Boise News

Idaho Politics: Column

Larry Craig and the Code of the West

By Jill Kuraitis, 10-17-07

Be glad you’re not Sen. Larry Craig’s public relations consultant today.  If it was her idea to let NBC’s Matt Lauer interview Craig and his wife for an hour on national television, he’s due a refund.

The stunning miscalculation that more exposure for Craig would “set the record straight” defies common sense. It’s that when-you’re-in-a-hole-stop-digging thing.

Craig’s unctuous speaking style was on display for a whole hour, making a predictable over-rehearsed impression.  It was two hours for those of us in Boise who first watched an hour of KTVB’s anchor Mark Johnson interview Craig with mostly softball questions, which also didn’t help Craig.  Obvious is obvious.

Several times, Craig asked himself his own questions and then answered them, an old trick which guarantees you’ll be asked the questions you prefer.  He repeated key phrases and themes:  “Resigning would be the easy way out” “My dad taught me you never give up” which elicited groans from a group of citizens both Republican and Democrat, who were watching the interview at KIVI Channel 6, the ABC affiliate in Boise.

Craig’s insistence that the Minneapolis airport cop and the whole situation intimidated him into making bad decisions particularly bothers me.  I know teenagers who have handled police encounters with more reason.  Certainly adults know you never to plead to anything or say anything without a lawyer, even if you’re innocent. It’s something we teach our kids, for crying out loud.  Certainly we should expect that a United States senator would handle himself with at least that much savvy and backbone.

Questioning Craig about his reversals regarding resigning his Senate seat, Johnson asked him if he was a “man of his word” – probably the issue of most concern to Idaho voters. “I don’t want to play a semantic game at all, Mark,” said Craig, who then played one anyway.  Asked the same question by Lauer, Craig said, “It’s not a matter of being dishonest; it was that circumstances had shifted.”

But most telling was Craig’s relentless emphasis on saving himself and his reputation. He maintained that not resigning was best for Idaho, citing his seniority and committee seats and the millions of dollars he said he could bring home – forgetting to mention the that he’s lost his powerful assignments, making his point moot. He refused to acknowledge that he’s put Idaho on the ridicule radar.  His apologies to Idaho contrasted with his “You know what? I’m staying” attitude make his words bogus. And his repeated use of the phrase, “I’m in the middle of an unprecedented media firestorm” show an inflated sense of self-importance which still has the power to shock.

“Unprecedented?” Compared to what - Nixon’s resignation? The murder of JFK?  September 11?

No matter how many of the Craigs’ friends have offered their support and how many strangers hug Suzanne Craig in grocery stores, they should be smart enough to know that a close bubble of support doesn’t translate to a majority attitude.

Let’s remember what’s important about the Craig debacle – the truth. He didn’t tell the truth straight out, plain-like, and take his lumps. He didn’t say, “My bad. Gotta problem, going to resign to take care of it, I’m very sorry, thank you Idaho and God Bless America” – which would have led to a lot of forgiveness. If he is innocent, he could have said, “Made a mistake to plead guilty. Silly of me.  I’m very sorry…” etc.  He didn’t resign when he said he would. Instead he’s played the victim, ad nauseum.

So we’ll never know the Truth truth. Only, as Stephen Colbert would say, the truthiness.

Craig calls Idaho home, and keeping your word and taking things like a man are part of the code of the West.  The right thing is for him to hang up his boots.

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