Republicans celebrate hypocrisy

Original Link: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/OPINION/70723031

By Marianne Means

When Sen. David Vitter, R-La., showed up in Washington, D.C., again last week after hiding with the equivalent of a paper bag on his head, he was welcomed back to a closed Republican Senate luncheon with a loud standing ovation.

Vitter had fled after admitting that he was included on a private telephone list of johns made public by the so-called "Washington madam," Deborah Jean Palfrey, whom law enforcement officials accuse of running a prostitution ring. Vitter didn't publicly deny anything, saying only that he had sinned and was sorry. He is refusing to discuss the subject further. Hmm.

Judging by their enthusiastic greeting, his GOP chums didn't seem to mind that the hypocrisy level in the nation's capital — always high — just zoomed upwards into outer space.

Isn't this the same "family values" crowd so eager to impeach President Clinton for an adulterous dalliance with a White House intern? Vitter himself, then a House member with higher ambitions, was one of the president's harshest critics, calling Clinton "morally unfit to govern." Vitter also wrote in the New Orleans Times-Picayune that if no "meaningful action" was taken to punish Clinton "his leadership will only further drain any sense of values left to our political culture."

Wow! No forgiveness in Vitter's heart there. At least Clinton didn't have to pay for sex, as the senator stands accused of doing. An ordinary extramarital affair, to my mind, is far less onerous than paying for sex with women who debase themselves in order to earn a living. The act is also usually illegal, which is Palfrey's problem at the moment.

When it comes to sex, political morality, it seems, means an unflinching standard for others of the opposite party but quite a squishy thing when applied to one's self. Vitter is one of the most sanctimonious conservatives in Congress — and there are plenty of them. He campaigned on such notions as "Marriage Appreciation Week" (what, only seven days a year to appreciate your spouse?), abstinence-only teaching for teens, criminalization of single-sex unions, and "the family values that the people of Louisiana hold dear."

Yet once the Palfrey connection surfaced, two other ladies back in his home state came forward with their own charges that he had patronized their bedrooms for pay, too. Vitter has refused to discuss them. His wife, Wendy, appeared at a press conference with him and did a Hillary, standing by her man. It was a sad performance.

All this has stirred up that old political argument about how much of a public figure's private life can fairly be exposed. The basic rule of decency is supposed to be only that behavior which influences the ability to properly conduct public policy is legitimate fodder for partisan criticism. But the issue isn't really that tidy. Character and judgment are tied up in private as well as public behavior, and we need to balance both when we go to the voting booth.

Vitter has tried to blame "political enemies" for spreading prostitution stories about him. And then he threw in criticism of the media for good measure because reporters are just out to "sell newspapers." Bluster won't save the day. The inescapable truth is that he has no one to blame but himself and his own reckless, selfish behavior.

Had Vitter forgotten he was elected in 1999 to the House after Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston resigned because an extramarital affair had been exposed? Didn't Vitter learn anything from that? Livingston, in line to become House Speaker, chose to preserve his marriage over his job, a choice that Vitter now confronts as well.

We can all agree that the politics of personal destruction has gone too far, for too long. But where does it stop? How does it stop? Who bells the cat?

Once House Republicans gleefully impeached Clinton (who mercifully was not convicted by cooler heads in the Senate) it became impossible to retreat into the old, traditional attitude that forgave men for all sorts of sexual misconduct.

President John F. Kennedy had it easy. Any person seeking the presidency today who has a private history of adultery is a fool. It will all come out if that person gets close enough to the White House. Enough may be enough. It won't be a good thing. But it will be inevitable, and unstoppable. It's time to drop the meaningless "family values" bumper sticker.