. >> john: now the governor is coming back from a prostitution scandal, much like david vitter. bazzzelle,basil, you're a former adviser in the 24/7 news cycle, are we going to be numb to scandals? or does it have to be money. >> i think substance matters most, then money. but i do believe we're becoming desensitized. people are putting everything about themselves, pictures of going back to weiner, pictures of their body, it's all over facebook and twitter, we are a little desensitized to it but when you talk about voters in new york they want substance more than anything else. they'll get past the scandals in a week or two, and start talking about issues. but the reality is we're a bit desensitized. that's unfortunate but it's the truth. >> john: they want toughness in new york and both mr. spitzer and weiner fits that bill. >> i don't think the winier story has to do with sex. there is sex involved. i think he was a man who was isolateed in congress. he had few friends. then he went on television with his final couple of friends in the media to lie his butt off. >> john: indee

that same summer, his republican colleague, louisiana senator david vitter was caught in a scandal involvingprostitutes when his phone number was published by the notorious d.c. madam. vitter stood by his wife and asked for forgiveness. he remained in office and won reelection in 2010 with 57% of the vote. this spring, mark sanford, the former disgraced governor of south carolina who left the state on taxpayer funds to travel to average 15 tina to visit his mistress in 2009 won election to the house. former congressman anthony weiner resigned congress in 2011 after tweeting pictures of his genitals to female followers. two years later, weiner now finds himself tied for leading the race for mayor of new york city. and now former governor eliot spitzer, who appeared with me on this program last night, is launching what he hopes will become a second political act and seeking the public forgiveness for his transgressions with prostitutes. so are sex scandals no longer career killers for politicians? i'm joined by "the washington post's" chris cillizza and michael steele. what is your answer to t

second thing is why doesn't anybody bring up david vitter. he was out shagging prostitutes.ect me in i'm wrong sent pictures of his package wearing white jockeys. at least wear low rise briefs with a tiger pattern or something. >> stephanie: we're outraged at different parts of the story. that's okay. it is america. >> texting, you know -- >> stephanie: at least he's not in crocs. [ ♪ battle hymn of republic ♪ ] >> texting a picture of your penis is not illegal. what vitter did paying a prostitute for sex is illegal. that's a major difference. >> stephanie: somebody with a good point cynthia in michigan does not want to hear rudy giuliani say anything about this. >> caller: yesterday, i had to check out what the right-wingers were saying so i'm flipping the dial. i mitt michael medved's show and he went on about how anthony weiner wasn't fit for the job because he has too much -- because it has too much power and responsibility and he couldn't hand it will the way rudy giuliani did. so i laughed outloud in the car and i'm screaming at the radio like have you completely forgo

wendy vitter, she went out there and she was more defy ain't frankly than david vitter was.e same -- i think you are on to a point where the wife here, if she gets out there enough, she can provide deflection. >> mika, i just absolutely loved wendy vitter's performance. she was tough and she was defiant and she basically let everybody know she was killing her husband behind closed doors. my favorite part was, she went out, she said something along the lines of, hey, ya'll, he's back in washington now, so why don't you just hound him in washington and leave me and my kids alone. she was priceless and talk and she saved his career. >> fascinating. what i saw was a human display of emotions before she even opened her mouth. huma is someone who is well known in political circles, in business circles, on every level. i have never met someone who has a bad word to say about her. in fact, if you say her name, chances are the person who knows her will jump to say a million different wonderful things about her. she apparently is an exemplary person. and you've got to wonder. i mean t

right yeah i get accused of it falling people sex life whether it was bob livingston money gate or david vitter in louisiana. there were the. credits that we explode but it was never their sex life it was always the pot christie and you know there was a complaint with and washington d.c. that. if there is a scandal. sex symbol of it's. a democrat money it's to a public actually it's a complete opposite. money with the democrats had sex with them because. we're going to larry flynt's legacy how views on such a change over the years in america lots of other things with this extraordinary guy don't go away. is it possible to navigate the economy with all the details and to stick some misinformation in the media hype will keep you up to date by decoding the mainstream states and if in your right. leg. or leg that was a new alert animation scripts scare me a little league. there is breaking news tonight and they are continuing to follow the breaking news the alexander family cry tears of the war you and your great things rather than have. it a court of law thrown to all the lads is a story made sort

