From Atrios, Oyster, and ThinkProgress, we learn that even Sean Hannity, the arch-conservative pundit from the Fox News show Hannity and That Other Guy, is now calling for David Vitter's resignation. Hannity, in a rare moment of clarity, believes Vitter should be consistent and take the advice he offered President Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal. Last night, Hannity said, "I think Senator Vitter should probably live by the line he put out for Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal" (video appears below). Hannity adds his name to the growing list of conservatives who are openly calling for Vitter's resignation, a list that includes many conservatives from right here in Louisiana.
Still, there are a handful of Vitter loyalists out there-- people whose convictions seem to change with the political tide, people who are willing to place their own partisanship above our state's best interest, people who have been forced to engage in impressive rhetorical acrobatics in order to imply that Vitter's "serious sin" is actually a "tradition." And while it may be noteworthy that some Louisianans have stuck by the embattled Vitter, it is hardly worthy of praise.
(In honor of the Sinning Senator's 2 year anniversary of his press conference where he admitted he, uh, was a Sinnin' Senator, Daily Kingfish is promoting posts from that time. - promoted by ryan)
A week ago, Veracifer, one of YouTube's most prolific contributors of political video content, uploaded three of David Vitter's television commercials for the 2004 Senate race. Thus far, the video has been viewed over 23,000 times.
Beware: This probably WILL annoy you. But it's worth returning to, if only to remember how the Vitter campaign aggressively used his family as their principal marketing device.
The first commercial features the entire family sitting at a breakfast table, while the candidate, holding a box of Cheerios, lectures about Social Security, corruption, and welfare reform from the confines of his comfortable suburban home. Wendy Vitter even enters the picture, handing their infant son to her husband as he concludes his remarks and stating, "Great David. You can start by changing Jack." The commercial is supposed to signal to viewers that David Vitter is a well-adjusted, wealthy, and articulate family man, though the unsteady camera work is a bit jarring. The point is clear, however: If you vote for David Vitter, you're not only voting for the man; you're voting for the Vitter family, a theme that is continually developed throughout these three campaign commercials.
In hindsight, the next commercial may be considered the most offensive, because instead of hearing from the candidate, the viewer is introduced to the young Sophie Vitter, who tells us that she is directing this commercial on behalf of her father. We're supposed to suspend our disbelief for a bit; this is David Vitter from the lens of one of his own children: The candidate as "Dad."
The DP informs us that "Senator David Vitter has scheduled a 5pm news conference in Metairie today where he is expected to finally speak publicly about his admitted ties to a Washington, D.C. prostitution ring". In light of this news, I've collected a long review of facts and claims made in the past week about L'Affaire Vitter.
(This analysis of the Louisiana GOP's bifurcated reception of L'Affaire Vitter is timely and informative. - promoted by pointecoupeedemocrat)
While David Vitter waits in an undisclosed location until the coast is clear, the Republican spin machine is in damage control mode, but if anything demonstrates the divisions and fractures within the Republican Party, particularly the Louisiana Republican Party, it is their uneven, uncertain, and unbalanced reaction to the Vitter scandal.
Some are rightfully angry. After all, Vitter violated the sanctity of the very institution he so vehemently sought to "protect." He is a man who sold himself to voters on a platform of Christian morality and conservativism, a man who first ascended to national politics after Bob Livingston resigned. And that now seems somewhat ironic. Because the "crime" committed by Livingston, adultery, pales in comparison to what Vitter has admitted, that of being a serial john.
Others, like paid media consultant and conservative pundit Lee Fletcher, are doing their best to divert attention away from Vitter's trangressions and onto the "real culprit." Fletcher would have his audience believe the Vitter scandal is the result of a grand conspiracy, allegedly ordered and orchestrated by a seemingly endless list of former and current public officials. To be sure, Fletcher doesn't deny Vitter's improprieties, though he writes as if forgiveness is a perfunctory obligation of Louisiana citizens. When reading Fletcher's hurried and often garbled responses to this controversy, one can see the nascency of the Vitter counter-attack: the discrediting of Jeanette Maier, the glorification and embellishment of Vitter's accomplishments, the attempt to assign "privacy" to the details of the controversy, the underhanded smearing of Senator Landrieu, and the construction of an impossibly complicated alliance of Vitter foes who worked to "time" this story as "political payback" for the defeat of the immigration reform bill. (Fletcher, predictably, fails to mention or acknowledge that Senator Landrieu voted WITH Vitter on this bill and even voted for Vitter's amendments).
On Monday, he released a statement, admitting that he had “committed a very serious sin in my past” sin for which he “asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there – with God and them.”
Left unsaid is that the good Senator should have thought about all this before undoing his zipper. So now, he is just reaping what he’s sown.
According to ABC News, Vitter released the information to avoid being scooped by Larry Flynt’s Hustler magazine. Hustler tied the good Senator to a phone number released by the DC Madam in February of 2001. The Times-Picayune found additional calls from the cell phone to the DC Madam from 1999-2001, while the Senator was a sitting Congressman, having replaced former Rep. Livingston, who resigned rather than face his own peccadilloes being splashed all over the front pages during the Clinton Impeachment hearings.
So that's at least one prostitute. And the good Senator called for President Clinton’s impeachment for his sexual escapades while having a few of his own, with women (yes, that is plural) not his wife.
This brings up the question of whether the Senator uses condoms while screwing around with women not his wife. This is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak ... the good Senator is opposed to condoms being handed out in schools, or teaching teenagers about safe sex, it’s abstinence only teaching he espouses. So, we know that the good Senator did not remain faithful to his wife. Did he at least protect her from STD’s? Or is he a bigger asshole than we think?
"Vitter carried on an affair of several months' duration with a “sex worker” from the French Quarter. [And] apparently it's widely known in Louisiana political circles, that Vitter's commercial romance was blessed with issue. Reportedly his natural child now lives with her mother in Alexandria, VA. That they are receiving financial support from the Senator has been shown."
That's at least two prostitutes. And there is yet more to this story ...
