July 10, 2007
D.C. Madam List Finally Nets Bigger Fish
Oh, D.C. Madam. Are you trying to win us back after we broke it off with you for being a terrible tease? If so, this is a pretty good start. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) admitted last night that his telephone number appeared in Deborah Jeane Palfrey's phone records, making him the first member of Congress to be outed as a client of the so-called D.C. Madam.
“This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible,” Vitter said in a statement released to the press.
“Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling,'' he said. "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 Politico, classy publication that they are, takes the time to note that Vitter's wife, Wendy, was quoted in 2000 as jokingly saying she would likely have a Lorena Bobbitt-style reaction to any potential infidelity on her husband's behalf. Perhaps someone should take the knives out of the Vitter home just as a precaution.
Palfrey posted the complete phone records of her client list on her web site Monday night after a legal ruling allowed her to do so, though it appears her server is currently being overwhelmed by traffic. The list for Pamela Martin and Associates dates back to 1994.
UPDATE: Via Julian Sanchez, a much better site for searching through the phone list. Very helpful in case your boss is asking you to um, check for a particular number.
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This is quite a shame. I've met Vitter a few times and he seemed like such a quite, reserved guy. I don't think I'll be able to look at him the same way again.... It must be the curse of the Bob Livingston seat.
"I asked for and received forgiveness from God"
How does he know?
But God told me that Vitter wasn't forgiven. In fact, the Lord saith to me that he was so angered he would smote part of Vitter's state with a flood. So saith The Lord.
Lol. That is a good one guest#2.
I was at an ANC meeting about church parking and one of the heads of a local church said something like that and I couldn't figure out how he knew what G-d wanted. Then he told us to attend church because that would eliminate the double-parking problem. Ugh.
funny: he's not a bad looking guy, you wouldn't think he'd have to pay for it.
Vitter is a dirtbag and a hypocrite. I hope he is truly done for. Anyone who uses the "family values" ticket as a way to infringe upon other people's civil liberties deserves what they get.
Oh, and I have met him on a number of occasions and he is obnoxious, talks and looks like a 14 year old boy. He is anything but quiet (not quite as the 1st poster said) and reserved.
Good riddance and may the great state of Louisiana have the guts to replace him next go round.
Two points: (1) for him to claim he sought AND RECEIVED forgiveness from God is outrageous; and (2) why didn't his wife follow through on her threat to pull a 'Lorena Bobbit' if she found her husband guilty of extramarital sex?
Guest 10:04, you must not have asked for forgiveness from God recently. He's really gotten with the times. Now you get an emailed quarterly statement of your forgiveness portfolio. Plus you can get an updated status of your foregiveness portfolio around the clock by logging into my.god.com or by speaking with an angel at 1-800-GOD-FONE.
(Laymen should carefuly consider their foregiveness objectives, risks, fees and expenses. Past forgiveness is not a guarantee of future forgiveness. Please read your bible carefully and speak with a priest before praying.)
I don't see why it's only between God and his family. DC Madam claims no crime was committed and that publishing the list would force witnesses to pipe up. He's obviously a witness now. Is he saying it was a sin but not a crime? Or was it a crime, but a law most people don't believe in so it doesn't matter? Or was it a crime and he, like other prominent politicians, is simply above accountability? Is there any accountability except on election day?
Damn! Bitch spelled my name wrong AGAIN! There's only one "e" in "monkeyrotica." And that "e" stands for "ectopic."
David Vitter is hardly a "big fish" or even a minnow for that matter. There is no real scandal here, he didn't deny it and already told his wife before she found out in the papers.
Remember, in this town, it is the cover-up, not the crime, that gets you. Vitter didn't try to cover this up, hence no story.
#6: That's not very Christian of you. The man asked for total forgiveness from his imaginary sky friend. That sky friend said everything's totally copacetic. What part of this do you not understand?
Oh, and like his wife is totally OK with it, too. The fact that he's built an entire political career on peddling right-wing Christian values--and the imposition of those values on others--should not even enter into the equation.
Guest 11 is right--this is a non-story. It's actually kind of nice: harkens back to a more innocent time, when senators from Louisiana, conservative or liberal, were *expected* to sleep with hookers.
