Larry Craig Takes Wide Stance on Quitting

Larry Craig may not resign from the Senate at the end of the month after all, reports the Idaho Statesman. And everyone's favorite Republican, Arlen Specter, may be behind it. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig says he might reconsider his decision to resign if he clears his name in his arrest for disorderly conduct in a restroom sex scandal. That’s ...

Terrorists, Toe Tappers, and Law Enforcement Resources

Despite his resignation from the Senate, the Larry Craig story won't die. Arianna Huffington spent her Labor Day wondering, "In the Age of Terror, Isn't Busting Toe-Tappers an Insane Use of Our Law Enforcement Resources?" Sometimes a clever title is used as a hook to attract reader attention but the article itself goes in a different direction. ...

Internet Could Have Saved Larry Craig

Josh Marshall reports that a series of Web sites out there that "rate different public sex bathrooms around the country" and that "An airport bathroom, specifically one near a shoeshine stand behind the ticket counter, generated the most comments until Web-site users posted warnings in June that men were getting arrested there." While disturbing on a whole number of levels, it ...

Caption Contest Winners

The Crikey! That's a Big One Edition OTB Caption ContestTM is now over. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service) The Winners: First: Triumph - Larry Craig's Dreamboat Second: Bithead - The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy, but these are new. They look human - sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to ...

Iraqi Refugees Face Catch-22

Tens of thousands of Iraqis who might qualify for asylum in the United States as refugees are unable to do so because of bureaucratic and practical obstacles, Sabrina Tavernise and David Rohde report. Despite a stepped-up commitment from the United States to take in Iraqis who are in danger because they worked for the American government and military, very few are ...

What Was Larry Craig’s Crime?

The Larry Craig scandal has been, if nothing else, educational. Most of us are learning for the first time that public restrooms are a major hangout for gay men looking for a quickie and that there's a secret signaling code. That's a good thing, since it's apparently illegal to send this code in Minneapolis and elsewhere. ...

Larry Craig and Right Wing Hypocrisy

Several bloggers on the left see hypocrisy on the response by right wing bloggers to the Larry Craig lewd conduct story. Glenn Greenwald wonders why those were so outraged when Mike Rogers floated rumors outing closeted gay Republicans are now so vehement in insisting that Craig should resign. While I don't doubt that there has been hypocrisy and ...

Late Night OTB - Lola

While "Meet Me In The Bathroom" by the Strokes might technically be more appropriate, the Kinks classic "Lola" is more my speed. Musically, I mean. Lyrics: I met her in a club down in old Soho Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola [LP version: Coca-Cola] See-oh-el-aye cola She walked up to me and she asked me to dance I asked her ...

Secret Gay Code

Michael Demmons explains how to tell whether the fellow in the next bathroom stall is grooving to the beat of his Walkman or is a United States Senator lookin' for love in all the wrong places. Photo courtesy ABC News

Craig Says Not Gay, Did Nothing Wrong

When Senator Larry Craig scheduled a press conference this afternoon, many naturally presumed he would resign or at least offer some plausible defense of his actions. Instead, we got this: Under fire from leaders of his own party, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig on Tuesday the only thing he had done wrong was to plead guilty after a police complaint of ...