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This partial transcript of Alan Stock's KXNT interview Monday morning with Sen. John Ensign was helpfully provided by the Nevada News Bureau:
Alan: "Do you regret what went on? I mean, you had an affair with your best friend's wife. So, do you regret it? And if so, how come you kept going back?"
Ensign: "I do regret it. If I could ever take anything I've done back, this would be the one thing. It was a huge mistake. There was a lot of pain that I caused to a lot of people. I have apologized to everyone, to as many people as I can."
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Alan: "Did you try to secure a job for Doug Hampton, to be able to get in to lobby you?"
Ensign: "I recommended Doug for jobs, the same way that I've done for many people over the years, as he was leaving my employ. I called several people to see if they would interview him. It's a very common practice. It's perfectly legal. I complied with all Senate Ethics Rules. And I will cooperate with any investigation to prove that."
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Alan, sharing an email question from a reader: "Would the Senator consider resigning his seat for the good of the Party?"
Ensign: "First of all, I was elected to a six year term, and I fully intend on serving that out. I have a voting record that I think is consistent with the way I campaigned, based on fiscal responsibility and conservative values."
And: "A lot of people running for office next year want me involved in their campaigns. It isn't about me. It's about supporting the principles of freedom, conservatism, and the Constitution.
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Alan: "I know you've said you regret your affair. Do you also regret going to the Promise Keeper's rallies and all the proclamations you made?"
Ensign: "First of all, I had standards...have standards. I didn't meet them, but that doesn't mean the standard is wrong. Fidelity in marriage is a standard I believe in..."
And: "My wife and I have worked things out. We're doing better than we've ever done before. I'm grateful to have a wife who is willing to fight for our marriage."
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Alan: "Do you regret calling for Bill Clinton's resignation during the Monica Lewinsky scandal?"
Ensign: "In my own life, I think I need to focus on fixing my own problems instead of worrying about other people. You do a lot of self reflection during a time like this. I'm trying to learn from my mistakes. I never want to do something like this again."
Re: a caller question about Alan Stock's call for Ensign's resignation and whether Alan still stands by it
Alan (to Ensign): "Well, I did ask for that because you had not addressed the issues for 6 months, and I was concerned about the impact on conservative candidates. And I won't withdraw my call for your resignation. And I know you don't plan to resign, but if at any point you feel you would be a hindrance to candidates, would you reconsider?"
Ensign: "If I resign we will have a second Senate race. The people who want to defeat Harry Reid should think about that. Another race would take attention and resources away from the Reid race. You would have a splitting of resources, and I think that hurts the conservative cause."
And: "We only have 40 US senators. The Democrats have 60. Another senate race here would take resources from defeating Democrats in states across the country. We need to increase, not decrease our numbers."
On health care:
Ensign: "I totally disagree with the health care bill. This is a terrible piece of legislation."
And: "I don't agree with rushing this bill through by Christmas... I mean, this bill is one sixth of our economy. We ought to spend at least a couple of months on it. Making sure it's fully vetted, debated, amended."
And: "If there is a public plan in the bill, I believe Congress should be part of it. We shouldn't force it on the American people if we are not willing to live with it ourselves."
On Iran:
Ensign: "I agree that we should try every diplomatic means possible. But a military option should be on the table. The world cannot afford to allow Iran to get nuclear weapons."
And: "We should be willing to do whatever it takes."
In answer to a caller question re: national security and political correctness in the military re: the Ft. Hood shootings:
Ensign: "We did a hearing on this in the Homeland Security committee... We had some expert witnesses and it was agreed that this was mostly a problem of political correctness. People are overly sensitive to not offending people. If people are making statements that might be a threat to the United States - whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, or atheist - we should investigate if we have cause to believe there might be a danger."
In answer to a caller question on job scarcity, illegal immigration, and the suggestion of a five year moratorium on immigration:
Ensign: "The problem in this country is not legal immigration. The problem is illegal immigration. You don't necessarily want a moratorium... I've talked for years about securing the borders and interior enforcement. But we don't have the resources... I've proposed over the years, doubling the amount of border security guards, and we have done that. We've made progress, but illegal immigration is still a problem."
Ensign: "Regarding jobs, one of the crazy things we do in this country, we educate people from all over the world in our universities, and then ship them back home, to create jobs in other countries."
In answer to a caller question on Ensign's failure to have a live Town Hall meeting:
Ensign: "I've had multiple Town Hall meetings, three to four thousand people on our Telephone Town Hall Meeting. And I've also done Town Hall Meetings in companies with their employees. We've done it with groups of doctors and nurses... They've been a little more organized."
And: "The Senate is different than the house, we don't have the same mailing privileges as the House, to be able to mail out to our constituents. We can put a little ad in the paper... The reason I have not done them is the difference in the mailing rules."
Alan: "Well, you could notify us here, and we could let 150,000 people know."
Ensign: "We'll look at doing some of them here in December."
In answer to a listener email on a storage facility at Yucca Mountain and nuclear energy:
Ensign: "Nuclear power is important to the future of our country. But Yucca Mountain is dead. It's on its last leg. Which is fine, because we have 100 to 200 years to decide what to do. Dry cask storage is working right now."
And: "I believe we should recycle and reprocess our nuclear waste. UNLV has gotten some funding to do some reasearch on processes... Nuclear power provides about 20% of the energy in the U.S. In France, it provides 80%."
