Conservatives went all gaga when Democratic Louisiana Representative William J. Jefferson became the target of an FBI probe; couldn’t get enough of him, went on and on. Well, now that a Louisiana Senator has been caught with his pants around his ankles, you’d think they’d go even more nuts. Of course, it’s a Republican this time–so wingnuts like Michelle Malkin, who went batty over the Jefferson story, are curiously silent, as is Rush Limbaugh. Same with the other major blogs, like Little Green Footballs, PowerLine, The Neocon Express, Blogs for Bush, etc.; others, like Instapundit, have little throwaway lines on the matter. Those on the right who are speaking on the matter are essentially saying, “so what?” and excusing him because he’s admitted to it and apologized (only when it was clear he’d get caught), and besides, he’s from Louisiana, so he shouldn’t do anything so silly as resign or anything, just for breaking the law.

Not that liberals enjoy talking about their own scandals either, but at least they’re more up-front about them. When the Jefferson story broke, DailyKos instantly and roundly attacked Jefferson, and the story was well covered on left-wing blogs like Talking Points Memo, Think Progress, FireDogLake, Talk Left, and many others. Liberals were calling for his resignation, or at the very least that he step down from his committee seats.

And while Vitter’s getting few easy breaks in the press today, I do not recall outlets like Time Magazine giving big wet kisses to William Jefferson, like they are to Vitter by asking if he got “hustled” by the D.C. Madam and Larry Flynt–despite not even the barest shred of evidence existing to suggest such a thing. Not surprisingly, the Vitter story is buried deep in the back pages of Fox News’ web site, and the Washington Times doesn’t even have his story on the front page.

But you have to admit, when you’ve got a stalwart Republican who is staunchly against gay marriage and scores 100% with Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition on family issues who then gets revealed as an adulterer with a prostitution service, the old “why am I not surprised” factor does play into it a bit. One might even be more surprised that he was not caught indulging in a gay prostitution service, being anti-gay and all. Wait–no, that’s usually true with right-wing anti-gay preachers more than with congressmen. Gotta keep that scorecard straight.