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How many does that make now?
August 27, 2007 3:09 PM   RSS feed for this thread Subscribe

GOP Senator Larry Craig arrested in 'bathroom incident' --and pleads guilty. ... At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” ... He's denied similar stories in the past.
posted by amberglow (519 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite

Wait. I think I've heard this one. Is the answer "black people?"
posted by ColdChef at 3:11 PM on August 27, 2007 [16 favorites]


from a Kos diary in October 06:Sen. Larry Craig (R) of Idaho Outed by Mike Rogers on Ed Schultz ... Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. ...
posted by amberglow at 3:11 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, "What do you think about that?"
Awesome.
posted by Flunkie at 3:14 PM on August 27, 2007


You know how I know you're gay? You sing in a Barbershop Quartet.
posted by ColdChef at 3:14 PM on August 27, 2007 [5 favorites]


at this rate, McConnell, McHenry, and Crist are due to be arrested next.
posted by amberglow at 3:16 PM on August 27, 2007


Add him to the list of hypocritical right(eous) 'Family Values' folks caught red-handed this summer:
North Carolina: former Christian group leader pleads guilty to solicitation.

Minnesota State Rep. Mark Olsen, the co-sponsor of a (failed) state marriage amendment to ban gays and lesbians from marrying, was convicted by a jury for domestic assault.

Orlando Murder-Suicide involving GOP Consultant -- a Lovers' Row?

Busted Florida Republican state rep's "black gay panic" defense on soliciting charge.

Defiant Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Will Risk Tourism for Anti-gay Views.

Baptist minister arrested for indecent exposure, DUI -- and that's just the start.

posted by ericb at 3:17 PM on August 27, 2007 [13 favorites]


Even though I feel bad personally for all the closeted gay Republicans that have been outed. Living a lie like that must be just unimaginably difficult. It's too bad that they aren't in a position where they can be honest about who they are.
posted by empath at 3:18 PM on August 27, 2007


Amber -- don't forget Ken Mehlman.
posted by empath at 3:19 PM on August 27, 2007


more from Wonkette: ...You see, it was all just a simple he said/he said misunderstanding! Because Larry Craig was under the impression that the other gentleman wanted to have anonymous sex with him in an airport bathroom. ...
posted by amberglow at 3:21 PM on August 27, 2007


Does this have anything to do with High School Musical 2? Or Spongebob?
posted by billysumday at 3:21 PM on August 27, 2007


OMG, here we go again . . .

3..2..1...

MeFi party!
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:23 PM on August 27, 2007


LOLCLOSETEDCRIMINALLYLEWDHOMOPHOBICSENATOR

Geez, the supply of this type of family values creep seems to be almost as endless as LOLCATS.
posted by Llama-Lime at 3:24 PM on August 27, 2007


Watch for the spin: He wasn't a Republican pretending to be straight: he was a homosexual pretending to be a Republican.
posted by No Robots at 3:25 PM on August 27, 2007 [9 favorites]


Grind, grind, anonymous bathroom grind.
posted by orthogonality at 3:26 PM on August 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


Wait, isn't this a double?

It's not?! WTF REPUBLICANS
posted by mrnutty at 3:27 PM on August 27, 2007 [5 favorites]


Most important criteria for choosing site of Republican conventions and caucus meetings: number of available bathroom stalls.

(Is there such a thing as a heterosexual Republican? This administration has more than one parallel to the Roman empire, for sure.)
posted by maxwelton at 3:27 PM on August 27, 2007 [9 favorites]


Even though I feel bad personally for all the closeted gay Republicans that have been outed. Living a lie like that must be just unimaginably difficult. It's too bad that they aren't in a position where they can be honest about who they are.
If they were simply hiding their sexuality, I would agree with you. But many of them -- this one included -- go far beyond that: they actively fight to discriminate against people.

Not only have they made their own bed, but also they've pissed in it. Fuck them.
posted by Flunkie at 3:28 PM on August 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


So, uh, if you tap your feet while you're in the bathroom it means you want to get busy? Great, yet another reason my bladder will refuse to do its business if the bathroom is too crowded.
posted by Justinian at 3:28 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


great clip from Bill Maher with Barney Frank: Bill asked his guests what's up with all these gay Republican officials being dragged out of their closets. He aimed his barb particularly at Idaho right-wing extremist and arch-homophobe Larry Craig, a Bush rubber stamp senator who was recently outed. Barney kind of passed on that one-- although with great aplomb-- and then went on to the heart of the problem. "The right to privacy should not be a right to hypocrisy and people who want to demonize other people shouldn't then be able to go home and close the door and do it themselves." But he was just getting warmed up. ...
posted by amberglow at 3:29 PM on August 27, 2007 [6 favorites]


Metafilter: Not only have they made their own bed, but also they've pissed in it. Fuck them.
posted by amberglow at 3:31 PM on August 27, 2007


This is priceless. Back in the Gerry Studds page scandal days, Craig preemptively publicly announced he was innocent.

Video from the blogger who outed him last year.
posted by CunningLinguist at 3:31 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


CNN's covering it right now--"the police misconstrued his actions", he says.
posted by amberglow at 3:32 PM on August 27, 2007


Even though I feel bad personally for all the closeted gay Republicans that have been outed. Living a lie like that must be just unimaginably difficult. It's too bad that they aren't in a position where they can be honest about who they are.

Except...it's one thing to live a lie and remain closeted. You can certainly do that quietly and with some dignity.
It's quite another thing, however, to actively work to legislate against everyone else just like you. Talk about self-hating...
posted by Thorzdad at 3:33 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


It's going to sound really, really awkward when he steps down to "spend more time with his family."
posted by felix betachat at 3:34 PM on August 27, 2007 [7 favorites]


Is there such a thing as a heterosexual Republican?

I know! It's baffling!

How do conservatives reproduce? Cloning? Spores? Budding?

Recruiting?
posted by fleetmouse at 3:35 PM on August 27, 2007 [5 favorites]


Why did this only come out now? He was arrested months ago.
posted by amberglow at 3:36 PM on August 27, 2007


fleetmouse - I believe it's a mysterious process known as "closeting"
posted by Artw at 3:38 PM on August 27, 2007


Living a lie like that must be just unimaginably difficult.