david vitter was fine. example after example -- >> david vitter, it was his wife.he was so tough, people were scared not to vote for him. remember, she goes out to the lawn, she goes, you know, david is back up in washington, d.c., now, and the kids and i are here. can you leave us alone? go after him. >> david vitter is having a family night fund-raiser next week. i think we ought to go to it. >> well -- >> eliot spitzer the next day. >> do i feel bad for scott stringer? like a week ago his life seemed so simple. comptroller. >> that's politics. >> he was on yesterday and did very well. >> yeah. >> impressive guy. but -- >> guy with 100% name recognition comes into the race. >> and self-financed. >> that's the way it works. >> no. i think he's going to do it. and again, there is, though, i wonder about anthony weiner, al hunt, when he was down here he wasn't known as a guy that got a lot of things done. >> or made a lot of friends. >> or made a lot of friends. eliot spitzer didn't make a lot of friends but eliot spitzer would come up to you and talk and engage and

. >> michael: i can't believe the free ride that david vitter got but does anthony weiner being in the race help in terms of fighting the scandal? they can forgive weiner, maybe they can forgive spitzer. >> the other caller this morning suggested that eliot spitzer got on the race because he had a case of weiner envy. i had to get that out there. i asked eliot spitzer saying, if he could come back, i can come back. he insist that's two cases are entirely different and separate, but i suspect so. >> michael: people thought that eliot spitzer didn't have a political future. rick perry said he won't run for that seat. does he have a political future. you think eliot spitzer has one what about rick perry. >> he left the door open to running for president again. because that worked so well the last time. i think we've seen the end of rick perry. as one person who is not ready for the national stage, it's rick perry and he proves it. >> michael: doesn't it take the country to leave the door open on that one? it's not up to rick perry. the country closed the door on that pre-precise precisely

we now have david vitter, whose name was in a hooker book in the united states, we had larry craig allowedfter the wide stance. we have now the former governor of south carolina in congress after he took public resources to fly to see his mistress. >> please, stop, there's enough. >> we have not crossed the moral rubicon. this guy -- i'm worried about his lack of record of accomplishment as a congressman. i'm worried about his substantive record, which i this i is extremely thin, and this ridiculous carlos danger thing has made it not the most important mayoral race in the country. >> jimmy. >> i concur with everything. i cannot disagree with anything joy has just said. i do believe you should have a private life, but when your private life overtakes your public life, and that is what has happened here. with bill clinton, i hate to say it, i mean, i expect more from my politicians. they are human, they are humane, but i expect them to be better than the average man that cheats had his average wife. i expect that action and i demand that, and i want that for my political and my religious an

you have weiner, spitzer david vitter who ran virtually unopposed. >> 25 years ago we had a nominee for nominee of the supreme court who admitted he smoked pot. yes, standards are changed we're intolerant to human frailty, and that may be a good thing. >> michael: there will be a whole generation-- >> do you really want to be a puritan country again? >> i agree with him, but i throw something out there. you know after my piece ran i am in the double standard, not just in terms of gender but sexual orientation. the reason why mcgreevey was run out of the governor office is not because of the affair but because he admitted to being gay because of the affair. i think if barack obama were caught in a lewinsky type of situation, he would not go on to run the type of life he had. look at qualitiy kilpatrick in detroit. he had an affair, he tried to cover it up. >> he broke his--his demise, especially his time in prison was primarily because of wrong doings that had nothing to do with the sex scandal. >> but how did the dominoes start falling? i'm not being funny. how did the dominoes start fa

