Today, it was announced that Louisiana Sen. David Vitter was an occasional client of the famous “Canal Street Madam.” Jeanette Maier, who called Vitter “honorable,” “a good man,” and said that his wife “should be very proud of her husband….” Maier met Vitter at a fishing rodeo where her employees were hired as prostitutes for local politicians. She says that he stopped visiting her establishment before it was raided by the federal government in 2001.
Only yesterday, we learned that Vitter, an enthusiastic opponent of gay marriage, was a patron of the even more famous “DC Madam.” After his visits to the DC Madam’s establishment were made public, the senator acknowledged he had committed a “very serious sin,” then said that out of “respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there — with God and them.” The New Orleans Times-Picayune did not think this was an adequate explanation, and expressed such — before the new revelation appeared about the Canal Street Madam.
It is puzzling how Vitter used visiting prostitutes here and there as part of his so-called family values agenda and his head-on campaign against gay marriage, but we have certainly seen this type of behavior before from elected moralists.
One of the obvious winners in this nasty business is Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, who has endured personal attacks, sometimes vicious, from Vitter since the day he first campaigned for the U.S. Senate. Only the day before the DC Madam story came out, Vitter had attacked Landrieu for abandoning Louisiana and giving money to left-wing causes and values. In this case, the money involved a program intended to benefit Louisiana children, a matter Vitter’s staff apparently did not bother to learn. At any rate, whatever left-wing values Landrieu is alleged to be supporting (and that would be news to those of us who are part of the left wing!), they probably do not include condemning gay people in between trips to brothels.