[UPDATE: Jon Swift has a hilarious post about this — “David Vitter: Another Victim of Gay Marriage.”]
Isn’t it sweet? The Republican hypocrite parade continues as Senator David Vitter (R-LA), a co-author of the Federal Marriage Amendment, wasn’t protecting his own marital vows when he had some sex-for-hire from escort service Pamela Martin and Associates before he ran for the Senate.
Since his name turned up on the recently released phone records, he had to come clean, so to speak. You know the drill — God and his wife have forgiven him and he’s really, really sorry (that he was caught):
“This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible,” said Vitter in a statement. “Several years ago, I 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. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.”A little birdie passed this bit of juicy irony on:…In 2004, Vitter campaigned with a promise of “protecting the sanctity of marriage,” and was a co-author of the “Federal Marriage Act” that sought to prohibit courts from interpreting same-sex marriage laws.
“This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history,” he said then.
In 2000, Vitter was included in a Newhouse News Service story about the strain of congressional careers on families. His wife, Wendy, was asked by the Newhouse reporter: If her husband were as unfaithful as Livingston or former President Bill Clinton, would she be as forgiving as Hillary Rodham Clinton?From Vitter’s web site:“I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,” Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. “If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”
“We need a U.S. Senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts’s values. I am the only Senate Candidate to coauthor the Federal Marriage Amendment; the only one fighting for its passage. I am the only candidate proposing changes to the senate rules to stop liberal obstructionists from preventing an up or down vote on issues like this, judges, energy, and on and on.”
Comments from the peanut gallery? See the Freeper reaction after the flip…
He asked forgiveness. He got it. Why drag this up now????
Would anyone be interested in setting up a live thread for freepers looking into these phone records?
Sad. Maybe these public humiliations will make others think twice before they do something similar.
Something about his vote against the stupid amnesty bill, most likely. The media and their puppet masters are reeling from the realization that we out here can and do think and that we are growing more unimpressed with them. In fact this type of admission and character reparation was all the public had wanted from the icky former President but the masters and the media still don’t get it. They’re gonna be pissed to find that this story goes nowhere. More to come, I predict.
Not to excuse sleazy behavior at all- that’s a different subject from “why now?”, I assume.
This will be the end of his career. Sad. However, if he was a rat it would be a resume enhancement.
…no mention of party. He’s a Dem I take it?
Nope, an R with a pretty conservative record to boot.
Is it too late to assume that he was just polling his constituents?
Well, I am so confused. How could he need to ask forgiveness when the owner of the escort service says nothing illegal was going on? /sarcasm
Well, after all, he *is* from Louisiana. I wonder what everbody else’s excuse will be?
I had hoped they’d catch a bunch of RATS and RINOS, but NOOOOO, all they caught was a Republican. LOL We can’t win. I beginning to believe that the GOP is a party of corruption! That said, wasn’t he one of those who voted for shamnesty along with Bush and the other traitors?
If somebody’s smart enough to serve in the U.S. Senate shouldn’t he be smart enough to use a pay phone?
Yes. MESSAGE TO VITTER: Sleep on your stomach.
Of course, I don’t believe that matters between adults such as prostitution should be illegal, but it is and the politicians who vote on the laws should be exemplary in obeying those laws. I’d guess that with his talk about God and sin, this guy Vitter is publicly and fervently opposed to prostitution - if so, he’s a hypocrite of the first rank.
Thats the thing if these guys weren’t preaching on family values it would not be so bad. That was part of the issue with Clinton.. he ran as a family values dem, and saying he was a great family man. Also pushing sexual harrasement laws on the rest of us. If there is one thing people universaly hate its hypocracy. Even my independent friends who were worried about global warming pretty much lost interest when it turned out Gore was the worst carbon offender they’d ever heard of. They brought it up with me.. oh did you hear about Gore? Hard to take him seriously now was the gist of what they said since then.
All the hoopla ab out hypocrisy is just doublespeak for the fact that liberals have no morals.
It’s hard to take any of these “public servants” seriously. Hypocracy is a fundamental to politics. Those who claim altruistic motives–especially the ones who “want to give back”–are the worst. These people are driven by self-interest. And these are the people who love to impose laws on everyone except themselves–on “the little people” (that’s us).
