Doth the senator protest too much?

Re “Senator denies misconduct,” Aug. 29

At his Tuesday news conference, beleaguered Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) stated that he will wait until next month to announce if he is running for reelection.

In my opinion, Craig has about as much chance of being reelected as the Idaho Vandals have of beating the USC Trojans on Saturday.

Tim Geddes

Huntington Beach

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Re “Guilty plea in restroom arrest,” Aug. 28

Let there be no rush to judgment as to Craig’s bad conduct. Nevertheless, one has to wonder about elected officials who publicly oppose equality for gays yet privately may behave in ways that contradict their stated positions. It’s as though their preventing gays from having the responsibilities and protections that straight people take for granted supposedly compensates for, or even justifies, these officials’ alleged secret indulgences.

And perhaps some such individuals believe they can “prove” their heterosexuality, to themselves and others, by seeking to limit the role of gays in today’s America by, for example, denying them the security of societally recognized lives together and the right to serve their country openly in the armed forces and its intelligence agencies.

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” remarks Queen Gertrude in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” in which she is, ironically, unintentionally commenting on herself.

Thomas F. Sheehan

Los Angeles

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Re “Let Larry Craig tap,” Opinion, Aug. 29

Nick Gillespie recommends that the GOP apply the conservative ideal of less government to personal behavior, but the moral majority that began with Ronald Reagan is simply too powerful a voting bloc to be abandoned.

The unfortunate fact remains that many Americans never know a homosexual personally their entire lives and are threatened enough by their progress in society to vote out of fear.

Karl Rove understood that failing to keep them motivated means electoral losses for the Republican Party.

John Wolfenden

Sherman Oaks

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Gillespie uses the stereotyped assumption that Republicans want to regulate private sexual behavior, especially homosexuality. The only evidence he presents is the GOP’s opposition to same-sex marriage, a position shared by most Americans, according to polls, and by a wide majority of Californians who approved Proposition 22 in March 2000 defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Opposing a societal sanction on same-sex marriage in no way involves “shutting down alternative sexuality,” as per Gillespie’s tortured logic. Without same-sex marriage, gays can and do partner and practice however they chose.

Gillespie uses Craig’s behavior to demand that the GOP stop its drive for a cleaner culture. One man’s hypocrisy does not make the entire party hypocritical, nor invalidate its moral voice any more than the multiple bribery charges against Louisiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson invalidate the Democrats’ call for improved ethics.

Michael D. Alex

Torrance