Career politicians that lie need timeouts.

I sometimes wish I was a good liar. Then I could be a career politician.
I’m not saying all politicians are liars – most admirably serve their communities out of a desire to better them – but some of the career ones are questionable.
Specifically Republican Sen. Larry Craig (Idaho), the one caught in a sex scandal this summer.
I, like most people already, am way past the point of caring about politicians’ (or entertainers’, celebrities’, etc.) sex lives. What they do behind closed doors (or public bathroom stalls) is their business, especially since many of them have been committing adultery (along with people in every profession) since cavemen discovered secluded areas in the cave they could meet cavewomen (or cavemen for that matter).
As much as I would like politicians to set good examples for their constituents by leading clean, family-friendly lives, I know that’s not possible. Even the most pious professionals, members of the clergy, have their fair share of sex scandals. After all, we are human.
However, I have a problem with politicians who look people in the eyes and lie. President Clinton did it, tarnishing what could have been a spectacular presidency. Some might argue that he should never have been questioned about it in the first place, but a bear caught with his hand in the honey pot needs to be honest because the honey is sticky.
And Sen. Craig doesn’t just have honey on his hand; he looks as though he took a swim in a honey vat, but he wants us to believe someone (the Minneapolis Airport police officer who arrested him in June) spilled the honey on him.
During Tuesday’s interview with Matt Lauer on NBC, Sen. Craig talked about the issue during an hour-long interview, denying he did anything wrong and implying the police officer is the true liar in this case.
Lauer was tough, and said he had a hard time believing Sen. Craig accidentally went through all the correct procedures in the bathroom stall at the airport to solicit the undercover officer. Lauer even told Sen. Craig that most people watching the interview will put themselves in the bathroom stall and realize they would never do all the things he “accidentally” did to get busted.
Sen. Craig, with his wife at his side, said he was shocked too when the officer revealed himself and asked him to step outside the stall because he was going to be arrested.
The Senator almost escaped publicity, keeping his reputation as a good Republican – against the homosexual lifestyle and for good family values – intact, by pleading guilty without anybody, including his wife, knowing about the incident. But then some pesky reporter broke the story, and Craig was forced to come clean.
Nope, wait, he decided to change his mind and say the police officer was the liar and that he would like to appeal his guilty plea. A judge denied the initial appeal, saying the month that elapsed since he pleaded guilty was too much time for him to suddenly decide he was innocent.
I wouldn’t have cared if Craig would have stayed in the Senate to fill out the remainder of his term, if he would have been honest about the situation. “I’m sorry, but I’m human and I did something that hurt my family, so please forgive me as my family and I try to work out this private matter” is all he needed to say.
By implying the police officer is the dishonest one and obviously lying about the situation himself, Sen. Craig just gives me, and many others, one reason not to trust career politicians. With all of the problems this country and the world is currently facing, this trust needs to be repaired so politicians can feel they have the backing of their constituents to actually work towards resolving many of these issues.
My 2-year-old is already old enough to fib. When asked if he went potty in his pants, knowing he needs to tell my wife or me when he needs to use the bathroom, he’ll sometimes say he didn’t, thinking we won’t check because we’ll believe his fib. We don’t and he gets a timeout when we find out he fibbed.
It’s time to give Sen. Craig and other career politicians a timeout when they fib.