republican senator david vitter of louisiana? in 2007 david visit ere was busted for having solicited prostitutes through the d.c. madam. she was running a high end prostitution ring in washington, d.c. her phone number list got out and david vitter was identified by "hustler" magazine as being a client of the d.c. madam. his phone number appeared on her list five separate times. david vitter was a member of the house of representatives at the time. two of the phone call from the d.c. madam occurred during house voters. really. david vitter like mark sanford and like john ensign addressed the media. he acknowledged that he too had been cheating on his wife. this wasn't just cheating. soliciting a prostitute is illegal even in louisiana and in washington, d.c. but senator vitter who had proovsly called on bill clinton to resign for his affair david vitter decided that he was forgiven. decided to stay in office we had all the image on the look of his wife's face burned into our minds forever. david vitter decided that he himself was

now almost every democrat pointed out that congressman cantor never called for david vitter to resign. so now they have at least some kind of a political foil in cantor. big mistake for cantor. s he should have been quiet. >> david, what do you make of this? is this something they hope will go away in time? often times these ethics investigations go on for a long time and the end result is not quite as satisfactory. >> i think there are a lot of democrats that would like to see him go away, not just this go away. had he come forward when this first broke, i think he would have survived. he showed poor judgment, but a lot of americans show poor judgment. none of us can be totally exempt from that. but it was the lying afterwards and the blatant lying that i think set him up for a downfall. now it's hard for me to see how he survives. you start feeding things back into his most recent press conference, questioning his credibility even yesterday. that's going to question. there are going to be more things come out. transcripts come out with explicit language, that will make a difference

but i will criticize david vitter. he ran as a family values conservative. he was on the list of the d.c. madam. he didn't answer any tough questions about this at all. he ducked the press. he dodged the press. he did admit to a sin of a grave nature. but that's it. and i just don't think it's wise to say that this isn't a big difference between allegedly being on the list -- i guess not allegedly, being on the list of the d.c. madam's customers or congressman weiner apparently sending dirty pictures. i just don't see the distinction. there could be an important distinction, as i said at the outset, if any of this was non-consensual. that would be a critical distinction. but i don't know. it's really kind of -- both of them i think are really kind of creepy and awful. people in louisiana decided that although creepy and awful they wanted to keep david vitter. i did some help -- i did help the democrat in that race so i have a bias here. i wrote a stump speech for his democratic opponent, didn't do him any good. but i don't think it's inconceivable that in 17

i'm not relitigating the david vitter situation. >> greta: listen i think everyone gets his turn. there are a lot of members of congress up there. tomorrow a be your turn where you have some errant republican. you see scandals on both sides of the aisle. if i were -- nobody has asked me to runny party. it hurts the democratic party if he -- if he doesn't resign. you have all your arguments again him. do you want him to resign? >> i think he should for the good of our country. he think he should get out of town. i think it is the right thing to do. true leaders of the democratic party should exhibit a little leadership. and ask this guy to resign. i think that it is the appropriate thing to do. i don't think you can have a guy -- this has been high drama for now 10 days. of lying and running around and making up stories, lewd behavior. you just illustrated the first eight minutes of the show -- who knows what else is out there. >> greta: congressman cantor has asked for his resignation. why do you think speaker boehner has not? >> i'm not sure. i think the nrcc has been clear. they

you have david vitter, phone records but no photos.ll clinton, no photos, but very, very -- >> there was a bit of evident there. >> explicit evident in the special prosecutor's report. i mean, politicians decide which way they are going to go. >> this is why people don't like politicians. rolling disclosure. rolling disclosure. i want everybody to learn that phrase. rolling disclosure means you release the information when it is convenient to you. in this case, when you had no choice. >> trust and credibility are all that politicians have. that's why people are disillusioned. you can't trust any of them. you lie, you pretend you have a happy married life. that's why they don't have credibility on this or anything else. >> thank you. thank you for coming on. thank you, as always. >>> up next, republicans in the house of representatives want to cut food eight to school kids. that will go over well. >>> academy award winner jeff bridges. why does my favorite actor have to come on a show like this. i can't wait to meet him. this is "hardba

