Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, on Tuesday admitted that he had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff.More at the link.
Mr. Ensign led the Republicans’ campaign efforts in 2008 and had been contemplating a run for president in 2012.
An aide said the consensual affair took place between December 2007 and August 2008, and that the woman worked for both Mr. Ensign’s campaign operation, Ensign for Senate, as well as a conservative political action committee, Battleborn PAC, from December 2006 to May 2008. Mr. Ensign is honorary chairman of the PAC. The woman’s husband was a member of Mr. Ensign’s official Senate staff. Neither has worked for the senator since May 2008, the aide said.
Mr. Ensign, 51, is married and has three children. During college at Colorado State University, he became a born-again Christian and he and his wife, Darlene, were active in the Promise Seekers, an evangelical group.
In a statement released by his office in Washington, Mr. Ensign said: “I take full responsibility for my actions. I know that I have deeply hurt and disappointed my wife, my children, my family, my friends, my staff and the people of Nevada who believed in me not just as a legislator but as a person. I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions.”
Mr. Ensign’s wife also issued a statement, reaffirming her commitment to her husband: “Since we found out last year we have worked through the situation and we have come to a reconciliation. This has been difficult on both families. With the help of our family and close friends our marriage has become stronger. I love my husband.”
See also, Chris Cillizza and Paul Kane, "Ensign to Acknowledge Extramarital Affair."
The Washington Independent is already twirling mustaches, "Cross John Ensign Off of the 2012 Hopeful List."
Personally, my sense is that if guys like this can't keep it holstered, then they deserve a primary challenge.
Added: The Politico reports that blackmail was involved, "Nevada Sen. John Ensign admits affair; sources say blackmail involved," via Memeorandum.
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UPDATE: Instalanche!
12 comments:
Not only an affair, but an affair with a MARRIED WOMAN WHO HE THEN FIRED!
Anon - you must have looked at another article - this one only states that neither the woman nor her husband have worked for Ensign since May 08, not that he fired them. I'd like to see the source for that and pass it along if it is true.
If what you say is the case it is definitely more upsetting. Why do any of these politicians, regardless of party, think they can do things that the rest of us can't (or won't)? Why do the wives stick up for them? And why do these women like these politicians? I'm not churchy in the slightest, but this kind of story speaks to a serious downhill slide in the moral fabric of our country. If these guys are willing to f*** around on their wives, who they supposedly have made sacred covenants to be faithful to, they are also eager to f*** over the people they have sworn to serve.
Vote him out. He's been in too long apparently and figures the rules the rest of us hold to don't apply. He sucked at getting Republicans elected anyway. Not conservative.
Affairs are so common for past presidents that there is a section in my “The Complete Book of the Presidents,” right after marriage: “Extramarital Affairs.” Affairs are so common for past presidents that there is a section in my “The Complete Book of the Presidents,” right after marriage: “Extramarital Affairs.” (Thomas Jefferson, Warren Harding, FDR, Kennedy, LBJ, Bill Clinton – hmmmm, mostly Democrats).
Jeez... give me a break. The double standard here is ridiculous, about as ridiculous as the ignorance (willful?) on the subject by other commenters.
Ensign had a consensual relationship with a woman outside of his marriage while he was separated from his wife. He then ended the affair and reconciled with his wife... and he was honest with both parties (he told his wife and he gave the woman a substantial severance package because she obviously couldn't work for him anymore). This happened over a year ago and the reason it became public today is because the woman's husband allegedly asked for a substantial amount of money to keep the relationship secret (blackmail). Ensign did what anyone has to do when blackmailed; you remove the blackmailer's power over you by exposing his secret yourself. I hope that if blackmail was involved, the blackmailer is prosecuted.
Contrast this situation with Bill Clinton (lied to his wife, lied about the affair, sicced his political staff on his mistress, lied under oath, only confessed to his wife AND the public when the DNA evidence showed him to have committed perjury, was impeached and separately lost his law license as punishment) or John Edwards (lied to his wife, lied to the public, continued the relationship even after promising his wife he'd end it, denies paternity on the child the mistress claims is his, got his wife to lie for him, etc.).