As a couple of others have said, the ones in (or formerly in) positions of power have plenty of means to cover up for themselves, buy off or shut up potential troublemakers, and otherwise make sure that life isn't all that unimaginably difficult.

Mark Foley is a case in point. His office computers were just declared off limits to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement because they are considered to contain "congressional work papers."

Meanwhile, many of these same people hide behind their lies and vote to pass laws that actually do make the lives of ordinary people very difficult.
posted by blucevalo at 3:39 PM on August 27, 2007


"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area," the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that "I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider."


Note to self: remember to not tap toes, lest you wind up fucking a Republican.
posted by orthogonality at 3:39 PM on August 27, 2007 [8 favorites]


Your favorite senator sucks.
posted by InfidelZombie at 3:39 PM on August 27, 2007 [12 favorites]


ericb, you forgot Jim West and Mark Foley. Oh yeah, the DC madam thing, too, if we're not just talking gay sex scandals.

Does anyone have a source that summarizes all of them from the last couple years? I was talking to an expatriot in Spain last night and she hadn't heard of any of these. I'm not coming up with a good summary for her.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 3:39 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


I'm sure that none of them are gay, they just keep having sex with other men to prove to themselves that they don't like it and can stop at any time.
posted by quin at 3:41 PM on August 27, 2007 [6 favorites]


Can anyone even imagine how these guys would be raked over the coals if they had been democrats instead of republicans.
There would be an endless drumbeat from Beck, Orly, Rush and the guy with the bow tie.
posted by notreally at 3:41 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


The Party of Moral Values!

Republican Sex Scandals:
Republican Hypocrisy Revealed

Republican Pedophilia

Republican Sex Crimes.

posted by ericb at 3:43 PM on August 27, 2007 [7 favorites]


My big fear here is that the Joe Sixpacks that vote for these guys will interpret this "SEE, gays are bad people" instead of "Jeez, these family values Republicans are bunch of hypocrits."
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 3:43 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


So, uh, if you tap your feet while you're in the bathroom it means you want to get busy? Great, yet another reason my bladder will refuse to do its business if the bathroom is too crowded.

See, the codes are all highly contextual. If you're a girl, the toe-tap/foot shuffle means you'd like the person next to you to hurry up and finish so that you can resume pooping in peace.
posted by desuetude at 3:43 PM on August 27, 2007


Right, we take a shot every time one of these exposés happens.

[glug]
posted by athenian at 3:43 PM on August 27, 2007


Do you have to be a closeted gay man to join the republican party?
posted by chunking express at 3:44 PM on August 27, 2007


more on Craig, and the others: ... actually there are 3 United States senators-- as well as half a dozen Republican congressmen-- who have consistently vicious homophobic voting records but who all partake in sex with other men. The senators are McConnell (R-KY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Larry Craig (R-ID). ..

Slarty: there's a partial list on left side of Blogactive's homepage
posted by amberglow at 3:45 PM on August 27, 2007


It's clear, at least, why Republicans think that gays are sexual predators-- it's because most Republicans making that argument are in fact closeted sexual predators.
posted by ibmcginty at 3:45 PM on August 27, 2007 [14 favorites]


You don't have to be living a lie to work here.... BUT IT HELPS!
posted by contraption at 3:47 PM on August 27, 2007 [7 favorites]


How fucking weird. And on top of that it's like, how do these guys keep doing this, even after so many get caught?
posted by delmoi at 3:48 PM on August 27, 2007


It's clear, at least, why Republicans think that gays are sexual predators-- it's because most Republicans making that argument are in fact closeted sexual predators.

Nah, it's because they're closeted sexual sheep.
posted by felix betachat at 3:48 PM on August 27, 2007


Living a lie like that must be just unimaginably difficult.

He's a politician (a Senator, even). Living a lie is what he would be doing anyhow, gay, straight or indifferent.
posted by notyou at 3:49 PM on August 27, 2007


I'm not familiar with Senator Craig. Could someone summarize the anti-gay positions he has taken?
posted by Dolukhanova at 3:49 PM on August 27, 2007


Republican Hypocrisy Revealed

Republican Pedophilia

Republican Sex Crimes
.

I guess I was looking more for the high profile recent cases, because that is really much more relevent. It's not all that relevent to what's going on now if some county commisioner in rural Mississippi is charged with rape or that Strom Thurmond was a pedophile 60 years ago.

What's so telling here is that these are Senators and Congressmen (Congressmen), people who have the ear of the president, people who got themselves elected on a wave of bigotry that swept through this country 3 years ago.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 3:50 PM on August 27, 2007


on posting, thanks amberblow
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 3:51 PM on August 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


er, amberglow. heh.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 3:51 PM on August 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


closeted sexual predators

Foley likely to face no charges
"Scripps Howard News Service reports that former congressman Mark Foley is unlikely to face criminal charges for sending sexually explicit e-mails to teenage boys. … That could change if new evidence surfaces in the next week that proved Foley, 52, sent online messages to male teenagers with the intent to 'seduce, solicit, lure, entice, or attempt to seduce a child,' a third-degree felony under Florida law.” The House has refused to let Florida investigators examine Foley’s congressional computers, stating that they are 'congressional work papers' and only Foley can release them."

posted by ericb at 3:51 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


stories like this make me grin like a cheshire cat.
posted by bruce at 3:54 PM on August 27, 2007


"In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty."
Hah.
posted by Flunkie at 3:54 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


What's so telling here is that these are Senators and Congressmen (Congressmen), people who have the ear of the president, people who got themselves elected on a wave of bigotry that swept through this country 3 years ago.

And who helped many get elected on a platform of anti-gay bigotry? Arthur Finkelstein -- gay, now legally married to his partner with two adopted kids in Massachusetts. [previously - 1, 2].
posted by ericb at 3:56 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


More videos from 1982.
posted by iviken at 3:56 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


You know how I know you're gay? Because you like Asia.
posted by porn in the woods at 3:59 PM on August 27, 2007


When I first saw the story I assumed it was an Idaho state senator. Because c'mon, if you're as wealthy and powerful as a US senator, you can afford to get a hotel room and a high-class boy-toy operation to deliver for you.

