The New Orleans Times Picayune is reporting today that a prostitute has come forward who claims she had a four-month sexual relationship with Republican Senator David Vitter back in 1999. Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine, paid for the woman to take a lie-detector test, which, Flynt says, the woman passed with flying colors.

Previously, Vitter denied having anything to do with hookers in the Big Easy, and he'll no doubt maintain that claim today after Flynt holds a Beverly Hills news conference with the prostitute, Wendy Yow Ellis:

During a phone interview Monday, Ellis said she met regularly with Vitter in the French Quarter aprartment and that he paid her through her pimp, Jonathan, whose last name she did not know. She said Vitter met her through the New Orleans Escort Service, not through the madam whose notorious Canal Street brothel was raided by federal agents in 2001. Although that madam, Jeanette Maier, claimed in interviews that Vitter patronized her brothel and favored a prostitute named Wendy...

Of course, it could just be a political hit. Vitter, who has already confessed to committing a "very serious sin" in using the services of D.C. madam Deborah Jeane Palfry, may have only ever visited escorts in the nation's capital, not in New Orleans. After all, Ms. Ellis stands to make a bit of money from this revelation. Yet, for enterprising reporters, if the allegations of a four-month entanglement are true, then there will be a leads to follow.

This is the last thing the Republican party needs at the moment (and if I had a dollar for every time I've said that over the past two years!). Let's say Larry Craig gets a judge to overturn his guilty plea, and a formal trial begins. Meanwhile, every gumshoe in New Orleans will set to work on Vitter.

Vitter and Craig, two men who chastised Bill Clinton for his indiscretion with Monica Lewinsky, bound together again. Good luck with that, boys.

Now this is an interesting story. Apparently, Senator Larry Craig is having second thoughts about resigning from the Senate. Here, as of tonight, is his spokesman, Sidney Smith:

"It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign. We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign September 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight--and stay in the Senate."

Indeed, Craig should have his day in court. Why should he resign when David Vitter, who, unlike Craig, actually acknowledged an ethical lapse, remains in the Senate? Sure, Craig did plead guilty to disturbing the peace, but he claims it was mistake. People do make them from time to time. As Craig's children claimed today, perhaps the senator was simply reaching for a piece of toilet paper at the wrong time. Maybe he really does affect a wide stance to keep his pants from hitting the ground. Maybe he didn't tell his wife or children or Senate colleagues about his guilty plea because he knew how shameful it would sound.

Craig's new lawyer, the same man who represents Michael Vick, will surely put the record straight, so to speak. To hell with Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Norm Coleman, Mitt Romney, and all those in the GOP who want Craig to quietly disappear. The man should stand and present his case.

Amazing. And you'd thought you'd seen it all, America.

He's not guilty of anything but he's resigning. "I did nothing wrong but I'm leaving." In my book, Larry Craig not guilty of anything but extreme hubris, hypocrisy and lies. He's ashamed of who he is and that's his problem. I'm sorry for him but if I went around being all Puritanical and judgmental, and then lying when caught, I'd expect to be tossed out as well.

David Vitter may be breathing a sigh of relief, but that won't last long. The mood of the country is to throw bums and hypocrites out and provide some leadership, some backbone and stand up to the administration. This applies to both parties. It isn't a question of being squeaky clean but they should be able to meet a higher standard in honesty than most.

Other shoes that may drop: Remember Rep. Bob Ney, who left and is in jail? Well, his staff has been singing and investigators are following the money. The D.C. Madam case is moving along and entire parts of the Justice Department are not cooperating with the Bush administration. High-ranking staffers are leaving the White House in droves. There's a reason Congress is supposed to investigate. It's their purview and part of the archaic notion of checks and balances. The big bombshells are likely to come from high ranking military. There's more to come, watch for it.

The NYT editorial page (along with several left wing blogs) makes a fair point when they wonder why the Republicans are rushing to investigate, strip and disown Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, while Sen. David Vitter got barely a head nod.

There's the F.B.I.'s inquiry into whether Senator Ted Stevens swung a quid-pro-quo deal for a government contractor who eventually renovated his Alaska home. There's also Senator David Vitter's presence on the client list of a Washington brothel. Mr. Vitter, a social conservative, pleaded guilty to "sin" (heterosexual) and no leadership call ensued for a thorough in-house ethics inquiry. Certainly, no Republican called for the resignation of Mr. Vitter, who comes from Louisiana, which has a Democratic governor who would then replace him. Mr. Craig is from a safe state with a Republican governor.

The answer is not, as the editorial page suggest, the brutal agenda of trumpeting the gay-marriage "agenda." That issue has largely run its course, as the states where the issue is most effective have already passed their marriage amendments. It's not much of a factor anymore.

Nor is it merely the cold political calculation that Vitter would be replaced by a Democrat and Craig, a Republican. That that is part of it I won't deny. Mitt Romney doesn't care about that, at least not primarily, and he was one of the first to scramble.

