Republican "Family-values" hypocrite refuses to resign

July 16, 2007

Louisiana - With his humiliated wife standing by his side pledging forgiveness, disgraced Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana came out of hiding and now says he will not resign over his prostitution scandal.

With his humiliated wife standing by his side pledging forgiveness, disgraced Senator David Vitter of Louisiana came out of hiding and now says he will not resign over his prostitution scandal.

Telephone records show that a prostitution service in Washington, DC called Vitter's number five times from 1999 to 2001, while he was a U.S. representative.

Last Monday, Vitter acknowledged in a statement that his number had turned up in the telephone records of accused "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey. Vitter said those calls were made prior to his election to the Senate in 2004, and he claims he and his wife had already dealt with what he termed a "serious sin" privately, through marriage counseling and confession to a Roman Catholic priest.

Just last month, Vitter urged colleagues to devote more federal spending to programs urging sexual abstinence among teens.

Vitter wrote that the best way to avoid teen pregnancy is "by teaching teenagers that saving sex until marriage and remaining faithful afterwards is the best choice for health and happiness."

However, the senator Monday flatly denied media reports in the past week linking him to a well-known prostitution case in New Orleans, attributing those charges to "long-term political enemies" and people seeking money.

The "family-values" conservative Republican also addressed what some critics see as his hypocrisy, saying he's been "trying to live up to the important values we believe" since admitting to his mistakes.