But no, he tried to get a blowjob in a public toilet.

Honestly, how have so many of these Republican hypocrites gotten this far in life without killing themselves? Getting elected on "family values" platforms, demonizing gays who want nothing more than to get married and live a stable life, having the temerity to speak for Jesus?

Unbelievable. IMO, all Republican males are cock-suckers until proven otherwise from now on.

(And I have no problem with cock-suckers. Each to his or her own. Just don't do it and then tell the rest of us how to conduct our personal lives.)
posted by bardic at 4:00 PM on August 27, 2007 [6 favorites]


from the comments at Flunkie's link: In related news, the RNC announced that all future GOP primaries will be held in public restrooms, in order to boost turnout...

: >
posted by amberglow at 4:01 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


I smell a Singing Senators/Bearforce1 crossover!
posted by Phatty Lumpkin at 4:02 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


Craig stated “that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine,” the report states. Craig also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor.

Now there's an image I didn't need in my mind. But it's worth a lot just to hear a closet-case Republican admit/ he spreads his legs to take a shit.

And who among us would pick up a piece of paper -- short perhaps of one's boarding pass or passport -- off the floor of an airport bathroom stall? Eeeeew.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:02 PM on August 27, 2007


I think its time that gay people turn out to support the Republican party. There's now little question that gay men represent a sizable bloc of Republican office-holders, certainly more so than the Dems.

/sarcasm

But seriously, can somebody here explain this for me?

It seems like the number of prominent gay Dems (Barney Frank for one, maybe a few others) is vastly outnumbered by closeted Republicans.

It seems to me that most Dems in Congress, for example, are heterosexual and have been married to the same person for most of their adult lives -- whereas it seems that most Repubs in Congress are either horribly closeted or on their 8th hetero marriage, or both.

What gives?
posted by Avenger at 4:03 PM on August 27, 2007 [6 favorites]


Listen, when I said that this Administration is like Nero fiddling while Rome burns I didn't mean that kind of "fiddling."
posted by lekvar at 4:05 PM on August 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


Avenger, i'd ask what it is about the GOP and their platform/policies that attracts closetcases and those who are full of self-loathing.
posted by amberglow at 4:05 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Surprisingly, the domain name RepublicansAreGay.com is available.
posted by Flunkie at 4:06 PM on August 27, 2007


Just because these characters like a little homo action on the side makes them gay?

I know people who are gay, and this sort of behavior sounds more like the work of uptight straight men who really want to get into some homosexual action but are prejudiced against other men who are gay.

Chances are if they got that (desires for some casual kinky fun) out of there system or made accommodation of it in a way that wasn't lewd, well, chances are they wouldn't be republicans.

Whoa!

[In robotic computer voice] "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of stem the rose? "
posted by humannaire at 4:09 PM on August 27, 2007


An oldie but a goodie from the Onion
posted by Flunkie at 4:10 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


from Idaho Statesman: "It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper," Karsnia wrote in the report. (and there are rumors they killed an outing story on him just recently)
posted by amberglow at 4:10 PM on August 27, 2007


Because c'mon, if you're as wealthy and powerful as a US senator, you can afford to get a hotel room and a high-class boy-toy operation to deliver for you.

All that stuff creates a paper trail, though, and keeping it anonymous requires careful planning, which is probably pretty excruciating when you're hating yourself the whole time. Much easier to take an exit off the Interstate and be another pasty old man in the public restroom. It probably worked out fine for him for years.
posted by contraption at 4:12 PM on August 27, 2007


Anti-gay politicians, office holders and crazy wingnuts, methinks thou dost protest too much.
posted by ericb at 4:12 PM on August 27, 2007


Jeez, between Bill Sali and Larry Craig, Idaho has been given two Black Eyes from our Republican leadership. Glad to say I didn't vote for either one of these two jackasses.
posted by Ignition at 4:14 PM on August 27, 2007


Surprisingly, the domain name RepublicansAreGay.com is available

Wateriswet.com wasn't available I guess.
posted by bardic at 4:14 PM on August 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


GOP - does that stand for Glory 'ole Party?
posted by Flitcraft at 4:15 PM on August 27, 2007 [16 favorites]


Once again once
posted by hortense at 4:15 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


And really, why is it they keep getting busted for soliciting sex in public toilets? These guys are in charge, ostensibly, with running the single superpower left in the world, and they're looking for sex in some stinky goddamned public toilet? Geez, guys, have some class! You know, flowers, champagne, maybe some clean sheets might be nice? I can't imagine that urinal cakes are a great mood enhancer.
posted by lekvar at 4:15 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]



at this rate, McConnell, McHenry, and Crist are due to be arrested next.


Oh please oh please.....
posted by dilettante at 4:16 PM on August 27, 2007


I guess nobody has linked to this yet. . . from TPM.

Meet the Press on January 24, 1999:

MR. RUSSERT: Larry Craig, would you want the last word from the Senate be an acquittal of the president and no censure?

SEN. CRAIG: Well, I don't know where the Senate's going to be on that issue of an up or down vote on impeachment, but I will tell you that the Senate certainly can bring about a censure reslution and it's a slap on the wrist. It's a, "Bad boy, Bill Clinton. You're a naughty boy." The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy.

I'm going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy.

It would have been funny enough if he kept it to one naughty boy. . .
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:17 PM on August 27, 2007 [8 favorites]


Why don't all these gay republicans just hookup with each other???
posted by R. Mutt at 4:19 PM on August 27, 2007 [8 favorites]


Gloryhole cat is watching you, mister, fellate.
posted by rob511 at 4:20 PM on August 27, 2007


Also, quick poll:

If you were a street hustler, looking to turn a few tricks, where do you think you would make more money: the Democrat or Republican National Convention?

