Sen. Larry Craig's mugshot
There are already accusations of a double standard in regards to Sen. Larry Craig's arrest for lewd behavior in an airport men's room. It's hard to keep my fairness gene in check and not refer to an "alleged behavior" or an "accused senator," but with his previous guilty plea, the facts are pretty much set. Craig claims that pleading guilty was a "mistake," but you don't get a do-over on this kind of thing. I'm not an attorney and I suppose he could appeal (if I'm wrong, I can count on someone correcting me), but it seems to me that going to court and being proven guilty would just be a final nail in the coffin. He'd be found guilty of lewd behavior by the law and of being gay by the public. Not that anyone has any doubt on either count.
The alleged double standard works this way -- if Republicans get busted in a sex scandal, they get pounded with criticism. If a Democrat does the same, they get a pass. It's hard to see how this is valid, since Bill Clinton was impeached for a blow job, but there you go.
The real double standard here comes from the right. John McCain, Norm Coleman, and Peter Hoekstra have all called for Craig to resign. McCain's reasoning seems the shakiest. "When you plead guilty to a crime," he explained, "You should resign." Any crime? Say, jaywalking? Craig pleaded guilty to what is apparently a nuisance crime -- he got a $500 fine and a year's probation for a misdemeanor. Legally speaking, Craig might as well have smoked in in that men's room.
Let's look at other things Republicans have done, shall we? The most recent was Louisiana Sen. David Vitter's connection to prostitution in DC and at home. Vitter held a press conference, declared that he'd "received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling" and got right back to lecturing everyone on morals. Right Wing Washington barely made a peep about this. The left/right split in the Senate is so slim that they can't afford to lose the seat. It's got to be something really serious -- like being all ho-mo-sekshul -- before Republicans call for a GOP Senator's head (don't look for Alberto Gonzales's replacement to come out of the Senate, BTW).
Dick Cheney shot some poor fella in the freakin' face and they're cool with it. This is apparently a family value. Republicans love guns and hate gays; so if Dick had shot a gay guy in the face, they'd probably have cheered...
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