“This is yet another reminder as to why the American people have chosen new management for the foreseeable future,” said John Weaver, a former senior adviser to  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “Nothing is shocking in Washington, of course, except the audacity of politicians who believe rules don’t apply to them.”

Today, as Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada) confessed to maritial infidelity, one can’t help  but remember that the good senator had called upon President Bill Clinton to resign in 1998.  Speaking of Clinton at the time, Ensign stated:

 “He sent taxpayer-paid staff out to lie for him, and that is a misuse of office,” Ensign said, adding that the president had “no credibility left.”

Additionally, he led the charge against Senator Larry Craig after the infamous Minneapolis bathroom incident, calling him a disgrace.  He led an unsuccessful campaign to force Craig’s resignation. 

Senator Ensign is a rising star in the Republican Party.  Probably most voters can forgive infidelity.  I am not so sure they can buy into the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ mentality that has been exhibited by Ensign. 

Will this incident hurt Ensign’s career?  Will voters forgive him?  Will John Edwards be able to continue his political career?  In the post-Clinton years, how damaging are affairs to politicians?  Is the Republicans  harsher about such behavior than the Democrats? 

 

Full story in the Washington Post.  The veterinarian turned senator has led a rather interesting life.

[***UPDATE FROM WASHINGTON POST 6/20/09: see below]

Three days after confessing an extramarital affair with a campaign aide,  Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) yesterday accused his former mistress’s husband of trying to extract a financial payout from the Nevada Republican.

 

Ensign’s office released a statement Friday charging that Douglas Hampton sought a large payment from Ensign, although the senator’s office refused to say how much money Hampton was seeking and whether there had been any negotiations over a payout.

55 Thoughts to “It’s Not the Deed, Its the Hyprocrisy”

  1. ShellyB

    Senator Vitter is still in office after admitting he uses prostitutes regularly. If he had been a Democrat, can you imagine what Ensign and his Republican colleagues would have said?! Republicans are sticklers for the “no marital infidelity and no hookers” rule. But not if Republicans do it, in that case sex scandals are okay unless you are also gay.

  2. Second-Alamo

    There are many double standards. The treatment of Fernandez in Manassas comes quickly to mind. Just let Letterman make a similar joke about one of Obama’s daughters, and he’d be off the air or else there would be organized protests in the streets. Look what happened to Imus for trying to parody a black comedian. Pretty much a member of any minority can make any statement they want and not be called a racist yet one reference to any minority by a white person brings instant racism charges, and that includes illegal-immigrants.

  3. anona

    I guess what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.

  4. Moon-howler

    Guffaw!!! Good one anona! Apparently the woman was trying to extort money from him. I wondered what made Ensign have a conscience tweak.

    Second Alamo, yes and no. I don’t deny there appears to be inequity in the PC department at times. However, I am not sure Fernandez fits into that category. I think if he had been George Frederick instead of G. Fernandez, the same thing would have happened. Remember, I am no fan of that sign and all that side show.

    As for illegal immigrants, I don’t see them as having any special rights, especially in the protected speech department. Just listen to some of the videos of the marathon meeting of Oct 16, 2007. I would have been embarrassed to have said many things I heard that night in public.

    Shelly, remember Livingston, Hyde, Newt? The chickens all came home to roost with those moral police. And to be fair and balanced, then there was Gary Hart and the Monkey Business and Gary Condit. Again, its the hypocrisy that gets me. People who don’t make any claims of rignteousness don’t gall me half as much. Most of the time I figure that isn’t any of my business.

  5. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    If Republicans talk the talk, they’ll need to walk the walk. Now, if we want to talk current members of Congress under investigation, here’s a list dated 5/20/09. One needs to watch the dates on these lists, as they change quite rapidly. List seems to lean left, huh? Anyway, no forgiveness for Ensign from this camp!

    -Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.)
    -Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-Ill.)
    -Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.)
    -Rep. Gary Miller (R-Calif.)
    -Rep. Allan Mollohan (D-W.V.)
    -Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.)
    -Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.)
    -Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.)
    -Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.)
    -Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.)
    -Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.)
    -Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska)
    -Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.)
    -Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.)
    -Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)
    -Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)

  6. Moon-howler

    Now wait a second, Slowpoke, do you mean to tell me that NO Republicans are under investigation? None? Someone is slipping.

