Mike Rogers on Hannity and Colmes, and the GOP's agita

voicemail

I don't see it mentioned here, but I just heard on NPR that he left this long rambling message about all of this on the WRONG voicemail!! An actual strangers phone. Dumb@$$!! This is getting so out of hand.

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by: mindfulgrl @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 07:21:48 AM CDT

Craig's wrong number

TPM covers it, with a transcript of the message he left on the wrong answering machine

http://www.talkingpo...

Scroll down a few screens to get it, and then, when you're done being amazed, scroll back up and read the legal aspects of Craig trying to overturn the guilty verdict.  he apparently received a 3-page statement about the verdict which he had to read and sign, and so, in brief, he would have to say he didn't know what he was doing.  Another opinion is that the case could be overturned if there was something amiss with what the judge said to him in re having a lawyer.

Curioser and curioser! 

 

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 08:08:59 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Isn't it convenient..

that Hannity and the like seem to forget Clinton was impeached?  I'm glad Rogers pointed it out.

"I'm just your ordinary, average, everyday sane-psycho..." Liz Phair

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by: The Terminator @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 08:25:24 AM CDT

Impeachment wasn't enough

8 years of sliming him wasn't enough.  Accusing him and Hillary of murder wasn't enough. Impeachment wasn't enough.  They wanted him tarred and feathered. wracked on the wheel, put in the stocks, exhibited naked and gibbering in a cage.  Their hatred for him and Hillary was obscene and insane.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 08:29:03 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I second that.

Ever chatted with a con about the Clintons?  There's no lucidity.  All sputtering emotion.  I think it's the Clintons' brilliance that they hate. 

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by: Holly Capote @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 09:41:09 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

And their humanism

The GOP is a rigid, authoritarian, anti-humanistic party and the Clintons' representrd core Democratic and American values at odds with these, caring for the less fortunate among them.  Hence the GOP frenzy about the Clinton health plan.  Make sure everyone's covered?  Socialism!  When you read anything about the New Deal and the ways in which FDR reorienetd the country away from laissez faire domestic policies, you hear the identical complaints and bashing from those who opposed him.  The forces of cruelty are still strong.  

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 10:16:08 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Lev's arrows always find the bullseye.

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by: Holly Capote @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 11:02:21 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Aw, shucks

Maybe that's because I just reviewed Juliet Barker's amazing book Agincourt, where there's tons of fascinating info along the way to the battle, including about the archers, their bows, even the feather son them.  Sound dull?  Not remotely!  My spouse and I couldn't put this book down.  Luckily we had 2 copies.  http://www.amazon.co...

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 11:30:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Lev, I'd place a blueberry atop my head and let you shoot away.

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by: Holly Capote @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 13:37:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ahh--

--only if it's a big fat Michigan blueberry, and the season, alas, is past.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 15:23:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

INTERESTING NEWS ABOUT CRAIG:

I just heard this morning from a source writing on Craig: Craig was not married when first elected to office in Idaho in the early 70's. He then met his wife and got married. Their three children (two of them who defended him on GMA this morning) are - get this...........ADOPTED!

His wife has got to have had prior knowledge of Larry's toe tapping.

"Yeah. Sylvia-Louise. You know, with a hyphen?" - Barbara Streisand in What's Up Doc?

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by: jonnyt @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 09:45:27 AM CDT

Song cue

"Toe the line--love isn't always on time. . . ."

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 11:30:37 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

i think that's going way too far

whether his wife knew of his bathroom sex is totally irrelevant to the fact that some of their kids are adopted.  hadn't you noticed?  many straight people adopt!

Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 13:42:07 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Choose your battles, people

In my view, adopting a spouse's kids has zip to do with homosexuality or homosexual compulsions.

Also, any human being in the entire world could mis-dial a telephone number.  He's probably pretty stressed right now.  And the message is not even remotely incriminating. It's a nothingburger.

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by: KC @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 14:43:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

OMG

Sew he cudnt even have secs wit his wife 4 kidz? LOLZ HOMO!!! OMG OMG OMG!

Seriously, grow up.

<3 Sam

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by: Samie D @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 14:54:56 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

More gooper flip flopping.

Guilty plea, changed his mind.
Resign, won't resign. 
It's a good thing that he can make important decisions and stick with them, isn't it?  What a great leader.

