Peas in a Disingenuous Pod

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick have more in common than you might think. Hold those groans. How, you may ask, can these two men, separated by age, race, and ideological and social circumstances, be placed in the same camp?

Here goes:

Until they recently ran afoul of the law, both Craig and Vick were popular public figures with enthusiastic and loyal followers. Given a chance to come clean with the public about their illegal activities, both men chose instead to hunker down and not account for their actions. And, finally, disgraced and marginalized as Vick and Craig are at the moment, the worse days may be yet to come for both.

Of course, there are differences between the two men. Craig is a 27-year member of Congress, a father and grandfather, a rock-ribbed Western conservative, and an outspoken advocate of traditional family values. Vick is a professional football player who was raised in an East Coast public housing project and is unmarried. Their crimes are different, too.

Disorderly conduct, to which Craig pleaded guilty, is a misdemeanor. The senator's lawbreaking concerned allegedly soliciting gay sex in a Minneapolis airport men's room.

That's hardly the same as Vick's pleading guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy "to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture," which in his case means breeding and training dogs to tear each other to pieces for the enjoyment of gambling spectators.

Another difference: What Craig was doing -- or seeking to do -- in that airport restroom required the participation of another consenting adult.

Not so with Vick's operation. Dogs have no say in how they are used.

One other feature sets the two men apart: Vick doesn't pretend to have virtues that he really doesn't possess. Craig, on the other hand, is a raging hypocrite.

But when it comes to the practice of deceit, the two men are closer than two pages in a book.

Finding their private actions subjected to public disclosure, both abandoned the truth.

For instance, when evidence of illegal dogfighting was discovered last April on Vick's property in Virginia's Surry County, he could have owned up to his involvement. Instead he feigned ignorance, assumed the posture of an innocent victim and blamed the dogfighting operation on a cousin.