[Vision2020] Conservatives and Hypocrisy: The Lies of LarryCraig
Carl Westberg
carlwestberg846 at hotmail.com
Mon Dec 3 17:38:01 PST 2007
Let's admit it, a left of center type such as myself is genetically disinclined to believe protestations of innocence from conservative politicians. Right of center types are also averse to giving the benefit of a doubt to liberal legislators. So it has always been, so it shall always be. For eternity. Or until the twelfth of never, and that's a long, long time. What would be the fun be otherwise? Carl Westberg Jr.
From: jampot at roadrunner.com
To: donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com; gray.treecrab.aka.big.bertha at gmail.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 12:38:39 -0800
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Conservatives and Hypocrisy: The Lies of LarryCraig
I could certainly have done without that pseudo
news item, the graphic descriptions of sexual nastiness in particular. How come
no one takes Craig at his word with regard to his sexuality. After all, no one
would know better than him. It's not too large a stretch of the imagination to
believe that a tactic such as this might be used to damage an effective
conservative legislator.
g
----- Original Message -----
From:
Donovan Arnold
To: Gray Tree Crab aka Big
Bertha ; vision2020 at moscow.com
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 9:25
AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Conservatives
and Hypocrisy: The Lies of LarryCraig
"Mike Jones, 50, told the Statesman Craig paid him $200 for sex on a
night between November 2004 and March 2005. Jones said he recognized Craig
only after August."
This guy, Mike Jones, seems to have a history of sleeping with
prominent gay conservatives and telling the public about it. You think they
would learn, stay away from Mike Jones, he kisses and tells.
I also wonder why Larry Craig would think sleeping around with other men
would not eventually become known as public knowledge. Doesn't he know that
both Republicans and Democrats in Idaho hate Gays? Doesn't he know that they
are both arrogant of the issue and crucify you?
I also wonder why it is considered OK by the public for Dan Popkey
to investigate and report on the sexuality of an person. Seems like an odd
obsession.
Let me also point out, that lots and lots of conservative, liberal, and
moderate men, including straight married men with children, occasionally
have sexual relationships with younger men and women outside their marriage. I
don't understand why it is news, and why we and their families got to read
about. The fact that Larry Craig is bisexual, or gay, is not news, it is
political assassination. It is public humiliation of Idaho and a man
who has served this state and citizens for decades.
Best,
Donovan
Gray Tree Crab aka Big Bertha
<gray.treecrab.aka.big.bertha at gmail.com> wrote:
Sunday,
December 2, 2007
Men allege having sex, encounters with Craig
Dan
Popkey
Idaho Statesman
December 2, 2007
BOISE – David Phillips. Mike Jones. Greg Ruth. Tom Russell.
Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations
can't be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's
guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a sexual
advance or paid them unusual attention.
They are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig's
denials, including his famous statement, "I am not gay. I never have been
gay, " spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28.
David Phillips is a 42-year-old
information technology consultant in Washington, D.C., who says Craig picked
him up at a gay club in 1986 and that they subsequently had sex.
Mike Jones is a former prostitute who told the world he had sex with
the Rev. Ted Haggard last year. The former Colorado Springs evangelist at
first denied it but eventually confessed. Jones says Craig paid him for sex
in late 2004 or early 2005.
Greg Ruth was a 24-year-old college Republican in 1981 when he says he
was hit on by Craig at a GOP meeting in Coeur d'Alene.
Tom Russell, 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah. Russell
said his encounter with Craig occurred at Idaho's Bogus Basin Mountain
Recreation Area in the early 1980s.
A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for
fear of retaliation, said he was in a men's restroom at Denver International
Airport in September 2006 when the man in the next stall moved his hand
slowly, palm up, under the divider. Alarmed, the man said he waited outside
the restroom and then identified the man in the adjoining stall as Craig,
whom he had met in Idaho.
Craig, 62, says he was a victim of "profiling" when he was arrested
June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on allegations of
soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in an adjoining stall in a
men's restroom. Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August. He is
appealing his conviction, financed by his 2008 re-election fund. Because of
the scandal, Craig has said that after 33 years in state and national
office, he will not seek re-election next year. Craig also faces a Senate
Ethics Committee inquiry, which was requested by Senate GOP
leadership.
In October 2006, Craig directly denied the claims of a blogger who
reported he'd spoken with three anonymous sources who said they had sex with
Craig.
In May 2007, after hearing a tape of an accuser who said he and Craig
had sex in two men's restrooms at Washington, D.C.'s Union Station rail
depot, Craig said, "I am not gay."
Craig declined comment on this story. He stopped replying to questions
from the Statesman after the paper's Aug. 28 report that included the
accounts of three unnamed men, one who said he had sex with Craig and two
who said he solicited them for sex. But Craig's staff told other media the
allegations by Phillips and Jones were false.David
Phillips
David Phillips' account was first published Oct. 25 at Wonkette.com, a liberal Web site. Shortly
after The Spokesman-Review linked to the story on Oct. 26, Craig spokesman
Sid Smith replied on a blog that "there is not a shred of truth to this." In
a tape-recorded interview with the Statesman, the 1985 graduate of Rice
University said he met Craig on a weekday afternoon between May and August
1986 at a gay strip club called La Cage Aux Follies in Washington, D.C.
Phillips said he mistakenly told Wonkette the incident happened in
1987.
Phillips, then 21, said he and Craig talked and then hugged. According
to Phillips, Craig said he didn't feel comfortable at the club and suggested
they leave. Phillips had his car, but Craig hailed a cab, with Phillips
following him to Capitol Hill.
