US Senator David Vitter is scheduled to appear on Fox News Sunday tomorrow morning which has all of us at The Daily Kingfish wondering – Will they have the journalistic integrity to ask Senator Vitter the questions that everyone is wanting to know the answer to?Or will Chris Wallace and Fox News give Vitter a soft landing spot that they always seem to do with Republicans?
Talking Points Memo has obtained directories clearly showing that Brent Furer was assigned to women’s issues and go on to say that while “Lying is a strong word to be used in politics.And it’s usually best to be avoided.”Vitter’s first run in with reporters yesterday in Baton Rouge the Senator unequivocally stated that Furer was not assigned to Women’s issues instead, he claimed that it has always been the case that a staffer in Lafayette and his deputy COS have always handled these issues. TPM clearly shows that has not been the case and points back to the ABC reports from the previous few days that show that as recently as two months ago, Furer was actively working on this issue and met with different Women's Advocacy and Anti-Domestic Violence groups.
Furer you will recall from previous news accounts was arrested and charged with several crimes surrounding an incident where his ex girlfriend claims she was held at knifepoint for over 90 minutes, cut, threatened that she was going to be killed and when she tried to call 911 on her cell phone Furer smashed the phone.
As is so often the case with politicians when they get caught up in the scandal… they lies they produce often only add fuel to the flames.In this case, because Vitter so skillfully evades reporters, this makes it only worse.
In related issues – yesterday as a post script, I posted the Lafayette KATC coverage of this matter.The troubling point is to see the comments from folks who saw the report.They made claims of bias on the part of the reporter and that they would stop watching the channel due to this “clear bias.”Have we really come to this?News, real news, that gets reported on that we don’t like or that doesn’t fit neatly into our own views then it is BIASED?I like most like to listen and engage with like minded folks, but I also want news – even when it hurts or challenges my beliefs or desires.
Vitter said the issue has been "misrepresented" and "misreported," and he called it old news.
"Well, the event was two years ago. The discipline he got in the office was two years ago," Vitter told reporters.
The senator's remarks came on the heels of an announcement from the National Organization for Women over the weekend calling on the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to censure Sen. David Vitter for tolerating the behavior of a top aide who allegedly threatened to kill a female friend and held her at knife-point during a 90-minute ordeal.
Five years ago, then-Sinning Congressman David Vitter during a radio show, responded to the true allegations that he committed the crime of solicitation and the sin of adultery multiple times by stating:
"I think you know that that allegation is absolutely and completely untrue...I have said that on numerous occasions ... I'll say that in any forum," Vitter said during the broadcast on WSMB radio. "Unfortunately, that's just crass Louisiana politics, now that I am running for the Senate. I have made that clear that it is all completely untrue...And, it's obviously politically motivated."
Actually, Sinning Senator, what was politically motivated was your crass lying to the people of Louisiana. That was the first time you "did a Vitter" as loyal GOP operatives knew of the multiple visits to brothels in Louisiana, as well as the sordid saga of your relationship with Wendy Cortez, but felt that political power for them via your campaign was more important than doing the right thing by finding a less ethically challenged candidate to support.
I bring this up yet again, not only to remind folks that David Vitter is not only a Sinning Senator but also a liar as well, and he is continuing to lie to us about it. Yesterday, during an open house in Houma, he was asked how he would respond to questions regarding his involvement with Wendy Cortez, as well as the DC Madam, and possibly quite a few more prostitutes:
"By very sincerely saying it was a serious sin in my past, 10 years ago, and asking for forgiveness beginning with the folks who where hurt the most by it," Vitter said. "So I think I've done that in a real straightforward way."
AHEM. I'm sorry to say that the Sinning Senator may have completed his penance with Mrs. Vitter, but he hasn't even come close to doing his penance for the people of Louisiana.
"I think Livingston's stepping down makes a very powerful argument that Clinton should resign as well and move beyond this mess," he said. [Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 12/20/98]
Why the double standard, Sinning Senator Vitter? Are you a better person than former President Clinton, former Congressman Bob Livingston, or former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer? I think not. So why the double standard, sir?
Fox News' own right-wing nutbag Sean Hannity said the following last night:
If you're going to be a family-values candidate and a family-values politician, and you don't live up to that, I think you should resign.
Of course, Hannity said this in response to Nevada's Republican Senator John Ensign cheating on his wife with a staffer's wife, not David Vitter cheating on his wife, kids, and constituents with prostitutes, but the message is quite clear. Even conservatives (heck, especially conservatives) should be put off by one of their own not living up to their own standards. Conservatives should not stand with Sinning Senators, as much (if not moreso) for the hypocrisy as the sin itself. We'll have to wait and see how principled "family values" conservatives are on this issue when it comes to David Vitter.
