Sex, Lies and Republicans

"The agony of Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) -- a self-proclaimed social conservative exposed Monday night as a customer of an escort service -- is one more float in a long and flamboyant parade of sexual follies and scandals served up by his generation of congressional Republicans. Previous attractions include former House members Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, Bob Barr, Bob Livingston and Mark Foley . . .

"The modern social conservative movement grew in large measure as a reaction against the dominant cultural developments of the 1960s and 1970s. Traditional values advocates opposed casual sex, divorce, tolerance of alternative lifestyles and the supposed liberal mind-set that dictated (in the famous phrase), 'If it feels good, do it.'

"Many of this year's crop of candidates, however, have been enthusiastic beneficiaries of the sexual revolution and the more lenient cultural mores it ushered in.

"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), former Sen. Fred Thompson and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani have all been divorced -- twice in the case of Giuliani. All have gone through phases in their lives in which they were known for fast-lane social lives."

Andrew Sullivan finds the revelation unsurprising:

"Why is one not exactly gob-smacked to find that a leading Republican Christianist was once a client of the DC Madam? I mean, a leading evangelical opponent of gay equality, Ted Haggard, was hiring a male hooker. We had the leading Republican campaigner against hooking up with minors online . . . hassling adolescent pages with IMs. We had Newt Gingrich committing adultery while impeaching Clinton. Why should we expect anything different from senator David Vitter?"

Oh, and David Corn discovers a 1998 op-ed in which Vitter asked "whether President Clinton should be impeached and removed from office because he is morally unfit to govern." Sheesh.

Mitt Romney would seem to get a pass on this issue, having been married to his high school sweetheart for a long time. But American Prospect's Paul Waldman finds fault with Romney anyway:

"In the past week, two of the leading GOP candidates for president found themselves in hot water with the Republican base over their connections to what we might call the other team in the culture war. Both Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson were left to explain (in Romney's case) or deny (in Thompson's) that their obeisance to the 'traditional family' -- and all the necessary beliefs that go along with it -- is anything less than complete and abject. For neither the first time nor the last, it all comes down to sex.

"Romney's problem is about what goes on in hotel rooms when the blinds are closed. The former Massachusetts governor served on the board of the Marriott hotel chain from 1992 to 2001 (the Romney family and the Marriott family are extremely close; Romney's first name is Willard, after J. Willard Marriott, the company founder). As at most large hotel chains, guests at Marriott can sample from a variety of adult offerings on their televisions, whether their preference is for naughty co-eds, naughty housewives, or naughty nurses.

"Hotel room porn is one of the primary foci of the anti-pornography movement, which by going after Romney can earn some priceless publicity.

"When the attacks came last week, Romney's statement in response argued that the issue is All About The Children. 'I am not pursuing an effort to try and stop adults from being able to acquire or see things that I find objectionable; that's their right,' he told the Associated Press. 'But I do vehemently oppose practices or business procedures that will allow kids to be exposed to obscenity.'