>> hey, i would ask the question and mark sanford and david vitter, we have examples on both sides, debauchery. >> i'm not saying -- >> i'm saying it's not. >> we're calling for honesty. isn't that the bottom line of it? >> president obama speaks for an hour and four minutes today. i have no idea where we are in the speech but let's see if it sounds familiar to you because it's all rehash. we're running the thing in order f here he is. >> for the end of those three decades -- >> here we go. >> -- a housing bubble, crit cards, churching financial sector with keeping the economy artificially juiced up. so sometimes it papered over some of these long-term trends. but by the time i took office in 2009 as your president, we all know the bubble had burst. >> here we are. so look. we're doing this randomly. we're running this speech in real time and we tune in for the first time. what do we get? blaming bush. this is dilutional. he's still blaming bush. isn't this getting old? >> i think that obama and congress need to come together and really think about -- put themselves at the back of the line and

. >> reporter: republican david vitter is pushing a bill to ban state and local bailouts, but a top whiteouse official said that bill is not necessary because they're definitive in the white house they're not approving a bailout. they say any conversations going on are focused on what economic moves they can make that help detroit not pay the bills but help them grow economically. >> more on this with the panel, ed, thank you. >>> it is often said time is everything. in this case, the timing of an irs official at the center of the scandal involving targeting conservative groups and his visits to the white house. doug mcelway has both sides of the story. >> according to your testimony, you met with chief counsel's office, is that correct? that's correct. >> reporter: house republicans believe that exchange with carter hall during the oversight hearing could point to direct political involvement by the white house in the irs scrutiny of conservative groups. >> we don't have any evidence directly yet, but we continue to do depositions, do the interviews and work up the chain of command. now

david vitter had a prostitution scandals, some thought it was a big deal.thers elected him by 19 points. he is a republican that never went through the type that eliot spitzer went through, or weiner, eliot spitzer is in a tight race, has not had the oxygen used up. weiner's point, does it take so much that he falls out of the top two in a race where we have a primary between two people. i assume you have not diagnosed him. and i think one concern here is that we separate, view it at a distance from the diagnosis, somebody talked about whether or not he could be bipolar. that is a very serious diagnosis. >> we all noted that they haven't seen the patients, and all that. but they're left with this behavior, they're doing their best. and we are asking the psychiatrist for their help on this political story, which needs definite psychiatric input. can you help us with the new york voter and the public? and why people see this so differently from actual sex scandals that involved actual touching a human being, like as in the bill clinton case, ari and i have be

foster says although freaky, anthony weiner is ten times better than david vitter. we tend to sell out dems but republicans build a wall and ignore. beyond the oath says carlos danger would be a great band name. i agree with that. and tracy burrage trying to figure out how to say this. she said she wanted to see his blank. he wanted to see her blank. one word, consensual. stop making more out of this. >> bill: look, i would feel better about it if he had just gone out and had an affair, right? but i just -- i think he -- i'm not trying to be too judgmental. i totally totally totally forgave the guy and willing to accept when he came out the first time and admitted what he had done. to tell the truth, i wouldn't have minded if he stayed in congress just apologize and stayed in congress but putting himself out there and saying i'm a new man and i've spent the last two years getting myself back together again and he was lying through his teeth. >> i think the other thing that is really important -- >> bill: at some point, you have to say enough's enough. >> where i com

hi, gare. >> caller: hey, stephanie, y'all keep talking about weiner let's go back to david vitter andid larry craig came before him. [ giggling ] >> it was that he was a homophobe and then did it. that's the problem. >> he's a dirty nasty, dirty naughty boy -- >> look, we all like sex in public bathrooms that's how i bet jim ward [ buzzer ] >> stephanie: oh jjohn. eric holder. >> today i'm announcing that the justice department will ask a federal court in texas to subject the state of texas to a preclearance regime similar to the one required in section 5 of the voting right's act. this request to bail in the state of texas, and require pre-approval from the department or federal court is available under the voting right's act when intentional voting discrimination is found. >> as it has been found many times in the state of texas. >> stephanie: john have you ever noticed that scalia is kind of a douche. >> yes. and you actually owe an apologize to summer's eve for that. >> stephanie: i apologize. >> first they acknowledge that yes, racial discrimination still exists and then they cut

