Commentary: The Politics of Porn

By Ryan Call

February 11, 2009

Nearly three and a half years have passed since one of the most destructive storms in the history of the United States crushed New Orleans. Yet now the city might have to prepare for another one, along with the rest of Louisiana.

I'm of course talking about Stormy Daniels, the adult-film star who could be representing the Pelican State as the next junior senator of Louisiana. Look out Congress--you may be dealing with a whole new kind of stimulus package.

Since a group of admirers launched the website DraftStormy.com, an online petition on the site has reportedly gotten thousands of signatures urging Daniels to consider taking on the incumbent Republican Sen. David Vitter in the upcoming Louisiana primary that will lead to the 2010 general election. With the vast amount of signatures on the petition and as the mainstream media has picked up the story, Daniels at least appears to be interested in the possibility.

Daniels certainly has not shied away from criticizing her would be opponent's hypocrisy--perhaps hinting early of her campaign strategy. Vitter's political career has been guided by his preaching on the platform of family values. In 1999 he took a seat in the House of Representatives replacing then-congressman Bob Livingston who was resigning after an adultery scandal. Vitter was quick to applaud Livingston's decision and used it to spearhead the call for then-President Bill Clinton's resignation following the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Even Vitter's wife, Wendy, was an outspoken critic--most memorably when she exclaimed that if her husband were ever involved in such an act that she would take action not unlike Lorena Bobbitt. That stings.

But that wasn't the appearance she gave on July 16, 2007 when she stood with a ghostly expression next to her husband at a press conference as he apologized for his business with a prostitution service after his telephone number appeared in a book of Deborah Palfrey, the owner of the prostitution company, also known as the "D.C. Madam." Records showed that the company called Vitter's phone numerous times, including during times of roll call votes in the House.

In an interview this week with CNN's Rick Sanchez, Daniels joked that she might not be willing to take a pay cut that would come with the switch from porn to politics. But despite some outside criticism that in a period of national crisis there is no time for publicity stunts and gimmicks, Daniels mostly appeared sincere and intelligent in her few interviews thus far.

"I might be a porn star, but I haven't done anything illegal," said Daniels. "I guess the big question is not only why is David Vitter in office, but why isn't he in jail?"

And if there is indeed a political showdown between Vitter and Daniels, it looks like Daniels has wasted no time going on the attack. When asked if she was being put up to this just to embarrass Vitter, Daniels replied that she couldn't possibly embarrass Vitter more than he has already embarrassed himself.

"I think that he's setting a horrible example, he preached family values and this and that and not only did he go against everything he preached and everything he believed in, he broke the law. And apparently there are a lot of people in Louisiana and across the nation actually that are not happy with that because if they think that I'm a better choice, what does that say?"

It's hard for one not to see the humorous irony in this story, a senator that preached family values being scolded on national television by a woman who pays her bills each week by performing the same acts that are linked to the Harvard- and Oxford-educated Vitter to reek of hypocrisy.

Can we learn anything from this apparent charade? Are there lessons in American culture, voting, politics, and hypocrisy? It seems so.

The fact that this thing has gained as much momentum and attention as it has exemplifies the mocking and ridiculing sense of humor Americans possess. There is something either oddly satisfying or just plain reassuring to many Americans who love to watch our elite--our celebrities, athletes, and politicians dig their own graves. See, they're not so perfect after all.

Does it also say something about sex in our culture that even jokingly a porn star can be talked about as potentially holding one of the highest offices in the land? Has sex completely lost its taboo? Obviously not when, as former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer knows, it's done illegally. Apparently Americans also love their laws.

Sure, thousands of potential voters may be willing to half-seriously sign such a draft but would they actually be brash enough to cast their vote for the blonde bombshell on Election Day? That leads to the question; with the right amount of training and celebrity status, can anyone become a political star? If the GOP had let comedian Stephen Colbert stay in the South Carolina primary, how many votes would he have picked up? The case of I-Can-See-Russia-From-My-House Governor Palin may provide some insight.

And lastly there is that issue of hypocrisy. Is there anything Americans hate more? Haven't we all complained about some horrible, evil person that at one point said one thing and then did another? The gall.

Americans loathe hypocrisy--but do they detest it enough to send Vitter packing in favor of a porn star? One thing reaffirmed is for certain, as the old saying goes--only in America.