Redstate

Warner is a much, MUCH stronger candidate than Webb ever was. (Though I'd take a Senator Webb any day over Senator M. Warner--especially because Warner is more of a 2016 Presidential threat.)

www.mikehuckabee.com

However, a few quick Google searches using various combinations of terms have turned up that he's been called Jack by a few lefty bloggers, Hillary, and me. (Google will tell you I've been doing it for years.)

I meant nothing pejorative by it.

I'd say Davis. Allen is still weak, and though Gilmore will probably run, I don't know if people will compare his governorship to M. Warner's positively.

As for Ben's RedHot saying Davis will be about as bad as John Warner: if we consider a man like John Warner a bad conservative, our party is in serious trouble.

www.mikehuckabee.com

John Warner is no conservative. John Warner is not pro-life,
voted against Judge Bork, voted against extending the tax cut on interest and dividends in 2006, voted to raise the minimum wage in 2006, voted to use tax dollars to kill embryos in 2006, opposed Ollie North in the General Election in 1994, etc.

John Warner might be a Republican but he is NOT a conservative.

Tom Davis is even more liberal than John Warner. Neither of them should be acceptable to conservatives in any Republican primary.

So I'm willing to take a Davis who can win in the primary versus a Gilmore who will lose (not saying thats true, but if it looked that way, I'd take Davis).

Oz

www.first-cut-politics.blospot.com

Virginia is not a purple state. Virginia is a very red state attached to blue Northern VA, Richmond, and Norfolk. If the Repubs nominate a Tom Davis, he will do poorly in the blue areas AND the red areas.

Molon Labe!

...he just plays one on TV.

And, as noted, not a conservative at all.

Not particularly adept, nor helpful to his party, either: Virginia Republicans remember how he came to the aid of Democrat Chuck Robb, during an election year, and undercut Oliver North (who lost narrowly).

His recent pronouncement is another example of this: just as Democrats are starting to concede the surge may be working, and cut-and-run may be the wrong message...here comes Senator Warner!

Driving around while totally stoned, putting people's lives at risk, and then using your influence to avoid the consequences is totally cool also.
---
Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman

That you can bugger an underage congressional page while on an international junket and be rewarded with a Committee Chair by your caucus.

and his "male escort" service!!

Thats right, ol' Lollipop Franks is still prancing around the halls of Congress isnt she?

The officer had a chip, and he got political with Craig when he remarked that it was because of Senators like Craig that our country was "going down the tubes." [Exact quote: "Embarrassing, embarrassing. No wonder why we're going down the tubes."]

The notion that we're "going down the tubes" belongs to the moonbats, and without defending Craig's actions, that cop could well have been a dKos regular.

For all you or I know, the cop could have been talking about immigration reform - and coming from the Right at that.

The fact is that a sitting Senator playing footsie in the men's room with the fellow in the stall next to him does reflect badly on the country. It doesn't much matter which side of the aisle said senator occupies.

The cop was doing what he was assigned to do. His own feelings aside, he had a rotten job. Frankly I find it a stretch that he was sitting in a bathroom stall waiting for a low-profile conservative Senator from Idaho with a wide stance to happen by.

His view that "we're going down the tubes" is shared by many on both sides of the aisle, from pro-life activists (of which I am one) to peacenic hippies. That's not to say that all people in those categories hold that view, but there are a number who do. If I were in the cop's position, having that assignment, I'd probably say the same, especially having just arrested a United States Senator for that kind of conduct.

Craig engaged in behavior unbecoming of a United States Senator. I find his version of events insulting to my intelligence. Let's not do what the left does by pointing fingers at the whistleblowers rather than the people who acted wrongly in the first place.

www.republicansenate.org

Of course he wasn't waiting for Craig. The cop had no idea Craig would be in that restroom at that time. On the other hand, maybe he found his assignment lazy, boring, and demeaning> After all, his assignment essentially consisted of being booty bait for airport pervs. Maybe he made a premature arrest without sufficient evidence just so he could get out of that dang stall.

