See if any of the following quotes ring a bell: 

• “I am not a crook”
• “I did not have sex with that woman”
• “I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport”

Yes- here we go again.

Politicians never seem to learn the most important lesson of public life: tell the truth and tell it right from the very start. Never lie.  Never.  Because you will almost always be caught.  And, as we’ve seen so many times in the past, the lie becomes worse than the act you sought to conceal.

Think how the course of history might have changed if, the morning after the Watergate burglary, President Nixon had called a press conference and said something like this: 

          “Last night some people working for me did a terrible thing.  They broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee in an attempt to help my re-election effort.  I take full responsibility for their actions and beg every American’s forgiveness.  I promise this will never happen again”. 

  Just think: we would have been spared two years of agonizing investigations, a constitutional crisis that almost wrecked our government and Nixon would have gone down in history as one of our great presidents, instead of holding the dishonor of being the only president forced to resign in disgrace.  It’s also possible Jimmy Carter would never have been elected President, since much of his support came from people disgusted with Nixon’s dishonesty. 

Ditto for Bill Clinton.  If he had admitted his little indiscretion with Monica right at the very beginning, he would have pre-empted all the investigations and avoided any talk at all of impeachment.  It’s also quite likely that George W. Bush would never have been elected President.  Remember, Bush’s 2000 campaign was largely based on “restoring integrity” to the White House.  In the closest election in U.S. history, it wouldn’t have taken too many votes to give the victory to Gore.

  

Which brings us to Sen. Larry Craig.  He did something really stupid in the men’s room at the Minneapolis airport last June.  By his own admission, he reached under the toilet stall partition and touched the man in the stall next door.  That man, of course, turned out to be an undercover cop. 

Like Nixon and Clinton before him, Craig panicked.  He entered a guilty plea to a charge of disorderly conduct, in the hope no one would ever find out. Of course, someone always finds out.  Even if the local news media is asleep, as they apparently were in this case, your political enemies will find out. And in politics, there are always enemies waiting for a chance to bring you down. 

So what does Craig do?  He calls a news conference and tells the world he did nothing wrong. He says it was all a misunderstanding.  He admits his foot strayed under the partition, touching the foot of the guy in the next stall.  And he admits reaching down with his hand, under the partition.  But he says he was only trying to pick up a piece of paper from the floor.  Jay Leno nailed that one the other night when he said: “I don’t even like it when my shoelaces touch the floor” in the men’s room.  Even his fellow Republicans said Senator Craig’s explanation “was not credible”.

 

What should Craig have done?  I’ll offer the same advice I’d offer any public official in a similar situation: 

1. Talk to your lawyer.  That’s why you hired him.
2. Talk to your family and prepare them for what is to come.
3. Tell your political associates so they’re ready when the news breaks.
4. Tell your staff.
5. Last- and most important- tell your constituents.  Call a press conference and confess.  Tell the whole truth and accept the blame completely.  Don’t try to blame anyone else and don’t make excuses.  Just admit you made a mistake that you really regret and then beg for everyone’s forgiveness.

A funny thing happens when you do that last step.  People will forgive you.  Voters actually admire public officials who have the enormous courage to admit their shortcomings because everyone knows how difficult it is. So instead of earning everyone’s disdain, you wind up earning their respect. 

No, it’s not easy.  Yes, you’ll feel humiliated for a few days or a few weeks.  But you’ve ended the ordeal.  It’s over. And you and everyone else can and will move on. 

The public loves stories of redemption.  You just have to find the courage to give them the chance.