The Louisiana Democratic Party, in a rather humorous and bold press release on Tuesday, called for Senator David Vitter (R-La.) to denounce conservatives who have called his fellow Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) a prostitute for her support of health care reform.
Vitter, of course, has his own sordid history with ladies of the night. So the chance to tie him to recent claims from the likes of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh that Landrieu was whoring out her health care vote was just too inviting to pass up.
Landrieu was able to secure $100 million in federal Medicaid subsidies for her state, ostensibly in exchange for agreeing to allow health care legislation to come to the floor of the Senate. Glenn Beck called the senator a "high-class prostitute ... She may be easy, but she ain't cheap."
Rush Limbaugh echoed Beck's comment, calling Landrieu "the most expensive prostitute in the history of prostitutes."
The full press release:
Today, the Louisiana Democratic Party called on U.S. Senator David Vitter to publicly denounce comments from some conservative commentators referring to Louisiana's senior Senator as a "prostitute" for securing crucial federal funding needed to fill a gap in Louisiana's budget.
"David Vitter should immediately and publicly denounce the offensive accusations conservative commentators are making about our state's senior Senator," said Louisiana Democratic Party Communications Director Natalie Naquin Harvey.
As a looming budget crisis threatens to bankrupt Louisiana's state government, Senator Mary Landrieu announced Saturday from the Senate floor that she had secured $300 million in federal funding to help make up for shortfalls in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), a formula used to determine the federal government's share in providing medical care to the poor and uninsured. A temporary spike in per capita income following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could lead to a loss of $500 million in federal funding, according the Jindal Administration.
"David Vitter supported the FMAP fix, but it was Senator Landrieu who secured the much needed funds to help solve a looming budget crisis that threatens to bankrupt our state," Harvey said. "The least David Vitter can do is stand up for her when members of his own party call her a prostitute."
On his radio program yesterday, Glenn Beck referred to Senator Landrieu as a "high-class prostitute." "She may be easy, but she ain't cheap," Beck said.
Rush Limbaugh later echoed Beck's charge on his widely syndicated show, calling Louisiana's senior Senator "the most expensive prostitute in the history of prostitutes."
To date, Senator David Vitter has been silent on Beck and Limbaugh's outlandish and offensive insults of Senator Landrieu.