Wow.  I'm sure more information will (ahem) come out as time unfolds, but this is a big 'un:  a U.S. Senator was arrested in June in a men's room at the Minneapolis airport.  Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) copped a plea to disorderly conduct in Hennepin County District Court on August 8 and was sentenced to a 10-day suspended jail sentence, a year's probation, and more than $500 in fines and court costs.  (That link is Time's blog, picking up a Roll Call story, but Roll Call's site is, understandably, getting hammered right now.)

Sen. Craig (who once called Bill Clinton "a bad boy, a naughty boy") voted in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, as TPM Election Central notes.  (TPMEC also has Craig voting in favor of an amendment to Idaho's constitution defining marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman, but I'm unclear as to why a U.S. Senator would be voting for an amendment to a state constitution.  Can anyone enlighten me?)

In a detail that I just love, Craig's spokesman apparently called the incident "a he said/he said misunderstanding."

Evidently it was quite a misunderstanding, considering that Craig pled guilty to disorderly conduct.

And, I'm sure his arresting officer was duly impressed:

At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” the report states.

Does that mean he got the fur-lined handcuffs instead of the plain old metal ones?

Seriously, the thing that makes my jaw drop about this story is the lag time.  What amazes me is that Sen. Craig was arrested on June 11, his court date was August 8, and that news didn't break on this for nineteen days after that.  The cops knew he was a U.S. Senator, the DA I'm sure knew, I'm guessing Craig's staff knew about it (because, presumably, they had to know why he needed to go back to Minnesota for his court date), and no one leaked it to the press at some stage?  That's the truly shocking thing to me...even more than Craig's hypocrisy.

UPDATE:  Craig has decided to, as they say, revise and extend his remarks:

"At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

So he shouldn't have pled guilty...but he pled guilty.  And he didn't have the advice of counsel?  I count 41 business days between his arrest and his court date -- ample time for someone so august as a United States Senator to secure a lawyer.  Or did he not remember his Miranda rights, which were surely read to him?  The ones guaranteeing him a lawyer and offering one to him if he couldn't afford one?

It's kind of hard to argue that you were wrongly convicted when you pled guilty.

ANOTHER UPDATE:  Turns out Craig was outed back in October -- that blog post claims that Craig had had assignations in a Union Station bathroom. 

Also at that link, check out the video clip from 1982.  During the page-sex scandal (a bipartisan one!)  Craig was never named or implicated...but he called a press conference and issued a pre-emptive denial anyway.  (!)