On the way to an upstairs bedroom, Phillips said Craig told him,
"You've never been here. You don't know me." Phillips said Craig removed his
suit coat but otherwise remained dressed.
He said Craig first performed oral sex on him, and that they then had
anal sex. Afterward, Phillips said, Craig pressed Phillips to leave. He said
Craig stuck $20 in his pocket and said, "I can buy and sell your ass a
thousand times over. You were never here." Phillips said he saw a note card
addressed to Suzanne Craig as he left the house. But he said he never
recognized Craig as his sex partner until the recent story broke and he
heard Craig's distinctive and formal voice on TV.
"I didn't hear that voice again until August," Phillips said. "Then
that 'I can buy and sell your ass a thousand times' came back to me. It just
all rolled back so vividly." Smith, the Craig spokesman, said in his blog
posting after the Wonkette report that Phillips should not be believed
because Craig did not live on Capitol Hill in 1987, but on his boat at the
Capitol Yacht Club.Mike Jones
Mike Jones, 50, told the Statesman Craig paid him $200 for sex on a
night between November 2004 and March 2005. Jones said he recognized Craig
only after August.
After Craig said on Oct. 4 that he would complete his term in 2009 and
appeared on NBC on Oct. 16, Jones went on the record with the Statesman,
describing a sexual encounter with Craig.
Jones told the Statesman in a tape-recorded interview that a man phoned
to make an appointment, not giving his name. The man, whom Jones later
recognized as Craig, then arrived at a studio apartment in downtown Denver.
Craig asked whether Jones followed politics but then quickly changed the
subject. Jones said he deduced that his client response was a
politician.
Craig removed his coat and dress shirt, leaving his T-shirt, slacks and
shoes on when he climbed onto Jones's massage table. Craig asked that Jones
be naked. Craig undid his own zipper and masturbated while performing oral
sex on Jones. When Craig finished, he paid Jones $200 and left.
Jones said he kept no records on his escort clients and that he
advertised his "massage" services exclusively in gay publications.
Craig was in Denver on Feb. 11, 2005, and in nearby Keystone, Colo., on
Feb. 12. On Feb. 12, he attended a meeting at the Keystone Center, a policy
think tank. Craig's Senate travel records also show six other trips where
Craig may have had layovers in Denver between November 2004 and March
2005.
Dan Whiting, a Craig spokesman, told TV station KIVI, "Mike Jones is
lying in order to sell his book … plain and simple. Larry has never met Mike
Jones."
Jones has written a book about his experience with Haggard, who
resigned in November 2006 as president of the National Evangelical
Association and was forced out as pastor of New Life Church after Jones came
forward with voice mails. Greg Ruth
Greg Ruth attended the Republican Western Roundup in Coeur d'Alene in
October 1981, where he said Craig made a sexual advance. At the time, Craig
was a 36-year-old bachelor and first-year congressman and Ruth was a
24-year-old college Republican from the University of Puget Sound.
Ruth, who is openly gay , told the Statesman in a tape-recorded
interview that Craig paid him unusual attention at the political
gathering.
Ruth said he excused himself to use the restroom, but that Craig soon
entered and stood next to Ruth at the urinal, looking at Ruth's penis.
"He looked over and said, 'Hi,' " Ruth said. "But he didn't touch me or
anything like that. And then after we finished urinating, we washed
hands.
"He gave me his phone number and he said, 'If you ever get to D.C.,
call me. You can stay with me.' "
Ruth, now a professional photographer, said he never followed up and
lost the slip of paper with Craig's number. But Ruth said he has no doubt
Craig was making a sexual advance. "I'm gay, and I knew he was hitting on
me," Ruth said. "There's no question about that."Unnamed man
Another gay man, a 46-year-old professional from Boise, told the
Statesman that Craig reached his hand into his restroom stall in September
2006 during a layover at the Denver airport. The man, who travels in
political circles, had met Craig before. He asked that he not be
named.
The man said he was flying from Boise to Washington, D.C., on the same
flights as Craig and his wife.
During the layover in Denver, the man said, he was in a men's restroom
stall when a hand came under the divider and reached toward him. The hand
was palm up, as the officer in Minnesota also described, and slid toward him
for two or three seconds. The man said he noticed unpolished, dark, lace-up
shoes worn by the man in the next stall. He did not respond to the
gesture.
The man said he then waited outside the men's restroom. Shortly after,
a man wearing the shoes he saw in the adjacent stall exited. He recognized
the man as Craig.
After boarding the second flight, the man told his partner about the
incident. The partner confirmed to the Statesman having heard the details of
Craig's advance that day.Tom Russell
Tom Russell, 48, a Nampa native who lives in Utah, was among three men
who contacted the Statesman about what they described as unusually attentive
behavior on Craig's part. Russell spoke in a tape-recorded interview.
Russell worked as a food service manager at Bogus Basin ski resort and
said his encounter probably occurred in the 1983-84 ski season. Russell had
heard rumors Craig was gay.
Russell, who is openly gay, said he set out to engage Craig "and
attempted to show a personal interest … not in a suggestive way … but a
personal interest to see if he would respond."
"I recall that he was very delighted to talk to me – smiling, happy,
very delighted – and that he had suggested that we could get together
sometime," he said. Russell said he became convinced Craig was gay because
he used subtle signals consistent with communication between gay men in
public places.
Nothing came of the meeting, Russell said. But he came forward now
because he is offended by Craig's denials.
"I'm disgusted because it's hypocritical, and he's lying. He's lying
through his teeth. Heterosexual men do not behave like
that."
--
Gray Tree Crab aka "Big
Bertha" =======================================================
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