When U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) refused to take questions in his press conference Monday, he did more than ruffle a few journalists’ feathers. He snubbed the people electing him and taxpayers wondering if he can re-establish the trust they easily lent to him in 2005.There are still some points regarding the lost trust and the hypocrisy of his “sin” to be addressed.
Did you break the law?
Have you been interviewed or contacted by law enforcement officials related to the DC madam revelations?
How about the prosecutors in the Palfrey case?
And how did you get the phone number? Was it a lobbyist or one of your staff members?
Yes, citizens want candor and frankness -- unscripted responses. This serious revelation puts voter trust in question, as he agrees. The answers are not often found in one-way bits of stagecraft. The answer is candor.
It is understandable that Vitter wants to get back to work and move on, but journalists of all walks tend to be taxpayers too, seeking answers that could help him re-establish the trust he desperately wants to earn back. He indicates he believes doing the hard work on Capitol Hill will regain him ground lost by his misdeed? Are we to believe his DC madam adventure was an isolated incident? We don’t want details; we just want to know what exactly he is asking forgiveness for.
7 comments:
I'm not sure about some the questions you ask in your blog, but as to the phone numbers, you can go onto any of their websites on onto the US Gov website or even the phone book. That's how I found them when I wanted to call any of my congress people.
While I agree that the Senator sinned and that what he did, even if it were many years ago, will certainly cause some to shun him. I beleive that the man said that he asked God for forgiveness and was forgiven. The sin was against his family as well and he says that he has asked them for the same forgiveness and received it.
Shame on the rest of us to continue to bring this up. Are we not just as much the sinner? I will not vote for Mr. Vitter, but I will not condemn him for sins that he says God has forgiven him for. Who are we to judge? Will we be judged by a higher power for our sin of judging Mr. Vitter?
Leave him alone, don't vote for him, but leave him alone.
Excuse me, Mr Editor,
As a supporter of Senator Vitter, I had my questions answered. It is not surprising that the editorial staff of the Times continues to DIG after he issued his statement. After all, the Senator is not, nor has ever been, one of THEIR boys. AND speaking of 'sinful indiscretions', wonder who the editorial staff will endorse for state senator, governor and president. AND will 'sinful indiscretions' be addressed then. Only if it can be applied to Jindal, I am sure. Talk about hypocrisy. There are many in politics that have mistresses. They pay for their 'services'. What is the difference? Isn't that prostitution at it's finest?
For the record many people vote their conscience and are not swayed by the writing of the staff at the Times or Hustler Magazine. Let's see....Larry Flynt ---- David Vitter. Not much of a contest.
To those who profess to be Christians, act like it. If a man sins, who are you to judge or shun him. There is only one perfect One, and He doesn't live in Louisiana.
When someone like Vitter looked down on us and talked like a preacher, he now looks like a hypocrite to most people. I personally don't have anything against him, but he has joined so many republican hypocrites and criminals who talk just like him. The holier than thou bunch really don't have a right a judge anyone but themselves.
David Vitter DID NOT satisfy me. Republicans would likely excuse those who crucified Christ if they were Republicans. To hide out and not answer questions is not what a U.S. Senator should be doing. It's amazing how those who vilified Clinton are now excusing Vitter, who has a mental problem and will not stop visiting prostitutes. As for Vitter's wife, well her expressions said it all during the press conference. She has no morals or backbone, either. The media needs to keep after him and hold him accountable. He is a hypocrite.
How does Vitter know that God forgave him? How arrogant of him. His wife is also a hypocrite. She criticized Hillary Clinton for standing by her man, now she has to eat her words. I guess the life as a senator's wife is just too good to give up. They have both prostituted themselves (forgive the pun).
First, it was reported that some of the calls on Vitter’s phone were made during roll call votes in the senate. That makes it our business. If a private employer would find behavior unacceptable during business hours, why are we, the public employer, expected to be different? Senators and Representatives are well compensated and we rely on them to do an important job, but many of them seem to have a misguided sense of self-importance, superiority and position themselves above the "ordinary people" they are elected to serve. With that kind of attitude pervasive in Washington, when does legislation by our representatives morph into arbitrary fiat by aristocrats?
Second, our elected officials assume not only a position of trust, but of "representation" of their electorate. If the current scandal involved a senator from Nevada the situation might be a little different, but Louisianans are entitled to expect their elected officials to behave in conformity with the constituency’s general expression of laws, morals and values. That would seem to be part of the job description. Would it be acceptable for a senator to smoke marijuana in an Amsterdam coffee shop while on vacation? It might be legal and/or conform to the Netherlands’ values, but I doubt most US constituents (except some Californians) would find that behavior acceptable. If one is not prepared to conduct his or her public and private life in conformity with the morals and values of the constituency, he/she should choose another career. No one forces “public servants” to run for office but once elected, they become servants indentured by the morals and values of their constituency. If failure to represent the morals and values of one's electorate was a basis for removal from office, DC might well be a ghost town (maybe be a good thing?). Is abandoning the value of public dignity a good thing?
Whether or not Sen. Vitter’s sex life is otherwise anybody’s business, it was offered up for scrutiny the instant his telephone number entered the records of someone involved in a federal criminal investigation. This is not a situation of an intrusive paparazzi. The Times ran a front-page story that rumors of Vitter’s involvement in prostitution were well known among a bevy of Louisiana politicos for quite some time, and that the major media never pursued it. Louisianans should examine how candidates burdened with known potential for damaging scandal wind up on our ballots in the first place.
We all should be careful about condemning others. We all make mistakes and should be eager to forgive. However, as Rev. Hudson observed in last Sunday’s column, voters have made up their minds that their particular issues are more important than a politician’s “private behavior.” We all should reassess the extent to which that decision by we voters contributes to business as usual in DC. How much time and money are diverted from serious problem solving to partisan politics? Congress' current approval rating is even lower than the President’s, and both could break Nixon’s record-setting low if they are not careful. Maybe some day all the bums will be thrown out of DC - even more unlikely, maybe they all will resign in shame. My point is that with all the real problems this country faces, we can neither afford “public servants” who present scandals, nor their peers who divert political resources from problem solving to partisan bickering.
Post a Comment