    Now, when you say ‘under investigation,’ by whom? The FBI? House Ethics Committee? ARe the Sanchez women related? You left out Bill Richardson. Was that a bogus investigation? Surely there are more. We aren’t that far away from the Republican reign.

  7. hello

    About hypocrisy, what about the bill that Obama himself was a co-sponsor of saying that you can’t fire an Inspector General without reason and a 30 day notice? He then proceeded to have his office call an Inspector General and tell him that he has 1 hour to step down or be fired. No reason, no 30 day notice, the only thing this Inspector General did wrong was investigate an Obama supporter and friend. Hypocrisy at it’s best from our President… nice.

  8. Good Lord, when will this country start focusing on the important stuff? So long as our leaders aren’t sex criminals, I don’t care what they do in bed or with whom.

    Our obsession with politicians’ sex lives (or anyone else’s for that matter) makes us the laughing stock of the world.

    SA, someone who isn’t PC isn’t necessarily racist. I say non-PC, stupid things all the time. If slip-ups, cultural ignorance and idiocy made us racist, then we would all be seriously racist.

    Racism requires a consistent, conscious belief system that, when acted upon, can be dangerous. Racism goes beyond anger, beyond dislike of particular behaviors.

  9. Moon-howler

    Hello, I don’t like that the guy was fired abruptly either. I was unaware that Obama co-sponsored the bill. Is that in print anywhere or was it in the article you posted and I didn’t see it.

    However, hypocrisy about ‘morals’ is different. I hate how some of these moral champions hop up and start ranting and raving about others (as I have heard Ensign do on TV, long before this announcement)and come to find out, they are doing the same thing. It is the moral grandstanding I cannot abide.

    Livingston, Hyde, Gingrich all got on their moral high horses and acted like they were better than everyone else, first pigs at the trough in heaven, etc. All three had very jaded pasts. Hyde even had the nads to say his was a youthful indiscretion. I think he was 40 at the time. Give me a break.

    Sorry, I am not going to put firing a guy in the same category as moral high horsedness.

  10. hello

    Pinko, that’s why I brought up Obama firing an Inspector General. They are supposed to be protected from such things due to the nature of their job. How can an IG be expected to investigate fraud and mishandling of funds when he could get fired at the drop of a hat for investigating the ‘wrong person’. A person who contributed and supported Obama shouldn’t be immune to an investigation but apparently Keven Johnson is. Also, the IG in question did find that funds were being used by Keven Johnson for personal errands, getting his car washed, etc…

  11. hello

    Hi Moon, it’s so secret that Obama was the co-sponsor of the bill he then ignored thus broke the law. Does that surprise anyone? This comes from the same guy that vowed to not have lobbyist in his cabinet and have the most ethical administration. What happened, he filed waivers for lobbyist and nominated tax cheat after tax cheat to fill out his administration.

    Yes, Obama co-sponsoring the IG bill is in writing: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Whats-behind-Obamas-sudden-firing-of-the-AmeriCorps-inspector-general-47877797.html

  12. Hello, I see what you are saying.

    EVERYONE should be investigated (in business, CJ and government, that is). I’m a big advocate of third-party audits all the way up the line, at every level.

  13. MH, I also see what you are saying about hypocrisy. I’m not a fan of that, either. If everyone would just shut up about who does what in bed, we wouldn’t have this problem.

    Alas, sex and violence always make the headlines, eh?

  14. Moon-howler

    Hello, first off, I heard Walpin on tv yesterday morning and it sure sounds, at first listen, like he was fired wrongly and without it going through the right steps. It sounds like Johnson was playing funny money.

    However, the proof isn’t there and Byron York who wrote the opinion piece wrote just that–opinion. He says that Obama is the co-sponsor of the bill that requires 30 days notice, but offers no proof, no bill number, etc.

    So before I go off on a tangent, I need a lot more proof and investigation before I throw the pres under the bus on this one. Something seems way too simple. However, I do think it bears investigation. (Just Walpin’s charge makes me feel one is needed. )

    So, inspector-generalgate will have to go through a few more tests before it gets me riled up. Meanwhile, hypocrisy about morality has been going on since the beginning of time. As the title suggests, it isnt about the deed…its about who gets the right to throw stones from the glass house.

