I don’t want to spend too much time on Larry Craig, but this is something that has been bothering me, and I’m glad people are talking about it.  From Raw Story:

Less that 24 hours after he expressed regret for pleading guilty to disorderly conduct after an undercover cop said the Idaho Republican propositioned him, Craig was ousted from his committee posts in a decision Senate leaders said was “in the best interest” of the chamber. Meanwhile, it has been 52 days since Craig’s GOP colleague David Vitter acknowledged the “serious sin” of soliciting a call girl, yet the Louisiana senator has not budged from his committee posts.

Where Craig faced condemnation, Vitter received words of encouragement from colleagues — or at the very least, silence.

Sen. Ted Stevens’s prominent position in the Senate also seems safe, despite the Alaska Republican’s own taint of scandal. The FBI raided Stevens’s home last month in connection with a political corruption scandal in his home state. Substantial renovations of the home were carried out by contractors hired by oil-services company Veco Corp., whose executives have been accused of bribing state lawmakers.

“A disorderly conduct plea requires a member to give up his committee assignment, but a full-fledged bribery investigation does not,” observed Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “Apparently, in the view of the Republican conference there is almost nothing more serious than a member attempting to engage in gay sex.”

The contrast between the GOP’s treatment of Craig and their treatment of other ethically-challenged Republicans is astounding.

Both David Vitter and Ted Stevens retain their positions in the Senate, the respect of their colleagues and their committee assignments—the former patronized prostitutes, the latter is the target of a massive corruption/bribery investigation.

Meanwhile, a man who plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct (without engaging in any actual lewd behavior) is stripped of his committee positions and attacked by his fellow Republicans (such as Senators Norm Coleman and John McCain).

It can’t be that Craig refused to admit he did anything wrong, instead offering a string of petulant denials—Senator Stevens has been exceptionally vehement and petulant about his own wrongdoing (though Vitter, to his credit, did admit some level of responsibility and regret).

It can’t be the hypocrisy, either—both Vitter and Stevens portray themselves as family-values, law-and-order Republicans, so their sordid transgressions make them just as hypocritical as Craig.

So, what is it?

Craig is being treated differently because he’s gay. 

That’s it, that’s all.  The GOP is turning him into a pariah because he was engaging in unethical homosexual behavior.  If he was taking bribes or sleeping with (female) hookers or anything like that, I doubt the Republican Party would give him the treatment he’s receiving now.

It just goes to show you the pathetic state of Republican priorities.  To them, bribery, corruption, lawbreaking, unethical behavior, soliciting hookers, protecting sexual predators (a la Dennis Hastert), etc. are all better than being gay.

Sad. Sad, sad, sad.