All the happy hypocrisy that made running the republic any fun at all has vanished upon the death of privacy and the rise of phone records, internet, and 3,000(!) cameras below Canal Street. Pass me the santimonious bullshit, Marge--I need to dream up reasons why this is at all relevant to his work in governments, since I hate conservatives and there are no secrets anymore.
But to paraphrase Chris Rock, I ain't sayin' it'd be right for his wife to chop off his lil' senator, but I'd understand.
--nee Sweet
# 11
Oh really? Check this out:
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/10/29/lousiana_race/index.html
The man is actively trying to cover up quite a bit actually...
Check your facts buddy.
The only reason I would care about this is because he uses the "Family values" bullshit and then is revealed to be a cheating husband like so many other politicians.
Honestly, if he wasn't of that platform, I wouldn't care at all about his infidelities in the least.
To the extent the 'sin' was indeed a crime, this dirt bag should be prosecuted under the law. Why is it only the Madam and escorts are hit? It takes two, i.e., the Senator john here, to make a crime.
Whatever, I'm all in favor of the smoking ban, but I'll smoke to high hell in any bar that'll let me. All of us have dissonance between the values, policies, and laws we support and our own personal lives. Christians might call it original sin, but I'm comfortable just calling it natural human inconsistency: we're many different things at different moments. The question is whether his act, standing alone, is really wrong. I won't get into that, because I don't know all the facts, but I'm not alarmed, whatever I may think about his political positions.
Guys hire hookers. They don't call it the Worlds Oldest Profession for nothing.
It's the hypocrisy that makes this a story.
This guy was active in the fight to 'protect marriage' by denying marriage to gay people.
Apparently he was quite capable of screwing his marriage up without even the slightest bit of help from 'the gays'.
And he ran on the Republican 'family values' platform, sneering smugly at all those that he deemed his moral inferiors because at least he kept his weiner where God (as Republican spokesmodel) intended, unlike all the rest of us.
He deserves all the crap now coming his way.
Why is it that when a new scandal blows in, the offending party is almost always Republican? Like 90% of the time! Altho they were majority party in Congress for years, they were not 90% majority. So why so many Pugs & hardly any Dems mired in different scandals these past 6 & 1/2 years?? Could it be... the Repuglican CULTURE OF CORRUPTION ????
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Whatever, I'm all in favor of the smoking ban, but I'll smoke to high hell in any bar that'll let me
Let me know when the cigarette trade begins to rely on an elaborate international human slavery/trafficking system, where unwanted young girls are f*cked, abused, and disposed of so you can enjoy your cigarette. Then we'll talk. Cause that's basically what we're talking about in most of these situations.
Guest #2 and others -- that quote is not quite long enough. He said he'd asked for and received forgiveness from God and his wife. One presumably would think he meant he'd received forgiveness from the Not Quite Lorena Wife, not the Spaghetti Monster himself.
And Guest #1, the first rule of name-dropping is that one make clear who YOU are, as well.
And are we all collectively thinking that there are no Democrats on her phone list? Really? I'm no fan of Republicans, but um, the two sides of the aisle are a bit closer than they appear. It's like how things are out the right-side mirrors in cars.
And are we all collectively thinking that there are no Democrats on her phone list?
Um...who cares what their party affiliation is? Actually, the main difference between the parties (in recent history, at least) is that Dems eat their own. All it does is feed into the "circular firing squad" meme.
A pox on *both* their houses! Nader 2008!!
A pox on *both* their houses! Nader 2008!!
The first part I agree with, but it's Nader's fault that Gore lost in 2000. Not!
"Let me know when the cigarette trade begins to rely on an elaborate international human slavery/trafficking system, where unwanted young girls are f*cked, abused, and disposed of so you can enjoy your cigarette. Then we'll talk. Cause that's basically what we're talking about in most of these situations."
That would be the sort of information that would change how I view the situation. Some prostitution is likely harmless, and some prostitution is almost impossibly evil and exploitive. While international trafficking is incredibly vile, I'm not aware that it constitutes the larger part of the DC sex trade (but I wouldn't know, ewally), Anyway, without more info one way or the other, I can't really judge the act.
