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

[JettFuel]

Rachel

You have never been so far off base in your entire career. This was a game of soft ball and something that was far more offensive to me as a gay man than to that of a liar.

The cruising terms that Mr. Lauer used are those used by an extreme minority of gay men.
If you or he want the right lingo, look online for internet conncetions. The men lurking toilets are primarily straight.

I hope your gay friends straighten you out.

Jack Jett

[Horus]

"I hope your gay friends straighten you out."

This was a funny sentence. I'd think they'd be apt to do the opposite. lol.

[gallstones]

Jack, why are straight men lurking toilets for gay sex?

[nowaterboardUSA]

Wide Stance could probably have a lucrative porn career after politics.

[lovesickbilly]

Maybe, but for a very specific niche market.

[Slaughter]

The question I wanted asked: With your pants around your ankles, *how* can you possibly move your foot into the next stall by accident? It's impossible! Sometimes reporters miss the basics. (If Lauer did ask that, I apologize, but I frequently left the interview because I couldn't stomach the dissembling.)

[JessWonderin]

. . who in their right mind "pick up toilet paper on the floor behind the toilet"??? And did he clean any of the four restrooms between his terminal and the "wide stance stall"?????

[ariuszme]

Excruciating for whom?

I didn't watch it, who would want to. A republican interviewing a republican..who is lying.

blah

But I did get stuck watching this asshole idiot moron president of ours, in his press conference this morning. His voice makes me quizzy inside.


http://politicaldiscontent.blogspot.com

[gallstones]

I changed the channel on that one.
Can't stand hearing that dooofus talk.

[Bystander]

Craig should have made a mea culpa statement during the interview: "I admit that I'm a sexual deviate, and it was wrong to expose normal people to my perversion in a mens room or anywhere else."

[Horus]

He should have said something like, "Being gay and making a pass at a man in a public restroom is illegal in this country. I understand that now and I am sorry."

[squareyellowpaper]

The Republican Party no longer represents those with religious values in the United States.

The Republican Party has been a party of corruption with many governors and congressmen jailed for their greedy offenses. Senator Stevens is the most recent Republican under investigation.

The Republican Party does not represent the religious morals and sanctity of marriage when it fails to censor Senators like Vitter and Craig who would commit adultery and lie about it even when they are caught.

Republicans say they are pro=life but they would do nothing to save the lives and health of our nation's children by passage of the S-Chip legislation. Pro-life Christians would never send our young troops off to be slaughtered in Iraq. christians would not cheer to see innocent Iraqis killed by the tens of thousands.

Christians would not allow our president to lie to the country, deceive the world, and refuse to follow our supreme law, the Constitution.

Christians would not torture.

Christians would have compassion for their neighbors: poor and rich, alike.

Moral people do not practice character assasinatins.

Christians would never hate someone because of his race or religion.

Morality centers on more than two issues. Love cannot replace hate. War cannot replace peace.

It is, and has been the Democratic Party that has raised moral consciousness in this country. It is the Democratic Party that truly believes in freedom of religion and above family values, believes in national values.

[Roafer]

Some of these regressive fools just don't know when to throw in the towel.

Get a clue Larry "SuperTuber" Craig, restroom republicans aren't a very welcome group of perverts except in those tight conservative circles where most everyone is a pervert. Maybe you could get a job at the Never Neverland Ranch and hang out with another famous pervert. Can you sing Thriller Larry??

[Horus]

Homosexuals are perverts.

[lovesickbilly]

Perhaps, but not all perverts are homosexuals.

[transendentilist]

No, they aren't. What two consenting adults do in their own homes, is none of your business. Still pissed about those Geico commercials, I see.

[Mykel]

No, Horus, CLOSETED homosexuals who vote against gay equality---as exemplified by Senator Larry Craig---are perverts.

Openly gay men like me and the vast majority of of the openly gay, however, are not.

You're allegation, by the way, sounds suspiciously like something the vehemently anti-gay Larry Craig might say.

I think YOU might be a closeted homosexual.

[BWonka]

No they aren't. But you ARE an ignorant asshole.

[Nonamnesiac]

I think Fred has reached the point in his life where he just doesn't want to expend the energy necessay to make a run for President. He shoud make an honorable choice and do what his fellow Tennessean, Al Gore, the Emmy, Oscar and Nobel Peace Prize winner has done, and not run for President. Fred was really great in Die Hard 2. Maybe he can star in an Al Gore production.

