 |
 |
   Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed?
 The federal government is supposed to issue new rules about debt levels for students in for-profit colleges. In the meantime, the states are working on their own regulations.
 Washingtons budget hawks want to decimate the federal workforce to shrink the deficit. It will have the opposite effect.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
|
   |
|
|
September 7, 2010
MAYBE HE HAS A PROBLEM WITH THE PROSTITUTES.... Sen. David Vitter (R) is seeking re-election in Louisiana, despite his numerous scandals and humiliating questions about his character, and appears likely to win another term. Not surprisingly, the GOP establishment has rallied behind him -- Vitter remains a Republican in good standing no matter how many prostitutes he's hired, or how many violent criminals are on his staff. But there's one GOP leader in particular who has held back and kept Vitter at arm's length: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Vitter faced a couple of primary challengers, who were dispatched easily, but Jindal declined to endorse the incumbent. And now that the race has turned to the general election, Jindal has an opportunity to side with his far-right ally in the Republican Party -- but he hasn't.
What's especially interesting about this is that Jindal's support for Vitter was assumed. Had the governor not said a word, the default position was a Jindal endorsement. But eight weeks before the election, the governor apparently isn't quite ready to be associated with his scandal-plagued ally, who'll face Rep. Charlie Melancon (D) in November. Speaking of Vitter, Louisiana Democrats released a fairly devastating "Forgotten Crimes" video late last week, telling the story of the senator's multiple sex scandals in the form of a documentary-style video. It not only features quotes from a variety of locals, but it even includes a reenactment of Vitter's misconduct, including quotes from one of his prostitutes. It's too long for television -- it runs over five minutes -- but the state party hopes to raise funds to get the video on the air, perhaps in a truncated form. There's no doubt that Louisiana Dems consider this Vitter's Achilles' Heel -- when a right-wing senator runs on a family-values platform and gets caught with hookers, that's not surprising -- and perhaps Jindal's reluctance to endorse Vitter may renew questions about whether conservatives can tolerate questions about the senator's character. —Steve Benen 10:40 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (14)
Comments
Aww, they blew it. "Battling his own demons." He beat the demons and that's all the right wing crissians need to forgive him. Posted by: martin on September 7, 2010 at 11:01 AM | PERMALINKGood for Jindal, but it's nothing more than a point of personal integrity. The conservative voters will tolerate Vitter's behavior just fine -- they're not going to vote for a socialist, er, Democrat. Posted by: Bat of Moon on September 7, 2010 at 11:09 AM | PERMALINKIt used to be that Republican sex scandals were a definitive kiss of death. Indeed, Republicans took pride in casting out their sinners whereas Democrats kept theirs. But Vitter (and Ensign, too) seem to show that such showy moralism is a thing of the past. Rather than rebuke the fallen, Republicans exult in their own tribalism, giving the finger to the other side and anyone who criticizes a member. Maybe gay sex scandals are still verboten but Republicans are now free to do pretty much anything. Posted by: walt on September 7, 2010 at 11:10 AM | PERMALINKIt is a rite of passage for IOKIYAR . Sure its tough for the little guy , but that is why we have television . With the miracle of television we can forget ever being offended . Our hearts are poised to bleed right on time with another edition of "OMG" . In todays episode we are asked "Was that Liger Bamboo torching the fronds of one Lily White ?" Tune in and find your forgiveness for the poor Senator who is still not a Democrat . Posted by: FRP on September 7, 2010 at 11:13 AM | PERMALINKSpeaking of Vitter, Louisiana Democrats released a fairly devastating "Forgotten Crimes" video Louisiana Democrats, mind you. Perish forbid the national Democratic organization run a hard-hitting ad against yet another hypocritical and corrupt Republican. It'd be so partisan. What the hell is the big deal about Senator Vitter's patronage of prostitutes? He is NOT a democrat! The only unacceptable behaviors for a republican politician are being caught with a live boy or a dead girl in his bed! Posted by: RepublicanPointOfView on September 7, 2010 at 11:55 AM | PERMALINKThe hypocrisy is overwhelming. I suspect that hard core paraphilic infantilism is one of the few fetishes where there is a strong question as to the maturation of the psyche. An individual who is both hypocritical and infantilistic is clearly not an appropriate candidate for public office. Posted by: m on September 7, 2010 at 12:51 PM | PERMALINKThe Swiftboaters for Lies ad was never shown on TV. But will the media show this one over and over, or parts of it anyway? And talk about it? Don't hold your breath for the corporate media to attack a ReThuglican the same way it attacked a Democrat. Posted by: Sarah Barracuda on September 7, 2010 at 12:52 PM | PERMALINK"Vitter remains a Republican in good standing no matter how many prostitutes he's hired, or how many violent criminals are on his staff." Steve, this is lazy and doesn't reflect well on your standards of commentary. Do we suspect Vitter has been to MULTIPLE prostitutes, or that there are MULTIPLE violent criminals on this staff? I have no respect for the vile hypocritical Vitter, but this is wrong because: (a) you insinuate multiple occurrences of these, when (unless I'm wrong) there is only one; and (b) you assume Republicans wouldn't cut him off if there WERE multiples; could be true, but you shouldn't state as fact. Point is, if our side isn't more honest than theirs, we can't take the high ground. Keep up the good work! Posted by: bruce k on September 7, 2010 at 1:53 PM | PERMALINKReply to bruce k... #1 - There have been reports of Vitter utilizing multiple 'houses of ill repute' in D.C. and in more than 1 city in Louisiana. Unless the same professional kept moving between different houses, it is logical to conclude that Vitter was ulitizing 'multiple prostitutes'. Hopefully, he changed his diaper for each visit. #2 - There have, to my knowledge, only been reports about the one 'violent to women' staffer. Steve's line was "or how many violent criminals are on his staff" implies only that there is at least one and that is wholely accurate! There are enough reasons to criticize Benen without getting nitpicky like this! Posted by: SadOldVet on September 7, 2010 at 2:33 PM | PERMALINKreally wish caribou stacy would endorse diaper boy. headline: "quitter backs vitter the sh*tter" Posted by: dj spellchecka on September 7, 2010 at 4:06 PM | PERMALINKOK, Sad..point taken on multiple hookers, but I'm not sure whether Steve should feel defended or further attacked by your closing statement, haha... Posted by: bruce k on September 7, 2010 at 4:11 PM | PERMALINKRe: "The only unacceptable behaviors for a republican politician are being caught with a live boy or a dead girl in his bed" Not true. A republican can be seen by 1,000 people grasping the feet of a baby and slaming the child's head against a brick wall and we the people who voted for that republican would still vote for him/her. In addition, even if what passes for the main stream media in this country caught the baby bashing on camera they would never show it on tv. BTW, I don't doubt that some republican politician have being caught with a live boy or a dead girl in his bed. But the people who made the discovery are other republicans. Posted by: Sammu on September 7, 2010 at 10:56 PM | PERMALINKBIG CORRECTION: "we the people who voted" should have been "the people who voted". Including "we" even Accidentally makes my skin crawl. 
May 2011
April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 |
|
|
    |
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
buy from Amazon and
support the Monthly
|
||||||||
