Vitter

Wonkette: "The stupid creepy diaper-wearing politician stands dumb-eyed and shamed while his crazy-eyed horse-mouthed power-mad wife yells at reporters because her idiot whoremonger husband is repeatedly caught at the whorehouse."

Why does it matter?

It matters because Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who was on the DC Madam escort list, first got his start in Congress after replacing former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA), who “abruptly resigned after disclosures of numerous affairs” in 1998. At the time, Vitter argued forcefully that an extramarital affair was grounds for President Clinton's resignation.

It matters because, in the standard (but somewhat convoluted) Right-think, "the rules that apply to others do not apply to us". That, and because I get really tired of Right wing A$HOLES holding themselves up as models of virtue and hypocritically point fingers at others. It's a function of the old biblical admonition: "judge not lest ye be judged".

Not to put too fine a point on it:

• Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy.
  
  
• Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper was arrested for soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet.
  
  
• Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.
  
  
• Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.
  
  
• Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
  
  
• Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.
  
  
• Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business.
  
  
• Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano was arrested for sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl.
  
  
• Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.
  
  
• Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.
  
  
• Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.
  
  
• Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the internet.
  
  
• Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.
  
  
• Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
  
  
• Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.
  
  
• Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.
  
  
• Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.
  
  
• Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.
  
  
• Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.
  
  
• Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.
  
  
• Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.
  
  
• Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.
  
  
• Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
  
  
• Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial.
  
  
• Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
  
  
• Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.
  
  
• Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.
  
  
• Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.
  
  
• Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.
  
  
• Republican campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge.
  
  
• Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.
  
  
• Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.
  
  
• Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography.
  
  
• Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.
  
  
• Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.
  
  
• Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "
• Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.
  
  
• Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.
  
  
• Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.
  
  
• Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.
  
  
• Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.
  
  
• Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.
  
  
• Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.
  
  
• Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.
  
  
• Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.
  
  
• Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).
  
  
• Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.
  
  
• Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.
  
  
• Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.
  
  
• Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.
  
  
• Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.
  
  
• Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.
  
  
• Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.
  
  
• Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.
  
  
• Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.
  
  
• Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.
  
  
• Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
  
  
• Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.
  
  
• Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.
  
  
• Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.
  
  
• Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.
  
  
• Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.
  
  
• Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency.
  

The Republicans opened this Pandora's Box by elevating Bills personal (presidential) peccadilloes to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors necessary for impeachment. I hope they now understand at least one of the principals of unintended consequences ... and the need to clean your own house before you point fingers at others.

I'm certainly NOT saying that what 'ole Bill did was a good thing ... but, the Republicans framed the perspective ... now they have to live with it.

Why does it matter? Because the Republicans made it matter on a national level. Because the Republicans wanted to play a game of "Gotcha". That's why it matters.