An ensign, according to Webster, is a flag that is flown (as by a ship) as the symbol of nationality and that may also be flown with a distinctive badge added to its design. The Republican Party has its own ensign that symbolizes their integrity and morality: John Ensign. But he’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Senator John Ensign, the two-term Nevada Republican caught up in a sex and ethics inquiry, announced Monday that he would not seek re-election in 2012 to avoid what he predicted would be an “exceptionally ugly” campaign.
“As I have learned through the mistake that I made, there are consequences to sin,” Mr. Ensign, 52, said at a news conference in Las Vegas as his wife, Darlene, stood at his side.
Once considered a future presidential contender, Mr. Ensign has seen his political fortunes plummet since he admitted in 2009 to an affair with a former campaign staffer who was also the wife of a top aide. A Senate Ethics Committee investigation, still under way, began after disclosures that Mr. Ensign’s parents paid $96,000 to the aide, Douglas Hampton, who also said the senator had helped him line up lobbying clients after Mr. Hampton left his Senate job.
Mr. Ensign, who had previously insisted that he intended to run again, is the eighth senator and third Republican to announce that he will not be on the ballot in 2012, a reflection of the turbulent political atmosphere and frustration some lawmakers feel about the inability to find consensus in a highly partisan Congress. More retirements are likely, freeing some senators from typical political considerations as they face tough decisions about federal spending and the deficit.
Mr. Ensign’s decision opens the door to another high-profile Senate race in Nevada, where Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat who is the majority leader, was able to hold off a strong challenge last November.
Republicans were relieved by Mr. Ensign’s decision, viewing him as badly damaged politically by the disclosures about the affair… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
The article’s suggestion that Ensign’s resignation had anything to do with failure fo find consensus in the Senate is pure hogwash. Ensign was too damaged to win, period. Rachel Maddow expands on the overall hypocrisy of the Republican family values lie.
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Republicans put family first in the same way they put the American people first. Frankly, I feel outrage that this man gets to retire with the pension, perques and privileges of a US Senator.
6 Responses to “The Republican Ensign Falls”
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…..Mr. Ensign said at a news conference in Las Vegas as his wife, Darlene, stood at his side…… Don’t you like the way the wife always stands up for these creeps? Just once I would like for one of them to stand up and say “As soon as we get home, I am taking a knife to it and it will never happen again.” Talk about enabling!
Charles, I don’t know. Politicians wives do it on both sides of the aisle.
Don’t stick a fork in that flagrantly philandering phucker – he ain’t done yet!
I want to see what that Special Counsel for the Ethics Committee, who is still looking into Sen. Ensign’s Dad miraculously paying/gifting/giving that $96,000 to his son’s aide while his son (the Senator) was schtupping the aide’s wife on a regular basis, has to say..
Me too Nameless, but I’d be willing to net that the investigation will continue through 2012 and become moot with his resignation.
Slimy Scum– ?
Phyllis, you’ve just insulted scum.