Here's the thing about Louisiana Senator David Vitter: if he hadn't made a point of chastising Bill Clinton for his extramarital excursions, hadn't trumpeted himself as a strong proponent of "family values," and hadn't just as quickly tried to sweep all of his own contradictory behavior under the rug, then this would just be another story about a weak-willed man and the world's oldest profession.
But Vitter, like Clinton himself, now seems forever marked by the topic of infidelity. The conservative Republican, after all, replaced a man named Bob Livingston in the state legislature after Livingston himself resigned after revelations of his own affairs. Vitter was quick to compare Bill Clinton to Livingston, and suggest a similar course of action for the sitting president:
"I think Livingston's stepping down makes a very powerful argument that Clinton should resign as well and move beyond this mess,"Of course, the shoe is now on the other foot, and Vitter sees no reason at all that he should face the same consequences he once recommended. From yesterday's press conference:
"If continuing to believe in and acknowledge those values causes some to attack me because of my past failure, well, so be it," said Vitter, who does not come up for re-election until 2010. "I'm not going to answer the endless questions about it all over again and again and again. That might sell newspapers but it would not serve my family or my constituents well at all," he said.In other words, get over it. Move on. True, Vitter's wife (who famously claimed she'd respond more like Lorena Bobbit than Hillary Clinton if she ever caught her husband cheating) seems to have forgiven the man and spared him the scissors, so perhaps voters should not hold the past against him, either. Then again, this continued pattern of falling smack into one's own family value trap -- as succinctly illustrated by the likes of Ted Haggard, Mark Foley, Jimmy Swaggart, and the rest -- will never be brushed away so easily. When you make a career by picking up that righteous sword, you'd best be prepared to be cut now and again.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. WOW...he can only talk the talk...but not do the walk. see the RIGHTious HYPOCRITS should not be preaching their moral values. they can't even follow it. remember...."judge not, less ye be judge". they need to live and let live. then no one would throw it in his(vitter) face.
iamchavira at 12:04PM on Jul 17th 2007
2. AMEN, David. You hit the nail on the head..when your put yourself up to be the keeper of moral values, then guess what folks? You have to live up to it..and not everyone can, I don't care what political party you belong to. Vitter placed himself on a moral high horse to be BETTER then Bob Livingston, Bill Clinton, etc. not to mention the rest of us mere mortals.
Vitter is nothing but a hypocrite of the worst kind. What Bill Clinton did was wrong, of course, but Clinton never spouted off continuously about moral vales the way Vitter did.
David S. at 12:07PM on Jul 17th 2007
3. I'M a republican, but to vote for someone who cheats on his family. Someone you love. And if you have children, your cheating on them also. Lets face it. that his character. There are those who say his private life has nothing to do with his public live. I say "BULL", to that. He's the same person. People say, "Once a cheater always a cheater". If you can cheat on your family, You bet he's goint to cheat on you.
MIKE at 12:23PM on Jul 17th 2007
4. Vitter and the Family Values Trap and then their is God. How in God's name does anyone know that God has forgiven them? Does prayer in some way divulge God's answer to one's prayer? And, for that matter, by saying that God forgives them, said person must have a private phone line to God. How does an educated country like that US even begin to believe such crap?
Thomas W Fiechtl Jr at 2:16PM on Jul 17th 2007
5. There once was a young man named Vitter,
Who's career was in the shitter,
he claimed Christian status,
while looking RIGHT AT US...
then PAID for some ass and some titter!
Dottie at 7:45AM on Jul 18th 2007