Sen. Ensign resigns GOP leadership post

[sabra]

Source: USA Today/AP

Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, who admitting on Tuesday carrying on an extramarital affair with a woman who was on his campaign staff, has stepped down from his leadership post, the Associated Press reports.

Ensign was chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking spot in the leadership.

A timeline issued on Tuesday showed that Ensign was involved in a "consensual affair" from December, 2007 through August, 2008.

Read more: http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/06/sen-ensign-resigns-gop-leadership-post.html

[ejpoeta]

1. you know, people are human. and we all make mistakes and lord knows

that this is a family issue more than anything. The only reason this matters when one of these guys does it is that they preach all these 'family values' and sanctity of marriage crap.... and they are doing this kind of stuff. I feel bad for his family, that's for sure.

[roguevalley]

15. 'consensual'. why did he have to put that in? Is he worried about

rape charges? Is she underaged? This 'promisekeeper, everyone who cheats needs to resign, family values, early on the job gay basher, two-faced hypocrite' has to resign. now.

[roody]

21. She must be a subordinate.

[happygoluckytoyou]

23. COULD WE GET PALIN TO ADDRESS THIS TRAVISTY TO AMERICAN WOMEN....demand an apology!!!!!

[No Elephants]

35. Apology for what?

[saigon68]

16. Hypocrisy carried to its logical conclusion

The guy is Big Fundy Right Wing Xistian Hateful Nut Job (How's that for a Label ?) LOL

From his web site http://ensign.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=About.Biography

Senator Ensign spends his work week in Washington, D.C. and travels home to visit his family- Darlene, Trevor, Siena, and Michael- on the weekends.

MY TAKE:

However, MR WINKIE apparently goes out a lot, stays up all night,scales the ramparts, etc etc.

[roody]

22. Looks like he is into bronzer also.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[calimary]

25. Well that "people are human and we all make mistakes" and "this is a family issue" stuff

is kind and compassionate - and only spoken openly when applied to a republi-CON who let his dick run away from him. Let it be a Democrat, or heaven forbid, a Democrat with Clinton as a last name, and HOLY HELL rains down (or erupts from below, as the case may be).

[ejpoeta]

26. i agree. for me the hypocrisy is the issue. people who go around trying

to tell everyone else what to do and talk about family values and stuff, while they are screwing around on their wife.... they get all high and mighty about someone getting a blow job in the oval office, but they aren't exactly the beacons they try to claim they are.

[No Elephants]

36. It's not necessarily hypocrisy. I can believe that marital fidelity is best for me, my spouse and

the nationa as a whole. Yet, I can cheat on my spouse because I have human failings. That does not mean my belief in the value of marital fidelity was false. I can fail to live up to my sincerely held beliefs.

Have you never fallen short of your own authentic standards, whether in marriage or in some other endeavor? If so, was that failure more indicative of your hypocrisy or of your humanity?

That said, if he truly believes that people in federal office who have affairs should resign, then he is a hypocrite if he does not resign himself or recant and apologize.

[ejpoeta]

38. it's not your ideas... it's you desire to legislate and tell others what to do.

everyone makes mistakes, sure... but this guy goes around spouting all this bs about family values, the sanctity of marriage and wants to legislate his ideas about marriage. that's the problem. Sure, we all have ideas. we all have our ideas. and we make mistakes. but when you try to tell ME how to live or what is and isn't right. I don't go around trying to tell everyone else how to live. I don't try to push myself off as some beacon or tell others how to live their lives. It's not what you believe for yourself.... it's what you try to push on everyone else. it's not about 'personal standards'. that would be something you put on yourself. this guy wants to put them on everyone else.

[JDPriestly]

28. You are right, but condemning people for human mistakes is also wrong.

I was furious about this when the Edwards scandal came out -- because it ruined any hope there was that he might become president.

[kiranon]

29. But not condemning the Promise Keeper for his hypocrisy which this is.

[No Elephants]

37. Please see Reply # 36.

[Thrill]

2. He needs to give up his seat in the Senate

Thats what he called on Clinton to do

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. Exactly! Frankly, I think this is an embarrassing moment for the country.

I also think we have to feel very sad for the American people and the spouses and children who've been hurt by this affair.

I now come to the conclusion, and frankly it's because of what he put all those involved through and what he has put the country through, that he has no credibility left and should resign.

Which is pretty damn close to what he said about Clinton. At least the person Clinton had an affair with wasn't married as well. Ensign and his mistress hurt two families, not just one.

[UpInArms]

12. Here's the asswipe's statement about marriage

http://washingtonindependent.com/47369/cross-john-ensign-off-of-the-2012-hopeful-list

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.

[rosesaylavee]

14. His infidelity is threatening my opposite marriage...

He should resign from the SENATE right f**king NOW! Ooooooh! The Outrage!

:P

[Xicano]

32. "Predates the American Constitution"

"Predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation."

