The Culpability of Wendy Vitter

New Orleans blogger, Kimberly Marshall, aka dangerblond, made a comment on one of oyster's recent postings on the Vitter scandal. dangerblond wrote:

Wendy Vitter could have put the kibosh on any or all of it a long time ago if she was that worried about the kiddiwinks. Sometimes when you hitch your wagon to a star, my girl, it becomes a super-nova and blows up right in your face.

I thought this was an excellent point. And it got me thinking that, in one sense, Wendy Vitter bears as much culpability and responsibility for what is happening to her family as does her husband, Sen. David Vitter.

Think about it: Wendy Vitter was apparently apprised of her husband's indiscretions some time ago. She admits it and has apparently "forgiven" her husband for his indiscretions. I think it's natural to assume that Wendy also knows that her husband's affairs were not the product of a moment of weakness with one of his former sweethearts or with a long-term friend, but with at least one, if not more than one, paid-for-hire prostitute.

Now maybe Wendy Vitter found it in her heart to be forgiving of her husband and even to work to recommit to their marriage. That's admirable. But surely she must have known that this "sin" would wreak havoc on her children if it ever found the light of day. As a parent myself, I can imagine that, if I were married to such a prominent politician, all sorts of scenarios would have passed in front of my eyes the moment I discovered that my spouse was engaged in such seedy sexual affairs. I would have imagined the embarrassment and shame on my kids faces the first time they would have to show their faces in school after their parent's sexcapades were aired in public.

These kids are no doubt going to be terribly scarred by this episode, even if everyone around them shows them nothing but kindness. And what did Wendy Vitter do when faced with these scenarios that surely must have crossed her mind? Instead of demanding that her husband remove the family from the public spotlight, she hopped on the David Vitter for Senate bandwagon. And as dangerblond has so vividly put it, the super nova blew up in her face. But what needs to be added to this is the fact that the super-nova also blew up in her children's faces, too.

Taking a rationalization out of the pro-torture Republican handbook, a handbook that Vitter voted to support time and again in Washington, David Vitter AND Wendy Vitter knew that they had a "ticking time bomb" scenario on their hands. And they must have known that this "ticking time bomb" would take out some innocents very close to them if it ever exploded. And what did they do? They didn't defuse the bomb. No, they took a risk and ran with it. And the "collateral" damage caused by its explosion was their children. That's almost unforgivable. And though David Vitter is ultimately responsible for building that "ticking time bomb," Wendy Vitter is also responsible for letting the clock on this "ticking time bomb" wind down to zero. It's shameful and reprehensible what both of these people did to their children. I don't know how they can look their kids in the face anymore.

UPDATE: Tuesday, July 17, 8:36PM CST: Schroeder points to another perspective on this theme.