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Friday, Aug. 21, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.
Listen carefully, children, because here is your lesson of the week from Nevada role model John Ensign: Even if you sleep with your best friend’s wife while both are working for you, even if you get Dad to pay them off as you usher them out of your employ, even if you have spent your public career chastising those you deem morally inferior, it’s only a “distraction” if you “haven’t done anything legally wrong.”
Even by most standards of moral relativism, Sen. Ensign’s attempt to raise himself higher by comparing his misdeeds with Bill Clinton’s is obscene. Most people knocked off a high horse would at least feign repentance for a reasonable time and might never ride again. But not John Ensign, whose other lesson appears to be: If you fall off your high horse, dust yourself off, regain your swagger and climb right back on to start moralizing again, unfettered by facts or decency.
I don’t care if you are a conservative who thinks Ensign still votes right or believe he has been a victim of the liberal media. Even Ensign’s most ardent defenders have to be repelled by his comments to AP reporter Scott Sonner in Fernley this week in which he tried to draw a distinction between his dalliance and the former president’s affair, thus not only showing he is striving for new heights of hypocrisy but also rewriting history and, inadvertently, making the case for his own resignation.
In case you missed what Ensign said, he delivered a rambling, almost incoherent answer to Sonner when asked about how his situation — he had an affair with campaign treasurer Cynthia Hampton, whose husband, Doug, was his top aide — was different from when he called for Clinton’s resignation:
“I thought that there was a violation of a felony ... in the case of President Clinton, first of all he was president and he stood right before the American people and he lied to the American people. You remember the famous day that he lied to the American people, plus the fact that I thought he suborned perjury. That’s why I voted for articles of impeachment ... I haven’t done anything legally wrong.”
It’s hard to know where to begin with that astonishing statement. But let’s start here: Ensign is either rewriting history or dissembling. The time line here is important.
On Sept. 11, 1998, a date that could prove to be Ensign’s personal 9/11, the then-congressman told the Review-Journal’s Tony Batt why Clinton should resign: “I came to that conclusion recently, and frankly it’s because of what he put his whole Cabinet through and what he has put the country through. He has no credibility left.”
First, you notice Ensign said nothing about a crime. Indeed, his call for the president to step down came before the Starr report had even been released.
Second, if Ensign believed Clinton should have quit because he had lost credibility, what to say about a Promise Keeping senator who wagged his finger at Clinton and Larry Craig? Indeed, what do you think the pre-June 16 (the day he disclosed the affair) John Ensign would have said about the post-June 16 John Ensign? My guess: “He should resign because he has no credibility left.”
Doug Hampton interview - July 2009
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Exclusive Interview, seg. 2
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Exclusive Interview, seg. 1
Doug Hampton interview, part 2 - July 2009
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Finally, Ensign’s invoking that “famous day” when Clinton lied is remarkable. After acknowledging he lived a lie, after calling the cuckolded husband a liar after Hampton appeared on “Face to Face” and after offering up the obvious canard that his family gave $96,000 in “gifts” to the Hamptons after he sent them packing from D.C., who is the more accomplished prevaricator, Ensign or Clinton?
Whatever you think of Clinton, he never prattled on about the sanctity of marriage as Ensign did. He never assailed the moral failings of others from his self-constructed pulpit. And he never roomed with a group of like-thinkers in a creepy, cultish C Street house where fidelity to wives was considered secondary — or unnecessary — compared with fidelity to The Family. Indeed, back in 1998, Ensign told Batt that his roomies and he “all talked about it last night, and agreed that (Clinton) should resign.” And then, I bet, they prayed for his soul.
Family Values
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Ensign also told Batt that Clinton should resign because “he sent taxpayer-paid staff out to lie for him, and that is a misuse of office.” And having an affair with a subordinate whose husband works for you and then paying them off is not a misuse of office?
I wonder, as they digest role model Ensign’s lesson, how the senator’s kids — or the Hampton children — feel about his assertion that he should stay in office because he hasn’t “done anything legally wrong.”
When a politician puts aside his morality then breaks down his trust with the people in his state, who wants to give him another chance? He's shown us that once his ego gets control of the wheel, he has let the dark side take control.
No brains, no morality, no trust. He has fooled us once and I'm not going to give him a chance to fool us again.
How do ya skewer a john?
Very well done.
The second paragraph states it perfectly.
