I would agree with your points here, including the absence of any standards, though I might even be going lighter on him than you did. I do believe a politicians fidelity in marriage, and of course living up to the standards he preaches are important. It’s a problem I have with Giuliani.

I think you may be missing the point of my post (which means I didn’t communicate it clearly). I’m not defending Vitter at all. I think he should resign. In fact, I do think he is guilty of hypocrisy, but in a different context. He said that Bill Clinton should resign for his immoral actions yet doesn’t appear to think that he should do the same. Now that is hypocritical.

The point I was trying to make is that the media now only recognizes one sin – “hypocrisy” (really, moral inconsistency). The problem with this, as I noted, is that it denies that there is any real, objective moral standard at all. The biggest problem with Vitter’s actions is not that he was being inconsistent but that he was soliciting a prostitute. But to make that point, the media would have to admit that there might be something wrong (other than incurring a misdemeanor fine) for such actions.

But then again, he’s your senator, not mine!

It was a closed chapter in his life. He confessed and quit on his own, not waiting to be caught so whatever he said after 2004 had nothing to do with hypocrisy. I can’t think of any reason for him to reveal his sin to the public before now – I’m satisfied that he confessed to his wife and inner circle. This was a rehashing of an old, regrettable issue.

If in fact, as so often later turns out to be true, the politicians with apparent integrity are covering up what is really happening in their life, isn’t that in fact an argument to vote for those who have openly admitted their moral failings?

My problem, in this case, is that he is very vocal on the issue, and he chose to admit his failing only after his name was released. I would lighten up, though only a little, had he made his confession when it was known that the list existed, but not certain it would be released.

I do give him points for not hedging his confession, however.

Henry, I’m not sure where you’re getting any of this from, but it doesn’t seem to me that you got it from my post or Joe’s.

I don’t know about others, but I read the paragraph I quoted from Joe and his approving quote of Bauer as minimizing the offense.

Here are two more things that led me to see it as minimizing:

• Putting David Vitter up against Flynt. It looks like I’m supposed to appreciate the fact that Vitter’s moral standards are higher than Flynt’s even if Vitter doesn’t live up to them.
• Going into the precise definition of hypocrisy. I think you’re wrong on that from the Biblical point of view, but I’ll leave that aside until I have time to back it up. The timing of that discussion again appears to be minimizing.

I think maybe you should look at your post again in the context of the discussion. You’re substantially more conservative than I am, and it seems to me you should find this sort of behavior unacceptable in a Senator, possibly even more so than I do.