Family/Marriage

DC Madame scandal: Vitter, hoist, petard

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And away we go! Sen. David Vitter, a conservative Louisiana Republican, has become the first major pol linked to “DC Madame” Deborah Jane Palfrey.

[UPDATE: Won’t you please help save Sen. Vitter’s winky?]

A bit of context is in order.

  • Vitter is a no-compromises god-n-country anti-hanky-panky conservative who in 1998 said that Louisiana Rep. Bob Livingston’s resignation over marital infidelity “makes a very powerful argument that [President Bill] Clinton should resign as well.” [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 12/20/98. Pg. 04D]
  • Vitter is so serious about marriage that he supported a Federal Sanctity of Marriage Amendment. “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.”
  • However, Vitter has been forgiven by his wife and God: “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.”

Let me make sure I’m tracking here. Bubba getting his hooter buffed is a public matter that demand his resignation (and impeachment?) Vitter whistling up some streetwalkers is a private matter between him, God and the little lady. Got it. Moving on.

Maybe we should have known right away that something was up with Vitter when he signed on with Rudy Giuliani. I mean, first it was Bernie Kerik, then the Ravenel debacle, now this?

But maybe Vitter has suffered enough. “Asked by an interviewer in 2000 whether she could forgive her husband if she learned he’d had an extramarital affair, as Hillary Clinton and Bob Livingston’s wife had done, Wendy Vitter told the Times-Picayune: ‘I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary. If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.'”

Or maybe that talk-tough hypocritical blowhard thing runs in the family. Hard to say….

Categories: Family/Marriage, Politics/Law/Government, Religion & Philosophy, Sex

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13 replies »

  1. My question is this: How do you know God forgives you for something like this? Does the lilac outside your back door spontaneously combust and tell you so? Does your wife suddenly develop stigmata on her hands and write “I forgive you your adultery” in her own blood? Do your kids start shaking and speaking in ancient Aramaic?

    Because these days, if you claim that God speaks to you, that usually means you’re ready for the nice young men in their clean white clothes to come and take you away. Or you’re Pat Robertson.

  3. Two things:

    1) That’s not God speaking to Pat Robertson, Brian – that’s just one of the voices in his head;

    2) No I don;t have to respect their faith, Sam – they’re going to hell, anyway – ask Pope Palpatine – I mean Benedict….

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  5. “Bubba getting his hooter buffed.”

    I’ve never heard this expression – ever – so thank you for the out loud laugh. 🙂

    Your introducing him as the anti-hanky-panky conservative (American style) for god n country made me smile.

    In England the newspapers discovered moons ago that many of the old style political conservatives were all about the hanky-panky and extra marital playtime.

  6. I’ve never fully understood how you could build a successful religion (or any kind of organization or ideology for that matter) on the denial of our most fundamentally undeniable impulses.

  7. It’s all based on old survival necessities in the desert – denying our most fundamental impulses and wrapping them with tons of ritual was required to ensure that desert tribes didn’t implode because we coveted our neighbor’s wife (or hubby). The bigger question is why Catholics still think this is a good idea today when pretty much every other Christian sect has gone back to the old ways, and against the near guarantee that Jesus was married and had kids (it was socially necessary at the time).

  8. I like Brian’s comment, that Vitter seems awfully sure of his God’s (and his wife’s) forgiveness.

    It’s not the infidelity that bothers me; it’s they hypocrisy.

  11. If Mrs. Vitter recants her stance on castrating her husband, I say she’s a damn flip-flopper!

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