I don't like dishonest people and I don't like hypocrites. That's why I don't like Sen. Larry Craig. And now, in an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC to air Tuesday night, Craig is playing the victim.
The Idaho senator bitterly criticized Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, for whom he had worked as a liaison to the Senate, for abandoning him in his hour of need after he acknowledged that he had been arrested in an airport bathroom sex sting: “He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again,” Craig acknowledged that he was in “the toughest fight of my political life,” but said: “I'm a fighter. ... I don’t just walk away from a fight.”
Craig pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct after an undercover officer said he exhibited behavior consistent with that of someone seeking a sexual encounter. He unsuccessfully sought to withdraw his plea last week.
Craig told Lauer that he kept the arrest quiet because “I didn’t want to embarrass my wife, my kids, Idaho and my friends...I made a very big mistake, I should have told my wife. I should have told my kids. And most importantly, I should have told counsel.”
When asked by Lauer if he knew of the reputation of the restroom where he was arrested, Craig says say “No — not at all.” The restroom has been described as a hotspot for anonymous sexual encounters between gay men.
“I had no reason to know that,” he says. “I don't use the Internet. I don't have a computer at my desk. I e-mail with my Blackberry...I walked into an entrapment and a sting.”
His wife, Suzanne, joined him for the interview and continued to play then role of loyal political spouse. She said after she learned of her hubby's arrest: “I felt like the floor was falling out from under me” when Craig told her that the story was going to break. It happened right here in this room...And I felt like almost like I was going down a drain for a few moments.”
She insists this is not a marriage of convenience to cover up a gay lifestyle: “People know me and know that I would never do that. That's almost like selling your soul for something.”
Craig says of his wife: “I love this woman very, very much. The day I found her, I fell deeply in love. And we're heading toward our 25th anniversary.”

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