louisiana senator david vitter republican. his name turns up on the d.c. may dam's phone list in 2007. he apologizes for quote, serious sins. he then runs for re-election and byes. thank you, louisiana. the senator is not dealing with underage people or people subordinate to him in the workplace. but the allegation is prostitution. the allegation is paying for sex. that is relatively high on the prosecutablity scale. then there is congressman -- excuse me, senator larry craig of idaho. you may remember good old mr. wide stance arrested in june 2007 for lewd conduct in a minnesota airport bathroom. i wish we had a special axis here, maybe one that came out this way for kind of pitful. instead we go sort of medium on the creepy scale for the rank hypocrisy of a virulently anti-gay politician tapping away his reputation on a bathroom stall. he did plead guilty to a misdemeanor. he finished out his term. there was new york governor elliot spitser. boeing. a democrat. admits in march 2008 to paying for sex with hookers. he resigns. now he has the same kind of j

no one asked for david vitter's rez eggivation or john ensign's resignation even though he would have been expelled by his colleagues. >> none of the fellow senators asked for vitter to resign or ensign? >> not a one. >> this is the first time nancy pelosi has asked for somebody to step down. >> that's right. financial scandals don't seem to bring about nearly the same reaction. nancy pelosi never asked for congressman charlie rank el to resign. we've seen numerous members manage to stave off these kind of efforts. i think part of it for anthony weiner, he didn't really have any friends in congress. he hadn't built the goodwill that say charlie rangle had over 40 years in congress. >> dana, do you agree if he had been in the senate it would be a different story? >> i think the best way to say it is that every situation is different that. might sound like a copout but it happens to be true. i'll tell you with larry craig i spent some time in idaho trying to following the story and trying to figure out exactly what went on. and at the time i covered it real time his colleagues did try t

cnn is not camped outside his office, but david vitter, who committed a crime apparently, what weinerut apparently not a crime. what vitter did is a crime, and he's still in the senate with no resignation, no therapy, no nothing, not even any accountability for his actions. >> he got himself reelected, mary. you're there. >> well, i love how the democrats love to change the subject on this. paul hit the nail on the head. voters are discriminating. they voted vitter back in, his wife forgave him. he did start there, and he's been a successful senator for this state. what weiner did was -- it was just creepy, but paul's exactly right politically. i do believe, however, his higher aspirations may i don't recall and beyond are probably off the table, if not with the voters, but funders. funders are very practical. this is not something that they would feel comfortable with, not his behavior, but judgment. >> there is a real chance the voters would have returned him to the house. he resigned for the reasons he stated, bus his party's leadership, nancy pelosi, who is strong and was very ang

david vitter -- >> republican senator from louisiana. >> caught frequenting a brothel, not a beloved a member of the senate, and he managed to survive. but there were no pictures of it. in this day and age, the evidence is all lined up for everybody to see, and it is so icky -- >> like chris lee. >> like chris lee. and there is almost never just one instance of it. >> this not the end of the story for weiner. he is probably weighing his options and deciding whether to stay in office. he asked about the alternative, what to see if he leaves office? -- he has to think about the alternative, what does he do if he leaves office? he can take comfort in at the example of another new yorker who did even worse, eliot spitzer. never spent a day in jail, never got charge, and now he is hosting a primetime cable show. anthony weiner likes to talk, like stevie, as show business ahead of them -- likes tv, as show business ahead of him. >> he is probably a goner in the sea, but the internet culture is taken for granted -- there may be more public tolerance than we realize. >> he will dependen -- h

mike mentioned david vitter and john ensign and everything.crat does this it makes us all look bad and it really makes me very, very angry. also as a progressive i think anthony weiner was one of my heroes, one of the best fighters we had out there on the cable shows and the floor of the house. for him to let us down like this is, i mean, just ugly. at the same time, ed, you know what? look. bill clinton didn't resign. he did worse. he broke the law. i'm glad he didn't resign. i'd rather have somebody who is going to fight for the things we believe in and has a zipper problem than somebody who's going to be in the pockets of the oil companies and the insurance companies and doesn't have a zipper problem. >> sharon, what do you think? should he resign? >> not yet as well, ed. i think politicians have committed far greater sins in office and they've stuck it out at least through the end of the term. i think it was notable that representative weiner didn't say whether or not he'd run for another term at the press conference today. i think voters

certainly you look around and today you have david vitter in the senate. you obviously have newt gingrich running for president. you had other folks who have weathered similar scandals, but he is without question in a deep, dark, unspinable place right now. i think a lot of the factors that are going to play out are beyond his control at this point. >> you in this "washington post" article, you talk about the novelty and the shock value, that may actually hurt congressman wiener because of the whole twitter and a lot of people didn't even know that quite honestly or how to send a picture via twitter. now it's exposing the audience to a whole new kind of salaciousness that's available. >> you have an interesting synergy behind this story. you have the work press corps, the washington, d.c., press corps sort of ping-ponging off each other. obviously you add in the novelty element of this being at least to the best of our knowledge the first political twitter scandal of this era, a social media scandal and that creates an enormous amount of energy and the sto

