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There was a time, not too long ago, when a politician getting arrested for any reason was likely to cause trouble for his or her career. If an officeholder got taken into police custody for a DUI, that was considered a scandal. If that policymaker claimed not to drink alcohol and then got arrested for a DUI, it would be a story that's tough to live down.
But it appears standards and expectations have changed, and we live in a political era of unexpected tolerance. Just two weeks after Sen. Michael Crapo (R-Idaho) was busted on a DUI charge, and just days after he pleaded guilty in a Virginia court, he's poised to receive a promotion.
Sen. Mike Crapo is quickly trying to move past his drunken-driving scandal, announcing Tuesday he's expected to become the top Republican on the powerful Banking Committee and will serve as Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn's top deputy in the new Congress. [...]
As Cornyn's chief deputy for the 113th Congress, Crapo will lead a team of senators as they whip votes and communicate messaging and strategy to their GOP colleagues.
I'm not criticizing the developments, necessarily, or suggesting he should be punished severely by his colleagues. In fact, as political controversies go, Crapo's transgression seems fairly minor, especially since he didn't hurt anyone. Stepping back, though, I find it hard not to marvel at the surprisingly libertine attitudes in the socially-conservative Republican Party.
It's possible, if not likely, that DUI arrests no longer carry the shock value that they once did, even when they involve a sitting U.S. senator. But it's nevertheless striking when a senator who claims to abstain from alcohol finds himself arrested, only to get a promotion two weeks later, facing no adverse political consequences at all for his misdeeds.
This would have been hard to predict in the not-too-distant past.
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IOKIYAR
Mike's full of Crap-oh.
IOKIYAR. The "Party of Personal Responsibility" only means responsibility for those poor brown people. If you're a Republican, you can "move past" any personal misdeeds. Look at David Vitter. Compared to what he got away with, DUI is nothing.
Vitter and his buddies had that bad hooker-lady killed! They most certainly got away with murder which is way worse than a measly DUI..
Yeah, but if he was lying about abstaining from alcohol, what's next? I've noticed that people are "of a piece." They're not this way about one thing and that way about another. A liar by any other name is still a liar.
Sadly, it is this lack of punishment that will probably influence Cropo to drive under the infuence again and this time perhaps kill someone. wouldn't it be ironic if he drinks, drives and kills some other Senators daughter.
All of this recent Crappo history just establishes his fitness as a Tea Party Republican. He has no principles on which he is willing to stand, especially religious ones; is an accomplished liar who keeps a straight face even when intoxicated: and he will be promoted and respected for those same by colleagues who admire such skill above all else in a political setting. Well done, Mike "Tea Party" Crappo.
bashir al-assad invokes the same rights of the privileged to be immune from law while at the same time allowing the population to be his victims
There's only one thing that isn't overlooked in America: not being wealthy. Nothing else carries a stigma. I'll bet not 2% of Americans can name the Newtown shooter.
If indeed Crapo has uttered many a public statement about not being a drinker, and then he's busted for DUI, he is a rank, untrustworthy hypocrite, and for that he should resign his Senate seat or risk eternal damnation for his transgression of his coveted 10 Commandments - ah, but he would have to have a bit of humility and shame to do that, and if he's gonna burn in Hell anyway, he may just think to himself, "Go for it" regarding the Banking committee!
After all, if he's gonna get a drunken wild hair up his nose, and then get caught by da poolice, it's their fault, not his (at least according to Crapo who obviously uses himself as the measure of all things, and not his maker)!
The Republican brand is fully embodying divinities of sacrilege and idle worship - Crapo is the latest manifestation of a phenomenon unbecoming for a decent and liberty-minded people, and I'm quite tired of the likes of him and his brand trying to eke out one more entitlement for the rich at the very expense of the not-so-rich!
What will it take for the good citizens of Idaho to defeat Crapo in 2016?
Crapo getting caught in a men's airport stall in Minnesota? -Kevo
Kevo...
Worse... He's a Mormon...
It's only a DUI, it's not like everybody doesn't do it, right Mr. Craphead?