Why is public the place to discuss a politicos sex life ?
Why do we care if a politico visits a prostitute when the vast majority of them ARE prostitutes in one way or another?
It seems like many conservatives are only a few steps behind in the no morals race. And gaining ground.
I hope the Pubs somewhere are sifting through these phone numbers, because I can assure you that the Dems are, looking for Republican officials of any sort. We better be looking too to check out any Dem gov’t types who may also have participated in the “good life”, so we can fight fire with fire. Dem Underground is probably already having at it. Or Huffington blog, etc.
The Supreme Court has ruled that sex in the privacy of one’s home between cornholeing adults is a constitutionally protected act. It is a constitutionally protected act shielded by the “penumbras” of privacy. I live in a country, Germany, where a ” poof” is an entirely legal enterprise. One Cannot Drive into our county seat without crossing over the river Inn and observing immediately to the left a building with a giant symbol of a heart affixed to the outside wall. This is the local whorehouse. I am told that it is decently run and hygienic. It is only after years of living here that I find this establishment as unremarkable as do the rest of the good burgers in my very conservative and Catholic area. Why is it that the right of privacy has come to hold such a distorted meaning?
55 Responses to “More GOP family values: anti-gay senator on DC Madam’s phone list”
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This is very endemic of conservative culture. Those that speak the loudest have the most to hide. And on a side note… I am so very sick of any politician BASHING Massachusetts. Bush ran on this issue in 2004 and he always referred to Kerry as “that Massachusetts Senator.” or something like that. I am so depressed that Massachusetts has become some sort of buzzword for conservatives. Let’s all rememeber that “Massachusetts Values” created this country, and we continue to lead the way in other issues such as gay marriage. I love being from Massachusetts, and everyone in this country should be proud of our traditions.
“I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,� Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. “If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.�
Oh those funny, funny Republican senator wives and their funny, funny threats of sexual mutilation. Wendy sounds like a real hoot. Does she threaten to “rape the s**t” out of people, too?
Let’s not forget which state has the lowest divorce rate in the country… yes, that cesspool of liberal values, Massachusetts.
Why can’t those losers spell “hypocrisy”?
You know, I’m particularly struck by the insanity of comparing this hypocrite to Gore … I mean, Gore working his arse off to reduce not just his own carbon-footprint, but carbon-footprints across the planet, and doing so he possibly uses more carbon than most people, is the same as a “family-values” nutjob that turns out to pay women to fuck him so that he might cheat on his wife?
I gotta say, freepers are a special brand of reality-deprived.
Oh, and as to the main point of the post … how does this surprise anyone? The ones that are the loudest about repression and denial in others are the ones that account repress or deny their own urges? How does this shock anyone in the slightest?
Ahhhhh, the sweet smell of Schadenfreude in the morning!
What gets me about the Freepers is how they cling to their assumptions, even after they’ve been proven false:
Oh, so the icky former president wasn’t impeached after admitting that he lied? Because an apology was all the Freepers wanted all along?
I suppose this was meant to imply that Democrats are more likely to pay for sex. But so far, it’s been Republicans getting caught. I don’t doubt that there are plenty of Democratic lechers in Washington, but most of the people caught in the past 10 years have been Republicans.
Right. Because that damn liberal media always puts party affiliation in banner headlines when it’s a Republican like David Vitterwho’s in trouble. But when it’s someone like William Jefferson, La. Democrat, they treat party affiliation like it was a state secret.
Nope.
Actually, Clinton admitted to having an affair during the ‘92 campaign. And unlike the Freepers think, Democrats don’t believe that consensual sex is the same thing as sexual harassment.
Unlike David Vitter, who has morals to spare.
And this, I suppose, is one of the many attempts to change the thread to a different subject. But it’s hard to see how allowing women to decide whether to have sex and whether to have children is a distortion of the right to privacy.
***
You get the idea. Assumption after assumption is shown to be false, over and over again. But they just can’t dislodge those assumptions from their brains. That’s because their entire worldview is based on getting the facts wrong.
