Matt Lauer's Larry Craig Interview: Exclusive and Excruciating

Oh gosh, Matt Lauer's interview with Senator Larry Craig and his wife Suzanne last night was uncomfortable to watch. Now I get what Lauer meant yesterday, how it must have felt to quiz Craig on the litany — the long, long litany — of gay-themed allegations (cruising, pickups, trysts) from throughout his political career and even from before, all while his wife was sitting there. Lauer did a good and deft job on this, and the Craigs candidly addressed it all head on, but the end result was the feeling of "no smoke without fire" and wow was there a lot of smoke. Not that there's anything wrong with that! The saddest part is how, if it's true (and if they're just rumors, well, there sure are a lot of them, from a lot of different sources), this guy has felt the overwhelming need to hide it and rail against it for his whole life. Here is a representative clip:

"I have a medical discharge based on my feet." Oh, Senator Craig, those feet.

Update: I'm going to have to disagree with Tom Shales, who criticized Lauer for being "anything but hard-hitting or confrontational." To my mind, that was precisely the right approach: Sympathetic, respectful, but persistent, putting each episode to Craig for his response, which created an overall effect of so many dominoes leading to that inevitable and sad moment in that airport bathroom. What Shales doesn't get is that Craig's had MONTHS of hard-hitting and confrontational — the cable shows, the late-night punchlines — the last thing that would have drawn him out would have been an antagonistic interviewer. When Lauer cited "cruising" and followed it with "whatever that means," Suzanne Craig laughed — breaking the tension of an uncomfortable moment and keeping it as comfortable, really, as it was ever gonna be. This interview didn't need to be hard-hitting; as I mention above, just the litany of episodes and innuendos, presented to Craig again and again, had a far more quietly damning effect.

(Hat tip to TVNewser, and thanks — I sort of love disagreeing with Tom Shales.)

Related:
Larry Craig To Matt Lauer: "You Know I Don't Just Walk Away From A Fight" (Except When I'm Quietly Pleading Guilty And Hoping It Will All Go Away) [ETP]

Comments

[pangardenguru]

People belive what they want to believe and Ms. Craig wants to believe him so badly that she very well will. He too, can't turn back now....in way too deep to admit it. Many parents find it impossible to believe bad things about thier children because they don't want to, and its the same with this type of marriage..­.There is nothing on earth she wants to be true more than her husband's lies that are obvious to the rest of us. People can redeem themselves from all kinds of horrible stuff if they can ever find the courage to say that they were wrong. People are forgiving of that, but his particular hypocrisy and his innate weakness make this impossible for someone like him. George bush has the same weakness, ....arroga­nce like this knows no humility. The evidence is overwhelming that he did it and that he is a disgusting liar and hypocrite. Mrs. Craig can probably convince herself but in the back of her mind she will always know.

[wmbear]

MOST REPUBLICANS ARE PATHOLOGICALLY INCAPABLE OF ADMITTING MISTAKES..­.

It's a personality disorder that kind of goes with the territory of being Republican­....

[ntrudr1400]

I really can not understand over and over this man says he is not gay, everyone mentions this. I belive him 100 percent he is not Gay. He is BISEXUAL. If he wasnt guilty why plead so,why take the chance of smearing your name for something you did not do.Why give yourself a criminal record.Thi­s man is not a child who is scared of the world. A grown man who knew what he was doing

[HarveyD]

There's only one explanation for that pussy Lauer wimping out on that interview and letting Craig off the hook: Lauer is just so damn happy that it was Craig that got caught tapping his food and not him.

[MikeDu]

I think I know why Lauer was picked for the interview. To this day I recall with disgust Mat Lauer's interview with Al Franken back when Al was on one of his book tours. Lauer threw every RNC talking point he could think of at Franken in an effort to subvert Franken's truth-telling. It was really dusgusting. I've had no respect for Mat "RNC shill" Lauer from that moment on. Mat was only going to be as hard on Craig (ew, unfortunate mental picture) as the RNC wanted him to.

[midwestgayguy]

hmmm... Matt Lauer gay. (In my dreams) But then Matt is not an elected government official and I've never heard him use bigoted language about anyone. Have you?