all the time it almost seems like politicians and sex scandals become synonymous and larry craig david vitter is eliot spitzer as anthony weiner is dominique strauss kahn is of the world too of course everyone's favorite cheater . i want you to listen and i'm going to say this again. i did not have sexual relations with that woman miss lewinsky. i never told anybody to lie another single time never these allegations are false and i need to go back to work for the american. so what is it about men in powerful positions that makes them do such stupid things and why don't we see female politicians doing the same joining me from our studio in new york is vicky ward contributing editor of vanity fair and author of the book the devil's casino friendship a betrayal and a high stakes games played inside lehman brothers thank you thank you so much for joining us tonight like i said i've been there are a railing about this story and making fun of the media for the last few weeks and the way they're obsessed with it and i have to admit i was little obsessed with making fun of them for it because it's fa

in 2007, senator david vitter, a republican from louisiana, was caught up in a prostitution ring investigationas since been reelected and republican john ensign of nevada remained in the senate for more than a year after he was caught allegedly paying off the family of his mistress. ensign only resigned last month, scott, when an ethics investigation report was about to be made public. >> pelley: nancy, help us understand why congressman weiner matters. >> scott, he holds kind of a unique position in the democratic caucus. the president has a lot of critics on the right but wynner is one of his most outspoken critics on the left. wherever liberals feel that the president is straying too far from their principles in the pursuit of compromise. it's unclear how well he's going to be able to perform that role now, a role even the president has said is very important. >> pelley: nancy, thank you. dominique strauss-kahn got quite a reception outside of court in new york today. (chanting "shame on you") >> pelley: the former head of the international monetary fund listened to chants of "shame on you"

republicans shut their mouths about calling for winners resignation especially since republican david vitter and admitted patron of prostitutes who even ordered the mock twice on the floor of the senate is still sitting as that senator i love i love having him as a member of congress i don't want him to resign i want to hang in there keep fighting the fight in as new information comes out about more of his indiscretions i think it can only help republicans up a guy's hang in there the only damage he's doing is to his own party hang in there and also let's let's be real about this too it's not just republicans are asking for his resignation it's fellow party members fellow democrats who are saying that your piece not. in the agreement both. my conservative friends up here that and i and i the reason i do this is his constituents it's first of all it's a safe district this is what really it is a safe this at least and so all but you're in your and so the point is you know you couldn't replace this guy i mean this was the most childish behavior of a grown man and children have no place in the u

that a wide majority of voters in his district want him to stay and despite the fact that senator david vitter who actually did commit multiple crimes by ordering up prostitutes from the senate floor is still in office to this day so democrats once again roll over as in it and it is an influential politician within the liberal community about to take a hike here to offer her take on this issue is katie helper a comedian an organizer with a group living liberally katie welcome. hi thanks for having me thanks for joining us democratic leadership seems to be turning its back on anthony weiner is that. the right move no i think that this is actually exactly why i like wiener so much as a politician because he on like the rest of the democrats doesn't just roll over and basically do whatever the republican suggest i mean right now it seems like andrew breitbart and r. and c. are calling the shots for the democrats. well. the daily beast that it peter beinart the guy who wrote the dog and i believe and numerous other. places books movies t.v. shows basically just came right it was called i think of

with him and tell him that he needs to leave the night so why is it that when republicans like david vitter john ensign christopher lee mark sanford newt gingrich you get the point why is it that when these guys step in it republican leadership says it's up to the constituents. but when a democrat gets in trouble they pounce and ask for an immediate resignation you know look this is really pathetic what he did it's no question about that he apparently showed his writings previous to the to the world but it's out now. hours . and barney frank who didn't leave after after sex scandals i think that he probably should resign but that's not anthony weiner's thing to do that's not what he said type of person he is taking into account what had a person he is this is what he should say he said yes i sent those pictures it's not illegal and guess what i'm going to be sending more so you better get used to it i'm staying around i'm owning this that's that's at least the first half of that is what he should this day want obviously it's a case then all of the cover it's this is just like just like wate