if you look at david vitter for louisiana or mark sanford when they got caught lying and cheating andy actually had sex, didn't just text about it, but they happened to belong to new testament religions where they had to say the good lord for gave me and the voters should too and they're back in office you don't hear their names mentioned. anthony needs to change his last name to winner instead of wiener and convert to a new testament religion and he'll be reelected. cenk: the one i can't get past is vitter. the republicans gave him a standing ovation when he returned to the senate. there's no express than treating him any different and he seemed to totally get away with it. at least sanford got back into the arena and won his election. >> we deserve better than the whole bunch. if this is the best we can do, the best the country has to offer, then we're in trouble. i don't regret seeing wiener have to drop out of the race or lose the election, but we've got a lot of other people like him that shouldn't be in offers, either. cenk: that's very fair. when we come back, we turn to a seri

wendy vitter spoke out and it saved david vitter arguably.ho don't speak out -- it's interesting, but i wonder if huma helped him yesterday in a way that maybe none of us can understand. >> it was an unusual spectacle. i think the fundamental question for voters and that's how you open it about anthony is can you trust hip. and when you ask him to exercise judgment, particularly when you've gotten him a second chance, is he able to do that. he didn't assure us yesterday there are not others out there. there was not a tyime line give. i hope, i wish him the very best. the question is how much does new york have to put up, with all the issues we're confronting in the city. >> you spent a lot of time particularly in the northeast watching political trends. new york city, this has been a competency first job as far as the voters have been concerned when you look at juliany giuliani and bloomberg. the question is, what is new york city's appetite for drama? >> it was kind of amazing what he pulled off to this point. he was at or near the top of th

david vitter, the louisiana republican senator who was with prostitutes and said you know, god and my wife have forgiven me. in his priority, scale god is first. his wife was second. his words were god and my wife. eliot spitzer, did not talk about god. they talk about therapy. i think in new york, more people believe in therapy than god. >> john: what do you think? what do you think when constituents hear a guy like mark sanford who lied to them, misused their funds but he talks tabernacles, the god of second chances. is that genuine or do they just like him better than stephen colbert's sister? >> well, he won. but i don't know why. i actually think that he's speaking to his base and i agree with you. i think your article was great. i think some people do legitimately believe. and believe him. >> john: paul, if anthony weiner tried to say god let him off the hook, would new yorkers tolerate that? >> everybody can see through it. i don't think republicans and democrats are that far apart. they both say oh, god. one says it during sex and the other says it after the sex. >> john: you

you got david vitter. he got away with it. it's really on the voters. if they're not going to penalize people for this behavior, they'll get away with it. yeah, it does happen in new york a lot more than other places but maybe it is just the outsized egos that are created here in this city. >> i wanted to play a little bit of nancy pelosi who was asked by our own luke russert about this at her briefing yesterday. >> let me be very clear. the conduct of some of these people that we are talking about here is reprehensible. it is so disrespectful of women. and what's really stunning about it is they don't even realize it. you know? they don't have a clue. and it is really -- if they're clueless, get a clue. if they need therapy, do it in private. >> chris cillizza, the san diego mayor bob filner, today debbie wasserman schultz has called on him to step down as more women have gone on the record claiming he made unwanted sexual advances and that's a whole different category than what we are talking about with some of these other politicians. >> right. in so

. >> david vitter also voted with her on this issue. and i wonder if what was actually proposed, it actually has more than what he said even a month or two ago. and i wonder if that is because of some of these these others that they had to get the proposal more teeth. even they said that there is something that i think are not too bad in his proposal. i don't agree with it all. but there is good stuff in here and i thought that was interesting and i'm wondering if you think that that was because there are people pushing for this that otherwise might not have happened. women bring to attention this. >> women were trying to bring attention to a before becomes a new story. so you have people caring about it and working on it. and everybody has to take a position. then you have a plan to bring to the table for support. i'm sure they went to the military commanders and said, well, you have the support. and look at what she has. we should offer something that will be credible. >> in politics as happens all the time. see someone, and i don't w

