David Vitter's "Serious Sin"

Photo taken from thewashingtonpost.com
By: Chris Valletta

Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana gained recognition in 2007 for a sex scandal that rocked the world of politics. Senator Vitter, who began his career in the House as a Congressman in Louisiana's 1st Congressional District, has been recognized as a politician who has consistently spoken about the strength of his marriage and morals in his political decisions. Senator Vitter also outwardly called for the impeach of President Clinton at the time of his affair in the Oval Office. However, news came out that Senator Vitter was not completely honest and faithful as he appeared to be.

In 2007, Senator Vitter admitted to making a "serious sin" after it was discovered that his phone number was on the list of clients of the "DC Madam." The D.C. Madam is a woman by the name of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, who ran a prostitution ring for years in Washington D.C. According to www.reuters.com, Vitter said "Wendy and I dealt with this personally several years ago. I confronted it in confession and marriage counseling, I believe I received forgiveness from God, I know I did from Wendy." This story is ironic on a number of levels, but I would like to start with the fact that this Senator is very hypocritical. As his political career suggests, he has been an advocate for family values, marriage faithfulness, and has attempted to take the moral aspect side on many issues. 


Following his political words, the country then discovers that this politician has been completely lying about his supposed morals and has been guilty of the same "guilty pleasures that he has criticized others for." Not only has Senator Vitter been cheating on his wife, but he has done so at an illegal brothel. In addition, Senator Vitter did not step down from his office and even won his re-election in November of 2010 as a result of American's sentiment against President Obama. In his apology, Vitter notes God's forgiveness and forgiveness from his wife. Bringing God into the story is another interesting aspect. It seems as though Senator Vitter is just looking for excuses to get himself out of a tough situation where his pleasure for immediate sexual satisfaction was too much to resist. 


Since he has acted in such a way, then clearly he doesn't see a problem with it. Yet at the same time, he is very quick to condemn others publicly who have acted the same way. This is all a public spectacle by Vitter to use people's pleasure to make him appear as a better person. The sad part is, many people in this culture believed him and even after he admitted what he did, the Senator still was re-elected into office. It turned out that the sex scandal was not as important as his political party. This to me reveals that perhaps people's secret pleasures may not be as bad as the public displays them, for if this was truly the case, the people would never have re-elected this man.