FRANK RICH: I Did Have Sexual Relations With That Woman

IT’S not just the resurgence of Al Qaeda that is taking us back full circle to the fateful first summer of the Bush presidency. It’s the hot sweat emanating from Washington. Once again the capital is titillated by a scandal featuring a member of Congress, a woman who is not his wife and a rumor of crime. Gary Condit, the former Democratic congressman from California, has passed the torch of below-the-Beltway sleaziness to David Vitter, an incumbent (as of Friday) Republican senator from Louisiana.


Mr. Vitter briefly faced the press to explain his “very serious sin,” accompanied by a wife who might double for the former Mrs. Jim McGreevey. He had no choice once snoops hired by the avenging pornographer Larry Flynt unearthed his number in the voluminous phone records of the so-called D.C. Madam, now the subject of a still-young criminal investigation. Newspapers back home also linked the senator to a defunct New Orleans brothel, a charge Mr. Vitter denies. That brothel’s former madam, while insisting he had been a client, was one of his few defenders last week. “Just because people visit a whorehouse doesn’t make them a bad person,” she helpfully told the Baton Rouge paper, The Advocate.

Mr. Vitter is not known for being so forgiving a soul when it comes to others’ transgressions. Even more than Mr. Condit, who once co-sponsored a bill calling for the display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings, Mr. Vitter is a holier-than-thou family-values panderer. He recruited his preteen children for speaking roles in his campaign ads and, terrorism notwithstanding, declared that there is no “more important” issue facing America than altering the Constitution to defend marriage.


But hypocrisy is a hardy bipartisan perennial on Capitol Hill, and hardly news. This scandal may leave a more enduring imprint. It comes with a momentous pedigree. Mr. Vitter first went to Washington as a young congressman in 1999, to replace Robert Livingston, the Republican leader who had been anointed to succeed Newt Gingrich as speaker of the House. Mr. Livingston’s seat had abruptly become vacant after none other than Mr. Flynt outed him for committing adultery. Since we now know that Mr. Gingrich was also practicing infidelity back then — while leading the Clinton impeachment crusade, no less — the Vitter scandal can be seen as the culmination of an inexorable sea change in his party.....

http://freedemocracy.blogspot.com/2007/07/frank-rich-i-did-have-sexual-relations.html


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Coleen Rowley , Ray McGovern, Deborah J. Palfrey On Coast 2 Coast Tonight

Sat 07.21 >>
Retired FBI agent and congressional candidate Coleen Rowley will discuss her suggestions for improving the effectiveness of the War on Terror as well as her experiences inside government bureaucracy. She will be joined by Ray McGovern and Michael German.

In the first hour, Ian chats with Deborah J. Palfrey, the 'D.C. Madam' who had all of her assets seized by the IRS.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com /

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Top Right Corner of Banner (Listen Live)

http://2005.kfi640.com/pages/CoasttoCoastAM.html?feed=128833&article=444303

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I heard it. I thought the DC Madam had a lot of interesting things to say. None of it was earth shattering, though. It kind of leaves you scratching your head at this. Why? Why was she targeted? Nobody who has done anything like this has been prosecuted by the feds. It is such bs charges. She should be facing state charges of prostitution if she did something. It is weird. Maybe there is a lot more than meets the eye. I know I can't figure it out. I know I am astounded by her being prosecuted. I think she has a fair chance at beating the rap, even though it is hard to do in federal criminal court.