The junior Senator from Louisiana is back in the news this week. (No, not just because he gets name checked in stories about Mark Sanford’s comeback.) Bitter Vitter is doing what he does best, which is being a royal pain in the ass. This time it involves Gina McCarthy who has been nominated to run the EPA:

David Vitter seems to have set a new record.

Sen. Vitter, a Louisiana Republican with close ties to the gas and
oil industries, has already sent a whopping 653 questions to President
Obama’s nominee to take over the Environmental Protection Agency on a
wide range of regulatory topics (and her use of government email
accounts) ahead of her Thursday confirmation hearings, according to a
Democratic staffer directly involved in the confirmation process.

The nominee, Gina McCarthy, is being subjected to what amounts to a
record-shattering barrage of per-confirmation questions from Senate
Republicans who have, in all, already submitted more than 1,079 queries.

UPDATE: A Vitter spokesman got back to make two points:

1. Vitter’s staff calculates the total number of “real” — not counting one- or two-word follow-ups — in the 430 range.

2. The volume of questions, according to his staff, isn’t about
harassing the nominee. McCarthy deserves more questions because she’s
been an assistant administrator at the agency for several years and was
present for many of EPA’s most controversial decisions on emissions and
other matters. Previous nominees for the post simply didn’t have
comparable track records or paper trails, Vitter’s spokesman said.

As much as I hate quoting Tigerbeat on the Potomac (TM Charlie Pierce) they have the best snippet on Vitty Cent’s (TM Oyster) latest malakatude (TM Adrastos.) It’s not harassment? Really? How stupid do they think we are? Very stupid indeed.

Here’s my suggestion to Diaper Dave and his fellow oil company lackeys, they should fold their 1079 questions five ways and stick them where the moon don’t shine. Vitter is clearly familiar with his own rectal cavity since he’s a professional asshole whose head is eternally up his own ass.

I wonder if Ms. McCarthy has been tempted to quote Graham Parker?