Soapbox abuse

Blogger Mike Rogers would have us believe that U.S. Sen. Larry Craig has engaged in gay sex.

The initial response should be, “so what?” But Rogers’ timing and his tactics raise broader issues.

Rogers, a gay activist blogger, wants to hurt Craig politically with the claim that he made on “The Ed Schultz Show” earlier this week. He says the Idaho Republican deserves to be “outed” because he regularly hurts the gay community by voting against such causes as gay marriage.

Rogers didn’t allege any criminal conduct by Craig. Rather, he said, the senator was targeted because he’s a hypocrite. Craig called the assertions “completely ridiculous.”

Craig’s constituents, meanwhile, face a he-said, he-said dispute in the wake of a congressional scandal over former Congressman Mark Foley’s acknowledged sexual relationships with a former page. You can’t always tell it from the conversation, but the circumstances and issues are substantially different.

The Foley case, like the Jim West case that occupied Spokane throughout 2005, involves an abuse of trust between an adult authority figure and a sexual partner decidedly younger. That the men were gay is incidental.

Rogers’ latest claims about Craig – unsubstantiated except for his trust-me assurances – are solely about sexual orientation. It’s unsettling and thuggish for anyone, gay activists included, to out politicians simply as a means of political retribution.

The details of Rogers’ ploy raise other questions, too. On Monday, the day before he appeared on the Schultz show, he posted the names of 20 Republican senators and asked readers to guess which one was the man he was about to out, thus raising questions about everyone on his list. The Wonkette blog followed up by posting a photo of Craig and Mike Crapo, Idaho’s other Republican senator, smiling and holding a baby. “One of the two gentlemen on the right is gay,” said the blog.

Many of those who reacted to blogs published by Rogers, Wonkette and Idaho Democrats accepted Rogers’ claim as truth, despite the lack of corroboration or evidence of wrongdoing. Many posted comments expressed delight that Rogers had taken on Craig. Some were vulgar.

It’s hard to take Rogers seriously when he treats the issue as if he were running some type of television game show. More important, if Craig does or doesn’t have gay sex is a nonissue. Rogers of all people should know that.