Let us admit that, for all that he is a hypocrite and a frothing right winger, it took a certain strength of character for Vitter to hang on long enough to gain readmission to the GOP fold.
The public humiliation and ridicule must have been all the harder to bear for Vitter as the father of children at a most impressionable age. But if he was ever tempted to slink into the shadows, he showed no sign. He refused to discuss his transgressions, once he had publicly admitted "a very serious sin, " and made a show of carrying out his Senate work regardless, sticking his oar in on issues ranging from the future of Big Charity to MR-GO to the Detroit bailout.
His manner after his outing was certainly somewhat subdued, but then Vitter never was the hail-fellow-well-met type. You couldn't say he became less gregarious, because that would be hard to tell. Regardless, he sure has clawed his way back.
And then the.. uh... money shot
An incumbent who has been attending to his constituents' needs, even one with a blot on the escutcheon, always has a head start anyway, and Vitter remains greatly respected among the conservative faithful. They'd always rather have a whoring Republican than a faithful Democrat.
Vitter's "very serious sin" is venial anyway by comparison with the thievery and corruption for which our politicians have long been famous. He is also unlike the general run of our elected officials in that he has a brain that works just fine.
Meanwhile at the The Gambit, Clancy Dubos is barking up the wrong tree trying to figure out who will be Vitter's challenger from the right. There won't be one. Or to put that another way, good God is there any room in Louisiana politics to the right of David Vitter? Actually, don't answer that.
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