Buh Bye Vitter; and a reflection

This has no bearing on my  life whatsoever, but it's kinda nice to see that a dirtbag running a dirtbag campaign has fallen flat on his pompous ass. Let's be clear, the Democrat he lost to is not remotely in line with the liberal elites. But, what's nice to see is that this is a chink in that false premise that there is no such thing as a conservative Democrat. Vitter's response when caught was basically, "Yep, I got caught, but you can suck it cause I ain't going anywhere." Because of the political scene at the time, Vitter would probably have been replaced by a Democrat had he resigned. So, instead he took the "I am a sinner" route, and pulled his wife to his side for good measure. Say what you will about John Edwards, and there is plenty of bad things to say that he rightly earned, he at least had just enough dignity to not pull his wife into that kinda shit show. 

So for reflection sake, here is the Vitter press conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdawA7SrK3Q His wife, at the end, makes a heartfelt plea while also condemning the press for showing up at their house and following them around. At the end, she makes the statement that what happened is between her and her husband and with that in mind, everybody should just pack up and go away and let them return to their idillic life. On another thread here, we have a lengthy regurgitation of the shit smear politics that highlighted the Clinton years. In the middle of that thread, TS asked "And of course, the supporter of a serial abuser is? Of course democrats are no saints..then again, they would never hitch their wagon to that horse would they"

When you watch that presser, these are an interesting couple of questions to consider. On the one hand, I did feel for Vitter's wife that it is unfair to drag her into association with her husband's dirt bag actions and it angers me that this is how our society works. It's bad enough someone cheats publicly, but if they can humiliate their spouse even further to get them to stand up publicly and say, "I forgave him so go away now", we do exactly what they ask and give the man a free pass to return to being a full bore asshole. I think Ayn Rand once wrote about "Sanction of the victim", maybe some of you have read it? Cynically, I also see an obvious reality in that whole Vitter fiasco. Nobody questioned his wife about why she stuck around the way that people did about Hillary. Further, rather than step completely away from Vitter, the Republicans basically tip toed around because if they had come down from the hills to shoot their wounded, Vitter likely would have been replaced by a Democrat. So they, like his wife, endured his slime ball actions. 

Coming full circle, Vitter finally had to stand on his own against a candidate who, outwardly, is everything Vitter is not. And he lost. I'd like to think that this has bigger implications and that there will be a similar rejection of shit slinging in the presidential race, but alas, that won't be the case. But, I guess I have to celebrate the small victories when I see them.