Sex and Politics

Monday there was an article on Politico.com about how David Vitter, Republican Senator from Louisiana enjoys a 60% approval (73% amongst Republicans) and feels confident about his re-election in 2010. He has raised more than $2.5M and so far his most notable challenger is an ex-porn star, Sunny Daniels (this is not a joke!). In 2006, Vitter was nationally exposed for his patronage of a Washington escort service.

Vitter seems to have escaped ANY repercussions. The first and most important note is that he did not lose his wife. During the Clinton-Lewinski scandal Vitter’s wife said that she did not agree with Hillary’s decision to stay with Bill and that she would have “pulled a Lorena Bobbit” on Vitter if he were to cheat. But at the press conference where Vitter admitted his wrong doing and apologized, his wife remained by his side to support the family. Understandable hypocrisy when the shoe is on the other foot.

Politically speaking he has suffered even less. After two weeks, a new story had developed and quickly inundated the media and the public. The American public has a short attention span and demands something new to get in an uproar about every few weeks (i.e. Tea Parties, Sotomayor, Palin’s wardrobe etc).

Vitter is not the only one to have fallen to carnal temptations. Larry Craig was caught soliciting sexual favors in an airport bathroom in 2007. Bill Clinton was “caught” having sexual relations with an intern. John Edwards possibly fathered a child with his mistress. Eliot Spitzer chose the same path as Vitter and spent thousands on escort services.

However, they all succumbed to different fates. Larry Craig at first said he would retire early. He then decided to stay his remaining year in office and not run for re-election in 2008. Gay sex is an enormous scandal for someone who was considered a staunch conservative, but Larry Craig realized he only needed to ride it out a couple weeks before the media moved on. No one had the power to throw him out.

Bill Clinton also chose to ride it out. Being President of the United States this was the biggest sex scandal ever seen. He was not able to run for re-election and did not face criminal charges so he had nothing to lose by riding it out and fight off the impeachment trials. Clinton was not removed from office solely because the political makeup of Congress at the time was not enough get the votes and he most likely knew this before he decided to fight. Bush ran on restoring honor to the W.H. which probably got enough votes to help him pull a couple of states. (I like to think it was not Nader who lost the election for Gore, but Monica Lewinski; and therefore, she should be blamed for being the initial cause of the Bush presidency’s destruction that ensued!!!)

John Edwards’ political career is most likely completely over. It was easier for him to disappear since he was not currently in office.

Eliot Spitzer chose to resign and avoid being thrown out by NY legislatures (assuming they had the legal means to do so).

Because Vitter had a heterosexual affair, kept his wife, and was not the head of a political body as both Clinton and Spitzer were; he was able to keep his job and even run for re-election. His affair was yesterday’s news. It will have happened 4 years before his re-election campaign in 2010, which in political years is an eternity (political years are much shorter than dog years!). His challenger will most likely rehash this scandal; however, it will have little power since it is such an old story and has lost its effectiveness. His challenger is going to have to find something more current, and in such a red state like Louisiana it is going to have to be something juicy.

This blog entry could have very well addressed the hypocrisy of the whole situation. The Republican Party (politicians and citizen supporters) wants to eat alive all Democrat politicians who cheat on their wives, but when one of their own does it, it is not necessarily forgivable, but it seems to at least be forgettable. Louisiana is a staunchly conservative state with “family” values. Yet they cannot even come up with a challenger to run against Vitter in the primaries. Hypocrisy is at the core of all things political. Democrats do the same thing. Nonetheless it is always surprising when it is as obvious as the Vitter re-election.