Craig's Legal Options

He has some, it seems. It remains the case that Craig stands accused of obscure code in a bathroom stall. No one is saying he exposed himself; no one is saying he spoke a word; no other person apart from a cop is involved. Levin has a point. David Bernstein has one too:

OK, so he was caught soliciting sex in a public restroom. Not so good. But compare that with behavior by other Senators that is not leading to any resignations:

(1) Violating their oath to uphold the Constitution, by voting for legislation they believe to be unconstitutional, but arguing that they will let the courts sort it out.

(2) Voting to delegate massive legislative power to the executive branch, so they can claim credit for the feel-good nature of vague but popular legislation, while blaming the executive for its actual implementation.

(3) Voting for legislation that neither they nor any of their staff have read in its entirety, if at all.

(4) Providing costly earmarks in legislation to campaign contributors and local interests (in violation of Congress's constitutional duty to tax and spend only for the "general welfare").

(5) Accepting various forms of low-level graft that fly under the ethics radar, such as use of campaign donors' vacation homes and airplanes, family vacations disguised as fact-finding trips, spouses employed at inflated salaries by friendly interest groups, etc.

(6) General demagoguery, e.g., Democratic members anytime Medicare or Social Security reform comes up, and Republican members on federalizing criminal law, the War on Terror, flagburning, etc.

I hear rumors of more outings to come. There really is a strange convergence here of the gay far-left and the anti-gay far-right. When left-wing activists are egging on cops engaged in anti-gay stings, you can see the ironies. But the Republicans deserve little pity, I'm afraid. The only answer is for the GOP to get real about the question of homosexual orientation, and get past it. If Republicans simply agreed to civil unions, and let gays serve in the military, this whole nightmare would pass. Why can't they grow up like the British Tories on this question? You can win elections on more than bigotry, you know.