Jim Terry
The two horns of Craig's dilemma
By Jim Terry
A couple of Lyndon Johnson's biographers related some of his bathroom habits in their books several years ago.
Robert Dalleck, in his book, Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, chronicled that when Johnson was a young congressman his office in Washington had no bathroom. It did, however, have a sink with running water. According to Dalleck, when Johnson needed to relieve himself he would step behind a screen and urinate into the sink while continuing his conversation with whomever was in the room.
Another Johnson biographer, Robert Caro, told in his book, The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power, how Johnson would abuse his staff, in particular his aide, Luther Jones, when Lyndon would, ". . . insist that he [Jones] come into the bathroom while Lyndon sat on the toilet defecating . . . ," to take dictation of letters and such.
These stories were not what most people wanted to hear or talk about around the dinner table or even on the porch in those days.
Then Bill Clinton came along and brought us a first, at least that we know of: a president engaging in sex in the Oval Office, although he denied the acts constituted having sex.
Clinton's offensive behavior, however, was of the kind that takes place in dark balconies of porn houses or in restrooms of bus stations and airports. And what Clinton did with his cigar and the young woman under the desk, a woman young enough to be his daughter, brought to a more open America open talk and discussion of oral sex. That is another topic most Americans really don't want to discuss around the table or on the porch, even in today's enlightened society. But the media pushed the discussion because members of the modern journalistic fraternity prefer to push the envelope instead of report the news.
Now, the recent arrest of Senator Larry Craig is, once again, bringing forth public discussion of an unsavory subject-potty behavior. Again, a topic most Americans don't want to engage around the dinner table or on the porch.
If you have heard the tape of the senator and the police officer who busted him, which was played on almost all daytime radio talk shows multiple times last week, you were able to hear how the senator takes a wide stance in a restroom stall; how he picks up paper off the floor; which hand he uses... You get the idea.
The senator eventually plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct instead of a charge of public solicitation of sex which was the reason the officer arrested him. By this action, Craig said, he hoped it would go away. And it did for a few weeks.
Craig announced September 1, that he will resign September 30. Most Republicans felt at peace when they heard that. But since that announcement, he has sent signals he may not resign and pursue legal avenues to clear his name.
Which means if he hires legal counsel, is successful in having the guilty plea and conviction thrown out and goes to trial on this, we will hear more discussion of bathroom habits. His defense team could bring expert witnesses to describe the different positions men take on the toilet depending on age, size, size of the seat, size of the stall, hemorrhoidal conditions, flatulence and bladder levels and various other physical characteristics.
Senator Craig may go down in history as another politician who brought unsavory topics to the dinner table. Therefore, he needs to resign and spare the public further potty discussions. There are, however, more serious reasons he should resign.
The senator has been a lawmaker for 30 years, in the Idaho State Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He is not a lawyer, but he is educated and experienced. Whether he is guilty of attempting to solicit sex in the Minneapolis Airport mens' room is not the issue any more.
Senator Craig should resign because of his actions after being busted by the officer in the adjacent stall. As an educated and experienced man, one who has spent most of his adult life making law, Craig should have known not to discuss the incident in a taped interview with police, much less argue with the officer over the details. Craig should have "lawyered up" and defended himself in court if he knew he wasn't guilty.
He apparently forgot the underpinning of our criminal justice system: the burden of proof is on the state to prove guilt, and beyond a reasonable doubt. Craig chose to act as his own lawyer and cut a deal for a less despicable crime to which he plead guilty thinking no one would ever find out about the misdemeanor conviction for disorderly conduct.
Do we really want a man in the U.S. Senate who has to either: admit he broke the law, since he said he did in a courtroom before a judge; or admit he is stupid? Those are his only choices.
© Jim Terry
A couple of Lyndon Johnson's biographers related some of his bathroom habits in their books several years ago.
Robert Dalleck, in his book, Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, chronicled that when Johnson was a young congressman his office in Washington had no bathroom. It did, however, have a sink with running water. According to Dalleck, when Johnson needed to relieve himself he would step behind a screen and urinate into the sink while continuing his conversation with whomever was in the room.
Another Johnson biographer, Robert Caro, told in his book, The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power, how Johnson would abuse his staff, in particular his aide, Luther Jones, when Lyndon would, ". . . insist that he [Jones] come into the bathroom while Lyndon sat on the toilet defecating . . . ," to take dictation of letters and such.
These stories were not what most people wanted to hear or talk about around the dinner table or even on the porch in those days.
Then Bill Clinton came along and brought us a first, at least that we know of: a president engaging in sex in the Oval Office, although he denied the acts constituted having sex.
Clinton's offensive behavior, however, was of the kind that takes place in dark balconies of porn houses or in restrooms of bus stations and airports. And what Clinton did with his cigar and the young woman under the desk, a woman young enough to be his daughter, brought to a more open America open talk and discussion of oral sex. That is another topic most Americans really don't want to discuss around the table or on the porch, even in today's enlightened society. But the media pushed the discussion because members of the modern journalistic fraternity prefer to push the envelope instead of report the news.
Now, the recent arrest of Senator Larry Craig is, once again, bringing forth public discussion of an unsavory subject-potty behavior. Again, a topic most Americans don't want to engage around the dinner table or on the porch.
If you have heard the tape of the senator and the police officer who busted him, which was played on almost all daytime radio talk shows multiple times last week, you were able to hear how the senator takes a wide stance in a restroom stall; how he picks up paper off the floor; which hand he uses... You get the idea.
The senator eventually plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct instead of a charge of public solicitation of sex which was the reason the officer arrested him. By this action, Craig said, he hoped it would go away. And it did for a few weeks.
Craig announced September 1, that he will resign September 30. Most Republicans felt at peace when they heard that. But since that announcement, he has sent signals he may not resign and pursue legal avenues to clear his name.
Which means if he hires legal counsel, is successful in having the guilty plea and conviction thrown out and goes to trial on this, we will hear more discussion of bathroom habits. His defense team could bring expert witnesses to describe the different positions men take on the toilet depending on age, size, size of the seat, size of the stall, hemorrhoidal conditions, flatulence and bladder levels and various other physical characteristics.
Senator Craig may go down in history as another politician who brought unsavory topics to the dinner table. Therefore, he needs to resign and spare the public further potty discussions. There are, however, more serious reasons he should resign.
The senator has been a lawmaker for 30 years, in the Idaho State Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He is not a lawyer, but he is educated and experienced. Whether he is guilty of attempting to solicit sex in the Minneapolis Airport mens' room is not the issue any more.
Senator Craig should resign because of his actions after being busted by the officer in the adjacent stall. As an educated and experienced man, one who has spent most of his adult life making law, Craig should have known not to discuss the incident in a taped interview with police, much less argue with the officer over the details. Craig should have "lawyered up" and defended himself in court if he knew he wasn't guilty.
He apparently forgot the underpinning of our criminal justice system: the burden of proof is on the state to prove guilt, and beyond a reasonable doubt. Craig chose to act as his own lawyer and cut a deal for a less despicable crime to which he plead guilty thinking no one would ever find out about the misdemeanor conviction for disorderly conduct.
Do we really want a man in the U.S. Senate who has to either: admit he broke the law, since he said he did in a courtroom before a judge; or admit he is stupid? Those are his only choices.
© Jim Terry
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