Collins is spot-on, again.
The reason the Republicans lost so many Senate seats last November is now becoming clear. No one had any time to think about the campaign. They were too busy worrying about Senator John Ensign’s sex life.
Nobody paid a great deal of attention. Really, there are only so many randy Republicans we can keep track of at once. But lately, the Ensign saga has become more and more fascinating. Every social conservative in Washington seems to have been involved.
That's an interesting point: the Republicans seem over-sexed, the very same party that espouses (pun intended) family values as a centerpiece of its mission statement.
Ensign was, at the time, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which was supposed to be working to elect candidates in 2008. In Washington, he lived with some other conservative Christian lawmakers in a building known as the “Prayer House.” Both members of the N.R.S.C. and residents of the Prayer House were brought into the drama. Hampton, in his version of events, seems to remember Ensign’s friends as being particularly concerned with making sure that the cuckolded aide got generous compensation for his suffering.
Hampton is the wronged husband of the woman whom Senator Ensign pursued, and caught, and literally did to the same thing he figuratively did to the husband, his constituents, and the country at large.
One of Ensign’s roommates, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, was described by Hampton as being particularly vocal about the importance of cash contributions to “make these folks whole.” Coburn denies this, although he won’t say exactly what advice he gave to his erring colleague. Coburn told Roll Call that he talked to Ensign as a “physician and as an ordained deacon” and that he will therefore have the right to keep mum even if he’s dragged into court or a Senate committee hearing.
This makes me sort of hope that some kind of investigation takes place just so Coburn, who’s an obstetrician, can explain how exactly doctor-patient confidentiality figures into this.
Zing.
We hardly need to point out that Ensign was one of the people who demanded that President Bill Clinton resign over the Lewinsky affair, that he votes against financing for education and contraception services to combat teenage pregnancy and that he supports a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. In the world of politics, hypocrisy is a hard market to corner, but lately the Republicans have been making a Microsoft-like effort to do it.
Actually, we do need to point out their hypocrisy.
Both of the Hamptons lost their jobs, and Doug was shuttled off to a Las Vegas-based airline, run by a friend of Ensign’s, where he is now vice president of government affairs. Unappeased, he hired a lawyer to demand that Ensign make financial amends for “evil and completely unjustifiable acts by one of our country’s top leaders.” He also tried to leak the story of the affair to Fox News, apparently under the theory that out of all the media, Fox would be most excited by the opportunity to humiliate a powerful conservative Republican senator.
Fair and balanced, right?
Truly, this puts a whole new spin on the term “family values.”
Showing posts with label Hypocrisy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hypocrisy. Show all posts
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Family values
This jerk's picture should appear in the dictionary next to the word tawdry. And his room-mate should be a footnote.
Sen. John Ensign has put a new spin on family values. The Las Vegas Republican, 51, enlisted his elderly parents to pay out $96,00 in "gifts" to his ex-mistress and her family. His father, Mike, is a wealthy casino mogul.
Mighty suspicious gifts.
Lest anyone think it was hush money, his lawyer Paul Coggins insisted, "Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules."
Those ethics rules need some revamping, as does the Senator's morality.
A statement from Ensign's office said that "his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time."
Difficult time, alright.
"The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others," it continued.
Nice people.
In addition to getting help from dear old dad, Ensign received some life-coaching from fellow Sen. Tom Coburn. Coburn counseled Ensign to end the affair, but he denied helping draft the the breakup letter Ensign wrote to Cindy Hampton. "I was never present when the letter was written."
Not present when the letter was written does not exclude Senator Coburn from having participated in discussions about, or the drafting of, said letter.
Coburn refused to say what he told Ensign to do, noting that he was both a medical doctor and an "ordained deacon," and such information was "privileged communication."
Amen.
Sen. John Ensign has put a new spin on family values. The Las Vegas Republican, 51, enlisted his elderly parents to pay out $96,00 in "gifts" to his ex-mistress and her family. His father, Mike, is a wealthy casino mogul.
Mighty suspicious gifts.
Lest anyone think it was hush money, his lawyer Paul Coggins insisted, "Ensign has complied with all applicable laws and Senate ethics rules."
