The American Pundit

ABC News has a transcript of the interview directly following Craig’s arrest. I read through it, and here’s my assessment.

The Officer’s Conduct

The officer, judging by the interview, was relatively fair to Senator Craig. He advised him, “I don’t call media, I don’t do any of that type of crap.”. Later on in the interview, the officer said, “I would respect you and I still respect you. I don’t disrespect you but I’m disrespected right now and I’m not tying to act like I have all kinds of power or anything, but you’re sitting here lying to a police officer.”

The one thing I objected to is the officer’s line of reasoning on one part. Craig gave his excuse, saying he had to hold on to the bottom of the stall to lean over to his side. Craig said that he needs to do that. The officer responds by, essentially, ruling that excuse out, as the officer doesn’t need to do that. The officer is a young, physically fit man. Craig is a 62-year-old politician. Simply because the officer doesn’t need to hold on, doesn’t mean no one else does either. Regardless, the officer seemed relatively fair.

At one point the conversation comes to, without Craig having mentioned anything:

DK: Okay. You, you travel through here frequently correct? LC I do

DK Um,

LC Almost weekly.

DK: Have you been successful in these bathrooms here before?

LC: I go to that bathroom regularly

DK I mean for any type of other activities.

LC: No. Absolutely not. I don’t seek activity in bathrooms.

Senator Craig’s Conduct

Here’s the gist of Craig’s excuse. He entered the bathroom and there were no other stalls available. He says he eyes may have wandered past the officer’s stall, but was actually at the stall next to his, waiting for the occupant to come out. He stood around for over a minute, then entered the newly-emptied stall. He, um, sat down. A bit on, he reached over to pick up a piece of paper. He says he had to grab the bottom of the stall (seemingly to stabilize himself) and in the process, his sitting stance widened, with his foot touching the officer’s.

I’m not sure if I believe Craig. It sounds viable, but not terribly convincing.

Regardless, he needs to resign. He plead guilty. Regardless of what he says now, he plead guilty. If he knew he wasn’t guilty, fight it out. Don’t start denying it only once it went public. He’s a major liability to the Republican Party, but mostly it’s simply that such conduct isn’t acceptable.