[skylark]

Sorry for the defensiveness, but I thought I was being attacked (not by you, necessarily, but by some other posters who clearly think I'm a complete idiot and read all of my posts in that light) ... and I mistakenly assumed you were jumping on the wagon. My apologies.

I definitely agree that IF Craig were to come out in my little political fantasy, he would definitely be shunned by Idaho politics in general. It would possibly give the small gay/lesbian communities in Boise/Moscow/Sun Valley more voice (assuming Craig came out in a positive way). I saw any future success being more of a national thing. He would never get elected to anything again, but he could have become a national political figure (once again, in an optimistic alternate universe). I think it is really unfortunate when politicians get up and misstate science because every time they do that there are probably 100 people who believe them.

As far as Bill Sali goes, yes he pretty much makes me ashamed to live here. The whole thing reminds me of when a President of an African country in the late-nineties claimed that AIDS didn't exist or something to that effect (I think it was either Lesotho or S. Africa). Why is it, though, that conservative politicians get away with avoiding science all the time? Global warming, abortion (they say it influences all sorts of risks that are usually as present or less in comparison to giving birth), birth control, etc. No other public figures can get away with being so ignorant (just look at Tom Cruz's fallout after his ignorant comments about post-partum depression).

I don't understand why Idahoans elect most of the people out there, including Butch Otter [Idaho's governor]. I'm really freakin pissed off about the last two idaho supreme court appointments with him. [For out-of-staters, Idaho has 5 supreme court justices, one of them was female and in the past we've had as many as two female justices at the same time... the female justice and another justice left and so in a matter of months there were 2 appointments to make] The general consensus among some insiders I've heard is that he purposely passed over two arguably MORE qualified women because he wanted to prove the point that he didn't have to appoint another woman if he didn't want to. Considering everyone's age on the Court, it could be 10 years before another appointment opens up.

Back to Larry Craig... (reading one of your earlier posts, VandalSquirrel) I also feel pretty bad for his family. I don't know if you saw the fact that he had even his adoptive children speak on the news on behalf of his sexuality. I thought that was inappropriate, just like it was inappropriate for him to drag his wife there at that press conference. Something about her demeanor at that infamous press conference made me think she didn't want to be there. It was if he was trying to use her as evidence for his heterosexuality. I practically expected a reporter to ask about their sex life or something.