A precedent embalms a principle.
- Disraeli

and rightly so. I listened to the whole conversation, and I felt bad for the cop. I don't think it was a politically motivated sting.

However, I still think that flirting (especially flirting that seems to be welcome)in the bathroom isn't anywhere near a punishable crime. Nowhere in America is being gay a crime, nor is homosexual flirting. That being said...

The Victorians had an interesting view of morality. It wasn't so much what a person actually did, the most important thing was to keep up appearances. If you were going to engage in naughty behavior, or behavior that offended what was considered polite society, you made darn sure you used sufficient discretion that no one ever found out, or suffered the consequence of being excluded from same. Think of all the conversations people didn't have to have back then. I'm not so sure that our let it all hang out society is a good thing. Hypocrisy has its place in that it spares the general society from having to deal with such appalling realities as men playing footsie-flirty in the men's room, and worse, having to decide if it is or is not illegal, and what exactly makes it so. Yuck.

However, I still think that flirting (especially flirting that seems to be welcome)in the bathroom isn't anywhere near a punishable crime. Nowhere in America is being gay a crime, nor is homosexual flirting.

You're absolutely right, homosexual flirting is not a crime, any more than heterosexual flirting. Where you go totally wrong is losing sight of the fact that Craig wasn't charged with "homosexual flirting". He was charged with invasion of privacy and disorderly conduct for peeping into and reaching into an occupied toilet stall.

It's not a case of discrimination against gays. If Sen. Craig had instead tried equivalent "heterosexual flirting" with a woman while she was sitting on a toilet, his career would be just as deservedly dead as it is now.

If Craig had flirted with the male undercover cop outside the restroom instead of inside, he wouldn't have been charged with anything. But as a whacked out closet case, he preferred "flirting" in a place the law protects the privacy of people likely to be partially undressed, defecating and urinating.

by the cop. In naughty-boy s*x world, this is flirting. Had the cop not returned his toe-tapping advances, it is unlikely he would have continued.

A person does not need to necessarily be "closeted" to enjoy having relations in weird or public places. Plenty of heteroes do it as well. Some people find thrill in the possibility of gettng caught.

he proved himself intellectually incapable by pleading guilty to such nonsensical charges. He then used his power play by pulling the ole "but I'm a Senator" card - he deserves to be removed for these reasons only.

Formally known as Deagle... "Golf is a way of life..."

You're absolutely correct, and there should be no sympathy for Senator Craig putting himself in this position. However, that does not mean the police actions should not be scrutinized when high profiled 'crimes' are uncovered. I'm sure Prosecutor Nifong and his band of trusty police investigators and assistant DAs were "doing their job" with the Duke Three. Not to mention, we have a history of odd behavior (including lewd acts) from our Congressional and Senatorial clowns, and very few resignations, if any, are demanded. My point is simply that someone should explain to the public what this
"assignment" was about because the officer's actions seemed to infer he was more interested in getting fines than locking people up. Too often the seemingly obvious questions are ignored until well after the event, and then suddenly the facts and circumstances change.

One thing I've noticed about police officers, they frequently seemed to be trained to remain very, very cool when situations turn very hot, including when they deal with very emotional folks, which is what you'd expect they would.

So, the police officer may well have been doing what he's trained to do--be sympathetic and reassuring, especially since he's got his "collar," there's no reason not to be gracious.

The thing I find totally inexplicable is why Senator Craig didn't call a lawyer the next day. Of course, it's just possible he did, and he's lying about that. But taking him on his word, why didn't he seek legal advice?

His claim that he thought he'd be able to make it go away quietly is ridiculous -- he knew he'd been accused of this before, but that for lack of sufficient corroboration, that story hadn't gotten wide distribution. This arrest would change all that, and bring in all the prior allegations.

I'm quite certain that if one wishes to have an unorthodox private life it is certainly possible to do it. What he was engaging in seems very risky - even if he had not been busted, the stranger he was attempting to seduce could have recognized him, blackmailed him, etc.

...airport bathroom perv sweep duty -- arrive late for roll call? Leave donut wrappers in the patrol car when going off shift? Spill coffee on the in-dash computer? Something about one just p*sses off the Watch Capt.?

