Oh, Larry!

You have to feel for Larry Craig, the Republican Senator for Idaho. There you are, in June, minding your own business, using a regular old bathroom stall/public park/badger reserve to solicit same-sex sexual encounters with strangers, and whaddya know! That blue-eyed charmer you're do-si-do-ing with whips out his police credentials! And, unfortunately, that is not a euphemism. This June, Senator Craig was arrested in Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport for allegedly engaging in alleged conduct not entirely fit for a U.S. Senator.

According to an admirably detailed arrest report, Craig peered at the plainclothes cop through the crack in the bathroom stalls, moved his foot to a particular position...uh, let me see...swiped his hand UNDER the partition in a particular way three times...knocked on the sink to the tune of 'Jolene'...double axel...alleged chachacha...When taken into custody, the good representative of Idaho allegedly informed the cop that he was a U.S. Senator, asking "What do you think about that?" CherchING, I should think. Craig has since insisted that the position of his feet was merely due to his particularly 'Wide Stance.' Insert your joke there.

So what does Ol' Wide Stance have to do with our date with 2008? WELL. It seems that ju-u-ust prior to the whole mixup, Craig was out stumping for Mitt Romney on the subject of Family Values. Hard. On video. Now, here at the Monocle we believe in double standards for everyone, but we can't just lie back and take the outing of a gay Senator if he has previously voted to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage, as Craig has done. That's a bit hard to swallow. Craig resigned yesterday. Mind you, chasing intern skirt around the desk in the Oval Office: fine if you're rich, mildly impeachable of you're from Arkansas, but all in all, okey dokey. Gay? Get out of my office. That's right, OUT.

As you can imagine, there's an awful lot on the internets about this, but we'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the people of RED STATE UPDATE, one of our very favourite li'l pundit outfits. Here's what they have to say about it all:

Think that 'bout sums it up.