It's neo-accountability! Isn't it wonderful?!
its the very same apartheid relationship style as israelis and palestinians. or israelis to americans - ie... uss liberty
'we live in a political era of unexpected tolerance'....well....if you're a REPUBLICAN and crazy adds points...
This is just a PRIME example why Idaho should be sticking the 10 Commandments up in some public place.
/s/
I can think of a "place" (where da sun don't shine) the 10 Commandments should be stuck- up- in public!
... while they're still on the stone tablets...
The GOP is the party of the lawless, both ideologically and really.
if the pattern continues, the country faces the danger of digestion, assimilation, acclamation.
Wow. Using those standards of conduct as a guideline...here's hoping "Morning Joe" is feeling confident enough to make a Presidential run in 2016!!
Oh, the fun we'll have...
Steve, lets not forget those on the other side of the isle who don't pay their taxes but still get appointments.
This is totally unacceptable. There is not much else to say.
I doubt we'd see this tolerance if Crapo was a Democrat up for such a promotion in these circumstances. I can already hear McConnell and Graham's sputtering outrage.
How'd he get "caught"? Doesn't being a Senator carry any weight anymore?
/s/
Idaho Sen. Crapo charged with DUI in Virginia
The fact that Senator Crapo was arrested in a Washington, DC suburb and not in Idaho may have had something to do with it...
I wonder how many times he's 'not been caught' in Idaho.
Not to beat a dead horse, but back in August 2007, when he was running for the Republican nomination for President and, consequently, had to prove his credentials as a homophobe, Sen. John McCain called upon Larry Craig to resign from the Senate. When asked why this did not make him a homophobe, especially in light of his failure to call for Sen. Vitter's resignation, he said this:
"I believe that he pled guilty, and he had the opportunity to plead innocent, and so I think he should resign. My opinion is that when you plead guilty to a crime, then you shouldn't serve. . . . . I don't try to judge people, but in this case, it is clear that it was disgraceful."
Unlike Sen. Crapo, Sen. Craig did not commit a crime that endangered the lives of innocent people. I'd like to hear Sen. Straight Talk on this issue now.
We all make mistakes in life. My issue is someone preaching not drinking and how its a sin then gets caught with a DUI. My question is what would their reaction have been if it was a DEM congressman who was in the same situation?
He would be crowned king.
I have to say, I really disagree with Steve on this one: "Crapo's transgression seems fairly minor, especially since he didn't hurt anyone."
Driving drunk has the potential to end in murder. The lack of a fatality here seems beside the point. It's the illresponsible behavior that matters to me
The story in the Washington Post quoted Sen. Crapo as saying that he had vodka and tonics in his apartment and then he got in his car and was arrested for running a red light in Alexandria, Va. The question for me is why would he drink in his apartment alone and then decide to go for a ride. It would be very interesting to learn where he was going. Don't know where his apartment is located, likely the District of Columbia, but possibly in Va. Just saying , actions seem odd as well as dumb.
"...he didn't hurt anyone." Only because he was lucky. Yeah, he's a Mormon, and hence the usual Republican hypocrisy gets highlighted. But I don't see DUI as "relatively minor" no matter who you are. If you've had too much, call a cab.
Having a name like Crapo would drive anyone to drink.
Ted Kennedy???
Lying is now considered so much a part of the game, the American people now EXPECT to be lied to, and that- in turn, is what makes it acceptable. The "new normal." We EXPECT to be lied to by everyone. FOX tells us that the "liberal media" lies to us, while they blatantly twist selected facts into fiction, while telling their viewers that "everyone else is against them, is lying to them. "Trust us, and us alone because everyone lies." There should be a network that goes head to head with FOX, exposing their "selection of the "truth" as the kind of purely a self-serving, biased "spin" that children often tell their parents to stay out of trouble and get their way.
Our expectations are now so low, in part because of our distrust of government, and in part because of the GOP's anit government position. But ultimately is our lowered expectations of what government can be, what it should be, and the standards we should be able to expect of our leadership, it is these rock bottom expectations that allows them to deliver rock-bottom performance. WE, the people have to raise the bar, and thanks Rachel, for setting the example of intelligent discourse and disagreement.