Arlen Specter, partisan hack

Senator Arlen Specter (R, PA) claimed that based on his experience as a prosecutor, Senator Larry Craig could never have been convicted. That’s just ridiculous.

Craig looked into an occupied bathroom stall on and off for over two minutes — long enough for the police officer to determine his eye color. Looking into a place where someone is likely to be undressed is a crime, be it private home, gym locker room, or public bathroom.

Craig was clearly attempting to have sex in a public place. Soliciting someone to have sex in public or doing so are crimes.

Does Specter or anyone else really thing what Craig did is subject to more than one interpretation?

Tapping of the foot is pretty standard for men who cruise in toilets,” said Keith Griffith, owner of Cruisingforsex.com, a Web site on which visitors post locations popular with men looking for anonymous sex.

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Next, one of the men will slide his hand under the divider. This usually means he’s inviting the other person to present himself, as if to say, “Show me what you got.” The partner can respond by kneeling on the floor and presenting his penis or rear end underneath the divider. Or he can swipe his own hand under the divider, as if to say, “You go first.” Some married men make a point of displaying their wedding band (like Sen. Craig allegedly did) to make themselves more alluring.

Specter says he hopes Craig will withdraw his guilty plea and fight the charges. To do so, he’d have to show there was a problem with the plea, such as that he didn’t understand the charges. Does Specter really believe a legislator with over 30 years experience couldn’t read and comprehend a simple one-page document?

In addition, in signing the plea, Craig acknowledged his guilt and indicated explicitly that he was not pleading guilty to a charge of which he was innocent. To now claim innocence could open him up to charges of perjury.

If this is the best Specter can do, it’s a wonder anyone in Philadelphia was convicted of anything during his tenure as District Attorney.