Senator Larry Craig from Idaho was just outed as have gay encounters

[still_one]

This was announced on the Ed Schultz show by Mike Rogers. He announced his web site as blogactive.com, and is using it to expose hypocrisy

[MidwestTransplant]

1. He wasn't in my top 5

[TlalocW]

2. Apparently Larry has a 100% approval rating

From the Xtian Coalition. How delicious.

On edit: And he was in that barbership quartet that Ashcroft was a part of. I wonder if Ashcroft feels dirty now.

TlalocW

[cali]

7. Ugh.

This outing business makes me queasy, and watch it blow up in the faces of dems. BTW, did Mr. Blogactive provide any proof of his assertion? Don't get me wrong, I have no use for Larry Craig, but I don't see this as ending well for dems unless they strenuously distance themselves from Mr. Rodgers and others who are doing this.

[TlalocW]

9. While I understand your trepidation

I think that this should continue, but democrats need to make sure that they say they have no problem with homosexuals unless they are in power and pushing an agenda that will limit homosexual rights. Even with the Foley Flap, it hasn't been so much that he's gay, but that he cyber-molested pages. The right-wing talking heads have tried to make it a gay issue, but it hasn't stuck from what I can tell.

If this guy has a 100% approval rating from the Xtian Coatlion, then he's worked against homosexuals enjoying full rights as an Americann so I'm not going to lose any sleep if this breaks up his marriage and gets him run out of office. It would be like a Black person disgusing him or herself as white then working to screw Blacks over (insert Clarence Thomas joke here). You would want to expose that person.

TlalocW

[Tom Joad]

40. I have a problem with anyone who wants to limit rights of anyone.

[Flabbergasted]

10. Yeah this being taken over the edge. Enough is Enough.

[KurtNYC]

13. While I accept that as your opinion, it is also the RW talking point

of the week.

[Flabbergasted]

19. It feels like the Drudge Report. You know if your winning by 80 points

in the third quarter you honorably stop kicking the shit out of the other team. Its honor to me. I don't WANT to BE like Republicans.

[TlalocW]

32. Too much is riding on this election...

...To "honorably stop kicking the shit out of the other team." We need democrats in there now, and we need them empowered so they can attempt to clean up and save this country. This isn't hyperbole, and it's not a game. It's the future, and if these guys are getting hoist on their own petard - whether it be a heterosexual sex scandal, hiding their homosexuality while working to keep gays as second-class citizens, shady business deals, etc. then:

1. They deserve to lose their office. Do we want these guys to hang onto power like Foley did before he finally was forced out?
2. They deserve to lose any respect they had, their families, and their freedom depending on what their particular crime was. Their being in power has damaged this country in worse ways than any consequences they'll face.
3. The other team wouldn't stop kicking us, and they'll take advantage of any weakness we show them.

And fortunately, the democrats really haven't had to do anything yet. They're doing it to themselves.

TlalocW

[Flabbergasted]

42. Ok all good points.

[sofa king]

48. But not 80 points.

In the polls it's more like eight to twelve points--or two touchdowns in an away game with bought referees and a full quarter yet to play. Were it really a runaway, I might be right there with you.

I've thought about this whole thing a lot lately and the one thing I keep coming back to is that gay Republican politicians willingly went along with an agenda designed to motivate ignorant voters through hatred.

As distateful as it is, I have decided that turning their own guns on them is a valid and even necessary tactic to prevent this ploy from being used again. It's worth considering, anyway, if you haven't thought of it that way before.

[still_one]

27. Really, who made this an issue in the first place?

This is only being done to those that made this an issue

[Flabbergasted]

41. Yeah you got a point. I'll concede. At some point we'll need to exercise

balance.

[brentspeak]

17. I'm not comfortable with what Rodgers is doing, but I don't see how

this will "blow up in the faces of dems". The DNC isn't naming these names; some guy named Mike Rodgers is.

[onenote]

23. but you know that an attempt will be made to blame Democrats

No one knows who Mike Rogers is. So they'll pin it on the group they will say has the most to gain: Democrats.

[still_one]

28. blame the Democrats for what?