. >> thank god i fliv god's country, louisiana, where my senator is david vitter. >> you know what?, do you think that this scandal is different from other scandals? i don't know the answer to that question. does this have the potential for longer term damage somehow to the democratic party than -- >> probably not to the democrats unless it really bleeds in the clinton world in a way that affects her future viability. but no. look -- first, he's got kind after goofy name to have a scandal like this. but no, this kind of hubris, this kind of denial and complete circus has happened many, many times before. even if he doesn't win, there is a book deal at the end of the rainbow for him, speaking deals -- >> oh, my god. that's the anthony weiner reality show? >> but that's why he did stay in the race. >> that's probably why he's staying in the race. >> if he were to leave the race, what else is there for him to do? >> if he stays in and comes in a distant fourth or fifth and he's humiliated, that will likely end his political career. let's hope. >> but does that end his public career? >>

. >> host: you don't, david vitter from louisiana, a conservative republican, voted with senator gillibrand on this issue, and, actually, i wonder if, you know, if you look at what carl levin actually proposed -- excuse me -- if you look at what he proposed, it has more teeth than what he was saying even say a month or two ago, you know? i wonder if that's because gillibrand and some of the other proponents of taking sexual assault cases out of the chain of command that he felt he had to give his proposal more teeth, and even gillibrand said there's some things i think are not too bad in levin's proposal. i don't agree with it all, i want to take it out of the chain of command, but there's good stuff in here. i thought that was interesting, and i wonder if you think it's because of people like gillibrand pushing for this, you know, that otherwise it might not have happened, women bringing attention to the issue of sexual assault in the military. >> guest: i do think so because i think also women were trying to bring attention to it before it becomes a news story. you have people caring abou

in it and you know david vitter from louisiana, very conservative republican also voted with senator jalabert and on this issue to date i wonder if you look at what carl levin actually proposed, if you look at what he proposed it actually has more teeth than he was saying a month or two ago. and i wonder if that is because of its gillibrand and some of the other proponents out that he felt like he had to get his proposal more teeth and even children and said there are some things i think our natural the not too bad in his proposal. i don't agree with all. i wanted to get out of the command but there's a lot of stuff in here. i wondered if you thought that was because of people like kristen jon rand pushing for the things otherwise it might not have happened. stannic bringing this issue to sexual assault in the military. >> i think also that women are trying to bring attention to it before it becomes a news story. so you have people caring about it, working on it and once it becomes a story that everyone has to take a position. and so if you have a level of expertise and you have alre

reminds us of eliot spitzer and then he reminds us of bill to which democrats say hey, don't forget david vittersanford and larry craig to which republicans say don't forget about gary hart or john f. kennedy. notice, filner, bill clinton, vitter, sanford, craig, hart, kennedy, what do all of the sexually challenged politicians have in common? they're all men. why is it that male politicians can't keep their pants up? but female politicians can? seems to me the obvious answer is throw the men out and elect more women! igor volsky joins us tomorrow as well as the makers of the american had been made movie. have a great monday. see you back here again tuesday morning. [ ♪ theme ] >> stephanie: happy monday morning. oh, thank god jacki schechner is back in the current news center. we had to fill three minutes at the top of every hour last week and we were reduced to things like this. ladies and gentlemen, we'll demonstrate once again jim and i the bob filner headlock. the sexually harassing mayor of san diego. >> get off me! >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen. thank you. >> it is like our own versi