But the far larger reason for the scramble on Craig is all about 2006 and Mark Foley. Foley took himself out of the game very quick, but does anyone remember what the Democrat party mantra was last October? It was, "you should have known, you should have done something."

OK, is it just me, or does anybody else see a pattern here? As Nixguy reported earlier, Idaho Senator Larry Craig (R) was arrested a little while back, and plead guilty to a charge of "disorderly conduct" in a Minneapolis airport men's room. In the process of being booked, Craig, like Florida Representative Bob Allen (R), tried to get special treatment by telling police who he was.

No, Craig didn't try to pull the old "I offered the officer money to provide him with oral sex because I was afraid of him because he was a scary black man" defense that Allen made famous, but he does claim there was a misunderstanding. Evidently, Craig didn't get that when he was pleading guilty, he was, in fact, admitting guilt, or something like that. The complaints of lewd behavior from the other men in the bathroom, well, it was all just a crazy mix-up.

Also strangely familiar is the senator's Ted Haggard-esque public hatred of all things homosexual. Americablog has dug up Craig's votes and found that the senator voted for a constitutional ban on gay marriage, against adding sexual orientation to the hate crimes act and prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation, and for prohibiting same sex marriage. You see, Craig prefers the furtive, encounter with a stranger, men's room variety of homosexuality. None of the commitment or rights, just the kinky sex. How's that for family values?

And like Louisiana's David Vitter (R), he of D.C. escort services fame, Craig was one of those who pounded the GOP drum against Bill Clinton's sexual behavior, calling the former president, among other things, a "naughty boy." And no, in case you're wondering, this was certainly not the first time that Craig has had such an encounter in a public bathroom. From today's Idaho Statesman:

Sen. Larry Craig, who in May told the Idaho Statesmen he had never engaged in homosexual acts, was arrested less than a month later by an undercover police officer who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him in an airport men's room. The arrest at a Minnesota airport prompted Craig to plead guilty to disorderly conduct earlier this month. His June 11 encounter with the officer was similar to an incident in a men's room in a Washington, D.C., rail station described by a Washington-area man to the Idaho Statesman. In that case, the man said he and Craig had sexual contact.

Oh to be gay, closeted, and Republican. Evidently, it's a heavy burden to carry.

The Lousiana GOP is reporting a huge pickup for 2008. They have convinced John Kennedy to switch parties. The big news is that he ran unsuccessfully for the Senate seat now held by David Vitter in 2004. The speculation is that he will be gunning for Mary Landrieu in 2008.

Senator Landrieu barely won her seat in 2002 and since then the largest part of her voting base in New Orleans has disappeared due to acts of God. She's a long shot, but up to this point, the LA GOP has not recruited a good challenger for her. John Kennedy could be the guy. From Nola.com:

In an email message to supporters, Kennedy cited "certain fixed, bedrock principles" that he believes are more in line with the Republican Party than the Democrats, and said GOP officials have been more responsive to his proposals in recent years.

"For the past several years, it has increasingly been the case that those public servants who have embraced my ideas and my philosophy of trying new approaches are primarily Republicans," Kennedy wrote.

2008 is shaping up to be a horrible year for the Republicans Senate Committee, they must win in Louisiana to make up for losses elsewhere.

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.

Larry Flynt, the founder and publisher of Hustler Magazine, has tried to uncover hypocrites who publicly support a sinless society while they enjoy the benefits of Sodom and Gomorrah. According to a recent article in The Politico, Flynt "is once again offering a million-dollar payoff to anyone who can provide documented evidence of illicit intimate relations with a congressman, senator or other prominent officeholder."

The Republican Party has teamed with the religious right and created the catchy label "the moral majority." If you joined this club, you better practice what you preach. Flynt is sick of the hypocrites who accuse others while doing the same thing themselves. The funny part is how all these guys receive forgiveness from their wives and God as soon as they are caught.

While the Republicans were trying to impeach Bill Clinton for his immoral conduct (and lies), Flynt went to town and discovered some of the impeachers had not been good boys themselves. According to the article, "Flynt managed to expose the sexual promiscuity of former House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois, former impeachment prosecutor Bob Barr and -- his biggest catch of all -- the almost-Speaker Bob Livingston, another Louisianan."

Deborah Palfrey, the "D.C. madam", has released her entire phone list and Sen. David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana, is on it. But he didn't waste time getting out in front:

"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter said Monday in a printed 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."

Vitter's spokesman, Joel Digrado, confirmed the statement Monday evening in an e-mail to The Associated Press after a statement purported to be from Vitter was received by to the AP bureau in New Orleans.

It said his telephone number was on old phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates before he ran for the Senate.

I know what you're thinking. Vitter isn't up for re-election until 2010 so this came out at a really nice time politically for him. And doesn't really change things for 2008 in Lousiana. The Democratic senator, Mary Landrieu, is still up for election in 2008 and she's still in trouble, although the GOP hasn't lined up an establishment challenger yet.