  15. Rick Bentley

    “Additionally, he led the charge against Senator Larry Craig after the infamous Minneapolis bathroom incident, calling him a disgrace.”

    I wonder if Ensign will use this as a defense, the “at least I ain’t queer” arguement.

    “Look what happened to Imus for trying to parody a black comedian.”

    Do you think that’s what he was doing? I’ve never even heard that arguement. His producer Bernard McGuirk (sic) makes horrendous racist comments and Imus laughs at them. He’s not parodying anything IMO. I used to hear his show 10-12 years ago and it would turn my stomach.

  16. Rick Bentley

    And I say that as someone who listens to howard Stern’s show for 4-5 hours each day – Imus’ show would turn my stomach. Organized, sanctioned racism of a vile nature.

  17. Rick Bentley

    Memory refresher from wikipedia, note McGuirk and Imus’ go-to term for darker-skinned black people. Usually these guys got away with savaging FAMOUS black people – portraying Patrick Ewing as an ape-like buffoon, or Maya Angelou as a loud ebonics-speaking ghetto stereotype. This time they did it to college students whose names weren’t individually known, so they got persecuted for remarks far less offensive than what they usually trade in.

    McGuirk played a role in an on-air incident on April 4, 2007 that caused a nationwide controversy and ultimately led to Imus and him being fired. During a discussion of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, Imus characterized the players as “rough girls with tattoos.” McGuirk responded in his familiar “urban-speak” vernacular by referring to them as “hardcore hos”. The ensuing “urban-speak” conversation involved Imus describing the girls as “nappy-headed hos” and McGuirk wondering if Imus meant to imply that the two teams looked like something out of Spike Lee’s film School Daze, the “jigaboos versus the wannabes”; apparently referring to the two teams’ differing appearances. Imus said “Yeah.” Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson condemned Imus for engaging in and condoning the use of racial slurs and racially insensitive words. Sharpton and Jackson demanded Imus’s immediate firing.

  18. Rick Bentley

    Also, I have heard with my own ears Imus drop the n-word on New York radio. Howard Stern replayed a segment from the 1980’s when they worked in the same studio, when Imus became incensed with Robin Quivers making a joke about him, and retorted “N***er”. It wasn’t clearly heard by all in studio at that moment but it’s on tape clear as a bell. That’s what he called black people, when angry.

    Imus’ show used to turn my stomach when I flipped to it, circa 1997 or so. It affected me the way the worst rough pornography would or the way a Klan rally would. It was sickening.

  19. Rick Bentley

    So if Al Sharpton and whoever finally got him off the air, by any means necessary, I applaud it.

  20. Moon-howler

    It’s one thing to take on someone like Whoopie Goldberg who tends to use rough talk herself. It is quite another thing to call young women athletes nappy headed ‘ho’s. I wasn’t sorry to see him fired either. However, he did apologize and he does do some good for charity. I am for second chances up to a point.

    Ensign is just another hypocrite. Edwards isn’t a hypocrite. He was just a skunk. A big skunk. All Elizabeth Edwards has to do is stand there and smile and she wins the hearts and minds of Americans. He becomes the loser. But he was not a hypocrite, to my knowledge. He hasn’t done the glass house thing.

  21. Gainesville Resident

    Unfortuately, I thought I read somewhere that Imus is back on the air, or soon will be. I forget where I read or heard that – but it was in the last month or two.

  22. ShelllyB

    Alamo, why do you go after minorities here? Is this a thread about Republican scandals VS. Democrat scandals, or is Republicans in general VS. minorities?

    M-H, I must have missed it. Was there a big deal about Newt?

  23. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    @Moon-howler
    There are four Republicans on that list. As I noted, names pop up this list and off at an amazing rate. It’s any of several agencies that are performing the investigations. Not surprisingly, the list has largely been Republican nature before 2006 when Dems took over. I imagine it’s usually tilted toward the party in power due to natural causes (power corrupts).

  24. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    @Moon-howler
    Oh, and Richardson isn’t a member of Congress.

  25. hello

    Yet another article about it Moon, this one is more in-depth about the firing of the IG and the shady conditions surrounding it. Also mentions that Obama is breaking the law that he co-sponsored. Ill see if I can dig up the actual bill for you…

  26. hello

    Wow, this took a whole two minutes to find… http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-s2324/show

    This is the Inspectors General Reform Act of 2008, just click on the co-sponsor button to see Obama name proudly displayed on the law he has now broken.

