It appears the mainstream media knew about Vitter's "problem" for years

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070715/NEWS01/707150339/1060/NEWS01

Vitter's political time bomb goes off

July 15, 2007

By John Hill
[e-mail]

BATON ROUGE — The simple listing of [phone] on a Web site last week exploded the ticking time bomb of U.S. Sen. David Vitter's relationship with prostitutes, setting off a frenzy of state, national and international media attention on Louisiana's junior senator.

Political insiders knew of the allegations about Vitter's relationship with prostitutes in New Orleans back as far as 2002. But Vitter denied it repeatedly. And the subject never came up in mainstream media during the 2004 election campaign, when Vitter became the state's first Republican elected as a U.S. senator.

Vitter suddenly pulled out of the 2003 gubernatorial race in 2002, saying he and his wife were undergoing marriage counseling. He later said it wasn't a specific thing, just the stress of living in two cities, Washington, D.C., and Metairie.

In 2002, former New Orleans police union President Vincent Bruno charged that Vitter had a relationship with New Orleans prostitute Wendy Cortez and was a client of the Canal Street brothel.

The charge was made on talk radio and was repeated in an article in Louisiana Weekly. Vitter denied it and called Bruno "a thug" in transcripts that are posted on the Internet on talk show host Jeff Courere's Ringside Politics Web site.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Smirk, smirk, smirk" - Corporate media

"We would have let you know if he'd have been a democrat. Smirk."

- Corporate toady press

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Gnu? New? Knew?

thank you for paying attention to the typo tyrant.

[NNN0LHI]

3. Still on my first cup of coffee. Rough night n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

4. my fumble fingering is legendary

Wasn't it obvious (to us of course) that the "DC Madam" scandal was being kept wrapped up tight? I think there is more to come, and that of course our lovely friends in the Bullshit Media System were well aware of the potential fallout. It is a sad testimony to the former proudly, fiercely, independent dc press corpse that it is Larry Flynt and his Hustler money that is putting the pressure on the establishment.

[EST]

7. While I agree with your sentiment, I think you give the press of history

far too much credit.
A hundred years ago, the government and big business teamed up to force the workers of America further into slavery, since the practice of actually owning slaves was no longer in fashion. Terrorism was the preferred tool, with government hiring small private armies to harass-and kill uppity commoners.

The press, in about the same percentages as now, muffled it, covered it up, misdirected public attention, all the tricks except for broadcast media and the internet.

During the cold war, the press learned, early on, that the CIA and the group which became the strategic air command were teamed up to attain bigger slices of the budget. The entire basis for the cold war was evident in the fifties when the US was building up a world-shattering atomic arsenal and terrorizing indoctrinating the population to fear, fear, fear, and the Soviets had one lousy bomb!`

The press covered it up.

I think the real difference has nothing to do with moments of greatness verses an ocean of weakness in the press: it's the internet.

Now we are much more aware of what it is the press doesn't cover; not more aware than the few, here and there who knew what the score was, but a wider knowledge that is self policing and demands a shade more truth in its standards.

Their (media's) panicked reaction is similar to the government's fear, fear, fear, only with them it's distract, fear, distract. It works.
Now we're calling them on their shit.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. I don't disagree.

The establishment press corpse had its moment in the pentagon papers and the watergate investigation and then, as you correctly point out, merely reverted to form.

[Neshanic]

5. "stress of living in two cities" Translation: I need to get laid by someone other than my wife.

[Feron]

6. Not surprising

However I do wonder if there is any truth to the rumor that he has a love child. For years I've heard that he had one and that it was one of the reasons he didn't run for governor.

[AnnInLa]

9. Believe me, everyone in Louisiana knew for years

about the prossie rumors. It wasn't that the mainstream media "knew" but kept mum. It's that everyone knew, but Vitter has such a strong-arm organization in LA, that they tried to intimidate and destroy the few people who dared to bring the facts to light. In addition, Vitter continued to deny, deny, deny. In fact, check out the following. As he was running for Senate, he met with a group of conservative Christian leaders who asked him point-blank about the rumors. Again, he denied, denied, denied.

http://www.righthandthief.blogspot.com/ (top story under today's date)

Snip...go read

"From what these two sources stated, Vitter denied the allegations and assured these Christian ministers there were "no skeletons in my closet." One source stated publicly the other day that Gene Mills, Executive Director of the Louisiana Family Forum, attended the meeting. It's been rumored that Religious Right leader James Dobson might have been there, but that has not been confirmed."