This is a Republican issue, that is, the anti-gay agenda

[David Zephyr]

30. Exactly. Like the Democrats forced him to cheat on his wife.

The Democrats didn't make him do this.
The Democrats and the Catholic Church didn't make Mark Foley do what he did.

[onenote]

37. The claim will be that the Democrats smeared him without proof

Someone comes forward with proof -- different story.
But if all there is the assertion of a liberal blogger that he's talked to men who had sex with Craig, that's not going to harm Craig and they will go after the Democrats for being behind it.

[still_one]

25. Like I said I heard it on the Ed Schultz show

The person who runs blogactive indicated on the program that he only outs those who are advocates against the gay community. He also indicated that he welcomes any lawsuits, since he stated his sources are very reliable

One last point, he is not saying Craig is gay or not, only that he had gay relationships, and at the same time has an extremely anti-gay platform

[Old and In the Way]

33. It's the hypocrisy....

I'm fine with outing any Republican whose personal orientation stands in direct contrast to the agenda of the RRR (Religious Republican Right). Let the American Taliban explain away another example of the "do as we say, not as we do" hypocrisy that permeates the Republican Party to their ignorant flock. If the religious mullahs implodes along with their political allies, it's a twofer.

[tyne]

34. Ugh is right.

In fact, double ugh.

This is about the stupidest and non-productive avenue we can take. JFC, let's get a grip.

[sendero]

47. How 'bout let's don't....

... and say we did?

The Republicans made GAY an issue, not us. Normally, I believe in folks living with privacy, but that belief does not extend to those who don't respect anyone elses.

My litmus test has become simple. If the shoe were on the other foot, would the slimy asshole hypocrit Republicans do it? They would, and worse, so I'm ok with it.

[Mich Otter]

51. Maybe Barney Frank will get outed next...

Oh, wait, he is out. He is honest about who and what he is.
I say go after every one of the damn Republicans who promotes hatred against gays while being one him/herself.
Hypocrisy needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the light.
I don't care who the hypocrites are.
The sooner, the better, to help this country to grow up and start treating people right.

On Edit: found this; http://newsbusters.org/node/8120

[Leopolds Ghost]

69. Aiding and abetting blackmail is illegal, cali.

"Watch it blow up in the faces of dems", you keep asserting. What makes you say that?

Who is blackmailing these people? Mike Rogers or or Karl Rove? Who has the goods on these people you think have yet to be outed? What are the conditions under which you and they are obviously operating in order to keep the information from being released?

If Karl Rove knows they're gay, why shouldn't we? If Karl Rove is using their sexual preferences to blackmail Democrats, then by your very words (and the words of Dem strategists) you are explicitly trying to cover up that uncomfortable reality.

Thus Dems become a party to the scheme by trying to make nice with Repubs in order to keep THEM from outing your favorite conservative (read: unwilling to call themselves gay) Dems, which is itself illegal.

It's not the cover-up, it's the BLACKMAIL!

By covering for them, foolish conservative Dems who are afraid of gay politicians are aiding and abetting Rove's illegal scheme to keep Congress in line on important votes.

Mark my words... blackmailing people for sex is one of the ONLY thing Rove is known to have any actual experience at. It's one of the ONLY tools in his arsenal.

Collect all the info on the sexual peccadillos of your friends in the "Christian Coalition" and BOOM, you have a highly motivated voting bloc in your pocket.

[DoYouEverWonder]

21. How many men in this picture

are closet hypocrites?

[Ken Burch]

62. Or if there's something we don't know(and maybe don't WANT TO KNOW)

about Ashcroft himself?

"oohh baby, Let The Eagle Soar...ooh yeah..."

[swag]

An earlier item from wonkette

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/outing/breaking-idaho-has-at-least-one-gay-208238.php

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

49. Unfair to

A Cappella singers. :7

[The Stranger]

3. Never heard of him.

[swag]

4. A serious threat to the environment, Larry Craig.

[The Stranger]

8. How about this?

http://www.govote.com/Senate/Larry_Craig.htm

Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)

Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)

Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)

Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)

Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

Rated 25% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)

Color me shocked.

[KurtNYC]

15. Apparently he was so against gay monogramy that he

never slept with the same guy twice!

Gay marriage would just cut down the pool of eligible bachelors for him.

