1115.org

Practically every story I have seen in the last few days on liberal blogs about the comeuppance of Sen. David Vitter has focused on the hypocrisy angle, or felt compelled to justify itself by pointing out that it’s fair game to post about Vitter confessing to consorting with prostitutes because of his vast hypocrisy. Because he positioned himself so publicly as the staunch defender of family values. Because he denounced marital infidelity with such conviction.

I totally disagree. The hypocrisy allows us to enjoy Vitter’s discomfiture a little more. But I think it has very little to do with why this story is important.

Anytime a reporter uncovers evidence that a senator has been consorting with prostitutes, that is news in and of itself, important news, even if no prior public hypocrisy about family values is involved. For the simple reason that, if a reporter uncovered it today, someone else could have uncovered it yesterday. In all likelihood, someone looking for dirt on the senator. Possibly a bad guy. And it wouldn’t matter if the bad guy’s name was Karl Rove or Jack Abramoff or something else.

Senators who consort with prostitutes leave themselves open to blackmail. It’s really as simple as that. Most senators would do almost anything to keep their dirty secret. And if someone else is controlling a U.S. senator (or a governor or a cabinet member or any other significant politician) does it matter one bit if the underlying mechanism is bribery or blackmail?

So if there is evidence that a senator has consorted with prostitutes, inquiring minds should want to know. And it has nothing to do with schadenfreude.

Let’s take a moment to remember how many people have wondered at the almost religious fervor with which so many Republican Senators and Representatives have blindly supported the failed, discredited policies of the Bush-Cheney combine. I certainly have.

Isn’t there also a big question about exactly why Bush is so securely in the grip of Dick Cheney?

Consorting with prostitutes would explain a lot, wouldn’t it?

*** Update, 7:15 am ***

The Hill:

Larry Flynt, the porn-industry magnate who first linked Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) to the escort service of the “D.C. Madam,” said Wednesday that his investigators are tracking more than 20 leads on alleged congressional sex scandals.
[...]
In addition to the phone records of “D.C. Madam” Deborah Jeane Palfrey, accused of prostitution and racketeering by federal authorities, Flynt is mining responses to an ad he placed last month in The Washington Post. The ad promised a million-dollar reward for anyone providing evidence of illicit encounters with members of Congress.

The 20-plus new leads, Flynt said, come from the newspaper ad and not Palfrey.

*** Update, 8 am ***

This, by the way, is also the reason why Presidents should not have oral (or any other) sex with White House interns. Imagine if Linda Tripp had taken her little recordings to Bill Clinton, and said: “Now listen very carefully, Mr. President, …”