Right Side of the Rainbow

Apparently he was trying to get a nut in the men’s room of an airport, but got arrested instead:

Craig stated “that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine,” the [arresting officer’s] report states.

Craig’s stance was so wide, in fact, that his foot was into the next stall. But the cop let that slide. It wasn’t until Craig “proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times” that he got arrested.

As Ed Morrissey notes, “The Republicans already have a 21-12 disadvantage in next year’s Senate contests. [Craig’s] was one of the seats the GOP hoped to hold, and his party had been pushing to keep him from retiring. I suspect they’re looking for Plan B at the moment.”

If Craig resigns, The Corner reports that he’ll be replaced by Republican Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, “who was widely expected to run for the seat anyway.”

ADDED: Found at Blogs of War. Seems appropriate.

ADDED: Matt Yglesias is sweet:

Now, common sense indicates that the officer in question is correct and Craig’s foot-tapping was a cruising signal, but surely tapping one’s foot isn’t a crime in Minnesota. Whatever Craig intended to do here, he doesn’t seem, in fact, to have done anything lewd. [Italics in original.]

No, Matt, I’m sure foot tapping isn’t a crime in Minnesota. But people should be able to relieve themselves in a public facility without having someone else’s extremities all up in their toileting space. (By the way, WaPo reports that Craig pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct, not lewd conduct.)

That said, Craig has paid his fine, and will pay again in public humiliation. He doesn’t also have to resign, as Hugh Hewitt demands. Unlike Mark Foley, Craig didn’t shake his junk at teenagers, and his conduct is no more “reckless and repulsive” than David Vitter’s. Sen. Vitter enjoyed the services of prostitutes while his wife was home alone, but he didn’t resign — Hewitt didn’t call for his resignation — and neither should Craig.

ADDED: Rick Moran, who notes “the regularity with which conservative Republicans seem to get themselves into trouble over sex,” writes:

[Craig’s] conduct doesn’t seem lewd to me and the whole story reeks of something very fishy. But the fact is, the Senator pled guilty and probably thought that it would stay out of the papers if he didn’t make a fuss.

The point really isn’t whether he’s guilty or innocent. The point is that this sort of thing becomes a huge issue because of the way the party talks about gays and the way many GOP stalwarts like Reverends Robertson and Dobson talk about sex. The perception that Republicans are a bunch of bigoted blue noses stuck in the 19th century with Victorian sensibilities about the bedroom turns off a lot of voters – especially the young.