David Vitter nays Sen Clinton’s appointment

January 15, 2009

Sen Clinton passes 16-1 by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The only dissenter was David Vitter (R-LA), who was the only one to try to challenger her. Chairman Kerry asserted himself and that was that…until the vote. Only way he could save face.

Here’s the video and body language.

I didn’t know who Vitter was (I only started following politics in Jan 08) but he looked angry about something that was not related to Sen Clinton so I went agoogling. Turns out he’s a pig with castration anxiety. Explained everything except the diaper fetish.

He got his microwillie involved with the DC Madam and was the first member of Congress to be outed by her phone book. He is actually trying to use his reelection funds for defense against the allegations. Can you say wardrobe? Clothes vs defending himself because he frequented a prostitute? His lawyer says that his defense costs are a direct result of him holding office as senator. Problem being he was involved before he became a senator. And he dropped out of the 2002 gubernatorial race because of his alleged relationship with a prostitute named Wendy (like his wife).

Salon’s MARY JACOBY:

He presents himself as a morally righteous, clean-cut family man, and his wife and three young children have become virtual campaign props. The Harvard-educated Rhodes scholar is also extremely intelligent, observers say, and runs perhaps the most effective political ads in the state. But there are hints of a dark side: allegations of an affair with a prostitute and a lawsuit claiming he lost his temper and physically charged at a woman at a town hall meeting.

Mercedes Hernandez, who was involved in Republican politics, testified that she frequently attended local meetings to engage officials on the issues, usually tape-recording the events. At a town hall meeting, Hernandez asked the state representative about a rumor she’d heard that he was supporting a gay-rights bill in the Legislature. Vitter became “enraged by her question, left the podium where he was standing, advanced toward her in a rapid, threatening manner, pushing aside chairs … and grabbed a portable tape recorder” that Hernandez was holding, according to her legal complaint.

And then there’s his ethical campaign standards bringing David Duke and the KKK:

Vitter was against any form of affirmative action. For most of the race, the better-known Treen led in the polls — until the last week, when Vitter violated his pledge not to play dirty, John Treen said. The Vitter campaign sent fliers to black voters stating that the racist David Duke was supporting his opponent. In fact, Treen had been an enemy of Duke and had tried to stop his rise in Louisiana GOP politics. “Dave Treen and I have absolutely no use for David Duke whatsoever,” John Treen said. “He [Duke] tried to shake my hand once, and I said, ‘I’m not going to shake your hand, you son of a bitch.’ It’s hypocritical to shake someone’s hand if you consider them an enemy.” But in what John Treen believes was a secret pact between Duke and Vitter, the former Ku Klux Klansman came out publicly for his nemesis, Treen.

Sound familiar?

He vowed to outlaw abortion in almost all cases, even when pregnancy results from rape or incest.

Crooks and Liars’ JOHN AMATO:

VITTER on “sanctity of marriage” in 2004:

This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history, and our two U.S. Senators won’t do anything about it. We need a U.S. Senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts’s values. I am the only Senate Candidate to coauthor the Federal Marriage Amendment; the only one fighting for its passage. I am the only candidate proposing changes to the senate rules to stop liberal obstructionists from preventing an up or down vote on issues like this, judges, energy, and on and on.” stated David Vitter.

In 2006, Vitter told reporters that “the existence or non-existence of a stable, loving, two-parent household” is the most significant predictor of success in life, and conceded that infidelity contributes to the breakdown of traditional families.

Vittner’s number in DC Madam’s phonebook (SHAILAGH MURRAY)

Vitter and his wife, Wendy, a former prosecutor, have four children. On his Senate Web site, Vitter says he is committed to “advancing mainstream conservative principles” and notes that he and his wife are lectors at their hometown church.

His come to Jesus moment. Why is it they have “respect for their families” only after they’re caught?

This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. 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.

Salon’s JOAN WALSH:

Predictably, he refused to take questions; less predictably, he pushed his wife, Wendy Vitter, out to speak. Wendy Vitter, you’ll recall, made fun of Hillary Clinton’s plight during impeachment, telling the New Orleans Times-Picayune that if she had a cheating spouse, she’d be “a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary. If [he] does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”But today we got the calm, forgiving, Christian wife — “I’m proud to be Wendy Vitter,” she declared — who insisted she was mainly speaking as a mother and who is “sad for our children” because the media has been hounding the family since Vitter’s admission a week ago, even following them to church.

Lorena Bobbitt? Mrs Spitzer is more like it. One wonders what he thought of barry’s pick of Warren.

As Glenn Greenwald points out, Vitter was a leading sponsor of the ban on same-sex marriage, insisting, “I don’t believe there’s any issue that’s more important than this one,” and he compared gay marriage to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

And there’s this:

Impeachment-backing state Rep. David Vitter, by the way, wrote this in the Times-Picayune: “Some meaningful action must be taken against the president [Clinton]. If none is, his leadership will only further drain any sense of values left to our political culture.”

I honestly cannot believe these men can say such things when they’ve been busy doing it for years themselves.

Remember Mark Foley who was the crusader against internet predators at the same time he was sending teenage pages graphically sexual IMs? And, of course, like Foley, Vitter was not found guilty of anything.

Washington Post’s MARY ANN AKERS:

The Senate ethics committee in May exonerated Vitter because his contacts with the late D.C. Madam’s escort service occurred when he was a House member, before he ran for the Senate. And since the House ethics panel cannot retroactively investigate Vitter’s conduct, the Louisiana Republican looks to be off the hook completely.

(AP File Photo/Alex Brandon)

Pig & Wendy Vitter at a news conference in Metairie, La. on July 16, 2007. She looks like the runaway bride who didn’t like she said she would.

Spitzers: pickwaynesbrain