If you answered "Republican Convention", would it be because there are more closet cases or because they're wealthier?
posted by Avenger at 4:21 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


I assume Fox is putting a D after his name in their crawl; it's actually part of their style guide: "[...] when a scandal involving a Republican is so bad you can't spin it, just make 'em a Democrat for the duration. Our viewers certainly don't know any different."
posted by George_Spiggott at 4:22 PM on August 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


Shirley, this will...

/recycled joke
posted by papercake at 4:24 PM on August 27, 2007


I almost feel bad for the hypocrite. To be so desperate to suck a little cock that you go cruising the airport restrooms, knowing the terrible risk you're taking with your career but desperately craving a load of spunk. And hating yourself all the time. What a terrible way to live.
posted by Nelson at 4:26 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


Why do Republican gay people hate gay people so much?
posted by jonson at 4:31 PM on August 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


Geez, guys, have some class! You know, flowers, champagne, maybe some clean sheets might be nice? I can't imagine that urinal cakes are a great mood enhancer.

Well, generally, flowers and champagne are reserved for lovers (or even one-night-flings) whos company you might enjoy. Although I've always perferred cuddling with some appletinis next to a crackling fire. ;)

Repubs wouldn't be caught dead romancing their tricks like that -- or even their beards. Its too Frenchified. The poor guy just wanted some anonmyous oral on his way to the terminal -- he thinks its his right as a man and government big-shot.

"Hey, I work so hard that I deserve a little treat now and then. I don't need to explain myself to these peons. Here, look at my card. I'm a Senator! How do you like them apples?"
posted by Avenger at 4:32 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


I wonder if 2000 years from now the miniseries on Washington will look like HBO's "Rome."
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:37 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


like Caligula, dances_ ; >
posted by amberglow at 4:42 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


"I'm a Senator! How do you like them apples?"

That about says it all.
posted by humannaire at 4:42 PM on August 27, 2007


Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?”

Pretty lame. He should have said he was doing some method acting preparation for his role in an upcoming film about George Michael.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:42 PM on August 27, 2007


Morality and hypocrisy aside, this guy is mind-bogglingly stupid. Isn't encounters like this the reason gay bars were invented? C'mon, gay sex is unbelievably easy to obtain, no need to bother people just trying to take a piss.
posted by jonmc at 4:46 PM on August 27, 2007


This is, of course, so satisfying ... schadenfreude abounds.

However, what I do resent is that cottaging should be illegal. If it's consensual and kept in the stalls, why should a lil loo sex bother the law?

If the answer is anything other than to out gay republicans and pop stars, then really, it ought to be repealed.
posted by Azaadistani at 4:48 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


He should have slid the business card under the stall in the first place and then claimed he was only trying to solicit a bribe, and not gay sex. Sheesh.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:48 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


Because, then, like, this story would be ignored like most of the real corruption these republican bastards get into.
posted by fourcheesemac at 4:49 PM on August 27, 2007


Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?”

Thank you , Senator. I think I just made Captain!
posted by bodega at 4:49 PM on August 27, 2007 [10 favorites]


then claimed he was only trying to solicit a bribe, and not gay sex.

maybe he asked for a deposit of liquid assets and the dude got confused.
posted by jonmc at 4:50 PM on August 27, 2007 [7 favorites]


Sorry to crib from rival webpages, but there is also this interesting tidbit of the alleged genital piercing of Karl Rove's dad. Republicans are about twenty-for-twenty in their recent ratio of alleged to reality.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:50 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


he was Romney's state campaign person--until just this minute, according to CNN. They already scrubbed him from their site.
posted by amberglow at 4:50 PM on August 27, 2007


Considering Senator Craig is from Idaho, it's be easier to believe if the undercover officer were actually a sheep.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:51 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


I'm enjoying the schadenfreude as much as anyone else, but I think we should note that this whole busting someone for propositioning someone in the men's room is homophobic bullshit. No one actually was having sex and we don't arrest heterosexuals for propositioning each other.

I understand that there's the presumption that it was about propositioning for sex on the premises, in public. But then, I have a big problem with the drug paraphernalia laws, too. And, in the final analysis, enforcement of these laws are all about people being squicked-out by gay sex. I don't know of anywhere in the US where the police actively patrol looking to arrest people for having consensual heterosexual, non-commercial sex. And there are places where this happens5. Like some college campuses.

5. Not as many as there should be, though.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:53 PM on August 27, 2007 [9 favorites]


we don't arrest heterosexuals for propositioning each other

cruising is more on the order of public nuisance . . . people just want to be able to take a crap in peace, geddit?
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 5:03 PM on August 27, 2007 [4 favorites]


"I don't know of anywhere in the US where the police actively patrol looking to arrest people for having consensual heterosexual, non-commercial sex."

How about Phoenix?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:07 PM on August 27, 2007


I don't know of anywhere in the US where the police actively patrol looking to arrest people for having consensual heterosexual, non-commercial sex.

did you skip high school or just come fully-formed from your father's skull or what
posted by Optimus Chyme at 5:08 PM on August 27, 2007


George: I tried not to come, oh how I tried not to.

Larry: There's something I've got to tell you, George.

George: There's no need to explain, he's told me everything.

Larry: What! What's he told you?

George: About how you came to Minnesota and you arrest in the Minneapolis Airport. He told me about your probelms, how you feel.

Larry: Probelms, what problems?

George: You are a toilet trader! Go with it boy, give into to it. It's like a tide. Don't let it ruin your youth as I nearly did over Eric.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:09 PM on August 27, 2007


I'm totally with Heywood on this. I'm a big fan of hot sweaty gay sex, as some of you might* have guessed, but seriously? I'd like to do my business in peace, without people trying to 1) have sex with me, or 2) with my business. The second proposition is somewhat rarer than the first, but depressingly they both happen when I'm forced to use a public loo.

I don't think it should be necessarily an arrestable offence, however. Maybe just a ticket. (Of course, that raises the spectre of quotas. Perhaps the ticket shouldn't be $40 or whatever, perhaps it should be 4 hours of community service.**)


* No, really. I am.