Seriously, this isn't duty for which one volunteers, is it?

This tapping-foot code thing could be real trouble for frequent travellers with Restless Leg Syndrome, if you know what I mean.

--furious

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." -- Darth Vader

Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
www.race42008.com
www.hinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
"One man with courage makes a majority" - Andrew Jackson

It's about controling one's private life so that one does not become the object of scandal. Elected officials, sports figures and celebrities have a responsibility to society to be role models. Why we ever allowed such openly immoral behavior to pass is beyond me and now look at what we have - a new scandal every day it seems, much to the detriment of our society.

My main gripe with Clinton was not that he was having an affair. I don't go in for all that moralizing on that level. What ever marital agreement he has with his wife is their business. What bothered me about it is that he used appallingly poor judgment in choosing an emotionally unstable young woman. Surely, he had plenty of opportunity with mature women who understood the importance of discretion. The point is, I don't want to know about anyone having an unorthodox sex life. It's between you and God.

Maybe I missed something, but I don't think anybody called him RINO. Craig has been one of the most conservative members of the Senate. The only complaints are that he's a bit of a porker (most of them are), and that he supported the immigration bill. If that's the worst we can say about a 20-year Senate voting record, I'll take it.

And indeed, this is no longer about what he did or did not do in the restroom. He plead guilty to a criminal charge, tried to cover it all up, and then claimed it was a mistake (in effect saying that he lied in a court proceeding by admitting to something he never did).

On the merits, I think Craig got hosed. The cop jumped the gun. HE was looking for "signals" and when you're sitting around looking for something, you're likely to find it whether it is really there or not. The cop interpreted actions according to what he was after. Craig would have been better off fighting it from the start. Had he done so - being open and honest about what was happening, he would certainly have faced the "speculations" - but I think that others would have rallied around him.

I would note in all this - even after a week, and with a media that would be giddy to report such a story - we have not heard anything about even ONE other person coming forward with a report that Sen. Craig: a) engaged in any sexual behavior with him in a public location; b) engaged in any of the acts the cop used as "signs" of a desire to engage in lewd conduct; or even; c) that he had sexual relations with Sen. Craig in a private place. If Sen. Craig really is some sort of closeted "perv" wouldn't he have done something like this more than just this once, and wouldn't some charming individual want to grab his 15 minutes of adulation from an adoring press by "outing" the Senator?

I think it's all a load. Craig probably DIDN'T do anything wrong. But keeping the secret for almost two months and then pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge (in hopes of further covering it up), followed by a public denial and recantation once someone found out, compounded this and turned what could have been a non-issue into a HUGE issue. The caucus shouldn't have bee so eager to throw him under the bus, but he can't really blame anybody but himself for his predicament.

Hopefully, in time, the uproar will pass, and all of us can take a more objective look at the facts of what happened in that restroom (to the extent we can know them) and see that maybe it wasn't as lurid as it has been portrayed. Either way, it does not change the fact that Larry Craig served the people of Idaho well in Washington for the last 25 years.

there are no winners here. All Republicans have shown this week is we are quick to drop ya. What a last few weeks, Gonzalez, Rove, Craig, Snow, Warner... Republicans are leaving DC at a rate that might turn it blue. :)

Molon Labe!

Gonzales gave Chuckie the bait when he didn't simply say that US attys were fired at the discretion of the president. Rove is tried. Snow is sick. Craig's replacement will be red. Warner is old.

Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
www.race42008.com
www.hinzsightreport.com
www.theminorityreportblog.com
"One man with courage makes a majority" - Andrew Jackson

but you have to admit that is a lot of people in a short period. anyway, I am glad Warner is gone.

Molon Labe!

You can't just handwave away Northern Virginia, any more than I can handwave away the SF metro and say California is competitive or handwave away the SF metro and LA county and say CA is a red state. There are a lot of people there, and they vote.

Yeah, the California I see in San Diego is a lot less monolithically Democratic than the state as a whole. So what? It's not even close to California as a whole.