I got an email from a friend that really struck at the core of what's been bugging me about this D.C. Madam saga:
Yesterday, when I heard about the DC Madam’s suicide, I kept thinking this whole thing could have been ripped right out of an Edith Wharton novel. It's so 19th century. Women are still paying the ultimate price for prostitution – death, humiliation and destitution – while men continue to thrive in positions such as a U.S. Senator or a well-paid attorney. Makes me wonder how much our country has progressed since the 19th Century.
I found a post about the ABC News report last year that Palfrey’s list consisted of “…thousands of names, tens of thousands of phone numbers,” Ross said. “And there are people there at the Pentagon, lobbyists, others at the White House, prominent lawyers — a long, long list.” Ross added that the women who worked for the service, potentially as prostitutes, “include university professors, legal secretaries, scientists, military officers.”
You don't hear much about any of those guys. I wonder if any of these men felt real remorse over these women, whose futures have been ruined. Their livelihoods have been destroyed, their reputations strewn all over the nation’s media.
Will Senator David Vitter mourn Deborah Palfrey who arranged pleasure sessions for him? Does Randall Tobias think about the women he paid and wonder whether they are now okay? Are food prices affecting their lives? How about their kids? Probably not. Sex is over. It is on the next cocktail party for them.
But not for the young naval officer who has lost her job.
Clearly, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
During the trial, Dana Milbank did a column documenting the public humiliation of the women who worked for Palfrey. The prosecutors were vindictive. I'm not saying they were without fault, but there is something very 19th century about this whole sordid affair.
You know, the men who were caught cheating on their wives that have long been forgotten. Spitzer was wrong, but weren't they as well? Why are both still in office while Spitzer has resigned? Spitzer was wrong but I'm still trying to figure out how it is that he resigned within days yet Larry Craig and David Vitter are still in office. The GOP was rolling on the floor laughing this week when Spitzer went down but I'm almost surprised that Fox didn't interview Newt Gingrinch, Vitter or Craig and have them tell us about the evils of sex outside of marriage and how it's destroying America much the way the media has used Bill Bennett when they are seeking moral guidance on one issue or another. It's a tricky game to understand who is supposed to resign in disgrace when you see this.
Meanwhile while Wall Street and the GOP were all laughing Americans shoveled $200 billion to Wall Street all based on a guarantee of $200 billion in subprime loans that nobody was ever going to buy. Funny, isn't it? Ha, ha, ha. Joke's on us.
Seems the Senator from Louisiana had quite the active libido according to a former prostitute. Vitter apparently had to end the "relationship" with the prostitute when she told him her real name was "Wendy." That would also be the name of Mrs. Senator David Vitter. You can't make this stuff up -- and the former prostitute passed a lie detector test yesterday.
Also, to clarify, as today's update points out, this "relationship" lasted from July to November of 1999. So, this is not the same prostitute who worked for the so-called DC Madam. In July of 2007, Nola.Com reported, "The records show that Vitter number was called by Palfrey's service beginning Oct. 12, 1999 and ending Feb. 27, 2001, which was Mardi Gras."
Here's the report from the press conference today:
A woman who once worked as a prostitute in New Orleans said Tuesday that Senator David Vitter had sex with her several times a week from July to November 1999, when he had just resigned his seat as a state representative to make his first run for Congress.
Wendy Yow Ellis said she met Vitter through an escort service and saw him two to three times a week in an apartment at Dauphine and Dumaine streets in the French Quarter. At first, he knew her only by her stage name: Leah.
Ellis said the affair ended "abruptly" when she gave him her real name. She shares a first name with his wife, Wendy Baldwin Vitter.
"When I asked him if he would like to carry this beyond the business, I gave him my name and phone number. I said, 'My real name is Wendy,' and he said, 'Oh my God,'" Ellis recalled. "I did see him a few times at the club I danced at after that. He just kind of gave me a look of disbelief."
Two or three times a week? No wonder all those old guys in the GOP Senate Caucus were applauding for Vitter after this scandal broke.
Gotta love this classic quote from Larry Flynt:
"It is not a question of muckraking and exposing the perverts," Flynt said. "It's more than that. It is trying to maintain some honesty in the government."
Mr. Flynt will be publishing the details of Vitter's visits to Ms. Ellis.