[LeftNotRight]

Throughout the entire interview Craig just kept talking about how the media blew the story out of proportion. He acted as though EVERYTHING they said was a lie. How he was going to set the record 'straight.' How we haven't heard HIS side of the story.
Guess what Larry, we've now heard your side of the story and it just doesn't wash! You're a smug, career politician. Lying is so second nature to you I don't think you know when you're doing it.
You would have been smarter to shut up, resign and live your life out of the public eye.
You're pathetic.

[TXfemmom]

Craig has been lying all his life and getting by with it by using the typical Republican thug approach to things....lie, lie, lie, blame the media, and Swift Boat those whom he has harmed.

Most of all, his wife is the one who needs a good swift kick in the ass, in order to make her wake up and smell the TURD that Larry Craig is.

[Horus]

I agree and that is what should happen to every homosexual who makes a pass at another man.

[weddedgay]

Ive read your comments and your profile and my gaydar is going off big time. Horus, you are gay, and that is ok! Get over your self loathing. Methinks you doth protest too much.

[BWonka]

ANOTHER sad closeted gay man heard from...

[midwestgayguy]

Horus,

Ever heard the old saying...
"Me thinks thou protest too much" ?

See ya at the gay bars in D.C. but don't talk to me you sick f*ck.

[rikki52b]

Nothing like a good beard.

[WIDESTANCE]

?????????

i thought mrs. craig looked relatively clean shaven

well, maybe a bit of stubble

[BadBrad]

One more thing about Larry Craig...

Larry Craig stared out life dirt poor.

His family lost their ranch in 1975. The Craig family farm was less that one hundred acres.

He did not inherit any money from his family.

Larry Craig is now a multimillionaire many many times over.

Larry Craig has for all of of his adult life been in public office. He has never worked in the private sector.

How did Larry Craig earn all these Millions and Millions and Millions of dollars when his entire working life he has been in political office?

His financial statements say he is an investment genius... ya right.

[Roafer]

Thats plutocracy for ya!!

Larry is a thief like most congressmen. Bribery is against the law unless you're in Congress.

[Flubadubya]

"How did Larry Craig earn all these Millions and Millions and Millions of dollars when his entire working life he has been in political office?"

Let's just say he knew when to put it in, and when to take it out.

[LeftNotRight]

This interview proved once and for all that Larry Craig and his clueless, adoring wife live in total denial.
His excuses for not telling his wife and family until it was splattered in the media are laughable. He's a politician for god sake! He's made a career of covering up and lying. Why would he tell his wife and family about this if he has every reason to believe no one would find out. He himself stated he wanted this to 'go away.'
Nothing new was exposed in this interview. I've heard it all before. The fact remains that the long litany of allegations (and now one conviction) that have chased this man his entire political life have finally caught up with him. You just can't brush it all off and take him at his word. I'm just wondering when his wife will wake up (kind of like Gov. McGreevey's wife finally did) and say, 'enough is enough!'
Just wait. The story will break that his wife is leaving him. She'll come to her senses eventually.

[Crozier]

In my ministry, I have known women with good family backgrounds, and often with higher educational credentials, who have sought out and married criminals whilst in prison.

Also, I have met women who willingly act as beards for powerful gay or bisexual men. The parties both receive what they seek.

There is ample proof and supposedly "open secrets" about his psychosexual orientation all his life. He married this widow who worked on his staff when he was still single in his forties, and the first accusations were made about his inappropriate bathroom antics.

Yes, the majority of men seeking sex with men in bathrooms are heterosexually married men with a self-loathing for who they are and what satisfies their libidinal desires.

[Meah]

You have a ministry and yet call women "beards"?
Please tell me what your meaning is. There are all sorts of configurations in relationships. I just don't think it sounds real respectful to call a woman that, no matter what the situation. Most especially a minister?

[MagisterLudi]

Telegram:

Dear Larry.
Don't follow my shameful path. Return your Senate credentials and retire.
Yours, Marion Jones.

What a sad spectacle.

Larry 'Sugarfoot' Craig is willing to take any amount of public humiliation as he desperately clings to power.

.

[cowboyneok]

I have to admit, Larry Craig, is a consumate actor. MOST GAY MEN become great actors because society won't allow us to be who we are.

[bdl0715]

When I came out as being gay to my family, virtually everyone around me said they already knew it. If you live with someone that is gay, you know they are gay. I think the Craig marriage was a sham to help him get elected. She knows it and the kids know it, or they are all terribly naive or dumb.