Thats the whole issue with Craig. The hypocrisy. He bashes gays, passes laws that discriminate against us, and then goes out looking for gay sex on the sly. Why does this need to be explained over and over again?

[pangardenguru]

What Matt should have asked him and it should still be asked is that he take a lie detector test. Pin him down on that!! I'd bet the farm he could not pass it.

[zizyphus]

re: Mrs. Craig- many women marry gay men, for many reasons. I can think of several, including Ariana, Liza Minelli, etc. etc.

That is of no consequence.

What is galling is the hypocrisy of Senator Craig, in denying gay people their civil rights, in order to please his constituency.

[JimLarkin]

why doesnt larry cruise gay bars??? for x sake , if he cant make out there he should stay home

[LittleGreenGreaseBalls]

Too old for gay bars. The competition would be overwhelming.

[LeftLeanWing]

He looks like a aged fat John Malkovich doesn't he.

[rras]

Thanks Matt, you've done it again. You candy ass. Whatever happened to " are you a Homo". And kiss my ass with that paper stuck to my shoe shit. Save that bullshit for your wife and the stupid asses that elected you.

[TheBurritoAssassin]

One thing is for certain. Matt Lauer is a sorry ass interviewer. He should have sliced and diced Craig in cross examination of the audio tape. He sat there and let Craig lie...

[RamonBackwards]

How could the result be any better than letting someone continually lie, when it's so blatantly obvious that he's not fooling ANYONE except the lady sitting next to him, and that's as much self-denial on her part as anything else.

i agree with the OP. Lauer did a good job. Craig's just a sad example of what denial and repression can cause. He's not evil or anything.

[CenterOfMass]

Craig lacks honor. He ought not to be in a job in which he is addressed as "The honorable gentleman from...".

Toss him.

[RecklessAbandonArteest]

I noticed, from simple application of interrogation technique, that Craig gave out lots of signals that he was lying.

Before answering key questions with denials, he blinked, looked away, shifted and cleared his throat. All signals that he was lying.

Given the subject matter I thought Lauer did a good job.

And I am sure all will agree, Larry Craig is damn good at lying. To many he no doubt sounded convincing. A skilled liar he is.

[LeftCoaster]

I think that real tragedy here is not that one of our US Senators is a liar and a hypocrite ... we all know that most of them are ... but that because homosexuality is still unacceptable in our society he has to lie about who he really is. As an 'out' gay man I understand how difficult it can be to come out, and depending on the environment you grow up in it can take a tremendous amount of courage. What I would hope is that this incident would encourage America to discuss why gays and lesbians feel the need to stay so deeply in the closet.

[JessWonderin]

Wrong - it is BECAUSE of the efforts of gay men like Craig that make it hard to "come out" - an anti-gay zealot leading and championing the fight to deny the rights of people based on any form of discrimination is immoral - reminds me of JC Watts and J Watkins championing the Republican Cause when they know damn well that the GOP has ignored and destroyed black middle and lower classes faster than it can re-build . . . but even the SS could find Jews to guard the camps . . .

[WilliamWallace]

Wow, I couldn't watch either one of them for very long....I think I'll pass.

[LizDexic]

My only question is - why is this guy republican?

Because it's the Grand Hypocrite Party! Like Clarence Thomas, he's self-hating and wants to deny others with his "affliction" the opportunities that he has had.

[lornejl]

One thing that is clear, Craig is a cocky fucker, like all repigs. I can't stand arrogant cocky people, and the GOP is full of them.

[5oclockshadow]

I didn't watch the interview, but my wife did. I asked her about it later and she said: "I've never watched anything that uncomfortable or bizarre. It was just pitiful. That guy is SO gay! and that woman, she's a bigger beard than ZZ top."

Just wanted to share.

[thegaygardener]

Matt Lauer is in his mid 40's. He's lived in New York for half of his adult life. He's a handsome & well dressed man. And he doesn't know what the word "cruising" means?? Give me a break! And what were all those allusions to "the gay lifestyle"? Gay people have lives not lifestyles. It's usually the closet-cases like Sen.Craig who are sadly hanging around public bathrooms looking for quick & furtive sex. I agree, it was excrutiating to watch.