Ensign Family Values

From the Los Angeles Times:

Nevada Sen. John Ensign, facing an ethics investigation stemming from an affair with a campaign aide, said Monday he would not seek reelection because he wanted to spare his family from an “exceptionally ugly” campaign.

“At this point in my life, I have to put my family first,” Ensign told reporters at a news conference in Las Vegas.

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The Junior Senator From Neva-duhhhh

From J. Patrick Coolican the LAS VEGAS SUN:

Last summer, Sen. John Ensign was with his wife, Darlene, at Palace Station for a meeting of Nevada Republican women.

It was a somewhat awkward venue, coming soon after he had confessed to an affair with his best friend’s wife, Cynthia Hampton, who had been Ensign’s campaign treasurer and whose husband, Doug Hampton, had been his Senate co-chief of staff.

Ensign’s chrome-colored hair just so and his shirt stiffly starched, as always, he plowed ahead.

“I want to first acknowledge my lovely bride. My wife, Darlene, is here. Anybody who does this job knows that, without a very supportive spouse, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish the things we were able to accomplish, especially when I go to Washington,” he said, awkwardness filling the air as if from a leaky propane tank.

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Power Has Its Privileges

[Breaking news at the bottom!]

From The Washington Post:

GOP Leader Tight-Lipped on Ensign

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) repeatedly refused to answer questions Friday about a New York Times report that embattled Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) negotiated a cover-up of his extramarital affair with a campaign staffer, with his friend Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) serving as a financial intermediary.

How can Mitch McConnell be tight-lipped when he has no lips?

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C-section on C Street?

I’m never going to talk about that with anybody. I never will, not to a court of law, not to an ethics committee, not to anybody — because that is privileged communication that I will never reveal to anybody.

That was said by Senator Tom Coburn. He won’t tell on John Ensign, because Coburn’s a physician, and he’s playing the doctor/patient confidentiality card. Yes, Tom is a doctor. He’s an ob/gyn. That can only mean one thing. Congratulations, Senator Ensign!! When are you due?

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Hello? Hello? Is this Microphone On?

From THE HUFFINGTON POST:

Fox New is denying claims that Doug Hampton — whose wife Cynthia is the other woman in Senator John Ensign’s sex scandal — sent the network a letter pleading for help exposing the affair five days before the Senator announced it in a press conference and that Ensign came forward with the affair because he knew Fox was working on the story.

The Las Vegas Sun reported Friday that Hampton sent Fox News’ Megyn Kelly a two-page, single-spaced letter dated June 11 detailing the affair and asking for help in exposing the Senator. The Senator came forward with the affair on June 16 — in part, a spokesman told the Sun, because his office had learned that Hampton approached “a major television news channel.”

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Welcome to the Hypocrisy Club, Senator!

From THINK PROGRESS:

[…] Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), a member of GOP leadership and a potential candidate for president in 2012, [held] a press conference […] in which he [acknowledged] having an extramarital affair “with a campaign staffer who was married to an employee in Ensign’s Senate office.” Ensign flew back to Las Vegas to make the public announcement.

Ummm, Senator? In this case, what happens in Vegas ain’t gonna stay in Vegas!

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(top to bottom:  thrice-married Newt Gingrich, serial adulterer;  David Vitter, diaper-clad whoremonger, John ‘Pot-calling-the-kettle-black’ Ensign, new kid in the club, thrice-married Rudy Giuliani, cross-dressing serial adulterer)