My America includes LGBT families.

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by: Mena @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 11:32:04 AM CDT

Perfectly said

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by: BB @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 12:28:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

A tongue-in-cheek visual

See a tongue-in-cheek visual of Senator Craig taking a new stance...here:

www.thoughttheater.com

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by: Daniel DiRito @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 14:00:09 PM CDT

Bizarre reaction from his kids

From Yahoo News:

"Gay or straight, that part doesn't matter," Michael Craig says of his father

but then says ""we were shocked" at media accounts of the incident" ... "All these terrible things that were said in the media, we asked all those tough questions,'' Michael Craig said. ''I don't want to have an answer based on a legality or technicality or semantics of the words. We wanted to know exactly what happened and after speaking to our dad, we know exactly what happened.''

 

This family is totally sick in the head. They talk about "shocking" and "disgusting" allegations, then claim being gay is fine by them. Then speak of being tremendously relieved that their father is "straight". It doesn't make any sense, all the contradictions.

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by: Ralph4159 @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 15:27:18 PM CDT

homosexual compulsions?????

"In my view, adopting a spouses kids has zip to do with homosexuality or homosexual compulsions. "

homosexual compulsions?????

Come into the 21st century with the rest of the world
(except R wingers of all stripes)
(sh*t!)

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by: javier @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 19:00:18 PM CDT

Javier,

There are, in my experience, some heterosexual men, or otherwise heterosexual men, who have some emotional issues that lead them to homosexual behavior, but it's "not who they are."  I'm not talking about gay men who are in denial.  I'm talking about real, actual, deep-down straight men.  For example, I've known straight men who were in the sex industry but involved in gay activity; they were drawn to it, but not understanding why.  That's where the "compulsive" comes in.  It was an erotic experience for them, but not because they were actually attracted to men.  Many gay porn performers, including some of the most prolific ones, are straight.  I believe Matt Sanchez ("Rod Majors"), for example, when he says that he's not gay. 

I've also known some straight men who were not in the sex industry who were drawn to being seductive toward gay men.  One guy used to actually lead gay men into thinking he was going to have sex with them.  He told me he didn't understand why he did it, but he did it, and felt like he couldn't resist doing it.  This person had an extraordinarily rough childhood, and I strongly suspect the "leading on" stuff was a function of some incredibly painful unmet need or needs, and/or abuse.  And often a way to cope with incredible emotional pain is to sexualize it.  (Becoming religious and/or taking drugs are other ways.)

Are all cases of heterosexuals engaging in homosexual behavior "compulsions"?  No.  I also know of some cases of heterosexual men who may end up having a de facto romantic relationship with a man, and some heterosexuals have at least experimented, especially in their youth, with gay sex.  But in the case of Larry Craig, if what Officer Karsnia reported is correct, here's a guy in a freakin' public bathroom in a freakin' major airport, who is already under suspicion of public bathroom trysting (per Mike Rogers last fall), with everything to lose.  The word "compulsion" comes into the picture right here:  No sane person, in his position, would take a risk like that.  It was not about rationality.

So, in fact, personally, I think his having a problem with compulsivity is definitely a viable theory.  He could be truly gay -- and compulsive, or he could be straight -- and compulsive (with compulsions that involve homosexual activity).

I hope I've explained my perspectives better.  My perspectives are informed by both training in psychology, and experience with actual straight guys with gay compulsions.  And I do think it's possible that Larry Craig is in that category.  I don't know, though.  He could be out-and-out (while not "out") gay, and lying.  Or the claims about his trysts or attempted trysts could be incorrect or lies.  I don't know (although the latter possibility I tend to doubt because of there being too many coincidences).

I think an awareness and understanding of the phenomenon of compulsive behavior would help us better react to certain crazy, obsessed individuals who like to hurt gay people -- such as Peter LaBarbera, Fred Phelps, James Hartline, and Billy Ball.  Psychology and emotional phenomena matter.  And while the phenomenon of compulsivity was perhaps first formally described in the 20th century, it is certainly still occurring in the 21st century.

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by: KC @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 21:07:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

About that adopted son ...

hmm ... could it be he and his adopted father have more in common?

 

http://perezhilton.com/?p=5024

 

;-)

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by: Juan @ Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 20:40:54 PM CDT