Craig’s inevitable resignation

Sen. Larry D. Craig of Idaho has resigned from the U.S. Senate. But he wasn’t forced to resign because he is a homosexual or a bisexual man, any more than Bill Clinton was impeached because he was heterosexual.

At the heart of both men’s political turmoil was their behavior, not their sexual orientation. Politics, obviously, played a role, the difference being that in Clinton’s case it was Republicans who led the charge and in Craig’s case ... uh, it was Republicans who led the charge.

In his initial and famous denial, Craig announced that he was not gay and had never been gay (missing was the “Seinfeld” tagline, “not that there’s anything wrong with that”), then went on to attack his hometown newspaper, the Idaho Statesman for persecuting him.

But whatever role the press and his own party may have played in Craig’s downfall, he has no one to blame but himself.

Believe your ears

Craig can declare that he is not and never has been gay from now until the cows come home, but anyone listening to the tape of the interview between Craig and his arresting officer knows that something happened in that airport bathroom. There is not a shred of the indignation one would expect from a man falsely accused of attempting to solicit sex.

In January 1998, days after President Clinton was accused of having sex with Monica Lewinsky in the White House, we said that if he did so, he should resign. We added that if Clinton cheated on his wife in the White House with a woman barely older than his daughter, he was both reckless and feckless.

Clinton choose to fight, and the result was more than a year of national preoccupation with the president’s sex life. And while Clinton avoided being convicted in the Senate, the nation was ill-served in the meantime.

Craig, who knew that the Statesman was already investigating reports of homosexual activity by the conservative “family values” politician, still couldn’t resist peeping at a man in a bathroom stall, taking an adjoining seat and then touching shoes with his neighbor. That’s at least reckless and feckless.

We’re not sure what word describes a man who twice in a week would put his wife on stage beside him while he mouths unconvincing protestations of his innocence and declarations of his heterosexuality. But one of those words shouldn’t be Senator.

Craig’s resignation is welcome — and only a few days overdue.