Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
I'm very forgiving of extramarital affairs in politicians, because it's really the most common, mundane sort of transgression and honestly doesn't tell you one thing about what kind of job they'll do as an officeholder.
However, I throw that shit out the window when it's somebody who has spent their political career banging their Bible on a desk and pontificating about morality and how they are well-placed to pass judgment on other people's relationships. You know where this is headed. To that great Mecca of traditional-marriage morality, Nevada.
In 2004, he published a release titled "ENSIGN DEFENDS SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE ON SENATE FLOOR," where he "took to the floor of the United States Senate today to defend the sanctity of marriage and urge passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment Act." He told fellow senators, "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. [...] It is not right to mold marriage to fit the desires of a few, against the wishes of so many, and to ignore the important role of marriage."
"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."
And I could go on, but you get the picture. Also, boning the wife of your trusted aide? Classy.
From Twitter:
@markosm I hope you gays getting married in Iowa and Maine are happy about what you did to Ensign's marriage.
Posted by: NCProsecutor at June 17, 2009 02:14 PMEnsign=Hypocrite, Dirtbag; no argument.
Exhibit C - The Republican Party reaction:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23841.html
He's history.
I recommend he switch affiliation to the more sympathetic party.........
Posted by: RetMer at June 17, 2009 06:04 PMThis episode is absolutely representative of GOP behaviour over the last 20 years but for sheer shit-covered hypocrisy, no-one outpoops the Newt.
Posted by: waldo at June 17, 2009 09:03 PMEnsign=Hypocrite, Dirtbag; no argument.
See, hypocrite? Sure. And it's always delicious watching hypocrites get theirs. Dirtbag? Hell if I know. I don't think having an affair really says much about you, other than you're the median human being. Something like half of English literature involves infidelity as a plot device because it's just that common.
My problems with Ensign are with the way he votes, not the way he conducts his private life. I'm sure he could find plenty to disapprove of in mine and maybe yours as well. But that doesn't really reflect on how well I can edit a study report, and the salacious details of any given politician's personal life don't tell me how well they'll do their job either. And want I want most of all is for government to focus on the details of legislation and administration, instead of a bunch of gossip column fodder and disingenuous debates about "character."
The Republican Party reaction
Well, it's the Senator Ensign reaction. Larry Craig and David Vitter played it differently, as was their right. What the rest of the party decides to do or say about it is just a bunch of meaningless posturing.
Posted by: apostropher at June 17, 2009 09:32 PMOr to analogize, if my dentist is tapping the hygienist after hours, I still trust him to get the novocaine where it's supposed to go and put a filling in my mouth. If he spends all my six-month check-ups visits lecturing me about fidelity and sexual propriety and *then* I find out he's tapping the hygienist after hours, well, I'm probably going to tell him to STFU at the next visit, but I still trust him to get the novocaine where it's supposed to go and put a filling in my mouth.
If he keeps jabbing me in the neck with the needle and drilling the roof of my mouth, I really don't care that he's never tapped the hygienist.
Posted by: apostropher at June 17, 2009 09:46 PMI think I'll pass on your dentist but would like to meet that hygenist.
Actually this comment is OT cause I need to ask if your abode is anywhere near Charlotte NC, cause I'm gonna be around there for a job in the near future.
Posted by: Tripp at June 17, 2009 10:52 PMDepends on how much work "near" is doing. It's about 150 miles between Durham and Charlotte.
Posted by: apostropher at June 17, 2009 10:59 PM'Stropher is correct. We should relentlessly mock Ensign for his hypocrisy and lack of class, but we should not call on him to resign. For him to resign would just be another step toward the transformation of politics from collective self-government to theater of personal virtue. Which would be bad.
Yes, he's a hypocrite, he called on Clinton to step down over the Lewinsky whatever-it-was. But his resignation would compound the harm of that, not make up for it.
Posted by: lemuel pitkin at June 18, 2009 01:12 AMI say: Good for you, Craig Hampton. Don't keep your hate inside, share your hate with the ones you hate. You go fuck that Ensign bastard up, fuck him up bad. Kick him in the crotch.
Kick them both in the crotch.
Posted by: W. Kiernan at June 21, 2009 12:26 PM