Saturday, July 11, 2009 5:02:15 AM
The Sex Scandal Hypocrite
Isaac Brekken / AP Photo
As Sen. John Ensign steps down [ http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55F7J820090617 ] from a top leadership post due to his adultery confession, his ruthless attacks on Bill Clinton and Larry Craig—and his strident defense of the “sanctity of marriage”—are coming back to haunt him, says Max Blumenthal.
by Max Blumenthal
June 16, 2009 | 9:59pm
Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada didn’t tap his foot in a bathroom stall like Larry Craig or spirit away to pricey bordellos like David Vitter, but like Newt Gingrich, he had an extramarital affair with a young staffer on his payroll.
Ensign admitted his affair Tuesday, declaring, “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions.” According to Politico, Ensign only revealed the affair when the husband of the woman involved demanded “a substantial sum of money” to keep quiet.
Confessed just two weeks after a visit to the Republican presidential-primary state of Iowa, Ensign’s affair effectively ends his apparent presidential ambitions. It also undermines his carefully cultivated image as a stalwart against the machinations of liberal judges, feminists, and homosexual activists.
Beginning with his call from the House floor for President Bill Clinton to resign after having an affair—“He has no credibility left,” Ensign said—and continuing through his tenure in the Senate with a hard-right voting record that earned a 100 percent rating from the Christian Coalition, Ensign has earned a reputation as one of Congress’ most active and ardent social conservatives. In 2008, he was rewarded with the chairmanship of the Republican Policy Committee, making him the No. 4 Republican in the Senate, a rising star at age 51 in a party with few strong presidential prospects. The future looked bright.
Before admitting his affair, Ensign last addressed the issue of marriage on July 13, 2004, during the congressional debate over amending the Constitution with a ban on same-sex marriage.
“Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded,” Ensign proclaimed from the Senate floor. “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. It predates the founding of our nation and even the landing at Plymouth Rock. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America and the world as a whole, has relied, including even the church itself.”
Ensign concluded, “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.”
Unlike some of his colleagues, Ensign’s jeremiads against gay marriage reflected a sincere expression of his faith and personal sensibility. Indeed, Ensign is a Promise Keeper [ http://www.promisekeepers.org/ ] and the only Pentecostal in the Senate—former Missouri Senator and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was the first—and a member of a congregation in Las Vegas affiliated with the ultra-conservative International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
He is a confidant of the church’s president, televangelist Jack Hayford, who prayed with him at the 2006 Foursquare Convention. Besides advocating the practice of speaking in tongues and conversion therapy for homosexuals, Hayford has published a book, Fatal Attractions [ http://www.parable.com/parable/item.Fatal-Attractions-Why-Sex-Sins-Are-Worse-Than-Others-Hayford.9780830729685.htm ], calling extramarital affairs and other “sexual sins” worse than any other sins. In another book, The Anatomy of Seduction [ http://www.christnotes.org/-/_the-anatomy-of-seduction_0830729690.asp ], Hayford railed against “temptation in its countless forms—from carnality, pornography, and marital infidelity to cultural trends in the media and immoral lifestyle choices.”
In September 2007, Ensign attempted to leverage his power as chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee to force then-Senator Larry Craig to resign after he pleaded guilty in August 2007 to soliciting sex from an undercover cop in a men’s restroom. However, Ensign made no such demand of Sen. David Vitter, the Louisiana Republican who in July 2007 admitted to an affair with a high-priced prostitute. On ABC’s This Week, Ensign tried to explain his confusing standards, claiming that Craig “admitted guilt. That is a big difference between being accused of something and actually admitting guilt… David Vitter never did that. Larry Craig did.”
(Perhaps he missed Vitter’s press conference admitting guilt [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QufjIbBH9lU ]?)
Thanks in part to Ensign’s maneuvering, Craig retired in disgrace while Vitter remained in the Senate, speaking [ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008658605_apabortionanniversary.html ] triumphantly at a giant antiabortion rally on the National Mall in January. “We’re going to win this fight!” Vitter told the crowd.