** Not, I should add, community servicing, which would just start the whole ruckus all over again.

posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 5:12 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


EB, that's what adds an extra level of irony onto the story. If these hypocrite homosexuals (hyposexuals?) weren't always pushing for crackdowns on this kind of thing, they wouldn't get caught doing this kind of thing.
posted by wendell at 5:13 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


It's nice that we have so many cops around that they have time to arrest people tapping their feet in the bathroom.
posted by iconjack at 5:16 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


How do these guys get any government work done when their cognitive dissonance has to be a full-time job?
posted by Benny Andajetz at 5:17 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


felix betachat writes "It's going to sound really, really awkward when he steps down to 'spend more time with his family.'"

felix, you breeder, this kind of "family", you know, sisters of Dorothy family.
posted by orthogonality at 5:22 PM on August 27, 2007


we don't arrest heterosexuals for propositioning each other.

If they do it in the ladies' room, we sure do.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:35 PM on August 27, 2007


The interesting part of the article is the cop---one wonders what's going through his mind as he's sitting in that stall for hours on end, as person after person unloads themselves and he waits and waits for someone to start with the toe-tapping and foot touching, and finally provide some relief from the horrid monotony of airport bowel movements. Looking forward endlessly to that one golden shining moment when he finally gets to shove the badge beneath the stall divider, point to the exit, and mumble "yes" to the startled gasps from the other side.
posted by washburn at 5:35 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Look, all we need to do is slip him a little Gleemonex.


Wally: Doctor, why do those, you know, types think that I'm one of them?

Doctor: Because you ARE one of them! You are gay! You are a homosexual! I know it, your family knows it, DOGS know it! The only one who doesn't know it is you!
posted by Senor Cardgage at 5:36 PM on August 27, 2007


really awkward when he steps down to 'spend more time with his family

Like the YMCA family kind of family?
posted by IronLizard at 5:47 PM on August 27, 2007


iconjack: It's nice that we have so many cops around that they have time to arrest people tapping their feet in the bathroom.

washburn: the cop...he's sitting in that stall for hours on end...

From the article: Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men's public restroom...

Or Sen. Craig was the one sitting in that stall for hours, and the officer arrested him because his behavior/description matched something in one of those complaints. I wonder what exactly was described in those complaints, and if it had anything to do with his guilty plea.
posted by dsword at 5:48 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


you know, sisters of Dorothy family.

Like the YMCA family kind of family?

I was thinking Sister Sledge.
posted by felix betachat at 5:50 PM on August 27, 2007


Flunkie writes "Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, 'What do you think about that?'"

DOCTOR: You have AIDS.
ROY COHN: AIDS. Your problem, Henry, is that you are hung up on words, on labels, that you believe mean what they seem to mean. AIDS. Homosexual. Gay. Lesbian. You think these are names that tell you who someone sleeps with, but they don't tell you that.
DOCTOR: No?
ROY COHN: No. Like all labels they tell you one thing and one thing only: where does an individual so identified fit in the food chain, in the pecking order? Not ideology, not sexual taste, but something much simpler: clout. Not who I fuck or who fucks me, but who will pick up the phone when I call, who owes me favours. That is what a label refers to. Now to someone who does not understand this, homosexual is what I am because I have sex with men. But really this is wrong. Homosexuals are not men who sleep with other men. Homosexuals are men who in fifteen years of trying cannot get a pissant antidiscrimination bill through City Council. Homosexuals are men who know nobody and who nobody knows. Who have zero clout. Does this sound like me, Henry?
DOCTOR: No.
ROY COHN: No. I have clout. A lot. I can pick up this phone, punch fifteen numbers, and you know who will be on the other end in under five minutes, Henry?
DOCTOR: The President.
ROY COHN: Even better, Henry. His wife.
DOCTOR: I'm impressed.
ROY COHN: I don't want you to be impressed. I want you to understand. This is not sophistry. And this is not hypocrisy. This is reality. I have sex with men. But unlike nearly every other man of whom this is true, I bring the guy I'm screwing to the White House and President Reagan smiles at us and shakes his hand. Because what I am defines entirely who I am. Roy Cohn is not a homosexual. Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man, Henry, who fucks around with boys.
DOCTOR: OK, Roy.
ROY COHN: And what is my diagnosis, Henry?
DOCTOR: You have AIDS, Roy.
ROY COHN: No, Henry, no. AIDS is what homosexuals have. I have -- liver cancer.

posted by orthogonality at 5:52 PM on August 27, 2007 [16 favorites]


I don't get what was supposed to happen. If he'd already blocked the door to his stall with his luggage, as the officer says is usual in these situations, was the activity going to go one under the stall partition?
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:53 PM on August 27, 2007


Serious question: How come none of these cruisy closeted republicans get horrible STDs? You can only commit random oral sex so long before catching something people would notice, right?
posted by phrontist at 5:55 PM on August 27, 2007


From the comments posted here

BUT: even if Craig is gay; so what? He obviously knows his life style is wrong and that is why he does not want it out and votes against making such life the norm. Hell; we all know lying is wrong but who among us does not 1) lie and 2) would vote against a bill making lying under oath a crime.

He's voted to protect us from guys like himself! Show some gratitude!
posted by maryh at 6:01 PM on August 27, 2007


How come none of these cruisy closeted republicans get horrible STDs?

Is it possible that being a "family values" Republican is an STD?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:05 PM on August 27, 2007


Now I suppose you're going to tell me that this explains the "Freedom Holes" rider buried in PATRIOT act.
posted by kid ichorous at 6:07 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Serious question: How come none of these cruisy closeted republicans get horrible STDs? You can only commit random oral sex so long before catching something people would notice, right?

They do. See orthogonality's quote from "Angels in America," above, for the basic jist of how this works.

And doctors can't discuss all the times they've treated the clap and the herpes outbreaks and the anal warts without breaking doc-patient confidentiality.

And performing oral sex doesn't have an enormous risk factor, anyway.
posted by desuetude at 6:08 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


These guys are against having gays in the military because it would reduce the pool of young men to blow here on the home front.
posted by SassHat at 6:11 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Maybe he was just listening to Jesus, when he said, "There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him".
posted by Flunkie at 6:13 PM on August 27, 2007


These guys are against having gays in the military because it would reduce the pool of young men to blow here on the home front.