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign digs a deeper hole by trying to explain the difference in Republican reactions between David Vitter's scandal and Larry Craig's scandal:
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., the Senate Republican campaign chairman, said Craig "admitted guilt. That is a big difference between being accused of something and actually admitting guilt."
"David Vitter never did that. Larry Craig did," continued Ensign on ABC's "This Week" program.
Whoa! Chairman Ensign is conceding that David Vitter has never admitted guilt for anything? Really? Either Ensign did not see David Vitter's press conference from almost two months ago, or Ensign will try to contend that Vitter never explicitly admitted to soliciting prostitutes, in which case every member of the media covering Washington DC and Louisiana politics should be on the horn to David Vitter's office to get a clarification.
Has David Vitter formally admitted (or will he now admit) that he solicited prostitutes?
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."
(In honor of the 2 year anniversary - July 16, 2007 - of the Sinning Senator's revelations that he was, um, a Sinning Senator, Daily Kingfish will be promoting diaries from that time. Here's the first one. - promoted by ryan)
Boysie Bollinger, the New Orleans shipyard tycoon and a major force in the Louisiana Republican Party, a man who has "served as a delegate to every Republican National Convention since 1976, and was the State of Louisiana’s Finance Chairman for the George W. Bush for President Campaign and Campaign Chair for his General Election.... was State Finance Chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party on three occasions and served on the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee," recently told reporter John Hill something that, until he said it, no other Louisiana Republican political insider had been willing to admit: That insiders have known quite well and for quite some time about the allegations that David Vitter was a frequent patron of prostitutes and that they understood the damage it could inflict if the story were made public.
Hill quotes Bollinger as stating, "We (Louisiana Republican party insiders) discussed this exact fact, that this bomb could go off." Hill writes party insiders had known about these allegations as early as 2002, though he doesn't specify when Bollinger and other insiders had these discussions.
Of course, although it is disturbing that insiders knew and discussed these allegations yet still decided to support Vitter during his 2004 Senate race, it's not too surprising. After all, in a 2002 interview with Vitter, Jeff Crouere, a conservative talk show host, fielded a phone call from a caller who went by the name "Flaming Liberal," who directly asked Vitter if he would be willing to "sign under the penalty of perjury an affidavit saying you have never had an extramarital affair and you have never known, met or been in the company of one Wendy Cortez," to which Vitter "accidentally" responded by saying those allegations were "absolutely true." And it's not surprising because Republican Chris Tidmore and Republican State Central Committee member Vincent Bruno had made similar accusations against Vitter.
But in this onslaught of Vitter coverage, one of the most interesting stories, a story that clearly shows that Vitter and his team of insiders were aware of the real threat of the ticking "time bomb" way back in 2002, has been somewhat glossed over.
(Yowza! I wonder if any GOPers are going to comment on this, or will it be swept under the rug because It's Okay IfYou're ARepublican? - promoted by ryan)
UPDATE III: Yup, there's more there. According to Hustler's Larry Flynt, Vitter's phone call to the DC Madam in occurred in 2001, which he did not reveal in his press release.
It gets better ... or worse, depending on how you look at it. Vitter's campaign commercials from his 2004 Senate campaign:
Notice how he says the following:
"In life's important moments, we are not Republicans or Democrats, we're parents."
How do you explain this one to your kids, Senator?
UPDATE: Go check out Right Hand Thief's post on this story. RHT goes further and explores one of the people - Victor Bruno - quoted in one of the articles about Vitter's apology. Could the Louisiana GOP be on the verge of a civil war?
Originally posted at Democrat2Democrat
Republican Senator David Vitter'sendorsement of thrice-married Rudy Guilliani for the GOP presidential nomination raised some eyebrows among the senator's rock-ribbed, anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-constitution crowd.
A bit of the reason came out today when it was revealed that then-Congressman Vitter's phone number was one of those calling a Washington prostitution ring — er, uh, escort service.
Here's the lead of the Associated Press story as it appeared in the Washington Post tonight:
WASHINGTON -- Sen. David Vitter, R-La., apologized Monday night for "a very serious sin in my past" after his telephone number appeared among those associated with an escort service operated by the so-called "D.C. Madam."
Vitter's spokesman, Joel Digrado, confirmed the statement in an e-mail sent to The Associated Press.
US Senator David Vitter is scheduled to appear on Fox News Sunday tomorrow morning which has all of us at The Daily Kingfish wondering – Will they have the journalistic integrity to ask Senator Vitter the questions that everyone is wanting to know the answer to?
Talking Points Memo has 
Boysie Bollinger
