Conservatives Take Issue With Senator Craig — For AgJobs Stance
By Warren Mass
Published: 2007-08-30 20:47

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS:

Conservative callers to a popular Boise, Idaho, talk show have been highly critical of embattled Senator Larry Craig. But it has nothing to do with the Senator's indiscreet behavior in Minneapolis. Craig has been a sponsor and leading supporter of the "AgJobs" bill, which would enact much of President Bush's proposed amnesty for illegal aliens.


COMMENTARY:

By now, anyone following the news has been treated to an overdose of coverage concerning Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig's puzzling behavior. The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call revealed on August 27, 2007 that Craig had been arrested for lewd conduct in a men's bathroom at the Minneapolis airport on June 11, 2007, and had plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct on August 8, 2007. Culturally conservative Americans are particularly disturbed by incidents such as these, wherein ostensibly conservative politicians betray the trust that their constituents placed in them. Consequently, conservative voters are much more likely to take their elected officials to task for violating minimal standards of behavior for morality, public decorum, and personal responsibility. Voters in so-called "liberal" districts and states may keep sending a Ted Kennedy, or a Barney Frank, or a Gerry Studds back to Washington, but most conservatives truly believe the words expressed by John Adams in 1789: "Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."

An important case study of this phenomenon was the contrast in reactions back in the 1980s to Representative Gerry Studds (D-Mass.), who was called at the time: "America's only openly gay congressman." That dubious designation can now be applied to both Rep. Barney Frank (D. Mass.) and Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D.-Wis.), both having been reelected after "coming out."

In an article praising the congressional achievements of Representative Studds, Wayne Woodlief wrote in the January 4, 1987 Boston Herald Sunday Magazine: "The liberal Studds and the arch-conservative Rep. Daniel Crane, R-Ill., had been linked in disgrace by the House Ethics Committee — Crane for seducing a female page, Studds for the gay affair [with a teenage male page] and for advances toward two other male pages."

Even though the conservative Crane expressed sorrow for his actions, and admitted that he had "made a mistake" and expressed the hope that "my wife and children will forgive me," he was defeated for reelection.

Studds, on the other hand, responded arrogantly when the House censured him in the summer of 1983. He defended the homosexual relations he had initiated with the male page as "mutual and voluntary," and admitted only that he had made a "very serious error in judgment." He insisted that his sexual misconduct did not warrant the "attention or action" of the House. In contrast to Crane, Studds was reelected to his House seat three more times. He also received a strong endorsement from the Massachusetts Teachers Association!

Those whose prurient interest in such scandals is fueled by (and clouded by) media attention, however, would do better to focus on even more critical matters. Oftentimes, immoral behavior is merely symptomatic of underlying character flaws that manifest themselves in areas more immediately threatening to our national security. During the impeachment hearings for President Bill Clinton, for example, the spotlight trained on the Monica Lewinsky scandal completely distracted the attention of both the public and Congress from more serious causes for impeachment. Those who advocated the impeachment of Mr. Clinton on the Lewinsky-related charges often overlooked the far graver charges of treason and bribery, which are specifically cited in the Constitution as grounds for impeachment. There was much evidence that Mr. Clinton had accepted bribes from Red China in the form of illegal political contributions, and in exchange made policy decisions that allowed the shipment of missile technology to that hostile foreign power, thereby undermining our national security.

Many conservatives in Idaho, as is indicated by those calling in to Paul J. Schneider's talk show on Boise radio station KBOI-AM, seem more concerned about Senator Craig's support of the AgJobs bill than by the latest scandal. And Craig is no reluctant tag-along when it comes to AgJobs, but is among its more strident supporters in the Senate. For example, back in 2004, Craig threatened to attach the Senate version of AgJobs as an amendment to every bill considered in the Senate.

Readers who are unfamiliar with AgJOBS bills are invited to read the online article "Technology Trumps Illegal Labor." As noted in that article: "AgJOBS legislation would identify 'vacant' agricultural jobs that would then be filled by immigrant workers — as many as 1.5 million of them over a five-year period. These alien workers would be set on the path to citizenship. Of course, the workers' families ride the workers' coattails to citizenship, meaning that it is almost assured that in excess of three million illegal immigrants would be rewarded with citizenship."

Is Senator Larry Craig guilty of serious immoral behavior? We have no way of knowing, but it is obvious that his judgment and common sense are severely impaired. While this alone should disqualify him from membership in what has been called the "world's most exclusive club," those who would unseat him on behavioral grounds alone might point their accusing fingers eastward towards a certain senator infamous for his inability to navigate an automobile across a narrow bridge.

The voters of Idaho would be justified, however, in deciding that a senator who advocates giving amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants in our midst does not represent their best interests.

http://www.jbs.org/node/5351