The Most Relieved Politician In America Today

Well, maybe not relieved entirely, since his career is effectively over. But you can bet this would be getting far more attention today if it weren't for Rod Blagojevich. In fact, take a look how far buried he is in the avalanche of Blagojevich coverage over at Memeorandum.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has lost his latest attempt to withdraw his guilty plea in the Minneapolis airport men's room sex sting that effectively ended his Senate career.

A three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected the Republican's bid to toss out his disorderly conduct conviction.

Craig still has the option of appealing to the Minnesota Supreme Court, and he said Tuesday he was considering future options.

Craig was arrested June 11, 2007, by an undercover police officer who was conducting a sting operation against men cruising for gay sex at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

No need to play Name That Party, obviously.

Anyway, can Craig please just go away now?

Maybe These Two Should Keep a Lower Profile

When it comes to co-sponsoring something called the Marriage Protection Amendment, it probably helps if you don't have baggage in your past, such as shacking up with hookers or doing the wide stance dance in airport bathroom stalls.

Seriously, can David Vitter and Larry Craig be any more clueless?

You just help the left tee it up, and who can blame them?

And what is Larry Craig still doing in the Senate?

ACLU Defending Larry Craig's Bathroom Antics

A bit of a stretch here, no?

ST. PAUL, Minn. - In an effort to help Sen. Larry Craig, the American Civil Liberties Union is arguing that people who have sex in public bathrooms have an expectation of privacy.

Craig, of Idaho, is asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to let him withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct stemming from a bathroom sex sting at the Minneapolis airport.

The ACLU filed a brief Tuesday supporting Craig. It cited a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling 38 years ago that found that people who have sex in closed stalls in public restrooms "have a reasonable expectation of privacy."

Seriously, how much privacy are you entitled to in an airport bathroom?

OK, you have a door to the stall. That's to shield you while you do the deuce.

Outside of that, I don't see where you you have any reasonable guarantee of privacy to engage in gay sex.

Besides, most of the public doesn't want to be subjected to this.

What don't they understand?

More Men Accuse Craig

I wonder what lame denials Larry Craig will make now?

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 that he 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." Those words, spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28, are now memorialized on a just-released-for-Christmas Talking Senator Larry Craig Action Figure.

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 Republican meeting in Coeur d'Alene.

Tom Russell, now 48, is a former Nampa resident who lives in Utah. Russell said his encounter with Craig occurred at Bogus Basin in the early 1980s.

A fifth gay man, who is from Boise but who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, offered a recent and telling account: 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.

Over to you, Larry.

H/T: Hot Air.

Craig Likely to Resign

Time to hit the road.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Several well-placed GOP sources in Washington and Idaho have told CNN that embattled Republican Sen. Larry Craig is likely to resign soon, possibly as early as Friday.

Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho was arrested in June at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

A GOP source with knowledge of the situation told CNN's Dana Bash that the Republican National Committee was poised to take the extraordinary step of calling on Craig to resign.

However, that move was put on hold, the source said, because top party leaders have received indications that Craig himself is preparing to step down.

Sources have confirmed that high-level meetings on the matter were being conducted in Idaho on Thursday.

It would be a welcome change if Democrats would also call on their lawbreakers to also resign.

But there's a difference between the parties. One has integrity, while the other tolerates criminals.

More from Hot Air.

He's Not Gay, Just a Little Wet

Just in case you weren't aware, he's a Republican.

Senator arrested in toilet says he's not gay

BOISE, Idaho (Reuters) - Republican Senator Larry Craig said on Tuesday he is not gay and had made a mistake in pleading guilty to disorderly conduct after he was arrested in a men's toilet at a Minnesota airport in June.

First elected to the Senate in 1990, the Idaho senator was arrested by a plainclothes police officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in the men's public restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

"I am not gay, I never have been gay," Craig told a news conference in Boise, Idaho, and apologized to the people of Idaho for what he said was a "cloud" over the state because of the incident. "I did nothing wrong," he said.

The conservative Republican, who has spoken out against gay rights and same-sex marriage, said he would announce next month, as planned, whether to seek re-election next year.

Jim McGreevey was unavailable for comment.

Sen. Larry Craig Busted on Lewdness Charge

Details here, via Hot Air.

Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) "was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom," according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call.

"Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8."

"A spokesman for Craig described the incident as a 'he said/he said misunderstanding,' and said the office would release a fuller statement later Monday afternoon."

What I can't figure is how this, ahem, went down June 11, and was adjudicated nearly three weeks ago and nobody knew about this?

Especially since he's a Republican.

More to follow on this case, no doubt.

UPDATE: A likely story.

Craig said in a statement issued by his office that he was not involved in any inappropriate conduct.

"At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions," he said. "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

Craig, 62, is married and in his third term in the Senate. He is up for re-election next year. He was a member of the House for 10 years before winning election to the Senate in 1990.