Senator Craig's Special Media Protection

The Idaho World is the weekly newspaper for Boise County. The publisher, Ed Hart, had an article in the August 29, 2007 issue with some interesting personal insights into Senator Craig's orientation:

I first heard rumors about Craig's sexual preferences almost 30 years ago, before he was elected to Congress. One of the individuals who also was the subject of those same rumors, Chris Smith, later became my business partner when we purchased the Idaho World. Chris and Larry Craig were rumored to have had a long term sexual relationship ever since their time together at the University of Idaho.

Smith would not confirm nor deny these rumors:

However, after numerous conversations about homosexuality and politics, in which Craig's name was frequently mentioned, he left me with no doubt that Craig was gay. On more than one occasion, Chris defended Craig's votes and political stands that were negative towards the gay community, claiming such stands were necessary for him to remain in office, and that he believed Craig was working behind the scenes to minimize the impact of any such poisitions on the gay community. He did not defend others with similar anti-gay views.

Here is where it gets very interesting--and a reminder that it isn't just Yalies who belong to oath-sworn secret fraternities like Skull & Bones that benefit from college relationships that the general public doesn't know about:

In spite of his strong affiliation with the Democratic Party, Chris refused to print any negative stories about Craig, the very Republican Senator, and took advantage of many opportunities to portray him in a positive light. When I took over editorial duties, he asked me to essentially continue this policy. While I did not feel it was appropriate to promote Senator Craig, we reached an agreement that I would not run negative stories about Craig, unless the stories had already been widely circulated by other news outlets.

Fascinating--an admission of something that would sound like paranoia if anyone outside of the news media said it. It makes me wonder how many other politicians are enjoying similar protection because of their college relationships (and not just those involving sex). Pretty obviously, Bill Sali (R-ID) didn't travel in the right circles to get this special protection from hostile media!