What Did He Do?

Josh Marshall is discussing Republican Larry Craig's arrest in an airport for some undisclosed sexual violation. But was it appropriate?

Not the sexual advance, but the arrest. The details are very murky but it appears that regardless of your feelings about Craig and his politics, his arrest may have been inappropriate. From a Marshall commenter:

Sure, he's a hypocrite, sure he's probably gay or bi or whatever, and sure, I despise his politics. The problem is, I'm torn between the schadenfreude of watching another one of the Family Values crowd being shown up, and feeling really bad for the guy, because he didn't do anything.

Look at the police report. Did he directly ask a cop for sex? No. Did he expose himself lewdly (as opposed to exposing himself to use the facilities)? No. Did he do anything that was unambiguously sexual? No.

All he did was tap his foot, reach down (possibly to pick up a piece of TP), wiggle his fingers, and put his bag in front of him when he sat down. Oh, and he waited in front of an occupied stall. Even if he did everything the cop said he did, where was the lewd conduct? No actual sex happened. No actual sex was discussed. And if it wasn't for the sheer embarrassment of the situation, you'd be writing about the overzealous cop who arrested a sitting US Senator for no apparent reason.

Overzealous police work? Overzealous prosecution? Getting even with a Senator who tried to use his position to get out of a tight spot? Who knows. But pure political retribution is no reason to get joy out of a miscarriage of justice.