforpeace]

What's the deal here lefties? Why are so many of us on the same side as the right wing haters who want nothing more than to send Craig packing and keep on pretending that just like in Iran, there are no gays in the Republican party? Why push for Craig's resignation or ouster when the only sin he's guilty of (through his actions not in his heart) is tapping another guy's foot? Remember there are no allegations that he ever asked the cop to have sex with him (and even if that was his intent, how can anyone prove that he meant to use the public bathroom instead of taking it to a Motel 6 across the street from the airport).

Let's face it, we all know why Craig entered that guilty plea even though there was no real evidence against him -- he was afraid that he would otherwise be dragged out of the closet and subjected to the same persecution as other out gays and lesbians face. So in calling for his resignation, we are just agreeing with the right wing haters in their assertion that there is something about gay sex that is so inherently wrong that anyone who engages in those practices is inherently unfit for public office. Notice that Vitter got to keep his job!!

Yeah, I know -- the real reason so many lefties want him gone is because of his hateful anti-gay record. But how does it empower gays and lesbians to remove this closeted self-hater and have the governor of Idaho replace him with another (presumably) straight Republican who hates gays just as much?

Why don't we instead stick to our message? Human rights (including the right to marriage) for all. Dignity for everyone. And dedication to building a world where closets are a thing of the past.

[LittleGreenGreaseBalls]

You are absolutely right, but still it's hard not to want to make the hypocritical worm squirm. And, he's still going at it hammer and tongs. Why shouldn't he be made a laughing-stock?

[Qbear]

Left and queer

and hoping Larry Craig stays and stays...he's the funniest thing in Washington and a royal pain in other closeted Republican's butts...McConnell, Graham, Dreier, McHenry

[BlueStateMan]

that's an image I didn't need before eating.

[RedRooster]

standforpeace,

I'm sorry, but your well-intentioned comments reflect a naivete about the real world and, the actual facts of this case.

You assume Larry Craig is gay (whatever that means) when what we do know is that he commits acts of criminal disorderly conduct by trolling public bathrooms for same-sex gratification of some nature.

There were NO charges regarding sex with a cop. There were, however, charges, (to which Senator Larry Craig admitted guilt) of criminal disorderly conduct.

I don't know if you're gay or not, but it seems the real issue has less to do with homosexuality than with sexual predation in a public space.

As the judge ruled today, one should have an expectation of privacy when relieving oneself. Only an unreasonable person such as Larry Craig would think that is acceptable to conduct himself in such a predatory and reprehensible manner as staring into an occupied stall, repeatedly reaching under the privacy partition and making un-welcomed physical contact with another individual by reaching unnaturally with one's foot in an act for some unspecified purpose.

Think for one moment about the situation had the individual involved been an underage minor, whose mother was already anxious about sending unattended into a public restroom. What other that a police officer's badge would have stopped the sexual predation of a grown man?

Gay or straight - it really doesn't matter. And in fact, according to today's ruling (should you choose to read it) there is NO distinction. But what is clear is that Senator Craig crossed the line in that bathroom just as surely as he's crossed the line in his petty games of sexual politics.

And rather than offer up some weak argument about "better the devil (Craig) you know" rather than the presumed devil you expect to replace him, you should be absolutely and completely outraged, by the public behavior of a United States Senator whether you like same-sex sex, bathroom sex, public sex, or not.

[standforpeace]

I'll just stick with the first point and leave it at that (at least on my side) -- the idea of naivete. If you can't see that getting in bed with the Republicans on this one is a bad idea -- then I'm not sure which one of us is naive. Because as far as I can see you're playing right into the hands of those who want to take rights away from gays, women, blacks, etc. Because what they want to do is run this guy out of office and then reassure their constituents that they've cleansed their party of all known homosexuals. Or do you think that members of Congress (or any other job really) regularly are driven out of office in the middle of a term for "disorderly conduct?" or even for sexual improprieties involving the opposite sex? Also what you call my well-intentioned comments -- I call principles.

Nope, I guess I can't leave it at that after all. Whatever the guy was aiming to do next, what he did do(tap a foot) wasn't illegal. The only reason that he pled guilty to the disorderly is that he was scared of being outed. Just another form of coercion because there was no real evidence against him. If he would have fought the charges, he probably would have won.

As for your argument that only the police badge stood between him and a kid, where is the evidence that Larry Craig ever had sex with an kid? Or do you believe that every gay man/guy who likes to have sex with other consenting men is a potential child predator?

As for the fact that you "don't know if I'm gay or not" -- how in the hell is that relevant or any of your business?

[Ping]

I agree. But that doesn't mean that we can't say it to his face if we see him on the street, "Are you the Senator that got caught in the bathroom at the airport?".

[FunTravelAdventure]

Idaho is the rectum of the Rockies and larry craig uh, fits right in.

[JaneC]

Nice hit! LMAO

[villastrangiato]

ROFLMAO