In a deadly profile that appeared during last year's election campaign, Steve Braunias described Conservative Party leader Colin Craig as "the strangest man in any room".
It begins with appearance and demeanour. Perhaps it's just me, but I'm reminded of Anthony Perkins as the deeply troubled proprietor of Bates Motel in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
There's his openness to conspiracy theories: he's on record as having "no idea" whether man actually set foot on the moon. While the notion the moon landing was faked has devolved into entry-level conspiracism, it still invites the response that, if you believe that, you'll believe just about anything.
To be fair, Craig doesn't believe just about anything. While he detects "validity" in English conspiracy theory guru David Icke's premise of a shadowy elite manipulating world events for its nefarious ends, he can't subscribe to Icke's "reptilian hypothesis", according to which our gracious Queen and various other public figures are actually reptiles.
It says something about the times we live in that Craig could cruise the lunatic fringe without being laughed out of politics or having his leadership questioned, yet now faces political ruin because of what Peter Dunne would describe as "unwise, even stupid" mismanagement of a professional relationship with a woman.
Of course, Craig set himself up for the fall by preaching family values and taking a stern line on personal morality. In 2012 he was appalled by a survey that showed New Zealand women are the most promiscuous in the world. It also showed Kiwi men are no slouches in bed-hopping but, as always, male promiscuity was viewed as the behavioural equivalent of night following day.
It's the apparent hypocrisy that gives this story legs, even though we supposedly expect politicians to say one thing and do another, and are - or should be - well aware that sex makes hypocrites of us all.
Colin
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As the Daily Beast website reported this week, a new Gallup values and beliefs survey reveals: "American sexual behaviours are drastically at odds with American sexual beliefs. As a society, we often wag our collective fingers at porn viewers, sexually active teens, cheaters and the promiscuous but, statistically speaking, we're only chastising ourselves."
Shane Jones used his ministerial credit card to hire porn movies, but then he was a "robust, red-blooded dude". Bill Clinton conducted furtive assignations with a White House intern, but then everyone including his wife, knew he was "a hard dog to keep on the porch".
Craig, however, seems to be in the long tradition of public figures who have wrapped themselves in a cloak of virtue but failed to live up to the standards they want to impose on everybody else. The most recent addition to this dishonour roll is Denis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, who has been indicted on charges of evading banking regulations to conceal hush money payments. Hastert has since been hit with allegations of sexual abuse dating back to his first career as a schoolteacher.
My favourite examples of this syndrome are, first, the Indonesian MP from an Islamic Party that had sponsored draconian anti-pornography legislation who had to resign after being photographed watching porn on his laptop during a session of Parliament.
Then there's George Rekers, a US psychologist, ordained minister and enthusiastic practitioner of conversion therapy intended to convert homosexuals to heterosexuality. In 2010 Rekers was looking for a companion to accompany him on a two-week European vacation. So as any Bible-banger who believes homosexuality is sinful and destructive would do, he logged on to Rentboy.com and hired a male prostitute.
Colin Craig comments on "inappropriate" interactions with former press secretary
Colin Craig has admitted that some of his interactions with former press secretary Rachael MacGregor were "inappropriate", but rejects accusations of sexual harassment. ...
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The skydiving trick that was nearly my last
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Rekers said he'd needed a "travel assistant" to carry his luggage as he suffers from a bad back and he'd "spent a great deal of time sharing scientific information on the desirability of abandoning homosexual intercourse and shared the Gospels of Jesus Christ in great detail".
For his part, the travel assistant said his main duty was giving nude massages.
From what we know, Craig's behaviour sounds more that of a moony teenager than calculating predator. He wrote poems: a sample of his alleged verse that's doing the rounds is called Two of me.
Exactly: trying to have it both ways is what got him into this mess.
