Oh, The Hypocrisy
Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevadahas acknowledged having an extra-marital affair.
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions,” said Ensign. He is expected to announce the affair at a press conference at 6:30 pm tonight. The affair, which was with a woman who worked for both Ensign’s re-election campaign and his Battle Born leadership political action committee, began in December 2007 and ended in August 2008. Ensign’s wife, Darlene, said that the couple’s “marriage has become stronger” and added: “I love my husband.”
And in case you were wondering, he’s a huge hypocrite:
Eleven years ago, Ensign voted to impeach President Bill Clinton on two counts related to the cover-up of his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Five years ago, Ensign took to the floor of the Senate and said this:
Marriage recognizes the ideal of a father and mother living together to raise their children. Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded. For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America has relied.
Update: Ensign called on Bill Clinton to resign during the Lewinsky scandal as well as Larry Craig to resign. Funny, he didn’t call on Vitter to resign. Hmmmm…
In 1998, while running for Nevada’s Senate seat against Harry Reid, Ensign called on President Clinton to resign in light of his admitted affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky:
“I came to that conclusion recently, and frankly it’s because of what he put his whole Cabinet through and what he has put the country through,” Ensign said Thursday, becoming the first member of the Nevada delegation to call for Clinton to quit. “He has no credibility left.”
So, does Ensign think he has any credibility left?
Update #2: Now we see why he’s coming forward now. The husband of the woman was trying to extort money from him.
Late Update: Politico has more detail, including a reported demand for money from the husband of Ensign’s lover:
Political insiders in the Senate and in Nevada told POLITICO that Ensign began an affair with a staffer several months after he separated from his wife. When Ensign reconciled with his wife, the sources said, he gave the aide a severance package and parted ways.
Sometime later, a Nevada source said, Ensign met with the husband of the woman involved and had what this source described as a positive encounter. Sources said that the man subsequently asked Ensign for a substantial sum of money – at which point Ensign decided to make the affair public.
my title is way better though
I dunno, DV. It makes Ensign sound like Barry White or something.
Eddie Murphy
But this is going to be more of the usual IOKIYAR, right? Everyone will studiously ignore the fact that he is one of the so-called “family values” types with expectations of perfect, Stepford families all over the country. And a stump speech that is filled with the usual litany of sinners and bad guys. And here he is — not perfect, sleeping with his employee’s wife, being blackmailed over it. Can’t wait to see how they spin this…
Even so, DV…oy!
There is no wait. There is no question that you nailed it.
IOKIYAR forever! This guy will end up a hero in the GOP.
There isn’t even any suspense left — just waiting on the entertainment of the resident fool, Mr. Shallow Bench who will be by to excuse this in one way or another.
he’ll be a hero b/c it was with another woman for a change
lol!
Grover Cleveland dealt with a ‘sex scandal’ early in his life by admitting that he had sex with the woman and paid for raising and educating the child. In an era before even blood tests, there was no assurance that he was the father. Candor won out and “Ma, Ma, where’s Pa” as not a winner for the Republicans.
Clinton seemed to have been involved in numerous tawdry episodes and his lawyerly evasions made lawyers look bad.
With the Senator from Nevada, his actions did not rip off taxpayer money and he stopped the foolishness.
None of these guys were in a league with JFK or LBJ or even Warren G. Harding in the serial adultery game.
First, let me say that i don’t approve of Ensign’s affair, but I find it different in kind from the Clinton affair.
1) The Ensigns were separated, the Clintons were not.
2) Ensign didn’t lie and deny — that is what destroyed Clinton’s credibility, not the affair.
3) No cover-up on Ensign’s part — unlike in the case of Bill and Monica, where there was an active effort to suborn perjury.
4) Not a government employee in the workplace during working hours — again unlike Clinton.
Can we save Art Downs’ and RWR’s posts here? These guys did alot of work to rationalize the IOKIYAR here…..
At least he didn’t leave her drowning in a car.
WTF is IOKIYAR?