What I posted at Pam’s Place:
Imagine that there is a God and that this God gives a shit about us and that this God manifested beside this adulterer, in whatever form pleased it, whether it’s bearded patriarch or Glenda, the Good and bubble-traveling Witch from the Wizard of Oz, or perhaps a garden gnome.
I’d like to then ask this lying adulterer to reassert that God forgives him, with God right there beside him. I’d like this marriage-breaking-in-private-marriage-”protecting”-in-public liar to speak for God beside God.
More and more, fundamentalism strikes me as being about supreme arrogance more than a supreme being. Fundies decide, through the magic words of being born-again, that they get eternal life. Fundies decide whom God forgives and God always forgives them. Always.
Fundies are Gods, or as Anne Lamott once wrote, “You can safely assume that you’ve created God when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
I know some fundies and they can’t eat cranberry sauce without drawing attention to their devotion and alleged eternal gratitude to Jesus Christ, their personal Lord and Savior. Even “personal” signals their self-aggrandizing, as if Jesus is their personal assistant.
The fundie relationship with God reminds me of a child’s relationship with Tinker Bell. Remember when Tink was dyin’ and Tink could only live if the children believed in her and said so, again and again?
So it goes with fundies, who assert that God just wants them to believe in Him and love him. God’s a pretty needy sky-dude then, if God JUST WANTS farily hairless apes to believe in Him and love Him. In such a framing, it isn’t God who’s all-powerful: it’s the fundies. They decide whether they’ll dispense that all-powerful love to that all-needy God. They’ve got God by the short and curlies. Fundamentalism isn’t just infantile. It’s infantilism grown to monstrous proportions, where one isn’t just the center of the Universe, but even God pines for their all-powerful affection.
“I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,â€? Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News…
Holy Cow David…you better not fall asleep while Wendy is wandering around with kitchen knives…
Unless of course you want to sing the high notes in a castrata choir!
Holly Capote–
Thanks for that quote from Anne Lamott. I love it.
Yep, Gordo, it’s a good un. I watched a bit about the Beetles last night and how when they visited the South after John Lennon’s Jesus comparison, fundies and the Klan protested and the Klan asserted that they’re a Christian organization and that’s why they were there. Anytime the Klan agrees with you, that’s reason enough to flip your position.
So Mrs. Vitter and God have both forgiven him? Can I see the proof? Shit, at least Scooter has it in writing.
I wonder is it touching a gay person or just contemplating them being in a commited relationship that makes good heterosexual throw caution to the wind and commit adultery..Is gay power stronger than the eucharist and the sanctitiy of christian marriage Mr swift does not explain exactly how the gay neighbors relationship can be the cause of a man having to pay a prostitute for sex.. instead of waiting for his wife to be available.
“I beginning to believe that the GOP is a party of corruption!” My sarcasm meter just could not compute this statement. were the freepers serious?
but it’s nice to hear what the crazies do when they hear stories like this in the media. Makes me understand a bit more why family values is a word that carries any meaning at all anymore. “hmm, must have been a dem. Or at least pro-immigrant…”
[…] I know people that know Senator Vitter personally. He is by all accounts a friendly and kind man. I have always had trouble reconciling personal stories of the man with his very distasteful public statements. It reminds me of the times I have spoken with republicans (not the christian right kind) who generally seem like thoughtful and reasonable people that I disagree with, but they aren’t evil. People are going to disagree, that is what makes a democracy work. What is sad is that people like Senator Vitter seem to feel obligated to spew hate in order to get elected. I suspect the senator could care less about the sexual habits of other Americans. Lord knows he would rather we not get involved in his. […]
I wrote longer about this on my blog, but I wanted to say that people I know and love know and love the Vitter family. By all accounts David Vitter is a pretty decent guy in private. What is really said is the the republican base forces their people to go out and spew complete hate or face the consequences. Their is no excuse for Vitter’s public stance, but if it counts for anything I know he doesn’t believe what he says.
Hypocrite
Hypocrite
Hypocrite
Hypocrite
Good opportunity for me to practice.