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. LOL

You're bad.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

46. You've correctly identified

Why this is a HYPOCRICY issue

[mirandapriestly]

54. Heheh heheh, funny! eom

[Leopolds Ghost]

70. Send that joke to Jay Leno! n/t

[autorank]

38. That's dreadful. What a jerk this guy is.

If you want to play, you're going to pay. Craig is really a RW hack. Wonder how those Idaho folks
feel now. They've gone way down since Sen. Frank Church.

What a hypocrite this guy is. What a TOTAL AND COMPLETE hypocrite.

[slackmaster]

60. If Craig is well known as a homosexual within the beltway, then WHY...

Why was he not outed in September 1996? Or June 2000? Or June 2002? Or June 2006?

I smell a rat. This whole thing reads like a setup.

[Monkeyman]

6. He Is Chairman of Veterans Affairs Committee its going to hit the fan

[onenote]

24. it won't make the slightest dent without actual evidence

Not just someone saying they talked to some unidentified "partners" of Craig

[still_one]

29. Really, when they threw out that Kerry was a coward without evidence

many people seemed to accept that without question? Is this any different?

[onenote]

35. yep, its different. Kerry was a Democrat and Craig's a repub

for starters. MOre significantly, Craig's not running for anything at this moment.

[slackmaster]

61. I didn't accept the smears against Senator Kerry

many people seemed to accept that without question? Is this any different?

No, it's no different at all.

I think Senator Craig deserves the same benefit of the doubt even though he is a Republican. But then, I am not "many people". I think for myself, every time.

[David Zephyr]

26. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

How many patriotic women and men have been driven out of the Armed Forces where they served and sacrificed without any honors, without their deserved pay and compensation because of ass holes like this?

My friend Beverly: Anybody that pities him needs to meet my friend Beverly, who is in her 70's and who volunteered to serve in the Army from her little Kentucky town. She gave over twenty years of service to our country and then was treated like a pariah and tossed out in middle age because she is gay. Beverly's great love, a former singer who was struck down by a drunk driver, spent most of her life in a wheel chair. And guess who stood by her until her last days? Guess who never failed to show off a photo of her love at work? It was my dear friend Beverly.

Why is it that chicken hawks love to make war?

Why is it that self-loathing gay men wage war against honorable and open homosexuals?

Don't pity this fucker. Pity those whose lives he helped destroy and make difficult every single day of their lives.

Fuck him!

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Larry Craig (Dem, Idaho no doubt).

I know, I know. I'm just proactively quoting Fox News.

[confludemocrat]

11. Craig? Fine, but doubt he's the only Repub Senator who's gay

now that it's been brought up.

[still_one]

31. They make an important distinction, it isn't because he is gay

in fact they do NOT even no if he is. He might be bisexual

The point is he engages in a lifestyle that he advocates against

[David Zephyr]

12. The singing homophobe is a homosexual. Glad he's outed!

Photo/AP
The 'Singing Senators' barbershop quartet includes Republicans (from left) Trent Lott of Mississippi, Attorney General and ex-Missouri Sen. John Ashcroft and Sens. Larry Craig of Idaho and James Jeffords of Vermont.

[gully]

14. This is the outing of hypocrites, not gays

according the the author of blogactive.com

[IndianaGreen]

36. Exactly, this is the outing of hypocrites

particularly the ones that support the passing of discriminatory laws against LGBTs while they enjoy the companionship of a same sex partner.

[gully]

16. I do have mixed feelings about this:

http://craig.senate.gov/lec_biography.cfm

He is married to the former Suzanne Thompson. They have three children: two sons, Mike and Jay, a daughter, Shae, and nine beautiful grandchildren.

[David Zephyr]

22. He should have thought about that before cheating on them.

He's a creep and deserves all the "shame" that he has legislated toward decent gay and lesbian Americans, many who have given their lives in combat for this nation.

[gully]

39. You have a point.

Clinton's family was hurt by the RW witch hunt so??

[Hardrada]

18. Is this a case of not being able to make an omelette

without breaking eggs?? It doesn't seem quite cricket to me but c'est la guerre I uppose.

[slackmaster]

43. Is there any verifiable source to back this up?

I'm at work and could not listen to the show.