Since Ensign’s coup de grace, Vitter and a phalanx of Republican senators wait to offer their latest fallen comrade some comfort. They still need him, after all. Their culture war must go on.
Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute, whose book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books), is forthcoming in Spring 2009 [bio blurb obviously needs an update]. Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com.
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Xtra Insight: The Daily Beast's Mark McKinnon: Ensign, Get Your Sorry Ass Out of the Senate
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-17/ensign-get-your-sorry-ass-out-of-the-senate/
---
View Our Gallery of Famous Political Affairs
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-08/political-affairs/
---
COPYRIGHT © 2009 RTST, INC.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-16/the-sex-scandal-hypocrite/ [ http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-16/the-sex-scandal-hypocrite/full/ ] [with comments]
==========
John Ensign, Born Again Promise Keeper
Posted in Liberaland by Alan
June 17th, 2009, 11:21 AM EDT
Philandering Nevada Senator John Ensign is a born again Christian [above] who was also a member of the family-oriented “Promise Keeper” group. Among the seven promises [ http://www.promisekeepers.org/about/7promises ] of a Promise Keeper:
PROMISE 3
A Promise Keeper is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.
PROMISE 4
A Promise Keeper is committed to building strong marriages and families through love, protection and biblical values.
He urged Bill Clinton to resign [ http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1998/sep/28/sparks-fly-at-reid-ensign-debate/ ] as a 1998 Senate candidate, saying, “He has no credibility left.” Ensign had a 100% pro-family rating [ http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/John_Ensign_Families_+_Children.htm ] on his voting record from the Christian Coalition, and the same score from the Family Research Council (dedicated to “Defending Faith, Family and Freedom”) and the American Family Association [ http://action.afa.net/ ] (standing “for traditional family values”). He discussed marriage on July 13, 2004, speaking in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
“Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded,” Ensign proclaimed from the Senate floor. “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. It predates the founding of our nation and even the landing at Plymouth Rock. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America and the world as a whole, has relied, including even the church itself.”
Ensign concluded, “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.”
Copyright © 2009 Alan Colmes
http://www.alan.com/2009/06/17/john-ensign-born-again-promise-keeper/ [with comments]
Isaac Brekken / AP Photo
As Sen. John Ensign steps down [ http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55F7J820090617 ] from a top leadership post due to his adultery confession, his ruthless attacks on Bill Clinton and Larry Craig—and his strident defense of the “sanctity of marriage”—are coming back to haunt him, says Max Blumenthal.
by Max Blumenthal
June 16, 2009 | 9:59pm
Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada didn’t tap his foot in a bathroom stall like Larry Craig or spirit away to pricey bordellos like David Vitter, but like Newt Gingrich, he had an extramarital affair with a young staffer on his payroll.
Ensign admitted his affair Tuesday, declaring, “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions.” According to Politico, Ensign only revealed the affair when the husband of the woman involved demanded “a substantial sum of money” to keep quiet.
Confessed just two weeks after a visit to the Republican presidential-primary state of Iowa, Ensign’s affair effectively ends his apparent presidential ambitions. It also undermines his carefully cultivated image as a stalwart against the machinations of liberal judges, feminists, and homosexual activists.
Beginning with his call from the House floor for President Bill Clinton to resign after having an affair—“He has no credibility left,” Ensign said—and continuing through his tenure in the Senate with a hard-right voting record that earned a 100 percent rating from the Christian Coalition, Ensign has earned a reputation as one of Congress’ most active and ardent social conservatives. In 2008, he was rewarded with the chairmanship of the Republican Policy Committee, making him the No. 4 Republican in the Senate, a rising star at age 51 in a party with few strong presidential prospects. The future looked bright.
Before admitting his affair, Ensign last addressed the issue of marriage on July 13, 2004, during the congressional debate over amending the Constitution with a ban on same-sex marriage.
“Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded,” Ensign proclaimed from the Senate floor. “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. It predates the founding of our nation and even the landing at Plymouth Rock. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America and the world as a whole, has relied, including even the church itself.”
Ensign concluded, “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.”
