Hannity and Dionne

Caught a bit of the Hannity radio show last night while driving home from work and getting stuck in traffic. He got a call from a lady who noted that all Christians have sinned and therefore we should forgive Vitter, because he's been a good representative. Kind of all over the place there.

Oddly enough, Hannity quoted a recent article by E.J.Dionne on why this isn't a viable response.

My defense of Vitter is qualified because I believe that married guys have a moral obligation not to seek the pleasures of "escort services."

Nor do I like hypocrisy. During the battle over the impeachment of Bill Clinton, Vitter wrote in the New Orleans Times-Picayune that if no "meaningful action" were taken against the president, "his leadership will only further drain any sense of values left to our political culture." Vitter, then a state representative, suggested that Clinton was "morally unfit to govern."

Of course it was fascinating to hear this woman, who frankly sounded pretty nasty, explain why this extension of Christian forgiveness was not applicable in the Clinton case. Naturally enough they don't count as Christians and so don't get treated as Christians.

And that in a nutshell is exactly how much the American Conservative Christian has stripped herself of any decorum or dignity.

Hannity, to his credit, wasn't having any.

The E.J. Dionne piece goes on to say that for Dionne's part he would like to see our nation and particularly our media culture move past needing to report on every stupid sex scandal that comes along. Unfortunately, I don't think that's very likely.