Call me a man of the old school, but if a boy is old enough to suck dick, he's old enough to die for his country.
posted by jonp72 at 6:16 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


Serious question: How come none of these cruisy closeted republicans get horrible STDs? You can only commit random oral sex so long before catching something people would notice, right?

Do you count Donald Rumsfeld's refrigerated underpants as "something people would notice"?
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:18 PM on August 27, 2007


Well, I can't blame the police for the crack down and arrest. A year or two ago I was in a bathroom at that airport and I guess I must have tapped my foot because a minute later some guy reached under the stall and rubbed my leg.

I shit you not.

At a moment like that, when you are still on the public toilet with all your hefty baggage strewn in the stall, one is at a loss for what exactly to do. Run away comes to mind, but isn't exactly possible. The answer of the day was to play ass mambo and contort to the other far end of the stall.

Now, a different question is why someone looking to cruise anonymously would hand their high profile Senatorial card under the stall. I would think the policeman was even more at a loss than I was.
posted by Muddler at 6:20 PM on August 27, 2007


Wait. I think I've heard this one. Is the answer "black people?"

More like: "$20. Same as down at the statehouse."
posted by hal9k at 6:21 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


Now, a different question is why someone looking to cruise anonymously would hand their high profile Senatorial card under the stall. I would think the policeman was even more at a loss than I was.
This was done after he was arrested, during the police interview.

It was an attempt to use his office as a means to rise above the law.
posted by Flunkie at 6:24 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]


Video of the Roy Cohn|Doctor scene (which orthogonality references) from Tony Kushner's award-winning 'Angels in America.'
posted by ericb at 6:24 PM on August 27, 2007 [3 favorites]


he tried to get a blowjob in a public toilet.

Um, I seriously doubt the Senator was looking to get a blowjob: "Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times." Swipe his hand, as in, "come on, stick your dick under and I'll suck it."

Sen. Craig was the one sitting in that stall for hours

Come on, people, read the juicy Roll Call article if you're gonna talk details. The cop was in the stall 13 minutes, and then saw the Senator peeking in the door. The Senator then jumped in the next stall and quickly started signaling he wanted to suck dick.

I gotta say, "I have a pretty wide stance when I shit" is gonna go down in history as one of the best Senatorial comments ever.
posted by mediareport at 6:47 PM on August 27, 2007


the Idaho Statesman has been sitting on tons of reporting about Craig since March, and never published.
posted by amberglow at 6:47 PM on August 27, 2007


you know, the fact that this guy was actually in favor of scrawling anti-gay graffiti over Thomas Jefferson's Constitution is really kind of mind-boggling -- it's as if some blacks, in the good ole times, had somehow managed to pass as white and they had immediately joined the KKK. these closeted gay men who are actively working to turn other, less connected, less powerful gay people into third-class citizens is beyond shameful, it's sadistic and cowardly at the same time -- one would hope against hope that hell actually exists for these people, and it's run by someone who is vengeful beyond human comprehension


at this rate, McConnell, McHenry, and Crist are due to be arrested next.

I swear I had read "Christ" and I was like, wtf, he's gay too????
posted by matteo at 6:47 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Craig's bio page (I wonder if Cheney and Reagan knew where his hand had been?)
posted by amberglow at 6:50 PM on August 27, 2007


To get to Idaho, you have to change planes in Minneapolis? I wonder how often he was doing this?
posted by amberglow at 6:51 PM on August 27, 2007


“At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,” the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that “I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider.”

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.

“With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, ‘No!’ I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom.”


I'm a compulsive foot tapper, so this worries me.
posted by mecran01 at 6:53 PM on August 27, 2007


MetaFilter: The answer of the day was to play ass mambo
posted by fourcheesemac at 6:56 PM on August 27, 2007


Funny, I always thought jazz hands were the dead giveaway....
posted by rob511 at 7:02 PM on August 27, 2007


The sheer mechanics of this puzzle me. How do you suck someone's dick under a stall divider? Or, if that is as awkward and disgusting as I imagine it to be, how do you join someone in a stall and get down to business in a busy airport bathroom without arousing (ahem) suspicion?

Also, that cop is sure earning his money. Does he get bathroom breaks?
posted by Camofrog at 7:02 PM on August 27, 2007


at this rate, McConnell, McHenry, and Crist are due to be arrested next.
I swear I had read "Christ" and I was like, wtf, he's gay too????
Yup.
posted by Flunkie at 7:04 PM on August 27, 2007


you know, the fact that this guy was actually in favor of scrawling anti-gay graffiti over Thomas Jefferson's Constitution...

Heh. Assuming Jefferson actually wrote a constitution at some point, it's not the one we use in the United States.
posted by LionIndex at 7:09 PM on August 27, 2007


The sheer mechanics of this puzzle me. How do you suck someone's dick under a stall divider?

You don't. It's a signal for "sucker to suckee...come in, suckee."

Or, if that is as awkward and disgusting as I imagine it to be, how do you join someone in a stall and get down to business in a busy airport bathroom without arousing (ahem) suspicion?

This is not a long, romantic, teasing blowjob with come-hither upward glances. This is an efficient strictly-business blowjob. Do you check out what the other men are doing in bathroom stalls, or are you busy just doing your business and getting out of there in time to catch your plane? That's how.
posted by desuetude at 7:12 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


You think that maybe the reason all these stories have surfaced is that the Republicans have wanted to be sucking anonymous cock in toilets all along, but no-one would teach them the secret handshake? Now they know...
posted by desuetude at 7:14 PM on August 27, 2007


The sheer mechanics of this puzzle me.

Well, if you really want to figure it out... (so completely NSFW)
posted by mek at 7:15 PM on August 27, 2007


ericb writes "Video of the Roy Cohn|Doctor scene (which orthogonality references) from Tony Kushner's award-winning 'Angels in America.'"

Thanks eric, but Larry Craig impelled me to go out just now and bought a copy of the Angels DVD.
posted by orthogonality at 7:16 PM on August 27, 2007


Mark Foley is a case in point. His office computers were just declared off limits to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement because they are considered to contain "congressional work papers."

