The Ensign Hypocrisy
As far as political affairs go, there’s nothing particularly exciting about John Ensign. (As Wonkette observes, there’s nothing to exciting about a man having an affair with a woman of comparable age.) Still, I’ve always believed that when you make other people’s personal lives a part of your political philosophy, you deserve the added scrutiny of your own private life. And that’s what makes this affair so newsworthy. Not the fact that that the affair occurred, but Ensign’s rank hypocrisy:
When Bill Clinton’s adultery came to public light, Ensign not only voted to remove the president from office, but insisted the president should resign as a result of the personal scandal. When former Sen. Larry Craig was caught up in a sex scandal, Ensign not only called for Craig’s ouster, but led the charge against him.Ensign has also been a fierce opponent of marriage equality, and supported a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. In 2004, the Nevada Republican lectured his colleagues, “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.”
And did I mention that Ensign is a longtime member of the Promise Keepers, a conservative evangelical group that promotes strong families and marriages?
It’s truly incredible that for as much as conservatives go on and on about “family values,” family values Republicans (and Ensign certainly falls into that category) never have to hold themselves to the same “Christian” standards that they would apply to the rest of the country. And that’s what really ticks me off about people like John Ensign, that they always seem to exempt themselves from their own self-righteousness.
While I’m on the subject of the Ensign affair, though, it’s worth noting that the Louisiana Democratic Party has an interesting take on the situation:
The Louisiana Democratic Party is today calling on Sen. David Vitter to resign his leadership position in the Republican Party after Sen. John Ensign stepped down from the chairmanship of the Republican Policy Committee, the fourth ranking spot in Senate leadership. Sen. Ensign resigned after confessing to an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer. Sen. Vitter confessed to a “very serious sin” involving illegal activity after his name was mentioned in the federal investigation of the D.C. Madam prostitution ring, and the Louisiana Democratic Party is calling on him to resign his Deputy Whip position in the Senate.
As always, IOKIYAR.
6/18/09 6:35 am | | Permalink | Tags: Conservative Family Values, David Vitter, IOKIYAR, John Ensign
Sen. Daniels (XXX-LA)
- Porn star Stormy Daniels is considering running for Senate to replace Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who was a regular client of the “D.C. Madam” prostitution ring. I can’t wait until they start talking “family values.” (CNN)
- Norm Coleman says God wants him to win the still-ongoing Minnesota Senate election. You’d think that if the Big Guy was serious He could have just tossed Norm a few hundred more votes… (UMN Smart Politics)
- Looks like “Independent” Sen. Joe Lieberman’s creepy McCain-love isn’t going the way he planned. A new poll has CT’s Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal crushing Holy Joe in 2012 by a margin of 58%-30%. Also, in any election matchup, Lieberman is the de facto Republican candidate. Sounds right to me. (TPMDC)
- Wondering where John Cornyn (R-TX) was when the cloture vote on the stimulus bill took place? Cornyn, the only Senator to miss the vote, was at a GOP fundraiser in New York. If even Ted Kennedy came back to vote, what’s Cornyn’s excuse? (Dallas Morning News/Boston Globe)
- More change we can believe in! Tickets to President Obama’s town hall in Elkhart, Indiana, yesterday were given out on a first-come first-served basis, as opposed to President Bush’s policy of only giving out tickets to his supporters. Obama lost Elkhart County by 12 points.
2/10/09 9:24 am | | Permalink | Tags: Barack Obama, CT-Sen, David Vitter, IN-Pres, Joe Lieberman, John Cornyn, LA-Sen, MN-Sen, Norm Coleman, stimulus, Stormy Daniels, Ted Kennedy
Greatest Quote Ever
On Louisiana Sen. David Vitter’s opposition to the auto industry bailout:
Morgan Johnson, president of the United Auto Workers local representing General Motors workers in Shreveport, said Friday that Sen. David Vitter’s role in blocking an auto bailout indicates “he’s chosen to play Russian roulette” with Louisiana jobs and the national economy.
“I don’t know what Sen. Vitter has against GM or the United Auto Workers or the entire domestic auto industry; whatever it is, whatever he thinks we’ve done, it’s time for him to forgive us, just like Sen. Vitter has asked the citizens of Louisiana to forgive him, ” said Johnson, president of Local 2166. Otherwise, Johnson said of Vitter, it would appear, “He’d rather pay a prostitute than pay auto workers.”
12/13/08 9:54 am | | Permalink | Tags: bailout, David Vitter
Local GOP Pressures Woman to Drop Restraining Order
The Eagle County (CO) GOP takes Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment–“Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican”–very seriously, even if that fellow Republican is accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend.
[Republican House candidate Ali] Hasan’s campaign publicist and former girlfriend filed for a temporary restraining order against him, alleging that he tried to hack into her computer and tracked her whereabouts after their personal relationship soured.
Hasan, the scion of one of the state’s biggest Republican fundraisers, countered by hiring the same high-priced law firm that defended basketball star Kobe Bryant in a sex-assault case.
The publicist, Alison Miller, dropped her effort for a permanent order but said it was under heavy pressure from prominent Republicans who cared more about the party’s image than possible inappropriate behavior by its well-heeled candidate.
…
Faced with a lengthy fight and Hasan’s high-priced lawyers, Miller said she decided not to pursue a permanent restraining order, hoping one will come automatically if criminal charges are filed. But her decision was affected by pressure she got from local party officials, she said.
“They told me that I was embarrassing the Republican Party, ruining his campaign,” Miller said.
Oh no, wouldn’t want a silly little thing like stalking to get in the way of the campaign. Other local Republicans, of course, feel betrayed. As to the accusations of intimidation, the county GOP chair send that while he personally didn’t tell her to drop it, it’s likely that someone else from the party did. The candidate’s mother had a similar response, while also winning the coveted “most uses of the word Republican in one minute” award:
“I’m really disappointed first of all as a Republican,” she said. “Alison herself says she’s a Republican. . . . We opened our house to her.
“My feeling as a Republican is, gosh, if you can’t trust a young Republican, who can you trust?”
If she were really a Republican–a true, loyal Republican–she wouldn’t put her own personal safety and well-being above the needs of the party. She should have just been like Wendy “I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary” Vitter and stood by her man.
(h/t Vanessa)
3/29/08 2:00 pm | | Permalink | Tags: 2008, Ali Hasan, David Vitter, Jessica Miller, stalking
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