posted by Damozel |
As everyone now knows, Senator David Vitter, who has done so much to promote the sort of family values favored by the Christianist sort of Republican has been caught with his sanctimony down. up to his neck in a burgeoning scandal and a heaping helping of what some judgmental people are calling "hypocrisy." Awkward!
After all, here's what the abstinence-loving Vitter had to say at his website on the subject of the sanctity of the word "marriage."
“This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history, and our two U.S. Senators won’t do anything about it.
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.” (Vitter2004.com)
"Massachusetts values": I love that, don't you? But seriously, folks, it really does seem a bit hard that he should be the "first member of Congress to become ensnared in the high-profile [DC Madam] case." (The Washington Post; emphasis mine?) "Ensnared": that's good too. It has a real Old Testament flavor.
Speaking of the Old Testament, it's fortunate that Senator Vitter's wife long ago forgave him for his entanglement because otherwise I'd worry that he might be in for a little Old Testament-style justice.
Mrs. Senator Vitter (a former prosecutor), apparently takes her lead from the fierce women of Old Testament times, such as the legendary Judith or proud, indomitable Queen Vashti. Here what she had to say in 2000 as regards her view of marital infidelity:
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?
“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.”
“I think fear is a very good motivating factor in a marriage,” she added. “Don’t put fear down.” (Politico)
That's the true Old Testament spirit, right there. Down with all that sissy, Clinton-era New Testament crap about forgiveness and perfect love casting out fear!
Though of course there might be Old Testament style ramifications to such rough justice. "When
two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes near to drag her
husband clear of his opponent, if she puts out her hand and catches
hold of the man's genitals, you shall cut off her hand and show her no
mercy." (Deuteronomy Ch. 25, New English Bible 1971 at 219) I'm assuming this would apply as well if she intentionally bobbitted her husband in a fit of rage. After all, "No man whose testicles are crushed or whose organ has been severed shall become a member of the assembly of the Lord." (Deuteronomy Ch. 25, New English Bible 1971 at 219.)
Here's the thing: to me, this wouldn't be a big deal. It actually really saddens me when an intelligent man ("[a] Harvard graduate and former Rhodes Scholar") gets hoisted by his own....his own petard. And it really is unfair how Satan---who evidence surely suggests is a fellow Democrat---so often persecutes the very Republicans who stand up for Jesus and the family to lead them into temptation, drag them down, lay them in the mire, and then expose them and their innocent families to public humiliation. But "family values" Republicans never seem to learn.
As you'll recall, Senator Vitter replaced Senator Bob Livingston who---as Politico reminds us----was "forced" (their word) "to reveal his marital infidelities" at a time when he was on the path to become Speaker of the House. Satan exposed Bob Livingston at a particularly embarrassing and inopportune time for himself and the Republicans: on the literal eve before debate on Clinton's impeachment. "When I did an early interview with the media after announcing my candidacy for speaker, I told a reporter that I was running for speaker, not sainthood.," Livingston reminded us. "There was a reason for those words." (Court TV Online) Livingston was quick to distinguish his conduct from Clinton's, of course. ""I want to assure everyone that these indiscretions were not with employees on my staff, and I have never been asked to testify under oath about them," Livingston's statement said." (CNN.com) I'm sure that to Jesus, this made all the difference. Satan obviously didn't care.
So I'll say it again: when will "family values" Republicans learn not to set the bar so high for themselves? I'm told by a friend with a great deal of experience in Biblical history that what Jesus actually said at a certain aborted stoning was, "Whoever among you is without this sin [i.e., adultery], let him cast the first stone." It's not a matter of being a saint; it's a matter of not flinging rocks to hurt other people for their transgressions when you're guilty of similar sins yourself. Did Vitter learn nothing from Livingston's public fall? More to the point, did he learn nothing from Christ's many angry rebukes to "hypocrites" and "whited sepulchres"? To Christ, it seems clear, hypocrisy was more disgusting and distasteful and much less forgivable than the actual sin.
But as a christian progressive, I leave that sort of thing to Christ. For that matter, Vitter states that he is already forgiven. ""Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling," Vitter continued. "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.""(The Washington Post)
Well, I'm not disappointed, of course, but it seems that Governor Blanco of Louisiana is taking it personally.
Louisiana's Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco, issued a statement saying she was "disappointed" over the revelation and hoped it wouldn't hurt the state's efforts to secure federal funding for rebuilding homes damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"I will travel to Washington in the coming weeks to continue my conversations with congressional leaders, and I hope this scandal will not lessen their critical support of our recovery," Blanco said.(The Washington Post)
I hope not too. I can't actually imagine that it would make a bit of difference and I bet she knows this too. I fully expect the Republicans to rally round Vitter just as they rallied around Bob Livingston and other Republican victims of other GOP scandals. My fellow South Carolinian Jim DeMint (R-SC) had this to say:
"It's really an issue between he and his family and God, and that has been dealt with, thankfully.... He's a very good friend. He's a great legislator. So certainly I accept his apology, and hopefully it won't have any effect on his service here.... If you fail to live up to standards you set for yourself, then obviously that hurts. That's what all of us fear most, that we're going to discredit ourselves and no longer be effective We all think that we're not vulnerable to something like that happening...but the fact is this can be a very lonely and isolating place to be away from your family. So I'm certainly not going to judge him because I don't want that kind of pressure on me." (The Washington Post)
Wise words for family values Republicans everywhere.