As always, I am deeply skeptical of revelations that fit so closely with what some of us would wish for. Without some kind of provenance, real people willing to come out in public using their real names, this is likely to backfire IMO.

[UrbScotty]

44. Mike Rogers? As in US Rep Mike Rogers (R-MI)?

Or is it someone who works for the show?

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

45. Kick

:kick:

[Imagevision]

50. Craig isn't running for re-election, so what's the biggie? he's gay?

yaaaaaawwwnnnn....!

[thatsrightimirish]

52. I hope this hurts Sali

How believable is the source?

[Touchdown]

53. Does he smoke? He should be lynched if he does

I just found out that ALL smokers are baby killers. So being a gay GOP hypocrite and voting for torture is only a distraction from the real evil ones.;)

[BeachBuckeye]

55. I don't know why anyone would be surprised about this

Its been well known inside the beltway for years that Craig is gay. This is old news

[slackmaster]

56. Please provide something concrete to back up your statement

If it's "well known", "old news" then surely some reputable person somewhere must have written it down and put his or her name on it.

[BeachBuckeye]

58. Something concrete?

I've spent lots of time inside the beltway and in the Hart and Russell Senate Office buildings. I assure you this is not news to anyone in either of those buildings. Something concrete? Do you think one of the staff or the Senators themselves were going to write it down for me? Be advised that if everything illicit that is known inside those offices were to come to light they would have to elect nearly 100 new Senators. Well, maybe only 90.

[slackmaster]

59. Why should anyone accept your word for it, BeachBuckeye?

I don't mean to impugn your reputation, but hearsay doesn't add up to much. Accepting a story like this as truth without hard evidence is as likely to backfire as to work in our favor even if it is actually true. If you were to tell us that you personally witnessed Craig engaged in a sexual act with someone, I would take your word for it because I have no reason to doubt your honesty. But all you have done is pass on things other people have said.

Do you think one of the staff or the Senators themselves were going to write it down for me?

The story won't have legs until someone is willing to come out in public using his real name and say he engaged in sexual acts with the senator, or saw a man doing something with Craig.

Be advised that if everything illicit that is known inside those offices were to come to light they would have to elect nearly 100 new Senators. Well, maybe only 90.

And the problem with that would be...?

:nuke:

[B Calm]

67. Why are you defensive to the outing of republican hypocrites?

[slackmaster]

72. I'm all for outing hypocrites of all stripes

But this "outing" of Larry Craig is so weak that IMO we shouldn't pursue it.

All Craig has to do is laugh it off, which is basically what he did. Very few people are going to believe it, and there is no way the MSM is going to risk a libel suit by running it.

They might run a story that there is a rumor that Craig is gay, but they'll be very clear that the story is unsubstantiated.

[BeachBuckeye]

68. Did I say I know it is true?

You've built a straw man here. I didn't vouch for the truth of the story. I merely said it is old news and that is exactly what it is. I have no idea if the allegation is true or not. However what I stated is absolutely true. It is definitely old news on the Hill.

[slackmaster]

73. Thanks for the clarification

It is definitely old news on the Hill.

Old rumor is more like it. Or maybe old gossip.

[Catherine Vincent]

66. Any others you know about, Guy?

Lindsey Graham? Thune?

[Cleita]

65. The problem is that all those dirty secrets in the belt way that

everyone knows aren't known by the people who voted for him, the rank and file Idahoans, who have been seduced by Republican BS for a long time.

[Johnny Appleseed]

63. ...

Big difference between a beltway secret and a hidden truth exposed on national radio. And Craig's office has vehemently denied the report, which shows how well known Craig's orientation is among his constituents and the american people as a whole.

[Philosoraptor]

57. the gay hating gay repub chickens are coming home to roost

[Cleita]

64. Oh he used to be my Senator when I lived in Idaho.

Of course DH and I never voted for him, but go figure. All those Mormons in southern Idaho, and mountain men in northern Idaho who voted for him, are probably drinking their livers into cirrhosis by now.

[Radical Activist]

71. Is he up for election this year?

Its hard to imagine Idaho voting for a gay man. Then again, they may vote for him to convince themselves they aren't homophobes. The Alan Keyes syndrome but for gay people.