Unlike some of his colleagues, Ensign’s jeremiads against gay marriage reflected a sincere expression of his faith and personal sensibility. Indeed, Ensign is a Promise Keeper [ http://www.promisekeepers.org/ ] and the only Pentecostal in the Senate—former Missouri Senator and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was the first—and a member of a congregation in Las Vegas affiliated with the ultra-conservative International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
He is a confidant of the church’s president, televangelist Jack Hayford, who prayed with him at the 2006 Foursquare Convention. Besides advocating the practice of speaking in tongues and conversion therapy for homosexuals, Hayford has published a book, Fatal Attractions [ http://www.parable.com/parable/item.Fatal-Attractions-Why-Sex-Sins-Are-Worse-Than-Others-Hayford.9780830729685.htm ], calling extramarital affairs and other “sexual sins” worse than any other sins. In another book, The Anatomy of Seduction [ http://www.christnotes.org/-/_the-anatomy-of-seduction_0830729690.asp ], Hayford railed against “temptation in its countless forms—from carnality, pornography, and marital infidelity to cultural trends in the media and immoral lifestyle choices.”
In September 2007, Ensign attempted to leverage his power as chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee to force then-Senator Larry Craig to resign after he pleaded guilty in August 2007 to soliciting sex from an undercover cop in a men’s restroom. However, Ensign made no such demand of Sen. David Vitter, the Louisiana Republican who in July 2007 admitted to an affair with a high-priced prostitute. On ABC’s This Week, Ensign tried to explain his confusing standards, claiming that Craig “admitted guilt. That is a big difference between being accused of something and actually admitting guilt… David Vitter never did that. Larry Craig did.”
(Perhaps he missed Vitter’s press conference admitting guilt [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QufjIbBH9lU ]?)
Thanks in part to Ensign’s maneuvering, Craig retired in disgrace while Vitter remained in the Senate, speaking [ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008658605_apabortionanniversary.html ] triumphantly at a giant antiabortion rally on the National Mall in January. “We’re going to win this fight!” Vitter told the crowd.
Since Ensign’s coup de grace, Vitter and a phalanx of Republican senators wait to offer their latest fallen comrade some comfort. They still need him, after all. Their culture war must go on.
Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute, whose book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books), is forthcoming in Spring 2009 [bio blurb obviously needs an update]. Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com.
---
Xtra Insight: The Daily Beast's Mark McKinnon: Ensign, Get Your Sorry Ass Out of the Senate
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-17/ensign-get-your-sorry-ass-out-of-the-senate/
---
View Our Gallery of Famous Political Affairs
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-08/political-affairs/
---
COPYRIGHT © 2009 RTST, INC.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-16/the-sex-scandal-hypocrite/ [ http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-16/the-sex-scandal-hypocrite/full/ ] [with comments]
==========
John Ensign, Born Again Promise Keeper
Posted in Liberaland by Alan
June 17th, 2009, 11:21 AM EDT
Philandering Nevada Senator John Ensign is a born again Christian [above] who was also a member of the family-oriented “Promise Keeper” group. Among the seven promises [ http://www.promisekeepers.org/about/7promises ] of a Promise Keeper:
PROMISE 3
A Promise Keeper is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.
PROMISE 4
A Promise Keeper is committed to building strong marriages and families through love, protection and biblical values.
He urged Bill Clinton to resign [ http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1998/sep/28/sparks-fly-at-reid-ensign-debate/ ] as a 1998 Senate candidate, saying, “He has no credibility left.” Ensign had a 100% pro-family rating [ http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/John_Ensign_Families_+_Children.htm ] on his voting record from the Christian Coalition, and the same score from the Family Research Council (dedicated to “Defending Faith, Family and Freedom”) and the American Family Association [ http://action.afa.net/ ] (standing “for traditional family values”). He discussed marriage on July 13, 2004, speaking in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
“Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded,” Ensign proclaimed from the Senate floor. “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. It predates the founding of our nation and even the landing at Plymouth Rock. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America and the world as a whole, has relied, including even the church itself.”
Ensign concluded, “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.”
Copyright © 2009 Alan Colmes
http://www.alan.com/2009/06/17/john-ensign-born-again-promise-keeper/ [with comments]
Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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