Stephen, decent people don’t espouse public policy that is the opposite of their personal convictions because that is indecent. Vitter is the kind of guy that will say and do the opposite of what he believes and would in fact punish others for saying, doing and believing. The fact that you know him and that he seems to be a decent person just means that evil can put on a decent face. I’ve met former Nazis and SS, and they seem decent people and you wonder how they could have approved of Hitler and company and cheered for the Nazis. And I suspect they were more sincere than Vitter. So what, evil is evil.
I’m not saying that Vitter’s philandering is evil, it’s a sin against his wife and his God and none of my business. But his public positions contrary to his human failings is hypocrisy of first order, and its evil.
What is really said is the the republican base forces their people to go out and spew complete hate or face the consequences. Their is no excuse for Vitter’s public stance, but if it counts for anything I know he doesn’t believe what he says.
Then you admit he’s a liar who cares more about his political career than the lives of the public he’s supposed to be serving.
Nobody forces anybody to spew hate. If your “base” wants you to be a bigot, and you’re not a bigot, either get a different base or get out of politics.
On a side note, WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH USING THE HOMES OF ONE’S FELLOW AMERICANS AS EPITHETS?
Everyone is right of course, the man is a liar. It just feels different when I can put a human face on this kind of thing. I suppose it just amazes me how meaningless all this is for these people. I get the impression they really don’t care about the issues, its all just a game.
Stephen, Vonnegut warned that one should be careful about what one pretends to be because that’s what you are.
The inter-tubes ate my comment! Let me try again.
Holly Capote said,
Terry Pratchett had something to say about this.
http://tinyurl.com/2b5zpt
Ugh, somehow clicking on the comments section here the first time took me to some sort of porn page? What?
[em]And unlike the Freepers think, Democrats don’t believe that consensual sex is the same thing as sexual harassment.[/em]
Actually I think it’s more the case that they simply cannot tell the difference.
Uh me, too. I got the porn page instead of pandagon net, the first two tries.
The work of some fundie hacker hypocrite, perhaps?
Vonnegut warned that one should be careful about what one pretends to be because that’s what you are.
He is so missed.
Actually I overheard some folks on the metro discussing adultery. Apparently one of them interns for a congress critter who had an affair. This guy overhears them, and goes, “Vitter?”. Ah, the joys of DC!
The quote from Vitter’s wife is priceless. All that venom against Bill and Hillary must make the humble pie taste just that much “sweeter”.
E.L., an excellent question! Whenever a winger cites God in such a fashion, we should ask for proof.
Vitter: “We need a U.S. Senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts’s values.”
Freeper: “Well, after all, he *is* from Louisiana. I wonder what everbody else’s excuse will be?”
Glorious juxtaposition!
I forgot to add, the interns weren’t discussing Vitter at all. He’s just the first hypocrite out of the gate.
Whee! Another puritannical body-Nazi revealed for what he is. As a Republican I was sorely tempted to get out my box of sex toys and spell out ‘GOP Rules!’ on the front yard (cuz there isn’t anything so much fun as freaking out the neighbors).
At least I’m an open degenerate; I don’t have the stress associated with maintaining a holier-than-thou attitude while sublimating the seething cauldron of unclean lust.
I can’t wait to see who’s outed next. If there’s an Invisible Spaghetti Monster out there, oh please, please make it be Sam Brownback!!!!!!
Genius deep6
Check this out:
bah didn’t properly close link
…sorry
I’m not sure it’s really fair to call Vitter a hypocrite - he may well have believed that what he was doing was deeply wrong even as he did it. A least some (I suspect a fairly large fraction) of the fundegelicalibanheynonnyno contingent use control of others as a proxy for their inability to control themselves. There’s also the fact that restricting the ability of others to commit sins places restrictions on oneself.
That said, I’m still laughing my ass off at Vitter, and looking forward to more revelations.
Laws against prostitution are absurd. It is ironic that rightist ideology and its influence on the law are causing problems for a rightist politician.
Jesus says Vitter is evil: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” The blasphemy about being sure that god has forgiven him is just icing on the cake.
But really, what is it about these losers, that they should have been so sure none of them would get caught?
“God”? “God”? Dude, you screwed a whore. What has “God” got to do with that?
