The Truffle

Senator Craig is going to wish he'd simply retired three months ago. For over a year people have been telling me that Dan Popkey of the Idaho Statesman was working on a thorough investigative piece on a secret that had long been out in DC gay circles, that homophobic right-wing Republican Senator Larry Craig was addicted to sex with men. Some of the closeted gay Republicans on Capitol Hill occasionally-- rarely but occasionally-- get a pang of conscience about demonizing other gay people and will refrain from voting to destroy the lives of gay men and women and their families. But not Larry Craig. All the time he was out hunting for anonymous sex in toilets and gay bars he was part of the 100% crowd of hysterical anti-gay extremists. He strongly opposed prohibiting job discrimination against gays and lesbians. He strongly opposed expanding hate crimes legislation to include crimes perpetrated against gays and lesbians. He strongly supported legislation and even a constitutional ame...

Now, it's Larry Craig complaining about Mitt. "He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again," Craig told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview taped Sunday set to air later this week on the "Today" show. Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, called Craig's behavior "disgraceful" and urged the senator to resign when news of the arrest broke in August. Craig was Romney's Senate liaison before resigning from the campaign. Romney spokesman Kevin Madden defended the presidential candidate's response. "Gov. Romney simply believes that a public office is a public trust," Madden said. "He believes when a public official enters a guilty plea, they have broken that public trust and should step aside for the sake of their constituents." At least Craig didn't resign, change his mind, and storm over to the Romney campaign headquarters demanding his old job back. This has been another install...

Ever since Larry Craig's fall from grace, the news media has made note of his sting in the Singing Senators. Well, yesterday, Chris Matthews aired footage of Larry, Trent, John, and Jim singing the Oak Ridge Boys' "Elvira" on some morning talk show. I remember "Elvira" from the early 1990s. Especially... Giddyap a boom poppa boom poppa mow-mow Giddyap a boom poppa boom poppa mow-mow The boom poppa boom poppa mow-mow is sung by Trent Lott, the bass in the group. Now, I can't get this song out of my head. Damn you, Larry Craig! Damn you to hell! PS: No, I am not searching YouTube for footage of the Singing Senators.

Senator Whatshisname from Idaho Whom Nobody Thought About Before used to be in a vocal group with Senators Trent Lott, John Ashcroft, and Jim Jeffords. They called themselves (what else?) the Singing Senators, and they wowed music fans at Branson, Missouri and the Republican National Convention. They performed alongside the Oak Ridge Boys and wore really goofy suits. Alas, political and professional differences tore the group apart: Ashcroft got kicked upstairs to an Attorney General post; Jeffords left the party; Lott lost his majority leader job; and Larry Craig is the latest inductee to the Official GOP Do-As-I-Say-Not-As-I-Do Club. My friend says this is all great Behind the Music material. I agree; if VH1's having a slow week, an hour-long special on the story of Jim, Larry, John, and Trent would be worth exploring. As it turns out, Pitchfork music scribe Amy Phillips penned just such an article in her student-journalist days. Maybe she could write an update for Pitchf...

Last year, Blogactive's Michael Rogers began making the rounds of radio talk shows with stories of GOP closet cases. Specifically, Idaho Senator Larry Craig. Speaking for myself, I've never liked the idea of outing famous people. But then again, I'm a straight chick and basically a sensitive soul. Most of the time, I hate seeing people embarrassed. The operative term here is "most of the time." Every once in a while, you get, say, a seriously repressed, homophobic wingnut who's so far in the wardrobe closet that he's practically on his way to Narnia. You know, the sort of self-hater who actively campaigns for politicians who think he's going to hell. And then, there are wingnuts who make it ridiculously easy for people to embarrass them by starring in porno flicks with titles like "Donkey Dick." Despite all my reservations about outing, I can only react to this news about Senator Craig with a sigh and a roll of the eyes. For one ...