It is official. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho is resigning effective the last day of September. What has been interesting to me is that nearly all the calls for Craig's resignation have come from members of his own party.
While Senator Craig did plead guilty for improper conduct in an airport men's room, there was nothing about what he did that in any way abused his office. It was certainly embarrassing to the Senate, but it in no way affected the performance of his duties until the story was made public.
Whether or not Craig should have resigned is not for me to say. What I find interesting is the piling on of criticism by members of his own party with such characterizations as "unforgivable" and "disgusting". Given the many personal failings in the lives of numerous political figures, I find this sort of vilification by Craig's colleagues to be excessive. I can't help wonder what motivates it. I have observed that many closeted homosexuals (who were later exposed) led public lives in which they denounced anything having to do with homosexuality with particular vehemence. Senator Craig himself seems to have been guilty of this sort of hypocrisy.
Without question, any sort of sexual behaviour between people in a public restroom is completely inappropriate. However, I cannot see the justification for condemning that more harshly than, say, picking up a prostitute. In short, regarding this extreme harshness that Craig has met with, I can only say, "Me thinks they doth protest too much."
That's my two cents.
Wade Houston
September 1, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
There is a reason these posts are dated. After the original post, Senator Craig decided not to follow through with making his resignation formal. Once he made his initial announcement, the pressure he was getting went away. It is unlikely to return since many of Craig's colleagues have concluded giving the issue more publicity was making their own situation worse.
Wade Houston
October 13, 2007
Post a Comment