  27. hello

    Even senator McCaskill, the sponsor of the bill that Obama co-sponsored, says Obama didn’t follow the law in the firing of the IG: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/16/mccaskill-says-obama-didn_n_216500.html

  28. Moon-howler

    You all want blood today or something? I did not read carefully. I didnt realize (from not reading carefully) that we were talking members of congress and I didn’t see those little R’s. I haven’t devoted full attention to the blog today as I have had a lot going on here and internet service that was in and out.

    I believe that I said sometime this morning that I thought Walpin was wrongly fired, or I thought I did. I am not going out on a limb however because I have not had time to research or study the situation.

    So, tell me how Obama not following policy on firing an inspector general relates to moral hypocrisy and affairs? I am not going to believe it if you try to tell me Walpin or Obama were having an affair….

    The problem is, at least 2 of you here have no answer for your fair haired child getting caught with his hands in the cookie jar and you are so locked into partisanship you have to throw something out there. Let’s compare apples to apples. Surely you can find yourselof a good Democrat out there to tar and feather for having zipper problems. There are so many to choose from!

  29. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Yeah, the Walpin thing is a complete disgrace.

  30. Juturna

    Regarding Whoppee…… If I won’t tolerate it about you, don’t expect make me tolerate it from you.

    I am totally with McCain on this one. If he hadn’t picked Palin, I’d have voted for him.

    On another note Rick Bently and Al Sharpton teaming up!! Gotta love it. I couldn’t have said anything decent about Sharpton before this. But I agree. It’s not funny. It’s bullying. I am on this kick about talk radio!

    Ensign makes a mockery of those who are serious about their religion.

  31. Second-Alamo

    Just curious, but if Imus said all those racially charged things that RB stated, then why wasn’t he taken to task years ago by Al and the gang? They rarely let even an off-colored joke pass without someone losing their job. If that’s the case then I guess Imus must be the luckiest ‘racist’ around!

  32. Moon-howler

    I don’t know. I never listened to Imus but once. Rick, can you enlighten us? How did he escape?

  33. michael

    Want to talk about hypocrisy, just follow what Gordon Brown is doing to blow the roof off of the members of parliment and house of lords for their hypocritic expense vouchers they claim they deserve as the “aristocracy” and as a matter of privilige and historical right to what the common person is not publically privy to.

    Gordon is strengthing “full disclosure” and transparency in government regarding member of parliment entitlement, as a means to also strengthen “democracy” or power of the people to hold their elected officials accountable for public money and ethics.

    I want to point out, MOST of our elected officials under investigation are DEMOCRATS, why?, because THEY LACK ETHICS and believe they do not have to follow law as long as they don’t get caught. This is the “Progressive’s” political view of the world, its ok to ignore rules as long as you can apply those “bent” rules to benefit the ethnic group, gender, race or religion you support, and can still hate and oppress the ethnic group, gender, religion or ethnic group you despise. This is the political view of oppressive group “factions” and how they justify undermining “democracy” for minority benefit.

  34. Alza, thank you for sharing that link. I had no idea this had happened. It should be much bigger news. We’ve had several threads about another act of domestic terrorism. Why not a thread about this one?

    alza :
    hello,I just want to share this sad case
    http://americasvoiceonline.org/page/m2/327374ad/1fb60463/1ec1cdfb/6f202741/1527350762/VEsC/

  35. Rick Bentley

    “I don’t know. I never listened to Imus but once. Rick, can you enlighten us? How did he escape?”

    Grovelled to Sharpton and apologized repeatedly. He’s back on radio, but his audience has gradually diminished over time down to nothingness.

    “Just curious, but if Imus said all those racially charged things that RB stated, then why wasn’t he taken to task years ago by Al and the gang? ”

    I can’t say that I know why there weren’t more organized protests against his show back in the day. Part of it is that no one much was listening. Stern was dominating morning radio, with a show that is charged with racially sensitive material albeit it strikes most people as not mean-spirited. Still, putting Klan members on-air to give movie reviews and letting his fear of black men out on open airwaves made it safer for Imus – a follower, a man who imitated Stern over the years – to let his and “McGuirk”‘s ids to run rampant. Also the Greaseman had more listeners than Imus, and drew mucho attention with his “shoot 4 more and get a week off” and “that’s why we? they? drag them behind trucks “jokes”.