Smoking marijuana, eating magic mushrooms and consuming various other psychoactive substances also predates the American constitution and the founding of our nation. I wonder what Ensign's response would be to that fact? Hehehe

:hippie: :hi:

[UpInArms]

34. and that this land was occupied by iindigenous natives - so now

we should leave - because that "predates the Constitution" also.

:hi:

[No Elephants]

39. Either that, or he needs to recant and apologize.

[zbdent]

3. when it was Edwards or Clinton, that was never enough ...

they wanted either of them to be run out of town, resigned everything in disgrace, and strung up ...

as it is, Ensign's probably going to get his own show in the "liberal" media ...

[BOSSHOG]

5. Sadly, I've been conditioned

not to consider any wrongdoing by a family values conservative to be newsworthy. Its more of a routine item in the Parade Section of Sunday's Paper.

[pattmarty]

6. This guy's a shitbag, I have no sympathy for him at all..................

............I hope he gets creamed by the media, these hypocritical Republicans deserve double what they give to a Dem just because they are such fucking hypocrites.

[bdamomma]

9. and saying I'm sorry after that fact does not help either.

[pattmarty]

18. Yep. Actually makes it worse, because you know their not sincere.

[Lasher]

7. Hypocrite, thy name is Republican

Since his election to the Senate in 2000, Ensign has been a leading conservative voice who demanded the resignation of former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig in September 2007. Ensign called Craig a “disgrace” after he was arrested in June 2007 in an airport men’s restroom on disorderly conduct charges. But when Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) acknowledged having an affair, Ensign didn’t call on him to resign.

<snip>

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.”

How much “credibility” does Ensign have left?

More quotes from Ensign:

“I believe that marriage should be defined as that between one man and one woman. You want to do what is ideal for children and all of the studies show that the ideal for children is to be in a household with a father and a mother.”

<snip>

"There's too many people that paint with a broad brush that we're all corrupt, we're all amoral. … And having these kinds of things happen, whether it's a Republican or Democratic senator — we certainly have had plenty of Democratic scandals in the past — we need people who are in office who will hold themselves to a little higher standard."

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/16/ensign-affair/

[Vidar]

13. Good find.

[gauguin57]

8. He called on Clinton and Larry Craig to resign. If he'd just kept his mouth shut ...

If he'd just made a mistake, I'd be more forgiving. But when he lectures others about their behavior and then sows the same wild oats ... well, yeah. Resign your leadership position. For hypocrisy's sake.

[tomm2thumbs]

10. a couple of weeks is a 'mishap' but the better part of a year is flagrant dishonesty - out with him

hypocrites and liars - no need for them to be in the government any more than the ones we haven't caught - but when they DO get caught after insisting on others being fired for the same thing, I do believe we ought to take them up on their ideas.

SAY G'BYE JOHNNY

[No Elephants]

42. No, a couple of weeks is not a mishap. A mishap is having a rock bounce from the road to your

windshield while you are driving normally.

Inserting a penis inside a vagina is rarely, if ever, purely accidental, even if it's only one time.

[Dappleganger]

11. Honor among thieves.

You know, I don't care if 80% of the repukes are shagging each other as long as they don't try to shove their 'morals' down our throats.

[twitomy]

17. Another politician of "impeccable character"

bitest he dust...good riddance...

[orleans]

19. HA! now those other pukes should demand he resign from the senate. n/t

[ronnykmarshall]

24. Oh dear.

[Bluenorthwest]

27. The favorite phrase of adulterers everywhere:

“I believe that marriage should be defined as that between one man and one woman." - John Ensign.

[kiranon]

30. to read now: One man, one woman and one mistress. n/t

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

31. This is another garden-variety right wing sex scandal. Yawn.

What would really be good (or bad if you are a religious-right sympathizer) would be for a holier-than-thou political figure of the right to have an actual homosexual LOVE affair (not preying on boys, not cruising bathrooms, not hiring prostitutes - but actual romantic love) that would force the anti-gay crowd to face the truth head-on. Every sex scandal involving the religious or political right has so far been infidelity or some kind of genuinely perverted activity. Real man-on-man romance, however, would probably be the final straw for the anti-gay movement's prospects.

[No Elephants]

41. I'm not as optimistic as you. I don't think it will end until people stop wanting to control the

adult, consensual sexual behavior of others.

[Joe Bacon]

33. Sure am glad I contributed to Jack Carter's campaign.

Oh, how I remember calling voters for Jack Carter and a whole block of them brought up how Godly Ensign is--all that standard Promise Keepers bullshit about how Ensign was a model Christian and Jimmy Carter wasn't.

Amazing

[Doctor_J]

40. ooohhh. That sounds serious. Does he have to go to bed without a cookie too?

His name should always be concatenated with "who voted to impeach President Clinton over Clinton's extramarital affair"