As our own Eric Jaye once explained "Political Survival Means Having to Say 'I’m Sorry.'" For a politician mired in scandal, sometimes a heartfelt "mea culpa," backed up with a credible record of how he (it's usually a "he") is "still fighting for you," is just the trick for winning one more election.
That's the logic Sen. David Vitter and his political consultants are relying on to comeback from a double-digit deficit and win a Louisiana gubernatorial race that was supposed to be a cakewalk.
But last week, Democratic John Bel Edwards delivered a brutal attack ad accusing Vitter of taking "a prostitute’s call minutes after he skipped a vote honoring 28 soldiers who gave their lives in defense of our freedom" and after "Prostitutes Over Patriots," Vitter felt he had no choice but to deliver a fresh mea culpa.
In the ad "Difficult Times" (initially given the more unfortunate title "Hard Times"), Vitter speaks to the camera and cuts to the chase. "Fifteen years ago, I failed my family, but found forgiveness and love." Following the typical mea culpa formula, Vitter pivots to how hard he fights for you, "I learned that our falls aren’t what define us, but rather how we get up, accept responsibility and earn redemption ... You know me. I'm a fighter. And as your governor, I'll get up every day to fight for you for a much better, stronger Louisiana."
As LSU professor Robert Mann noted in a piece for Salon, while Vitter had previously received public forgiveness for using prostitutes, the Edwards charge of missing an important vote was new: "It was the first time anyone had credibly suggested that Vitter’s prostitution habit in the late 1990s and early 2000s had influenced the performance of his public duties."
The new Vitter ad apologizes for failing his family, but not for failing his constituents. And that undercuts the claim that he will "get up every day to fight for you." If this mea culpa ad doesn't work the way some others have, it will be because it is one sorry short.
That's the logic Sen. David Vitter and his political consultants are relying on to comeback from a double-digit deficit and win a Louisiana gubernatorial race that was supposed to be a cakewalk.
David Vitter Has Said Sorry Before
The mea culpa worked for him before. When Vitter was busted back in 2007, after the leader of prostitution ring facing trial released her phone records and Vitter's number was in them, he quickly apologized, laid low, then three years later won re-election in a landslide. The scandal seemed to be behind him. Vitter's Republican opponents in this year's preliminary election alluded to it but failed to defeat him.But last week, Democratic John Bel Edwards delivered a brutal attack ad accusing Vitter of taking "a prostitute’s call minutes after he skipped a vote honoring 28 soldiers who gave their lives in defense of our freedom" and after "Prostitutes Over Patriots," Vitter felt he had no choice but to deliver a fresh mea culpa.
In the ad "Difficult Times" (initially given the more unfortunate title "Hard Times"), Vitter speaks to the camera and cuts to the chase. "Fifteen years ago, I failed my family, but found forgiveness and love." Following the typical mea culpa formula, Vitter pivots to how hard he fights for you, "I learned that our falls aren’t what define us, but rather how we get up, accept responsibility and earn redemption ... You know me. I'm a fighter. And as your governor, I'll get up every day to fight for you for a much better, stronger Louisiana."
This Sorry May Have Missed The Mark
There's only glaring problem with this mea culpa: he's not apologizing for the specific charge leveled by Edwards.As LSU professor Robert Mann noted in a piece for Salon, while Vitter had previously received public forgiveness for using prostitutes, the Edwards charge of missing an important vote was new: "It was the first time anyone had credibly suggested that Vitter’s prostitution habit in the late 1990s and early 2000s had influenced the performance of his public duties."
The new Vitter ad apologizes for failing his family, but not for failing his constituents. And that undercuts the claim that he will "get up every day to fight for you." If this mea culpa ad doesn't work the way some others have, it will be because it is one sorry short.