And some very wise words for Democrats from Sean Aqui of Midtopia . Some Democrats are undoubtedly gloating prematurely over Vitter's unfortunate fall from grace (I'm not gloating, I swear, I am just observing. Observing and remarking.) Sean Aqui says: "I caution people about getting too partisan about all of this. ...[T]his is likely to be a bipartisan scandal as it develops. It's quite possible that the next name revealed will be a prominent Democrat, who will deserve pillorying in his turn, either for moral failing or hypocrisy. But this first name couldn't be more perfect if it were being written into a movie." Aqui notes that Vitter is "a perfect 10" in the hypocrisy department. (Midtopia)
And hypocrisy makes him his own worst enemy. Andrew Sullivan, asking "Should Vitter quit?" answers the question, "I don't think so. He's human," but follow it up with a quote from Vitter himself in which he suggests that Clinton should be impeached "because he is morally unfit to govern."
In the meantime, sensible conservative John Swift has offered a passionate defense of Senator Vitter: David Vitter: Another Victim of Gay Marriage. In pertinent part (to appreciate the full poignancy, you'll need to read the whole thing), Mr. Swift argues:
In 2004 when David Vitter was running for Senator in Louisiana, he warned of the terrible toll gay marriage would have on our society....Vitter once compared the devastation of gay marriage to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which as someone from Louisiana should know is pretty destructive, and said during the debate on the amendment, "I don't believe there's any issue that's more important than this one."...
Despite his efforts, however, the Federal Marriage Amendment failed to pass and Massachusetts did redefine marriage by legalizing gay marriage. With the sanctity of marriage so severely degraded it was inevitable that Vitter's own marriage would suffer...
Though it is very magnanimous of Vitter to accept responsibility for his transgressions, is he really to blame? After the Hollywood left redefined marriage, it must have been a very difficult and confusing time for him. The failure of the passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment must have taken a severe toll on him as he struggled to figure out what marriage really is if even gays can do it. As he grappled with the issue, is it any surprise that he found solace in the embrace of a disinterested paid companion?....
It is unfortunate that liberals, who like to pry into people's personal lives, felt it necessary to divulge information about Vitter's sexual transgressions when God and his wife already told him that they forgave him. Although we don't know what God said, we do know that his wife's forgiveness seems to be a bit of a change from what she said in 2000 about Hillary Clinton's response to the Monica Lewinsky scandal... For the sake of David Vitter's marriage, I hope that Congress revives the Federal Marriage Amendment and renames it the David Vitter Marriage Amendment, in honor of one man who tragically exemplifies the havoc that gay marriage has wrought in our society. (Jon Swift (links in original))
ALSO PRESENTED FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
Senator Vitter's Madam Problem, The Sleuth (WaPo) for some behind-the-scenes detail and interesting speculation about how Vitter found out he had the aforesaid "Madam problem."
Ann Althouse ."Shouldn't the expiation of Vitter's sins wait until he has introduced a bill that would create a federal right to engage in the business of prostitution? It's not a matter to be resolved within the realm of church and family as long as Palfrey is being prosecuted." A senator grovels (Althouse).
Adam Zagorin, Did Senator Vitter Get Hustled? (Time) More on the methods used by Satan to expose the hapless Vitter plus this: "When Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana confessed to "a very serious sin" on Monday night, Debra Jean Palfrey was not about to forgive him. Sin is one thing; but Palfrey believes Vitter — a proponent of the "sanctity of marriage" — should fess up if that sin was a crime as well. After all, she notes, prostitution is a legal offense for both purveyor and consumer. And as the so-called "D.C. Madam" whose escort service Vitter says he used, Palfrey says the agency she ran was merely one-half of the alleged equation. "Why am I the only person being prosecuted?" she told TIME over the phone. "Sen. Vitter should be prosecuted [if he broke the law]"
Andrew Sullivan, Sanctity of Marriage Watch (The Daily Dish). "Why is one not exactly gob-smacked to find that a leading Republican Christianist was once a client of the DC Madam? I mean, a leading evangelical opponent of gay equality, Ted Haggard, was hiring a male hooker. We had the leading Republican campaigner against hooking up with minors online ... hassling adolescent pages with IMs. We had Newt Gingrich committing adultery while impeaching Clinton. Why should we expect anything different from senator David Vitter?" [Note: "Gob-smacked" = extremely surprised, as by a smack across the mouth ("gob"). I am modestly proud of speaking fluent Brit.]