I guess I see John Ensign as a human who made a mistake, and who atoned for it with the parties involved. I see Bill Clinton and John Edwards as humans who also made a mistake and then compounded the mistake by lying about it even after they'd been caught. Didn't Richard Nixon teach these guys that it's not the mistake, it's the coverup? The difference between Ensign and Clinton/Edwards is that the latter two only stopped lying after they had been undeniably caught.
Re Ensign and hypocrisy, you can believe in principles even if you don't always adhere to them. How does Ensign's actions invalidate the concept of monogamy, or heterosexual marriage? Why must he now foreswear any opposition to gay marriage? That line of reasoning is just bogus.
I didn't care that Clinton cheated on his wife. Quite frankly, anyone who didn't think that Clinton cheated on his wife with all of the evidence, including Jennifer Flower's voice recording, was either an idiot or a fool. The American public knew what they were getting. What pissed me off was that he deliberately lied under oath, repeatedly (about Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky), while the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the nation. Clinton's pattern of lying has to make one wonder what else the man lied about. What Clinton should have done was to say, "My personal life is none of your business" and left it at that.
John Ensign didn't break the law by lying under oath. Although an affair obviously involves deceit/lying, he did come forth with his wife and reconciled with her. Why is this even news?
"He that is without sin,,,let him cast the first stone". we haven't walked in his shoes nor should we be the ones who judges him. "Watch out for the sliver in your own eye"...
John and tapline, that is my drift as well. We judge everyone so harshly these days. The press is all over what used to be private business regarding a man and his family. One can go too far in the public arena: I think Bill Clinton went far beyond anything anyone should ever be allowed –would that he could have had the decency to take it out of the Oval office and down the street. That was embarrassing for American History. But, in general, I am honest enough to understand the temptations and failing of fallible humans in today’s culture. I vote for human beings into office, not saints.
Yup, non story. This stuff happens. People lie. And to think that this man never lied is ridiculous too. When is a lie not a lie? When it's only to your wife and not the nation?
be gone with him
be gone with him
I don't think you can ,make excuses for Clinton, Edwards or John Ensign. All of them took vows. Ensign in particular demanded that Clinton resign when he got caught. What's worse, he belonged to a Christian group "promise keepers" that advocates fidelity. Then to top it all off the woman he slept with was the wife of a friend.
The real hypocricy is people sexual creatures yet we expect them to live by impossible standards.
Having an affair doesn't make you a bad person. But castigating others for cheating...then cheating youself shows a lack of character.
Why is it that so many "Christians" condemn the actions of others and then get caught with their pants down around their ankles.
Perhaps it is because having spent all their lives pointing out the shortcomings of others they forget that everyone is pretty much the same...only human.
Americans need to grow up and stop pretending that having an extramarital affair is s big no-no.
Your spouse may not be happy about it...but it's not a crime..and almost everyone knows someone who has had an affair.
It's not a big deal.
If an employee of mine had an affair, I could care less. Just as long as he was doing his job.
So why should we care whether a Senator or President isn't faithful.
John Ensign is more of a disappointment to his religious friends than to the rest of us.
Norris: The right/Christianists, Dominionists, etc. have impossible standards, that they themselves set. Yet, when they break them, they beg our forgiveness endlessly and repeatedly. They have no shame, no consistency, their morality is all a show, like a peacock's feathers. "Look at me, I'm perfect, heterosexual, anti-drugs, faithful...oh, except when I'm not. Lord, will you, the voters, and my family now forgive me?"
We see this almost every week by some moral crusader on the right. We on the left accept our flaws. That is not a weakness. That is knowledge. We strive to do what's right, and will criticize hypocrisy when we see it.
Perhaps that is why a liberal marriage, statistically, is stronger?
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