Those ethics rules need some revamping, as does the Senator's morality.
A statement from Ensign's office said that "his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time."
Difficult time, alright.
"The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others," it continued.
Nice people.
In addition to getting help from dear old dad, Ensign received some life-coaching from fellow Sen. Tom Coburn. Coburn counseled Ensign to end the affair, but he denied helping draft the the breakup letter Ensign wrote to Cindy Hampton. "I was never present when the letter was written."
Not present when the letter was written does not exclude Senator Coburn from having participated in discussions about, or the drafting of, said letter.
Coburn refused to say what he told Ensign to do, noting that he was both a medical doctor and an "ordained deacon," and such information was "privileged communication."
Amen.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Another holy man falls
“I hurt a lot of different folks,” Gov. Mark Sanford said during a news conference at the statehouse in Columbia, S.C.
Another holier-than-thou Republican right-winger falls. One amazing aspect is that a couple of months ago he was jousting with the President over stimulus funds. COuldn't this jerk realize he shoulda kept a low profile? Putz.
Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, said he had conducted an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina, ending a mystery over his weeklong disappearance that had infuriated lawmakers and seemed to put his rising political career in jeopardy. He apologized for the affair and the deception surrounding his trip in a rambling, nationally televised news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Seemed? What does he have a chance for now? School board? Not even that.
Governor Sanford, 49, admitted that he had been in Buenos Aires since Thursday, not hiking on the Appalachian Trail as his staff had told reporters. In revealing an affair that had gone on for about a year — and which he said he had disclosed to his wife, Jenny, five months ago — he said: “This was selfishness on my part.”
That's humble of him, to admit selfishness.
Mr. Sanford announced on Wednesday that as a result, he was resigning his position as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. The association soon after announced that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour would become chairman.
Just as Senator Ensign did recently, when he admitted to an affair, and resigned from the Republican Senate campaign committee, Sanford, selfishly, did not resign as Governor (and, similarly selfishly, Ensign did not resign his Senate seat).
He pleaded with reporters not to pester his family: “I would ask for y’all’s indulgence, not for me, but for Jenny and the boys.” Jenny Sanford, 46, was not in attendance at the news conference. She issued a statement later in the day saying that while she loves her husband, she asked him to leave the family two weeks ago in a trial separation. “When I found out about my husband’s infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage,” she said. “We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong.” Because of the separation, she said, she did not know where he was in the last week.
No one seemed to know; that should help sink his career and ambitions.
In an interview with The State newspaper of Columbia, on Wednesday morning, Mr. Sanford said he had taken an unplanned trip to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over accepting a portion of the federal stimulus funding. He had considered hiking the trail, he said. “But I said, no, I wanted to do something exotic,” Mr. Sanford told The State. “It’s a great city.” Only at the news conference did he reveal why he traveled there.
A great city? Well, perhaps so, but his choosing it seems, and should, perhaps, have seemed, well, curious.
The newspaper has this: Exclusive: Emails between Sanford, woman in Argentina
Mr. Sanford created a media frenzy on Monday when his staff acknowledged that they could not reach him. His wife told The Associated Press that he had gone somewhere over the Father’s Day weekend, but she did not know where and she was not concerned.
Only later did the governor reveal that he had told his wife and her parents several months earlier. He said that “in a formal sense,” he and his wife were not separated.
What does in damnation does that mean?
Mr. Sanford is the third sitting governor to become the central figure in a major scandal in recent years. Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer, Democrat of New York, resigned a few days after his involvement with prostitutes was revealed in March 2008. Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, Democrat of Illinois, clung to office for weeks after being accused by prosecutors of influence-peddling, including trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama; he was impeached and removed from office by the state legislature on Jan. 29.
3 out of 50? 6% -- is that good, or bad?
A reporter tried to ask Mr. Sanford at the end of the news conference whether he would resign his office, but Mr. Sanford ignored the question.
Ignored it? Selfish, no?
Scott Huffmon, a political science professor at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., said it was unclear whether there would be pressure on the governor to resign. “His opponents are sitting back trying to figure out if they’d be better off with a completely emasculated governor to deal with or if they’d be better off with Andre Bauer,” said Mr. Huffmon, referring to the lieutenant governor who would take office if Mr. Sanford resigned.
Emasculated seems a particularly appropriate word in this context.
Whenever he talks political ideology he always comes out as the smartest guy in the room, but he hasn’t been a holier-than-thou moralist on social issues,” Mr. Huffmon said.
Good for him.
Mr. Sanford’s Democratic rivals in the capital immediately pounced on the apparent confusion in the statements issued by the governor’s office. “The people of this state deserve complete honesty from Governor Sanford,” said State Senator John C. Land III, the Senate Democratic leader, in a statement issued this morning before the news conference.
Complete honesty seems a dangerous term for a politician to use.
Mr. Sanford has long been known as an iconoclast. As a congressman, he slept on a futon in his office. To showcase his opposition to pork-barrel spending, he once brought two live piglets onto the floor of the state legislature.
The question that needs asking is if he slept alone on that futon (and, perhaps, if it was an Argentinian futon).
The admission by Mr. Sanford appeared to severely damage his chances for national political office. “I think you’ve got one less contender for president,” said Charles E. Cook Jr., editor of The Cook Political Report, adding that Mr. Sanford may be able to complete his term as governor, but could not expect to climb the ladder. “You don’t leave this behind — you really can’t.”
Appeared? I'd say.
Another holier-than-thou Republican right-winger falls. One amazing aspect is that a couple of months ago he was jousting with the President over stimulus funds. COuldn't this jerk realize he shoulda kept a low profile? Putz.
Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, said he had conducted an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina, ending a mystery over his weeklong disappearance that had infuriated lawmakers and seemed to put his rising political career in jeopardy. He apologized for the affair and the deception surrounding his trip in a rambling, nationally televised news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Seemed? What does he have a chance for now? School board? Not even that.
Governor Sanford, 49, admitted that he had been in Buenos Aires since Thursday, not hiking on the Appalachian Trail as his staff had told reporters. In revealing an affair that had gone on for about a year — and which he said he had disclosed to his wife, Jenny, five months ago — he said: “This was selfishness on my part.”
That's humble of him, to admit selfishness.
Mr. Sanford announced on Wednesday that as a result, he was resigning his position as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. The association soon after announced that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour would become chairman.
Just as Senator Ensign did recently, when he admitted to an affair, and resigned from the Republican Senate campaign committee, Sanford, selfishly, did not resign as Governor (and, similarly selfishly, Ensign did not resign his Senate seat).
He pleaded with reporters not to pester his family: “I would ask for y’all’s indulgence, not for me, but for Jenny and the boys.” Jenny Sanford, 46, was not in attendance at the news conference. She issued a statement later in the day saying that while she loves her husband, she asked him to leave the family two weeks ago in a trial separation. “When I found out about my husband’s infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage,” she said. “We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong.” Because of the separation, she said, she did not know where he was in the last week.
No one seemed to know; that should help sink his career and ambitions.
In an interview with The State newspaper of Columbia, on Wednesday morning, Mr. Sanford said he had taken an unplanned trip to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over accepting a portion of the federal stimulus funding. He had considered hiking the trail, he said. “But I said, no, I wanted to do something exotic,” Mr. Sanford told The State. “It’s a great city.” Only at the news conference did he reveal why he traveled there.
A great city? Well, perhaps so, but his choosing it seems, and should, perhaps, have seemed, well, curious.
The newspaper has this: Exclusive: Emails between Sanford, woman in Argentina
Mr. Sanford created a media frenzy on Monday when his staff acknowledged that they could not reach him. His wife told The Associated Press that he had gone somewhere over the Father’s Day weekend, but she did not know where and she was not concerned.
Only later did the governor reveal that he had told his wife and her parents several months earlier. He said that “in a formal sense,” he and his wife were not separated.
What does in damnation does that mean?
Mr. Sanford is the third sitting governor to become the central figure in a major scandal in recent years. Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer, Democrat of New York, resigned a few days after his involvement with prostitutes was revealed in March 2008. Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, Democrat of Illinois, clung to office for weeks after being accused by prosecutors of influence-peddling, including trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama; he was impeached and removed from office by the state legislature on Jan. 29.
3 out of 50? 6% -- is that good, or bad?
A reporter tried to ask Mr. Sanford at the end of the news conference whether he would resign his office, but Mr. Sanford ignored the question.
Ignored it? Selfish, no?
Scott Huffmon, a political science professor at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., said it was unclear whether there would be pressure on the governor to resign. “His opponents are sitting back trying to figure out if they’d be better off with a completely emasculated governor to deal with or if they’d be better off with Andre Bauer,” said Mr. Huffmon, referring to the lieutenant governor who would take office if Mr. Sanford resigned.
Emasculated seems a particularly appropriate word in this context.
Whenever he talks political ideology he always comes out as the smartest guy in the room, but he hasn’t been a holier-than-thou moralist on social issues,” Mr. Huffmon said.
Good for him.
Mr. Sanford’s Democratic rivals in the capital immediately pounced on the apparent confusion in the statements issued by the governor’s office. “The people of this state deserve complete honesty from Governor Sanford,” said State Senator John C. Land III, the Senate Democratic leader, in a statement issued this morning before the news conference.
Complete honesty seems a dangerous term for a politician to use.
Mr. Sanford has long been known as an iconoclast. As a congressman, he slept on a futon in his office. To showcase his opposition to pork-barrel spending, he once brought two live piglets onto the floor of the state legislature.
The question that needs asking is if he slept alone on that futon (and, perhaps, if it was an Argentinian futon).
The admission by Mr. Sanford appeared to severely damage his chances for national political office. “I think you’ve got one less contender for president,” said Charles E. Cook Jr., editor of The Cook Political Report, adding that Mr. Sanford may be able to complete his term as governor, but could not expect to climb the ladder. “You don’t leave this behind — you really can’t.”
Appeared? I'd say.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Not so holy, after all
Sen. Ensign's admission blurs conservative image
Las Vegas (AP) - For much of his public career, Sen. John Ensign has appeared a model of the religious right. By this week, he had become just another politician diminished by scandal. Video: Nevada Senator Admits Affair With Ex-staffer
Las Vegas (AP) - For much of his public career, Sen. John Ensign has appeared a model of the religious right. By this week, he had become just another politician diminished by scandal. Video: Nevada Senator Admits Affair With Ex-staffer
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Hypocrisy watch
While Congress has been flaying companies for giving out bonuses while on the government dole, lawmakers have a longstanding tradition of rewarding their own employees with extra cash -- also courtesy of taxpayers.
Bet they don't want this to get known.
Total end-of-year bonuses paid to congressional staffers are tiny compared with the $165 million recently showered on executives of American International Group Inc., which is being propped up by billions of dollars of U.S. government subsidies. But Capitol Hill bonuses provide a notable counterpoint to the populist rhetoric and sound bites emanating from Washington these past weeks.
"Most aides could make more money elsewhere, but choose to work on Capitol Hill because they believe in public service," said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who along with other top House leaders awarded bonuses. (Senators also give bonuses, but documents showing those payments aren't yet available.) Mr. Daly said bonuses are a small perk for underpaid government employees.
But of they go into government work, they musn't feel underpaid, and, if they do, they could go elsewhere to make more money, no?
Bet they don't want this to get known.
Total end-of-year bonuses paid to congressional staffers are tiny compared with the $165 million recently showered on executives of American International Group Inc., which is being propped up by billions of dollars of U.S. government subsidies. But Capitol Hill bonuses provide a notable counterpoint to the populist rhetoric and sound bites emanating from Washington these past weeks.
"Most aides could make more money elsewhere, but choose to work on Capitol Hill because they believe in public service," said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who along with other top House leaders awarded bonuses. (Senators also give bonuses, but documents showing those payments aren't yet available.) Mr. Daly said bonuses are a small perk for underpaid government employees.
But of they go into government work, they musn't feel underpaid, and, if they do, they could go elsewhere to make more money, no?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)