Ana Marie Cox, More Good News for People Who Love Bad News for Republlicans (Swampland). "As if you couldn't already tell, Vitter is something of a confused person. It comes out in his policy as well. CQ reported this week on a move in the Senate to roll back the rather astonishing amendment Vitter added to the No Child Left Behind Bill that allowed military recruiters full access to student personal information. Vitter has argued in the past that the amendment is intended to address the needs of students that intend to enlist but then forget." ::Snerk.::
Tully, Oh Boy! Everyone Can Play! (Stubborn Facts). "Let the games begin!... Early word is that Senator Vitter of Louisiana has some 'splaining to do. No doubt he has lots of company." Also at Stubborn Facts. Take the poll, posted by Pat--- Should the DC madam's johns be prosecuted along with the prostitutes?
Xsociate, Another Fine Member of the "Moral Majority" (State of the Day). "[I]f Mrs. Vitter's past comments are any indication, Sen. Vitter may want to sleep face down for the foreseeable future
Joe Palazzola, "DC Madam" Wasn't Lying (BLT: The Blog of Legal Times). "Her boast that some of Washington's elite used her - er - services gained considerable traction yesterday, when Sen. David Vitter admitted his phone number was in Palfrey's newly released client list and publicly apologized for - well, he was mum on what, precisely, he did, but he sounded awfully contrite."
Mary Jacoby, There is a House in New Orleans (Salon.com) This is an OCTOBER 2004 article, which among much else that is fraught with interest (it is three pages long) recounts allegations about Vitter that suggest he may have had issues of this sort in the past:
Privately aghast at his rise, the state's GOP leaders have all but fallen in line now, afraid to cross the man who may be their next senator. In interviews with Salon over several days, many Louisiana Republicans expressed anguish that a Vitter victory next week could mark the end of the state's unique tradition of moderate, bipartisan politics. This, of course, is exactly what Vitter's breed of brash, Newt Gingrich-style Republicans believe a deeply polarized country needs -- conservatives who disdain common-sense compromise in pursuit of ideological purity. And so Louisiana Republicans are deeply unhappy that the 43-year-old lawyer, known for running slashing negative campaigns with under-the-radar help from white supremacist David Duke, is on track to become the first GOP U.S. senator from Louisiana in more than 100 years....
In Congress, Vitter became a reliable vote for the extreme right, earning a 100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union in 2002. He vowed to outlaw abortion in almost all cases, even when pregnancy results from rape or incest; his only exception was to save the life of the mother. And -- with an eye on the governor's office -- he continued the crusade against gambling that he'd started in 1993 with the ethics complaint against Gov. Edwin Edwards....
As Vitter geared up in 2002 to run for governor, his bitter race against [a political rival] came back to haunt him. A....local Republican Party official...blurted out on a radio show that he believed ...Vitter had once had an extramarital affair.
The Louisiana Weekly newspaper followed up. [The blurter] told the paper that the young woman had contacted the [rival] campaign in 1999 because she was upset that Vitter was portraying himself as a family-values conservative and trotting out his wife and children for campaign photo ops....
Vitter...and others interviewed the alleged prostitute several times in 1999. She also met with a respected local television reporter, Richard Angelico, the Louisiana Weekly said. But Angelico declined to run with the story after she would not agree to go on camera, the paper said. Vitter denied the allegations. But shortly before the Louisiana Weekly was set to publish its story, he dropped out of the governor's race, saying he needed to deal with marital problems. "Our [marriage] counseling sessions have ... led us to the rather obvious conclusion that it's not time to run for governor," Vitter said at the time.
Chris Tidmore, the author of the Louisiana Weekly story, said he interviewed the alleged prostitute by telephone and reviewed the notes of her sessions with [others] before publishing his story. He said she had moved away from New Orleans and is now living under an assumed name. Salon could not locate her.
Amid Vitter's denials and the reluctance of his accuser to go public, no newspapers in Louisiana reported on the allegations.
LINKED, QUOTED, OR CITED IN POST
- Vitter2004.com
- Shalaigh Murray, Senator's Number on 'Madam' Phone List (The Washington Post)
- Carrie Budoff, GOP Senator Admits Link to Escort Service (Politico)
- Douglass K. Daniel, Senator Admits Link to "DC Madam" List (The Washington Post)
- Jon Swift, David Vitter: Another Victim of Gay Marriage
- Sean Aqui, Vitter caught in prostitute probe (Midtopia)
ALSO:
- Text Bob Livingston's Statement Re: Marital Indiscretions (Court TV Online)
- House Republicans Rally 'Round Livingston (CNN.com)
- David Case, David & Bathsheba: Sin, Cover-Up, Condemnation, and Restoration (Case Studies)
- Damozel, A Marginal Christian Looks at Corporal Punishment, Sexual Assault, Transvestitism, Divorce, & Crushed Testicles in the Old Testament (A Marginal Christian's Handbook).
- Damozel, Christianity vs. "Christianity" (A Marginal Christian's Handbook)
- Wikipedia, Satan
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