Senator Vitter misses flight-flips out- and- throws temper-tantrum

[JODO 2]

Among Members of Congress, there's a long-standing, proud tradition of the Airport Freakout. Add to the list of those who've indulged in meltdowns and temper tantrums while traveling one Sen. David Vitter, who on Thursday joined what we've dubbed the "Mile-Low Club" by going ballistic on an airline worker after missing a flight from Washington's Dulles airport to New Orleans.

According to an HOH tipster who witnessed the scene, the Louisiana Republican arrived Thursday evening at his United Airlines gate 20 minutes before the plane was scheduled to depart, only to find the gate had already been closed. Undeterred, Vitter opened the door, setting off a security alarm and prompting an airline worker to warn him that entering the gate was forbidden.

Vitter, our spy said, gave the airline worker an earful, employing the timeworn "do-you-know-who-I-am" tirade that apparently grew quite heated.

That led to some back and forth, and the worker announced to the irritable Vitter that he was going to summon security.

Vitter, according to the witness, remained defiant, yelling that the employee could call the police if he wanted to and their supervisors, who, presumably, might be more impressed with his Senator's pin.

But after talking a huffy big game, Vitter apparently thought better of pushing the confrontation any further. When the gate attendant left to find a security guard, Vitter turned tail and simply fled the scene.

Perhaps he recalled some of the airport antics that have landed his colleagues in trouble, including Rep. Bob Filner's (D-Calif.) arrest at Dulles in 2007 for allegedly assaulting an airline worker. Or perhaps he thought of the lashing that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) took for reports of her diva-esque airport behavior.

Vitter has only recently been reasserting himself in Congress, following a stint in the metaphorical wilderness after his name showed up in 2007 on the phone records of the "D.C. Madam." Or Vitter, whose spokesman wouldn't comment on the incident, might have learned just a little something from his sex-scandal embarrassment about impulse control.

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_100/hoh/33055-1.html

[Peikko 1,575]

Some quality politicians on the payroll.