Saturday, October 30, 2010

The Bible Belt lets out a notch to make room for hypocrisy


Every election cycle we always hear from Republicans and conservatives about "family values" and "values voters". The patriotic hypocrites of the Tea Party, those people who would do away with the 4th and 14th amendments and probably most of the rest of the constitution if they could, love to wrap themselves in the flag and pretend they are morally superior to Democrats, liberals, people with high IQ's, and anyone else who doesn't share their skewed view of life or moral hypocrisy.

That has become evident again in Louisiana where conservative Republican senator Jim Vitter, exposed as a former client of the Washington DC madam is leading handily in his re-election bid against Democrat Charles Melancon

In Louisiana as in other so called Bible Belt states, its always been " do as we say, not as we do". Their politics have a history of being dirty and so have been their politicians, though with the latter they are no different than any place else. They just like to pretend they are.

Vitter's campaign manager said of his opponents commercials reminding voters of Vitters cavorting with prostitutes, that "if Melancon has to resort to personal attack ads he must be desperate". So if a Democrat or liberal is caught doing it, like former NY governor Eliot Spitzer, or Clinton's romp with Monica Lewinsky, its the depths of moral depravity and he must resign or be impeached, that its conduct that disqualifies one for high office, but if a conservative is caught doing it, mentioning it is a "personal attack".

One can only wonder about how many hookers or skeletons are in the closet of Vitter's campaign manager if he thinks that pointing out Vitter's hypocrisy, and by his own admission his moral lapses, not to mention his betrayal of his marriage vows, are simply a "personal attack".

Maybe it hasn't occurred to him or to Vitter's supporters that pointing out that if his own wife cant trust him maybe the voters shouldn't either.

Evan Glass, a CNN reporter doing a story on the senate race asked a Louisiana Republican in a street interview if she planned on voting for Vitter even though he had been caught cavorting with prostitutes.Her answer was yes and she defended it by saying, "They all do it. Look at Bill Clinton".

The question Glass either didn't have the backbone or maybe the journalistic insight or instinct to ask was, since she brought it up, did she support Bill Clinton's impeachment since "they all do it"? It would have been an interesting answer because if she said "no", she probably would have been excommunicated by her friends, family and fellow conservative Republicans in Louisiana. And had she said yes, by still voting for Vitter,it would have exposed the rank hypocrisy and dishonesty that permeates most rank and file political conservatives.

Unfortunately we live in an age where journalism is practiced by people who should be in another line of work, and the fact is, most journalists at CNN are simply afraid of conservatives, almost like they are afraid conservatives will show up and slash their tires if they offend them, so her hypocrisy wasn't exposed. But the hypocrisy, dishonesty, and holier than thou self righteousness of the bible thumpers in Louisiana will be amply displayed if Vitter, as expected, wins. Just don't expect the hypocrisy to be pointed out on CNN. But for everyone else, the "family values" conservatives and Tea Party "values voters" of Bible Belt Louisiana have proved that, at least when it comes to politics, their "values" are not even worth the kind of lip service Vitter probably paid for.

3 comments:

Fredster said...

Marc: I can assure that a lot of us in SE Louisiana, the nola area, are not enthused by Vitter and we in this area are hardly the Bible Belt. Go further north in the state and yes you can get into areas that are no different than MS or Alabama.

Their politics have a history of being dirty and so have been their politicians, though with the latter they are no different than any place else. They just like to pretend they are.

Nope, we don't pretend our politicians are angels by any means. When Edwin Edwards ran for his last term as governor, he was running against David Duke. His bumper stickers read "Vote for the crook. It's important." Edwards won but not because he was the crook. He won because people had enough sense to at least NOT vote for Duke.

Our politics may be dirty and our politicians crooked, a la William Jefferson, but hey...why doncha check out Cook county Illinois.

Marc Rubin said...

"Our politics may be dirty and our politicians crooked, a la William Jefferson, but hey...why doncha check out Cook county Illinois."

I wouldnt defend any area's politics and Illinois and Chicago are known as some of the country's dirtiest. There was plenty of dirty politics going on where Obama's nomination was concerned. But it's the rank hypocrisy and double standard when it comes to Vitter that isnt so much indigenous to Louisiana as it is to Republicans and conservatives that make it worth noting.

Fredster said...

Ah...I see what your saying now.

Well my vote went for Vitter's challenger but Melancon was behind and I doubt he gained enough support to defeat Vitter. And Vitter was smart in his commercials making them all about tying Charlie to Obama. Sadly, he'll be in another 6 years.