That sounds like "Above The Law" to me. No wonder your crooks become politicians.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:28 PM on August 27, 2007


FreeRepublic Reacts:

1) Craig was a commie liberal pinko.
2) It's good that he's been purged from The Party.
3) More purges are needed to cleanse The Party.

Shit, these people turn on their own faster than fucking Stalinists. "Ex-Comrade Olgivy was always a trotskyist! I never supported him! On with the purge!"
posted by Avenger at 7:30 PM on August 27, 2007 [8 favorites]


FreeRepublic Reacts:
Wow, those people are angry at Barney Frank over this.
posted by Flunkie at 7:43 PM on August 27, 2007


Holy cow. mek's link just told me that there are bathrooms all over my neighborhood known for this. The Time Warner center? Really? The Sheraton? wow.
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:53 PM on August 27, 2007


Hellooooo Jesus... How about a rapture soon.....
I'd really like all of these fucking charlatans to go away
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 8:00 PM on August 27, 2007


Did the Log Cabin burn down?
posted by Sailormom at 8:02 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


Wow, those people are angry at Barney Frank over this.

Thats because Barney Frank invented homosexuality in the 60's. True story.
posted by Avenger at 8:03 PM on August 27, 2007 [5 favorites]


Avenger writes "Shit, these people turn on their own faster than fucking Stalinists. "

To be fair, they're also angry that Craig voted for immigration "amnesty".
posted by orthogonality at 8:07 PM on August 27, 2007


To get to Idaho, you have to change planes in Minneapolis? I wonder how often he was doing this?

If he was flying Northwest, he may have been going through the hub here pretty often. Of course, if he was flying Northwest, he could have used the I'm-a-Senator line on almost any flight attendant of his appropriate gender.

Why did this only come out now? He was arrested months ago.

And why wasn't it in the Star Tribune here? They must be struggling if they're that out of contact with the local courthouse. It's like, what, 3 blocks from their newsroom?
posted by gimonca at 8:08 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


My nomination for most unfortunate sentence in the Washington Post story:


His leading Democratic challenger is former congressman Larry LaRocco, a Boise banker and onetime Senate staffer. He already is campaigning aggressively, baling hay and laying pipe on a "Working for the Senate" tour.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:12 PM on August 27, 2007


And why wasn't it in the Star Tribune here?
It's that IOKIYAR thing, i guess. The question is why they always cover for these people over and over for decades.


Holy cow. mek's link just told me that there are bathrooms all over my neighborhood known for this. The Time Warner center? Really?

Where do you think Anderson Cooper gets his kicks? (Ricky Martin too)
posted by amberglow at 8:12 PM on August 27, 2007


Is it bad that Cooper was my first thought? I just wonder what the mooing herds of tourists think.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:15 PM on August 27, 2007


TPM has the police report, and the video of Senator Craig praising Mitt Romney which... coincidentally... disappeared from Romney's website as soon as this story broke.
posted by Flunkie at 8:17 PM on August 27, 2007


James Bond is gay?!
posted by dirigibleman at 8:20 PM on August 27, 2007


What is it with Republican politicians and bathrooms?

Cunning: Cooper--and all the queens who work at Hugo Boss and the other places ; >
posted by amberglow at 8:20 PM on August 27, 2007


I bet Lindsay Graham is the next one caught.
posted by amberglow at 8:20 PM on August 27, 2007


Well, if you really want to figure it out...

In my area, the "Washington Square JC Penney Downstairs" is listed. Who the hell picks people up in a JC Penney bathroom?
posted by cmonkey at 8:29 PM on August 27, 2007


"I don't know of anywhere in the US where the police actively patrol looking to arrest people for having consensual heterosexual, non-commercial sex." at BYU this is 'standards police' activity, is Craig LDS ? not that it makes any difference to me just curious.
posted by hortense at 8:30 PM on August 27, 2007


is Craig LDS ?

I don't think so--his bio page doesn't mention anything Mormon at all.

He is, however, on the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association
/insert playing with his gun joke here ; >
posted by amberglow at 8:36 PM on August 27, 2007


I'm not familiar with Senator Craig. Could someone summarize the anti-gay positions he has taken?

Just for starters:

6/7/2006: Voted yes on cloture re the gay marriage amendment. This cloture vote would have forced an up-or-down vote on passing an amendment to the Constitution banning same-sex marriage. The cloture vote failed 49-48.

7/14/2004: Voted yes on cloture on an earlier attempt to force a vote on an amendment banning same-sex marriage. The cloture vote failed 50-48.

9/10/96: Voted no on ENDA (bill to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation by extending the remedies of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to sexual orientation). The bill failed by one vote.

9/10/96: Voted yes on DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act). The bill passed 85-14.
posted by blucevalo at 8:43 PM on August 27, 2007


Tony Kushner's award-winning 'Angels in America.'

Every year I think I love that play more and more.

"In the new century, I think we will all be insane."
posted by octobersurprise at 8:44 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]


I don't think it should be necessarily an arrestable offence, however. Maybe just a ticket.

Not that I have any, uh, expertise in this...but the charges appear to have been 'interference with privacy' and 'disorderly conduct'. Neither of those involves being put on an 'offender registry', as far as I know, and 'disorderly conduct' can mean all sorts of things.

If the police report is accurate (not always the case) then he may have lucked out by getting arrested before the transaction could proceed further, and he may have thought it would escape notice, so he didn't fight. Or, he may have succeeded in using his stature to get the charges knocked down somehow or other. Maybe while talking in the airport questioning room, even. Just speculation.

Here we go: interference with privacy (Minn. Statutes 609.746) is what they charge Peeping Toms with.
posted by gimonca at 8:50 PM on August 27, 2007


I bet Lindsay Graham is the next one caught.

