More revealing than the sexual predilections of Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho in his men?s room arrest has been the swiftness of the demands for his resignation from politically shell-shocked party colleagues.
The far-fetched nature of Craig?s insistence of innocence after pleading guilty to the charge of disorderly conduct clearly was a factor in their swift denunciations. But beyond that, their reactions reflected an internal awareness that the Republican Party can?t afford any new assaults on its image right now.
The Democrats who capitalized in the 2006 congressional elections on their theme of “a culture of corruption” in the recent years of Republican rule ? from the Ken Lay and Tom De Lay fiascos to the Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham scandals ? didn?t need to say a word about the Craig episode. Enough Republicans said all that needed to be said.
The party?s Mr. Integrity, presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona, led the parade in calling for Craig?s resignation, observing “when you plead guilty to a crime, you shouldn?t serve.” Another GOP presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, said Craig had “disappointed the American people” and quickly dropped him as Idaho chairman of his campaign.
At least two other prominent Republicans in Congress, Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, facing a tough re-election challenge next year, and Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, joined the immediate call for Craig to step down. And the Senate Republican leadership forced Craig to relinquish his post as ranking minority member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee while a Senate ethics panel investigates the matter.
All this comes down on the Republican Party at the worst possible time politically, as it struggles to contend with its slumping polling numbers and those of its embattled leader, President Bush, over his calamitous misadventure in Iraq.
There are growing indications that Bush intends, under his new euphemism “a new way forward,” to continue to stay the course there based on anticipated optimistic progress reports later this month from Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.
Such an outcome may be able to withstand another round of efforts by the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill to force Bush to start withdrawing American forces from Iraq. But it is not going to help the Republican chances to avert what many GOP leaders fear will be a resounding party defeat in the 2008 presidential and congressional elections.
The rapid denunciations of Craig within his own party reflect the self-preservation instincts not only of Republican presidential candidates like McCain and Romney but also of all GOP congressional incumbents who will face their constituents for reelection 14 months from now.
Craig himself had been on track to seek another term in the Senate next year, but declarations of support from Idaho voters in that solid Republican state have been few in light of his arrest, in which he paid a $500 fine. Many voters there, as well as congressional critics, have said his protestations of innocence are belied by his guilty plea. It is that inconsistency that doesn?t wash with them, they say.
But the nature of the basic police allegation against Craig, that he appeared to be soliciting sex from a male officer, presents itself as a particular chink in the armor of a party that has presented itself as a bastion of morality on matters of sexual propriety.
Craig was quick to proclaim in explaining his guilty plea that “I am not gay. I have never been gay.” He didn?t bother to add, in the humorously chiding of liberal open-mindedness of the departed Seinfeld television show, “not that there?s anything wrong with that.”
But the prevalent view among conservative Republicans seems to be that, indeed, there?s a lot wrong with homosexual behavior, as indicated in their strong opposition to the very concept of same-sex relationships, not to mention same-sex marriage.
In any event, the Craig episode and the reaction to it from Republicans with a stake in the 2008 elections underscores how the whole matter of sex still causes squirms of great discomfort in their ranks.
Jules Witcover, a Baltimore Examiner columnist, is syndicated by Tribune Media Services. He has covered national affairs from Washington for more than 50 years and is the author of 11 books, and co-author of five others, on American politics and history.