In answer to a caller with a question about Ensign's initial "Yes" bailout vote and also a "Yes" vote on No Child Left behind and other "big government" measures
Ensign: "Yes, I voted for the first TARP funds. And it was one of the worst votes I ever made."
And: "I voted against the second bailout. I voted against Cash for Clunkers."
_
How many people are truly fooled by this latest response from Cipriani/Ensign?
Do you really think the people who are truly responsible for his rise to power care whether or not he is liked by his constituency?
As Oliver Stone's "JFK" said: Follow the money!
Cipriani/Ensign is the front man for a "sanitized" organized crime syndicate. Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola had it right when Michael Corleone said "My father's way of doing things is outdated - even he knows that. Within 7 years the Corleone family business will completely legitimate!"
Then later on Brando said to Pacino: "I wanted Senator Corleone or Governor Corleone for you ... "
Research Cipriani/Ensign back before he became the respectable "Dr. John Ensign - healer of little puppies and kitties".
Go back a year and a half ago when Ensign said "... it doesn't matter how much money you have in your campaign coffers, just that it all appears legitimately contributed" (paraphrased - of course).
What amazes me is that all people can talk about is how bad he is for cheating on his wife - that's the least of what Ensign is guilty of!!!
He voted against cash for clunkers. Idiot.
The most successful plan of the year and HE votes against it.
Sure wish Alan had asked Ensign about his latest case of the clap and how our tax dollars paid for the ointment to cure his itchy crotch.
A radio station that takes car ads, didn't like the clunkers program...
The notion that the listeners voted on the kxnt website to stick to "issues" is bogus. You can vote more than once. I did it. I bet they were busy at Ensign's office calling in to vote.
This radio station is a complete farce from top to bottom, and so is CH 13. I wonder if Ensign will get some of his backers to take out ads on these stations as a method of "pay-off?"
Sorry to be cynical, but it seems like a stretch to call an affair that went on for months the "one thing" you'd like to take back. It seems like a bogus attempt to categorize this as a one-time moral failing, which it clearly wasn't. It reminds me of the NFL referring to Michael Vick's dogfighting conviction as a "first offense". The way I see it, when you choose an immoral action day after day, week after week, month after month, you can't just call it a lapse; it's clearly a sign of a deep-seated character flaw.
As for serving out his six-year term to fulfill his obligation to the voters, maybe Sarah Palin could talk some sense into him.
I don't doubt that many 2010 candidates will want Ensign involved in their campaigns. I'm sure there are many Democratic politicians scouring the archives for pictures of their opponents with John Ensign. If I were a Democrat running for office, I'd slap one of those pictures front and center on my campaign mailers.
I think that the people who most want to beat Harry Reid -- namely, those 10 candidates in the GOP primary -- would love to see a second Senate race open up. I bet half of them would file for that race before Ensign finished his resignation speech. I doubt many of them appreciate Ensign's devotion to the cause of defeating Harry Reid -- especially since Ensign's been making Reid look so good lately by comparison. I think an Ensign resignation would boost Republican chances in 2010 for both Senate seats.
I'd rather have seen Sen. Ensign and his wife on Heidi Harris. She would of been nice on the interview but back-stabbed him before he got out of the building. As you see, he didn't want to do an interview with a well respected conservative woman, instead Sen. Ensign ended up at the sausage factory that 840AM calls a morning show.
What a joke. The interview is exactly why real conservatives and real republicans aren't taken seriously. Ensign is a prime example of "do as I say, not as I do" politics at its worse.
By not resigning, Ensign insists that he's taking one for the team because he doesn't believe the party wants a second race in 2010. I'm pretty sure that his own party would rather take a chance on electing a non-toxic candidate. I'm also sure that the money would come pouring into the state if a second seat was open.
Bottom line is that Ensign needs to resign for the good of his party and for the good of conservatives everywhere.
Kudos to Alan Stock on sticking to his guns regarding the call for Ensign's resignation.
"If I resign we will have a second Senate race... Another race would take attention and resources away from the Reid race. You would have a splitting of resources, and I think that hurts the conservative cause."
Translation: The Republicans are having a hard time finding one credible candidate, let alone two.
mred Is that the best you have?
I'm organising a chap stick lip balm campaign to the kiss up Stock. Like the tea bag campaign, send your sticks to the man. (Don't people that wear Hawaiian shirts all the time on the mainland, turn out to be the villains in most TV shows and Movies?
Also, I guess the radio station has some unusual job titles: "Station manager/chauffeur" and
"Talk show host/softball pitcher"
Does the station have to declare the airtime, and the free car ride (to duck waiting reporters) as a political contribution??
The questions not asked Senator Ensign:
You mentioned that your marriage is doing much better, but then how do you feel about wrecking Doug and Cindy's marriage? And a follow-up, do you anticipate their son's life has been affected by his proximity to all this?
You've run on platforms about santity of marriage and had high "values" scores from Focus on the Family/Family Research Council, Traditional Values Coalition and other organizations who put "voters' guides" in the church pews. Have you notified them of your change in vie--I mean behavior about marriage?
For your perceived adversaries in the "culture war," would you mind terribly if the new slogan, "Adultery--the new family value" was adopted?
With your admission that the affair was a "huge mistake," is it possible your judgement on political issues could be just as flawed?
To: John Ensign
I won't trust my dog to you as a veterinarian;
I won't trust my wife to you as a Promise Keeper;
I won't trust my children and community to you as a law-maker;
and, I won't trust my tax dollars to you as a Senator.