How The Mighty Fall

David Vitter was a Rhodes Scholar. He should have known better. He could have taken a lesson from his own State of Louisiana's recent history from Rep. Bob Livingston, or he could have gone back further to the late 19th century.

From Roger in the comments, here's a link to an article at Huffington Post by Karen Dalton-Beninato, on past shenanigans by one Louisiana politician which led to his untimely death at the hands of a prostitute:

It was 1870, and State Sen. Beares was shot by famed New Orleans Madam Hattie Hamilton. His obituary in the Ouachita Telegraph read:

"State Senator Beares, of Catahoula, died recently in the same city from the effects of a pistol wound received under rather mysterious circumstances. His mistress, Hattie Hamilton, was arrested for complicity in the act, but was released. Catahoula and Winn parishes are without a Senator."

Hattie had a colorful history before she became involved with Senator Beares. She must have been quite a woman because Sen. Beares "fell hard" for her in spite of the fact that Hattie had "a glass eye and other infirmities."

It's a puzzle to me why folks strive to gain high positions and then proceed to risk everything by engaging in activities that can bring them down. I suppose that once they're in positions of power, they begin to see themselves as invulnerable. Those who judge and excoriate others seem to be most prone to this type of behavior.

According to my friend Oyster, conservative Louisiana bloggers are now calling for Vitter's resignation.

Near the end of the HP piece is this quote from Bertrand Russell's "The Conquest of Happiness":

"People who wish to have a high opinion of their own moral excellence have therefore to persuade themselves that they have achieved a degree of unselfishness that it is very unlikely they have achieved, and hence the endeavor after saintliness comes to be connected with self-deception of a kind that easily leads on to persecution mania."