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

[justanotherbushhater]

Did anyone else catch Craig cruising Lauer --- those up/down appraising eye movements?

Think about it: you're a closeted gay senator. Wouldn't you just love to have that cute and perhaps yummy Matt Lauer interview you in your very own living room --- but preferably without that twittering show-wife butt-inski --- maybe after a couple of Mojitos, put on a little cool jazz, dim the lights, stretch your legs out and move your feet over to Mattie's feet, do your little tap step, your eyes a-twinkle.­..

Ahhhh, "CSPAN After Dark"!!! Gotta love it!

[midwestgayguy]

****

LOL... that is fricking hysterical. thanks for the post.

*

[Star123]

Dare I say it? Boring. This guy is such an egomaniac he expects us to focus for months on his lame and stupid denials.

[situationcritical]

matter of factly taking out a checkbook and stating to the clerk, "Give her what she wants".
**********­**********­**********­*********

Sounds like love to me.

Wrap it in an Aston Martin DB7 Zagato Larry, and I'll drop you off at the first public restroom we see.

It would be a win-win situation.

[cowboyneok]

Lets try that again:

When Larry said he was discharged because of his feet, it reminded me of Michael Jackson when he was asked how many plastic surgeries he had undergone, and Jackson hesitated and then said, not convincingly, "TWO! I've had... Two!"

[thegirlnextdoor]

Who cares what his sexual orientation is? It is not illegal to be gay or bi. It is not illegal to cruise someone or flirt or what ever! God, get over it everyone.

My only question is - why is this guy republican?

[BadBrad]

Duh.... it is illegal. That is why Craig got arrested..­. Duh

But it is not being gay that is the problem for Craig, it is lies and deceit that are the real issues.

[bimplebean]

I don't think it was the gay sex aspect he was busted on, but the soliciting for sex in a public restroom aspect of it.

[drumz]

"why is this guy republican?"
How can he not be? Dishonest, homophobic (and writes legislation against it), greedy, power hungry, dealmaker with legislative clout. Sounds like your typical repuke to me...

[RecklessAbandonArteest]

Cowboy, with respect for your post because you are right, what he did that I find criminal was his staring into a restroom stall for two minutes.

How would you feel if you were in your bedroom with your wife, having intimate relations, and a Craig type was peeping for two minutes in your window?

What if you sent your young teenage son into the public stall at the airport, Craig shows up and was peeping into the stall for two minutes?

Put yourself in that situation the next time you are in a men's room stall. Imagine someone staring through the wall gaps over a period of two minutes. I know if someone did that to me I would get out my pepper spray and be tempted to give a shot or two to Craig's eyes.

I would especially be concerned because I would not know the persons intentions. After the fact, sure we can take into account who the peeper was, but at the time, what is the peeper's motive: robbery, mugging, perversions, sex?

"Peeping" was the more serious charge Craig faced. That was a "gross misdemeanor" that "exposed" Larry to a "stiffer" sentence [sorry, puns can't be avoided.]

While it is understandable that people talk about this in the context of "gay sex" charges, Craig admitted to peeping for two minutes. Time that on a watch, that is a long time to be staring into a toilet stall.

I submit that is why Larry pled guilty. He knew that there was no excuse for staring into an occupied stall for two minutes. Plus he knows he admitted to doing that to the officer.

I think Larry is thankful that the public has not been focusing on the peeping charge but rather talking about whether or not he is gay.

[cowboyneok]

He has a medical discharge based on a gay foot fetish?

By the way, when he said that it reminded me of Michael Jackson when he was asked how many plastic srugeries he had, and Jackson hesitated and then said NOT CONVINCINGLY "Two! I've had... TWO!"

[BeamMeUpScotty]

Mrs. Craig is protecting her comfortable life. She has gotten used to living a lie. Their marriage is a sham, to protect Larry so he can carry on his real life as a Gay man who likes to do it with boys.

They both sicken me.

[Horus]

boys? I thought the guy he hit on was a law enforcement officer? When did we learn he was a pederast?

[drkazmd65]

I am by no means a 'fan' of the hypocritical Senator,..­.

But please don't equate "Gay" with "Pedophile".

That just shows ignorance on your part.