But anyway you're mixing analogies--I wasn't trying to connect smoking and the sex trade, or otherwise judge the "rightness" of his behavior. My point simply was that there's a difference between the policies you profess and your personal behavior, i.e. hypocrisy, and that that's human and not all that interesting. It's relevant to the consideration of a proposed law whether those who advocate it can even meet the standards they're setting, but that analysis doesn't get you all that far, methinks.
Again, I'm not defending prostitution, or even really making a value judgment. To put it another way, if the dude had advocated an anti-murder law and then proceeded to murder someone, I wouldn't care a whit about the hypocrisy. It's the moral question of the murder that would matter more.
--nee Sweet
Honestly, if he wasn't of that [family values] platform, I wouldn't care at all about his infidelities in the least.
Are there any politicians that actively run against family values? I can't see anyone winning on a "Families, Religion, Motherhood, and the Flag are Evil and Must Be Destroyed" platform. Except maybe Jello Biafra.
Vitter is a reflection of the hypocritical community that produced him. I imagine a lot of his constituents have found themselves in the same stinky, fornicatin' boat. Replace sex with narcotics and you have the reason why Marion Barry keeps getting re-elected.
Like I was sayin to the Pope this morning, "Benny," I says, "ain't nothin wrong with this Vitter clown a gallon of my urine can't make stinkier." My man just sorta rolled over on the couch and farted and went back to sleep. I swear, if a member of the Holy See ever answers your ad for a roommmate, take a pass. Always stinkin of communion wine and leaving their goddamn palanquin blockin me in the driveway. Vicar of Christ my ass.
“Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling,'' he said.
He could have said "asked for and received forgiveness from the C\church and my wife"--whether or not he meant/believed that he actually received forgiveness straight from God, he more accurately can say that through confession he received forgiveness from a priest or minister who acts as an agent of God in conferring forgiveness.
I'm not sure what type of church he apparently went to for confession, but in the Catholic Church, when you confess and receive forgiveness from the Priest, you are actually receiving forgiveness from God, so his statement would be an accurate one from that standpoint.
I think there's no way he did anything wrong. He couldn't have, he's Republican. He's a christian with strong family and high moral values and apparently, a direct line to God.
"And Guest #1, the first rule of name-dropping is that one make clear who YOU are, as well."
Why mention my name? All that I need to say is that I work for lobbyists and lawmakers are not hard to meet if you know where to look.
I asked for and received God's promise that it'd never really forgive any hypocritical bible-thumping douches. It said it'd have to pretend, though, cuz otherwise things would be awkward and stuff.
"Like I was sayin to the Pope this morning, "Benny," I says, "ain't nothin wrong with this Vitter clown a gallon of my urine can't make stinkier." My man just sorta rolled over on the couch and farted and went back to sleep. I swear, if a member of the Holy See ever answers your ad for a roommmate, take a pass. Always stinkin of communion wine and leaving their goddamn palanquin blockin me in the driveway. Vicar of Christ my ass."
I once again propose that Monkeyrotica be granted his own column to pleasure the DCist readers with his wit. Seriously, I would have spit coffee had I any in my mouth at the time.
I'm fine with replacing the comic for a special Monkey section.
Pardon me, Guest #1 and 28, I meant:
The first rule of making namedropping FUN is including yourself in the drop.
You took away my fun. Boo on you.
And hello, isn't DCist already the Monkey column?
I used Pamela Martin Associates a couple of times...both times, the girls were AU poli sci majors. Go figure. Anyways, they were sweet, clean, and one of them was willing to do anything, and I mean ANYTHING.
The forgiveness thing is pretty easy, y'all. The Bible states that Jesus said that we have to forgive all the time. "Seven times seventy" sound familiar from Sunday school back in the day? So, if God does as Jesus says, our dear Senator is off the hook from God. It's his wife (and her cutlery) he has to watch.
- the english major
What 2 adults do behind closed doors is none of the government damn business and no one elses damn business, prostitution should be legalized.
Hey monkeyrotica,
"Are there any politicians that actively run against family values? I can't see anyone winning on a "Families, Religion, Motherhood, and the Flag are Evil and Must Be Destroyed" platform..."
Actually, it's the Repugs that flaunt Family Values on their sleeve and use it almost exclusively to win votes, that is all.
Dems don't run against it, but they don't abuse the term.