Tomorrow, a former prostitute is going to tell us all about her "relationship" with David Vitter, the Senator from Louisiana. Depending on the details, this revelation should get Vitter another standing ovation from his Senate colleagues:
A former New Orleans prostitute who says she had an affair with Sen. David Vitter has passed a lie-detector test and will provide details of the four-month relationship at a press conference Tuesday, according to Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt.
Wendy Cortez, whose real name is Wendy Ellis, says she had a sexual relationship with Vitter, R-La., in 1999, when he was a state legislator.
Copies of the results of Cortez's polygraph test, which she took at Flynt's request, will be provided to reporters at the news conference at Flynt's office in Beverly Hills, Calif., Hustler said in a news release Monday.
Vitter spokesman Joel Digrado wouldn't comment on the Flynt news conference. In an e-mail, Digrado said, "Sen. Vitter and his wife have addressed all of this very directly. The senator is focused on important Louisiana priorities like the water resources bill and the Iraq debate."
Interesting that Katrina recovery and rebuilding New Orleans aren't "important Louisiana priorities" for Vitter. But, he does have other things to worry about.
Senator Vitter's solicitation of at least one prostitute was not merely, as he has stated, 'a serious sin,' it was a violation of criminal law. The Senate Ethics Committee should commence an investigation into Senator Vitter's conduct and hold him accountable.
GOP family values Senator David Vitter just held a press conference, didn't acknowledge that he paid a hooker repeatedly for sex, then put his wife - the woman who publicly attacked Hillary Clinton for standing by her man after his repeated indiscretions - before the cameras to blame the media for being mean (hmmm... yeah, the press made him bash gay marriage for being a bigger threat to society than Hurricane Katrina while he knew he'd committed repeated adultery with a hooker). But please don't judge David Vitter's marriage, his wife begs, it's only for the Vitter's to judge our marriages.
That's nice. Another Louisiana adulterer rushes to GOP Senator David "I bought a hooker while married to my wife and criticizing other people's marriages" Vitter's defense.
Artist's rendition of Senator Vitter and his hooker:
GOP Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), when asked on CNN if Senator David Vitter (R-Louis.) should resign after allegations that he paid a DC hooker for some extra-marital adultery:
I don't know what it is that he has apologized for, and until it's clear that there's some kind of crime that was committed, that was of such a nature that he should resign, it seems to me that talk is a little premature.
Well, actually, Senator Kyl, we know exactly what David Vitter apologized for. He apologized for frequenting hookers here in DC while married, and prostitution in DC is illegal. As for adultery, that was traditionally a crime in this country, and certainly is a big Biblical crime (Leviticus says you should surely be put to death).
So it's time to go back to Senators Vitter and Kyl.
Call Senator Vitter's office: Washington, D.C. 516 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-4623 Fax: (202) 228-5061
Ask Vitter what exactly he was apologizing for - did he pay a prostitute for sex while he was married to his wife? And if he thinks his marriage is between him and his wife, then why was it okay for him to publicly speak out against the marriages of gay and lesbians couples, but it's not okay for gay and lesbian couples to speak out against the dangers of his marriage? Vitter said once that gay marriage was more dangerous than Hurricane Katrina. And what are Senator Vitter's views on adultery? Is it wrong? What are his views on prostitution? Should it remain a crime? And what is the proper punishment for a US Senator who is a criminal?
Call Senator Jon Kyl WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE 730 Hart Senate Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: (202) 224-4521 Fax: (202) 224-2207
Then we need to ask Kyl why he isn't sure if prostitution is a crime. Does Senator Kyl not think prostitution should be a crime? Does he think the crime of prostitution (and adultery) is enough to merit a "family values" Senator resigning. Does Kyle oppose adultery, does he think it should be a crime? If Senator Kyl is so fond of protecting the sanctity of marriage then why did he go on CNN this morning and defend adultery and a known adulterer.
Rising star of the family-values wing of the Republican party likes his hookers. And that's fine. But spare us the sanctimonious family values crap when you're cheating on your wife with prostitutes. More from the Times Picayune.
Last night, John offered bonus points for anyone who could find good "family values" quotes and votes from the DC Madam's client, Senator David Vitter (R-LA).
This morning, CNN covered the blogs coverage of Vitter's hypocrisy and noted that Think Progress found some quotes right on Vitter's Senate website.
Last year, when the Senate was considering the anti-gay marriage amendment, Vitter was typically sanctimonious:
"I don't believe there's any issue that's more important than this one," said Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican. "I think this debate is very healthy, and it's winning a lot of hearts and minds. I think we're going to show real progress."