[BadBrad]

Larry Craig said over and over again last night that he was embarrassed.

Embarrassed to be arrested.

Embarrassed to tell his family.

Let me ask you all this. Would you be embarrassed to be falsely arrested..­..

or

Would you be outraged, angry and willing to face down the devil himself in your defense if you were falsely accused of a crime?

The ONLY reason to for Craig to be embarrassed is if he got caught doing something to be embarrassed about... Like cruzin a public bathroom looking for some anonymous homosexual sex.

One more lie from the Craigs; According to Mrs. Craig, there are more people in Idaho that want Larry to stay in office than want him to leave.

When asked about the people of Idaho.
Mrs. Craig said, "there are more people that want Larry to stay"...

This is simply not true. Every poll (even in Larry's home Town) has shown an overwhelming number of Idahoans want Craig to resign.

Larry Craig in my opinion is a megalomaniac.
A man that will do anything (and I mean anything)to keep or gain power. I am not just saying this, I have met the man, even worked with him... He is a megalomaniac, I have no doubt about it.

[Iraqnophobia]

well, whether you are guilty or not, it would be pretty damn embarrassing to be arrested for soliciting gay sex.

[BadBrad]

I don't think so, If I were falsely accused of a crime... I would be screaming I was Innocent as loud and as long as I could.

Again, the ONLY reason to embarrassed is when your caught doing something embarrassi­ng...

[Dehrenstein]

I never thought a television interviewer could be more cleuless than Larry King -- until I saw Matt Lauer last night.

[workingboy]

his press conference was shameless; this interview was even worse. who arranged it? why? what's his agenda? he is one pathetic man. his wife is a harpy; don't feel sorry for her. she feeds from the same trough as Barrr.

get the nov. issue of vanity fair and see the photos of jackie and jfk. you will realize what's missing from today's beltway society.

[Ping]

He's probably bi-sexual. He probably doesn't consider sex with other men to be extra marital. Someone called him a straight identified gay/bisexual man.

The true facts about Larry Craig are that, no matter what his politics or religion may be, he is constantly thinking about SEX just like everyone else. But since he is a brainwashed religious nut, he probably thinks it's the devil that's making him do these thing. As a human being he has not developed to the point where he understands that these urges are natural, and he needs to deal with them in a natural way. He probably just wanted a blow job.....He­llo Mrs Craig, how about helping your husband out, he's had a hard day.

[bushdoescrack]

larry craig a gay republican, the real news would be if there were a "straight" republican.

[Horus]

I also look at the gay lifestyle as something to be ridiculed.

[WBP]

You keep demeaning gay people are you joking or are you just a homophobic bigot?

Please explain yourself.

[nellyol'son]

how do we know his wife wasn't complicit in hiding his homosexuality? it's called a 'beard' where i come from.

look at it this way, she was an unmarried mother of three and an up and coming politician shows interest in her. perhaps they had an 'agreement'.

[cowboyneok]

Where is the "hard hitting" interview of SENATOR DIAPER DAVE VITTER OF LOUISIANA? Why does Prostitution hiring Senator Vitter get a free pass?

[cowboyneok]

Just another sad, self loathing, hateful queen of a Republican "Family Values" whore.

[DefendOurConstitution]

That he is, but we have to give the guy credit - after all, he's the gift that keeps on giving. I think this is because they all (not just Romney) threw him under the bus and now is payback time. Craig can probably not say nasty things about Republicans in the Senate because they have something on him (at the very least a few pieces of legislation that interest him and possibly some real dirt).

I think it was a Republican that outed Craig's arrest on the very day that Alberto Gonzales resigned in order to take the spotlight off of Gonzo's and Bush's failures with respect to DOJ, but they all figured he would just quietly resign and go with the tail between his legs. When Craig pushed back, the Republicans filed the ethics complaint. Now they are faced with either giving Craig what he wants (immunity from some shady deals? earmarks for Idaho? special legislation to favor Craig’s campaign donors? who knows) or having him in the Senate through the 2008 election and have the ethics investigation drag out through the whole election year.

My sense is Republicans will pay off Craig and he will resign in order to “spend more time with his family”. I would expect this to happen before the end of 2007, but the wild card is that Craig will not just shut up and go. Does he have some real dirt on some Republicans?