. >> we can't forget about david vitter a senator of a state, i believe, that just made all prostitutes register as life-long sex offenders and he is a senator who used prostitutes from louisiana. if there is a solution to this, it is trying to find women who will make better judgment calls in this arena. >> no. >> i think everybody has their skeletons in the closet. unfortunately in this media age, it's tough to keep them, as anthony weiner found out, your twitter account is very very not private. >> that wasn't smart, icky. this is icky guys. look at weiner, doesn't mean he couldn't be a good mayor. he could be a gross icky guy and could be a darned good mayor. i don't think it's fair to put him in the same category as spitzer. >> interesting. >> oh. >> it was dumb but doesn't mean he can't get the trash and snow removed on time to be a mayor, which is the problem with quinn. he's number one right now. >> do you want to see him crawl through glass and tell us exactly why they deserve redemption and what process did they go through? >> let's let ben -- poor ben. let's let him back in h

louisiana senator david vitter's wife, as he was accused of sleeping with prostitute. craig's wife, in the face of allegations he was trolling for sixth in an airport bar, and former governor eliot spitzer's wife after he admitted to seeing high-priced prostitutes. >> my personal failings with my wife and our two children. >> huma abedin is no stranger to personal problems playing out on the political stage. for decades she's been a confident most famous scorn woman, hillary clinton. bill clinton officiated at her wedding. she's, if i had a second daughter, it was by humana. despite being notoriously private, she is incredibly savvy, knowing full well the impact of her words or of speaking at all. >> i have forgiven him, i believe in him, and as we have said from the beginning, we are moving forward. >> i've talked to democratic sources, and you don't get maybe a few seconds in before hearing the words "poor humana" given what she's had to endure, but if you talk to people who are close to her who have a sense of what's going on, they say, look this is very hard for he

in it pushes it out to be attributed to the budget in 10 years and a lot of republican, senator david vittergressman from louisiana, says it is similar to obamacare and a little bit of a tricky accounting here? >> not at all. this is the independent congressional budget office. this isn't a democrat or a republican organization. the independent congressional budget office found that comprehensive immigration reform would mean $850 billion of net deficit reduction over the next 20 years -- lori: what about social security benefits that you will have to pay out during that time period? >> and the chief actuary of the social security administration found that it would strengthen social security and that actually it would strengthen the solvency and length of social security by two years. let me explain why. first of all, it means that they predict over the next 10 years three million workers who are currently undocumented would now start paying payroll taxes. they would be adding to social security. secondly, you get younger workers in. that helps with our demographic challenge. so it's absolut

louisiana senator david vitter's wife as he was accused of sleeping with prostitutes, larry craig's wifes he was trolling for sex in an airport bathroom and eliot spitzer's wife after he admitted to seeing high-priced prostitutes a scene that prompted an entire tv series "the good wife." huma abedin is no stranger to personal problems playing out on the political stage. for decades she's been a key behind the scenes confidant of politics most famous scorned woman, hillary clinton. bill clinton officiated at her wedding. hillary clinton is quoted as saying i have one daughter but if i had a second daughter it would be huma. huma is incredibly savvy knowing full well the potential impact of this moment. >> i love him. i have forgiven him. i believe in him and as we have said from the beginning, we are moving forward. >> reporter: dana bash, cnn, washington. >> the irony not lost on a lot of people that she saw a front row seat to what went on with the clintons and now experiencing her own version of it and again this is the second time around. >> all pain is personal. >> just makes it wors

david diaper -- [ baby crying ] >> stephanie: that's the thing. mic mark sanford back in. a lot of people have said that. that they didn't think they should have quit in the first place. >> what vitter [ baby crying ] >> we found out who cubicle guy is. he was a reporter covering the press conference. he didn't want to be in the shot, so by looking like he didn't want to be in the shot he became very conspicuous. >> stephanie: don't block the shot. >> what is going on over there? oh, yeah. >> don't block the shot! don't block the shot. got it? we have a right to be here. shoot the shot [ censor bleep ]. >> stephanie: bill o'reilly. okay. dezsy in jacksonville. >> caller: hi, how are you? >> stephanie: hi. >> caller: i just wanted to say, i do love your show and i careless what these guys do with their personal life as long as they are not doing it with children. the bottom line here is politics. what are they doing for us as a people? i think when you guys joke about it, it must be in relationship to hypocrisy, what they are saying that they are not doing versus what they are doing. that's what is wrong with america. we're concerned about what these people are doing in their persona