the piece doesn't talk about arnold schwarzenegger, jim bakker, gary hart, senator david vitter and marke list goes on and on. i like we are getting away from the trend of the >>> this morning on "world news now" -- mass exodus, the top staffers from newt gingrich's presidential campaign have stepped down. >> the shake-up put his campaign in question, but the former speaker of the house says the show must go on. it's friday, june 10th. >>> good friday morning. i'm peggy bunker. >> i'm daniel sieberg. rob nelson is on assignment. >>>, so the hopes for newt gingrich's presidential ambitions have taken a big hit this morning. 16 of his top campaign staffers just up and quit thursday. what was it that made them revolt? you could call it a newtany. >> a bit of a newtany. as everybody started bailing. people were saying he hasn't been on the campaign trail too much. many times when, staffers of this sort, they want to attach their wagon to some one who is really going to go for it. that could be part of it. there is other speculation. >> he says he will carry on. see what happens. >>> then it

barney frank, david vitter, and president bill clinton, he still has a voice despite his dalliance in the oval office. so the talk back question today -- should congressman weiner resign? facebook/carolcostello. i'll read your comments in a bit. >>> after the quick break, we'll bring you up to speed on the rest of the news today. stay with us. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] new purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena naturals. removes 99% of dirt and toxins without dyes, parabens, or harsh sulfates. so skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] new from neutrogena naturals. and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. >>> anthony weiner plans to resign. he's come under pressure over the sexting scandal. >>> he

david vitter cheated on his wife with a prostitute and he's still in the senate.m getting tired of hearing this that somehow the republicans come down so hard on their people. if other people have decided to acquit, after something like this, that's their decision. i think that anthony made, obviously, a very big mistake. but it is a mistake that is between him and his wife. everybody getting up on their soapbox and judging him, i don't think that is our place. his job is to do a good job as a congressman, which he does do. >> greta: you may have heard me i was talking rick klein. i think vitter said he only talked to the prosecutor. i think that's what he said. if indeed there was a little more he didn't fess up to that one totally. but, any thought when these members of congress are gonna learn their lesson that inappropriate behavior is just that, inappropriate? >> look, people -- humans are flawed. there's all sorts of stuff that guess on all the time that is wrong. people have affairs. -- we have presidential candidates who have had affairs. people who -- giu

. >> david vitter, he's still in the senate. >> jimmy: why is that way?p in this situation and the democrats go, "oh, no. we might have a controversy and we can't possibly back this guy. the republicans will hang it around our necks." they're going to hang it around their necks anyway. >> jimmy: really? >> stand up. the guy -- what he should have done, what they should have supported him in doing -- was he should have resigned and said, "i will let the people decide. you're going to have special election anyway to replace me. i'll stand for this special election." then that way, the people will decide whether or not this actually makes a difference then, since apparently the people in his district didn't think this was that big a deal. like only 33 or 34% wanted him to resign. so, why should he resign? well, here's the opportunity to say, "i'm leaving. if you want me to stay out, i'm happy to do it. and if you want me back, vote me back in." >> jimmy: do you think that should happen with weiner? >> yes! it would be a wonderful gesture, because at that poi

. >> david vitter broke state laws, he did cheat on his wife and he got relegislated. >> elliot spitser did resign. >> and mitt romney thinks his past will help him in the future. >> just getting started. >> for the first time mitt romney edges ahead of barack obama. >> people get tired of seeing the same person day in, day out. >> this is great news for mitt romney. >> i'll finally get the nomination. >>> good evening from new york. a day after congressman anthony wiener admitted to sending sexually suggestive text messages and photos to six women other than his wife. the backlash and the details of the sex scandal that so far still includes no actual sex continued to dominate the headlines, none of them flattering to the congressman. conservative blogger andrew breitbart whose website first broke the story says he is holding back at least one photograph which abc news says quote, shows a man's erect penis, end quote. on the "today" show, matt lauer tried to press breitbart about whether he would release that photo? >> if anthony wiener decides to make this a jihad against me for his i

some of the other things we have seen in the past, you know -- i'm sorry, governor spitzer, and david vitter from louisiana, also doing the same, this is quite different. >> there's no criminal allegation as of yet. >> no criminal allegations. >> ryan grimm, let me ask you, you covered the hill as well as anybody. what is the fallout in congress? a lot of his colleagues, a lot of those that he will, if we assume he stays in office, as he says he will, how will he be dealt with in the house? >> nancy pelosi came out with a statement just recently, saying that she's calling for a full investigation into whether or not he broke in the house rules. >> i'm going to play that statement. let me read this statement to you. she says -- i am deeply disappointed and saddened about this situation, for anthony's wife huma, his family, his stat and his constituents. i am cal for an ethics commit aye investigation to determine whether any official resources were used or any other violation of house rules occurred. interesting statement, wouldn't you say? >> i think sheets thinking about the pressure she ca