IOKIYAR = It is OK if You Are a Republican.
Republicans dress themselves up in diapers, solicit sex in public bathrooms, and sexually harass their underage male interns, and yet the Democrats are the perverts.
Cassie baby, you clearly have a literacy problem. Nowhere did I say the affair was OK — indeed, I began by saying I didn’t think it was.
On the other hand, I did distinguish how the two affairs were different, and why I therefore don’t believe that Ensign needs to resign while I did believe Clinton ought to have — and should have been removed through impeachment due to points 2, 3, & 4.
Besides, the bar was set by Bill Clinton and how he was treated — and to resurrect a quote from your side of the aisle, this is just about sex and therefore not serious.
Hey Link Spammer:
Ensign’s trollop was married. Monica was not.
Apparently, the two couples were “good friends.”
Ensign only admitted it because he was reportedly being threatened with blackmail. Other than that, he covered it up like a cat in kitty litter.
Ensign is as big a hypocrite as you can find. When repubs learn to keep themselves and the government out of everybody else’s sex lives, then maybe people will stay out of theirs.
Meanwhile, that sanctimonious, two-timing, holier-than-thou, cheat-with-his-friend’s wife and his employee repub ought to resign. He is a disgrace to his office.
How can anybody ever trust him ever?
If you have sex with someone and are not currently married, including divorced, seperated, or single, …is it an affair?
He was seeing her when he broke up with his wife. He dumped her when they got back together. And anyone who thinks you should broadcast affairs when you don’t have to…. has obviously never had one….
That is just dumb.
You forgot the guy in the panda suit
you are still married if you are seperated
I think the things that make this one interesting:
1) they hypocrisy of Ensign. He’s been an expert on marriage for years
2) the fact that he was a presidential hopeful (I personally don’t think that his chances are dead yet)
3) he called a press conference to announce it
4) the attempted blackmail
Otherwise, yawn. There were no wetsuits, furries, prostitutes, diapers, second families or sexual harrassment. Pretty boring for a sex scandal if you ask me.
I love how the wingnuts came to defend Ensign’s affair as not as bad. IOKIYAR!
When judged by the standard laid out in the Clinton/Lewinsky affair, Ensign’s conduct is less offensive — and has the added advantage of not involving illegal conduct.
That is not to say it is OK — as I indicated at the very beginning of my first comment on the thread.
But given that the standard for judging affairs was set by the judgment meted out regarding Bill Clinton, I fail to see how this one even rates a blink of the eye — unless one has a double-standard depending upon the party of the guy having an affair.
But it is still an overwrought rationalization — done on behalf of your holier-than-thou “family values” types.
Watching you trying to use Bill Clinton as part of your rationalization is pretty funny and pretty inept.
Ensign was apparently a Promise Keeper
Also from TPM, this reminder of a piece from a 1999 WaPo article:
Christian politicians and evangelical leaders commonly follow an unspoken rule not to meet behind closed doors with women staff members or travel alone with them. The Rev. Billy Graham, for example, has famously refused to be alone in a room with any woman except his wife since he married her in the 1940s.
Rep. Steve Largent (R-Okla.), a Christian conservative, insists a male staff member is present whenever he meets with a woman, his spokesman said. John Ensign, who is running for senate in Nevada will not be alone in a car with a woman
The plot thickens…
“The attorney for the former staffers in the Ensign love triangle released a statement this afternoon:
Doug and Cindy Hampton can confirm that they are the individuals referenced by Sen. Ensign during his press conference.
It is unfortunate the senator chose to air this very personal matter, especially after the Hamptons did everything possible to keep this matter private.
It is equally unfortunate that he did so without concern for the effect such an announcement would have on the Hampton family.
In time the Hamptons will be ready and willing to tell their side of the story. Until then, please respect their privacy.”
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/the_hamptons_end_their_silence.php?ref=fpblg
Sounds like they’re ready to spill something…
I want to keep bringing them down one at a time until the Palin sex tape surfaces.