In the fall of 1998, David Vitter felt compelled to weigh in on the national debate over the possible impeachment of President Bill Clinton for lying about sex. Vitter was not yet a member of Congress; he was a Republican state representative. And in an October 29, 1998, opinion piece for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Vitter took issue with a previous article, written by two law professors who had argued that impeachment “is a process of removing a president from office who can no longer effectively govern; it is not about punishment.” Given that Clinton was still a capable chief executive, they had maintained, impeachment was not in order. Vitter, a graduate of Harvard University and Tulane law school and a Rhodes scholar, was aghast at this amoral position. He blasted the law professors for criticizing those congressional Republicans pushing for Clinton’s impeachment. Their argument that impeachment is “not primarily about right and wrong or moral fitness to govern,” he wrote, was utterly wrongheaded.
It’s not that I really enjoy having the opportunity to ridicule Republican hypocrites. That dog still hunts, but it’s grown rather old and stale. Still, there are so many varieties of Republican hypocrisy that I can almost always find a new angle. This is where Lousisiana Senator David Vitter comes in. A thoroughly committed “family values” Republican, he’s made his nut playing to the prejudices of those Conservative Christian Louisianans who still think that God votes Republican.
There are many, probably even the vast majority, of Conservative Christian Republicans who do what they can to live their beliefs. To them, I mean no disrespect. While I do not share their views, I certainly don’t dispute their right to hold them. I actually admire those who endeavor to live their beliefs, whatever they may be. If your belief system and the living out of those beliefs give your life a sense of purpose and direction…well, more power to you. What ruins the soup, though, are small-minded, hypocritical DUMB@$$E$ like David Vitter, who do their best to take down a Democratic President over moral issues, while violating those very same moral strictures themselves.
Vitter deserves every bit of ridicule that has been and will be directed at him. His hypocrisy, like that of so many holier-than-thou Republicans, only exposes him as primarily concerned with his own personal power and self-aggrandizement. Vitter’s credibility as a “family values” Republican is now less than worthless. If he had even the barest shred of decency, he would do the right thing and resign. This will never happen, of course, because before long Vitter will find a way to blame his downfall on Democrats.
Of course, this should beats having to take personal responsibility, eh??
STILL GLAD YOU VOTED REPUBLICAN??
