Vitter Responds To Voinovich: I'm For "Core Conservative Values," Not For Straying From Them
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) is responding sternly to Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), who blamed Southerners for dragging the Republican Party's fortunes down.
"I'm on the side of conservatives getting back to core conservative values," Vitter told the Washington Times. "There are a lot of us from the South who hold those value, which I think the party is supposed to be about. We strayed from them in the past few years, and that's why we performed so badly in the national elections."
As for Voinovich, Vitter said: "He's a moderate, really wishy-washy."
Speaking of conservatives who have strayed from core values...David Vitter was publicly identified as a former client of prostitutes, and admitted in 2007 to an unspecified "serious sin." The Washington Times article did not mention anything about the D.C. Madam scandal.
Late Update: Louisiana Democratic Party spokesman Kevin Franck e-mailed us a fun comment. "Last time I checked, you don't find core Southern values in the places David Vitter has been found," said Franck. "If David Vitter can lead his party back to their conservative values, maybe Larry Craig can give them tips on bathroom etiquette and Mark Sanford can recommend a really good restaurant in Buenos Aires."
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
The GOP is beginning to remind me of the Donner Party.
July 29, 2009 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just when we thought they were turning a corner.
July 29, 2009 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's true. When has a Repub Senator ever badmouthed another Repub Senator in public so directly? This is gettin' good.
July 29, 2009 1:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reagan's Eleventh Commandment has crashed and burned. And no one's even searching the wreckage for the flight recorders--why bother?
July 29, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good one Dorn.
July 29, 2009 2:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do core conservative values involve diapers somehow?
July 29, 2009 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's using cloth now instead of disposables, although they use velcro fasteners instead of pins.
July 29, 2009 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
How is paying a hooker to wipe and powder your butt and change your diaper conservative, Diaper Dave?
July 29, 2009 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess my question would be: what is the difference, really, between wearing a diaper with your hooker and practicing "core Conservative values" at all?
If you're a hypocritical Republican, there's no paradox there. That's why you BECOME a Republican: so you can do those things while taking shelter beneath the banner of "God, country, family, and good 'ol core Conservative values."
Pass the talcum.
July 29, 2009 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Vitter was trying to keep in good standing with he fellow sinners from C Street. The Madame knew him as "David from C Street."
July 29, 2009 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you read your Bible you would know that Jesus wore a diaper with his whores too. Jesus also stuffed that diaper with cash from the Romans to keep himself fat and cozy on his speaking tours. I am amazed you liberals have so few facts on your side when you try to defame conservative christians!
July 29, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's also on the side of practicing safe sex. Hence the diaper.
July 29, 2009 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Irony, table for thousands!
July 29, 2009 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
My Josh-style Deep Thought of the day: Why did the NASA astronaut driving to the love triangle wearing a diaper a few years ago get all the news, but Senator Diaper got nowhere near the media pile-on? Judging from the NASA thing, you'd think Famous Person + Diapers = Gold.
July 29, 2009 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's the damn liberal media.
July 29, 2009 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm pretty sure that Larry "Wide Stance" Craig said something similar.
I'm pretty sure that Mark "Appalachian Trail" Sanford said something similar.
I'm pretty sure that John "Promise Keeper" Ensign said something similar.
July 29, 2009 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
On Republican control of House, Senate and White House;
McCain: "We lost our way my friends."
Vitter: "There are a lot of us from the South who hold those value, which I think the party is supposed to be about. We strayed from them in the past few years, and that's why we performed so badly in the national elections."
They strayed, they lost their way; Bullshit!
They did what right wing Republicans do when they have control.
July 29, 2009 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes. They did exactly what they do naturally, which is lie, cheat, and steal their way to power. Then they stuff their diapers with cash from the corporations who's whores they actually are. The morons of Louisiana are of coarse going to reelect this fraud because he is such a faithful follower of Jesus. I would say they deserve him and vice-versa but the rest of us have to find TWO progressive honest Senators to cancel out his vote/and move the country forward. The Senate is the most undemocratic of all because every little shit state with a few thousand morons living in a swamp gets TWO votes on everything that matters to the other 300 million of us. Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana get the same votes as California, New York, and Illinois. That my friends is why healthcare reform is going to be just another big handout to drug and insurance corporations and America is going down the shithole fast. If only we had LOST the Civil War!
July 29, 2009 2:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
hollywood,
I learned under Daschel and now under Reid that the Democrats should never elect a Senator from a red state as majority/minority leader.
July 29, 2009 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point John. The small Red State Senators are already compromised to begin with or they cannot get reelected. I suppose they rationalize that they lead from the "center" but all that means is they are not ever going to do anything progressive without a conservative backlash in their home state. I hope the next majority leader is a Liberal from a big Blue State. Then we can get something done.
July 29, 2009 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am not sure I can back Erik on this one. After all that has been going on with the Republicans over the past several years, one can only conclude that what Vitter, Craig, Foley, Ensign and numerous others etc. have been doing, is indeed a Republican core value.
July 29, 2009 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
A core value held by conservatives (as opposed to a conservative core value) is the Calvinist aura of entitlement:
I am among the chosen, therefore the rules which I want to enforce upon the rabble don't apply to me.
July 29, 2009 2:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Vitter's only half right. Conservatives are a long distance away from the things they value, yes, but they haven't strayed from them - frankly, they were never very close to those values to begin with.
July 29, 2009 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's not forget Mark Foley. Another Southern conservative Republican, good ol' family values man.
July 29, 2009 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have to marvel at how Vitter can talk about "core conservative values" with a straight face, given that he was exposed for consorting with prostitutes. Oh, right – they were female, so it's okay.
July 29, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Instead of conservative values, Voinovich adheres to Lincoln-esque Republican values. Of course, the Southern Republicans (nee Southern Democrats) have been fighting what should be the real Republican values for over two centuries.
July 29, 2009 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Republicans are becoming more surreal every day.
July 29, 2009 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Republicans are disintegrating. There is an interesting related post from a moderate Republican at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588
July 29, 2009 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink