I have somewhat defended John Ensign in the past regarding some false reports a liberal group has filed against him. I also think the Senate Ethics Committee (talk about an oxymoron) is on a witch hunt. Same with the FBI and their investigation. I have never defended Ensign regarding his sexual relationship with a friend and campaign worker and then paying off the family.
IN Rep. Mark Souder resigned this morning because he essentially did the same thing as Ensign and this changed my mind. From Fox News: "Eight-term Indiana Rep. Mark Souder announced his resignation Tuesday after admitting to an affair with a female aide who worked in his district office.
Souder, a Republican, will will step down on Friday. He said in remarks obtained by Fox News that he "sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff."
"I wish I could have been a better example," he said. "In this poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon, often twisted, for political gain. I am resigning rather than to put my family through that painful, drawn-out process. ... We are a committed family but the error is mine and I should bear the responsibility. Not only am I thankful for a loving family but for a loving God"
Souder didn't have to resign. He most likely would have won election because his constituents probably would have forgiven him. Souder acted with class after committing a classless act.
Ensign, on the other hand has tried to ignore his affair and then just pretended it never happened. He didn't commit a crime he just used bad judgement but the coverup was worse.
If Ensign had been a Democrat, this would have been nothing because the politicians who are Democrats are amoral. How else can you explain Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, Barney Frank, William Jefferson, Bill Clinton, Chris Dodd, Kent Conrad and so many other low lifes. It's just a matter of fact that when comes to morals, Democrat politicians don't have them and GOP politicians do. We are better than the Democrats, morally and that is why Ensign needs to resign and let Jim Gibbons appoint someone to his seat.
Senator Ensign, thank you for your service but it is time for you to go.
Do you honestly believe that GOP politicians have better morals than Dem politicians? You are forgetting not only the long parade of disgraced GOPers who have left office (including Bob Packwood, Bob Livingston, Mark Foley, Larry Craig, and now Mark Souder), but also Sen. David Vitter and Gov. Mark Sanford, who both refused to step down despite their very public marital infidelities, and Sen. Strom Thurmond, who died in office decades after impregnating an underage domestic employee (an act which would make him a registered sex offender nowadays).
ReplyDeleteParty affiliation is no indicator of personal morality. Power corrupts, no matter which base you are pandering to.
The key words, Jill, is most left office. Kennedy? Byrd? Jefferson? Conrad and Dodd?
ReplyDeleteYes, we have had scum and we have one in Ensign.
Vitter did his deed before he was elected and Sanford should go and the GOP is leading the way in calling for his resignation.
When was the last time a dem called for Kennedy, when he was alive, for him to resign? Byrd? How about Jefferson, Dodd, Frank and Conrad?
Spitzer left office. I wasn't aware of any scandals surrounding Dodd. If you're referring to ethics problems/bribes (and your inclusion of Jefferson makes me think you are), that opens up a whole new area in which Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats.
ReplyDeleteDodd and Conrad received VIP loans mortages with tiny interest rates at Countrywide, before they went bellyup. Both of those clowns also were on committees that oversaw the banks. I don't recall any GOP members get that kind of sweetheart deal. Of course, I forgot to mention Charlie Rangle, the king of sleaze. So, who in the GOP have been this far deep in it and have not been called to resign or have been investigated or called to apoligize? Oh, and how about Al Franken and his scandal at Air America, stealing money from a boys and girls club?
ReplyDeleteSorry, but when it comes to greed, murder, scandal and sex, the Dem's have done it more often and got away with it more often as well.