    Also, Imus somehow managed to get black guests to come in and talk on his supposedly-erudite show. Gwen Ifill and that guy who sits on the McLaughlin Report (Clarence somebody) are two that I remember. How or why I have no idea. I can’t imagine that they heard some of what I heard and still came on his show.

    Basically I think he got away with it for the same reason that I can go into a closet and shout the n-word and no one will care. It’s a tree falling in a sparsely populated forest.

  36. Moon-howler

    WHWN, we got hold of this story in bits and pieces. I think everyone thought the other was covering it. I also think it was robbery gone bad, not domestic terrorism, was it not?

    Rick, maybe no one knew abouut him? Or pe3rhaps I should say few.

  37. Moon-howler

    Meanwhile, back on the topic…I understand that Ensign has resigned from chairing a committee? Anyone know anything about that?

    How does a person go around throwing stones at others when they are doing the same thing? No one has explained that yet? Like I said, I don’t care if the man has 6 girl friends, as long as he doesn’t condemn others.

  38. Elena

    Rick,
    I have to admit, I too was a Howard Stern fan. But ever since he left the “free” airwaves, I have not heard him.

  39. Elena

    Who was it that resigned during the Clinton years, he became speaker of the house or senate majority leader. Tall slim man. He was having an affiar at the same time he was castigating Clinton.

  40. Moon-howler

    Elena, I believe you are referring to Livingston.

  41. ShellyB

    Alza and WHWN,

    Should this Arizona double murder be a hate crime or domestic terrorism?
    Let’s wait and see what the FAIR anti-immigrant, white supremacist murderers say was their motive. If they are really domestic terrorists, there should be some evidence that they chose the victims due to their race in order to make a political statement. Kind of like how international terrorist seek out Israelis or Westerners as victims.

  42. Rick Bentley

    Elena, you like many old Stern fans have been missing out. The show is much funnier than before and only about 4 minutes of commercials per hour. Only drawback is, it is uninhibited enough that you can’t possibly listen with kids in the car. Of any age. Unless they’re 2 and under I would say.

    The word years ago was that Livingston was engaged in phone sex rather than an actual affair, and that Larry Flynt had tapes of the phone sex. It was presumably a doozy – fantasizing about his daughter or some such thing, something the guy would rather resign over than look people in the eye over. Livingston’s wife begged Larry Flynt not to let us know, and we don’t know.

    Maybe there was actual adultery. I can’t believe anyone would resign over phone sex. If Larry Craig can solicit in toilet stalls, surely Livingston can talk dirty on the phone. I’m waiting for the day that one of these guys pulls a David Carradine and is found hanging in a closet …

  43. Rick Bentley

    Heh, I see now that Flynt’s main man at the time says they really had no evidence of anything, just a phone number of a supposed girlfriend who wouldn’t talk to them, but they bluffed as if they had evidence and Livin gston resigned within 24 hours.

  44. Moon-howler

    Livingston had a living girlfriend. At the time there were pictures of her. As for phone sex, he might have been doing that also. He was one of those leading the charge to castrate the evil Clinton.

    Here is the story.

    http://us.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1998/12/21/livingston.html

    I actually knew a congressman’s wife who threatened to call in her own story to Larry Flynt just to get the money. I wished she hadn’t told me. I had to sit on my hands not to make a phone call. 🙂

  45. hello

    Don’t look now but 2 more Inspectors General have been fired, bringing the total up to 3 so far: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-tc-nw-inspectors-0617-0618jun18,0,5718990.story

    For someone that co-sponsored a bill with strict guidelines on firing IG’s Obama sure has a short memory. This all makes one wondering… why would someone be getting rid of all the watchdogs of massive amounts of tax payer bailout money? Hmm….

  46. hello

    Another ethical hypocrisy for ya…

    Want to be an ambassador? Act now because they are going fast! So far 19 positions have been sold for the low low price of $500,000! So call now and make your ‘donation’ while you still can!

    http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/06/study-19-ambassador-nominees-bundled-48-million-for-presidents-campaign-inauguration.html

  47. hello

    Ooops, forgot to mention… if you went to college with me, partied and smoked weed with me you get your choice of exotic location. Just tell them Barrak sent ya!

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