That’s missing at least a huge part of the point. Whether he believed what HE was doing was wrong or not, he was publicly claiming the moral authority to claim that marriage - his marriage - was not only sacred, but so sacred that he had the authority to deny the civil benefits of marriage to millions of taxpaying Americans. To run for public office based on his adherence to a set of values that he was himself violating.
Feeling guilty doesn’t stop someone from being a hypocrite. Neither, honestly, does condemning other people for doing something you yourself are doing while conveniently leavig out that detail. That is, in fact, a good working definition of hypocrisy.
I don’t have a problem with someone who says, “I have a drug habit and it is ruining my life, and I can’t control it, and nobody else should start.” I do have a problem with someone who, having an unadmitted drug problem, condemns others for doing drugs.
A hypocrite who feels guilty is just that - still a hypocrite. Maybe, maybe, it shifts some of the “blame” onto society, or a church, or a political system or a patriarchy, or whatever - but ONLY some of the blame — and doesn’t change or excuse the hypocrisy.
It says a very great deal about just how inept the mainstream media is that they were beaten to the punch on something by Hustler magazine. What’s even worse is the probability that Hustler puts more effort into ferreting out truth. Had it been the NY Times they would have accepted Vitter’s denial at face value. “Nothing to see here! Sorry for wasting your time, Senator!”
6079 - but is it really inept behavior, or was it cover-up behavior?
Stephen, and any other fundies out there…
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Perhaps the next time you speak to Senator Vitter, you should ask yourself, is he a ravening wolf in sheep’s clothing?
[…] I spent much of today web surfin’, and found a whole mess of great stuff. First off, there was this bit from Pamdagon about Louisiana Senator David Vitter, a real family values guy: Isn’t it sweet? The Republican hypocrite parade continues as Senator David Vitter (R-LA), a co-author of the Federal Marriage Amendment, wasn’t protecting his own marital vows when he had some sex-for-hire from escort service Pamela Martin and Associates before he ran for the Senate. […]
I wonder, will there be a demand for Mrs. Vitter to live up to her “campaign promise”?
Surprisingly funny comic here.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/section/EDITORIAL
Counts for nothing.
‘Family values’ is a code word for homophobia, misogyny and racism. Those who tout it, primarily neocons, are very anti-family. Just like Paige on South of Nowhere. Conversly, those who don’t talk about family values — that being liberals like Amanda, Melissa, Pamela, and myself; are very pro-family. The proof is in the details.
…and for anybody who thinks that Palfrey is the only woman Sen. Vitter has had an extra-marital affair with, then there is a bombshell coming from New Orleans. Jeanette Maier now says that Sen. Vitter has been one of her customers when she ran a brothel in the Katrina-stricken city.
[…] All from a guy who has spent his political career trying to make an amendment that outlaws gay marriage. Classy and tasty. And even tastier and classier: […]
“Their is no excuse for Vitter’s public stance, but if it counts for anything I know he doesn’t believe what he says.”
Clearly.
Given his actions, this is obvious.
And that’s supposed to make it better how, exactly?
To me, at least, it’s much worse. I can — dimly and distantly — vaguely understand people who actually believe this rot. But for people to rise to power, to take power over others, and to further that power on deliberate lies — the deepest, dankest, hottest corner of Hell isn’t harsh enough for them.
Maybe he can be sent to a day camp like Ted Haggard and be cured of his love for the flesh trade?
Okay, deep6, point taken. It really is sad when we can’t decide whether the fourth estate is almost wholly venal or almost wholly incompetent, or some combination of the two. It’s even sadder that for for the most part the MSM can’t be anything else.
[…] Vitter Vittles: what would Wendy do? What does this say about the media? Sob. […]
Libertarian, thanks for posting the link to the cartoon. I guess even the Washington Times gets pissed at the hyprocrites at times (especially if they do the whole God’s forgiveness thing.)
[…] -Speaking of sex, how about that David Vitter fella? An uber-conservative Republican from Louisiana, he’s been a so-called “defender” of the institution of marriage for some time. Apparently, he’d just not that interested in his own, since he’s been implicated by the DC madam. ANd his poor wife appears to be standing by her man, or, perhaps more accurately, grimacing beside her man. […]