This is merely gossip, but I have heard that Graham has a steady partner who lives in DC and that he is therefore unlikely to be caught in any shenanigans.
posted by octobersurprise at 8:50 PM on August 27, 2007


Karl Rove is an atheist. J. Edgar Hoover was gay, too. This is an underestimated psychological phenomenon in American life--members of outsider groups who decide that power is the best revenge and twist their personalities in the process.
posted by texorama at 8:54 PM on August 27, 2007


This is merely gossip, but I have heard that Graham has a steady partner who lives in DC and that he is therefore unlikely to be caught in any shenanigans.

... Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an unmarried/never married 52 year old with a funny, forced way of walking, has been far more fastidious with his homosexuality. Again, "everyone" knows-- except the voters in conservative South Carolina. ...
posted by amberglow at 9:21 PM on August 27, 2007


a look at who did and didn't run with Blogactive's October outing of Craig (and tons of rationalizations and excuses that don't make sense)--
From Hearsay to Headline: Tracking the Larry Craig Coverage

posted by amberglow at 9:33 PM on August 27, 2007


Editor of Spokesman Review: To those wondering how the press missed this, I have no good answers yet. ...
posted by amberglow at 9:37 PM on August 27, 2007


You know, I'd be careful tapping my feet in the voting booth of any upcoming Republican primaries.
posted by stevis23 at 9:54 PM on August 27, 2007


I swear I had read "Christ" and I was like, wtf, he's gay too????

Jesus Christ, 33 years old, not married. Single, "neat and thin" with polished and clean feet. He was hanging out with 12 single men who were attracted to following his every move ('Not That There Is Anything Wrong With That').

Was Jesus gay? Does it matter?
posted by ericb at 10:12 PM on August 27, 2007


... Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an unmarried/never married 52 year old with a funny, forced way of walking, has been far more fastidious with his homosexuality. Again, "everyone" knows-- except the voters in conservative South Carolina. ...

The funny thing about Graham is that 90% of the time, he's a rock-ribbed conservative, yet his fellow "cons" would throw him to the wolves for that extra 10%, plus his love of manflesh.

Shit, I'd be wickedly thrilled if there was a Dem out there who held 90% of my opinions. I'd vote for them in a millisecond. But theres obviously no pleasing the Repub base. You're either 100% or you're out.
posted by Avenger at 10:14 PM on August 27, 2007


He was hanging out with 12 single men who were attracted to following his every move

Not only that, he bathed with them too. Even let John rest his head on Jesus' chest.
posted by Avenger at 10:16 PM on August 27, 2007


This is merely gossip, but I have heard that Graham has a steady partner who lives in DC and that he is therefore unlikely to be caught in any shenanigans.

I've heard that Graham is sleeping with with Miss Teen South Carolina.
posted by homunculus at 10:49 PM on August 27, 2007


with with

Sorry. I got excited.
posted by homunculus at 11:11 PM on August 27, 2007


Who the hell picks people up in a JC Penney bathroom?

Beck.
posted by bardic at 11:21 PM on August 27, 2007 [3 favorites]


... Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an unmarried/never married 52 year old with a funny, forced way of walking, has been far more fastidious with his homosexuality. Again, "everyone" knows-- except the voters in conservative South Carolina.

I'm sorry, so Lindsay Graham is gay because he's unmarried and walks like he's been fucked in the ass?
posted by b_thinky at 3:34 AM on August 28, 2007


I don't think the anti-gay voters really care if this guy is an R or D. You guys act like it's good for the gay movement to have a GOP senator caught in gay shenanigans. It's not.

In the past couple years you have the Governor of NJ busted for having gay affairs at rest stops, a FL congressmen seducing teenage male pages and an ID senator trying to get some action in a public bathroom stall.

To people who are apt to consider homosexuals perverts, the above examples only embolden their beliefs no matter what party the offender belongs to.
posted by b_thinky at 3:42 AM on August 28, 2007 [2 favorites]


Thanks, gimonca.

J. Edgar Hoover was gay, too.

As far as I know, he was just a closet transvestite, no? The vast majority of transvestites (those who do it for sexual thrills) are heterosexual men.

I don't think the anti-gay voters really care if this guy is an R or D. You guys act like it's good for the gay movement to have a GOP senator caught in gay shenanigans. It's not.


*faint voice* Someone please check outside to see if there are four horsemen riding about. I just agreed with b_thinky. I need a drink.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:56 AM on August 28, 2007


I'm sorry, so Lindsay Graham is gay because he's unmarried and walks like he's been fucked in the ass?

no, he's gay because of all the cocksucking. he's unmarried because of republicans such as hisself, and he walks "like he's been fucked in the ass," as you inferred, because he has.

How many does that make now?

911.
posted by Hat Maui at 3:58 AM on August 28, 2007 [2 favorites]


dirtynumbangelboy writes "As far as I know, he was just a closet transvestite, no? The vast majority of transvestites (those who do it for sexual thrills) are heterosexual men."

He lived with, and was buried with, his number one flunky, Clyde Tolson.

When J. Edgar Hoover died in May, 1972, he left virtually the whole of his estate to his long-time companion. Tolson also took control of Hoover's considerable secret files. Tolson retired from the FBI and according to his friends, that the only time he left the house was to visit Hoover's grave. When Tolson died in April, 1975, it was reported that the FBI agents arrived at his house and removed all these documents. Clyde Tolson is buried with Hoover at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington.

posted by orthogonality at 4:21 AM on August 28, 2007 [2 favorites]


Assuming Jefferson actually wrote a constitution at some point, it's not the one we use in the United States

heh. don't assume. interestingly enough, he did. eleven years before Philadelphia -- and it's very much the stuff at the foundation of the one you use in the United States. no wonder Jefferson later remained in France while Madison in Philadelphia was riffing on Jefferson's key ideas, the Virginia draft and the Declaration of Independence, and sweating out the technical stuff (such as, you know, the three branches of government -- one does not want to diminish Madison's work, obviously). it's sobering to read the Jefferson-Madison letters, where they politely discuss their invention, the United States, the way one would discuss gardening or bird-watching.

it's telling that the main objection of Jefferson's to the Philadelphia work was that the citizen's rights weren't spelled clearly enough.
posted by matteo at 4:29 AM on August 28, 2007 [2 favorites]