Excellent column, Mr. Ralston.
Exactly.
Howard Cannon
Pat McCarran
Paul Laxalt
Majority Leader Harry Reid
they'll all live forever in the history books.
this is the time for John Ensign to say "Jeez, Mary and Joseph, the first words (when i die) that the New York Times will right in my obituary is that "THEY ALL LAUGHED AT HIM".
Not laughed "with you" John, "at you"....they all laughed.....that's a terrible terrible thing for a man who has risen to such august heights now isn't it Johnnie?....Hey John, your mother wasn't married to your birth father on March 25, 1958 was she Johnnie Boy? They call that an illegitimate child at the C Street Nazi Cult House...right...but what to the troops ...the boys, serving overseas call that kind of child John ??...do they still use the loker room word that begins with the letter "B" that has been used for centuries. For example, let's use it in a sentence: "Doesn't that cur-bas#@d have a lot of unadulterated gall."
At this point John it's deja vu all over again.....after 50 years years you are illigitimate all over again.
Noblemen in Japan through the millenia when found in a similar pickle always commit harry carey....OK COWBOY....take Mike Slanker and Ryan Irwin down with yah. Pond Scum all of you...lowlife, bad actors.
We are being waterboarde by this guy Ensign.
As if the valley doesnt have enough black eyes in the media (worst schools, worst forclosure, worst health, conmen at MGM CityCenter, Jay Brown and Prive, running out of water) and the litany goes on.
But to have this slow brutal drip drip drip of chines water torture with the viscious vile, reprobate, fith and mental mayhem of the Ensign story come out every single week or evry other week since the middle of June just has to stop.
To paraphrase Walpole, Massachusetts' own Joseph Nye Welch partner at Hale and Dorr before Senator Joseph McCarthy:
"Until this moment, Senator Ensign, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. ...(L)ittle did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to the State of Nevad and to this great nation of our's, the United States of America. It is true that , I regret to say, I fear you, John Ensign shall cause Nevadan's of all races and creeds to always bear a scar selfishly and needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think that I am a gentle man, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me. "
When Mike Slanker, ryan Irwin, Sig Rogich, Michael Steele and Senaturn Tom Coburn tried to go on the attack once more and blame Bill and Hillary Clinton, the people of Nevada and the nation stepped in again and famously rebuked:
" Senator, may we not drop this? We know you say you've done nothing "legally" wrong but please sir,...Let us not assassinate the reputation of the State of Nevada further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
ya gotta go John
ya gotta go
you've just gotta go.
Rhode Island has openings.
Keep it coming, John. Senator Ensign's hypocrisy is unbelievable. Please have him explain why gay couples in a committed relationship who could legally marry would threaten his marriage. Ensign has been wrong on every issue, from health care reform to gay marriage.
Please continue to expose him.
Thanks for the Joseph Welch memory, WhistleB. I expect you're from the East Coast, too, and your quotes were refreshing. Living in Nevada is like living in a redneck hell. Cheap, but you pay a price. Can't imagine trying to raise a child here. Tip dependent dumbbell dropouts. And worse, like the Escort services. So we'll keep electing those who reflect Nevada values. As if there are any values.
You're right Ned.
Mr Welch was on my paper route when I was a little boy in Walpole.
I was a page for Speaker of the US House, John W. McCormack in the midst of the Great Society legislation.
Director of the CIA George W. Bush was my high school graduation speaker.
Worked as a file clerk in the Radio and television Press gallery of the United States Senate when Nixon resigned and Nelson Rockefeller was confirmed as Vice.
I asked Ralph Nader not too many years ago "when do you think Mr Nader, that "the American Century" ended? He said it was the nomination of Jimmy Carter in 1976. That, he said was the death of the flowering, including consumer protection.
May I recommend to you, William Kleinknecht's "The Man Who Sold The World: Ronald reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America" Thanks for listening
Jon, thank you.
John, please go away.
What a difference an H makes.
John Ensign is a man of integrity. Everybody on C Street says so.
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009...
Thanks, WhistleB, for the Joseph Welch reminder. Maybe we should all write Ensign with the words, "At long last, Senator, have you left no sense of decency?" But then again, it might go right over his pretty little head.
Nailed it, John. Thank you.
Ralston...now very very slowly for you to understand.
Step 1: Clinton committed a felony perjury in a Federal Court of law.
Step 2: Because Clinton committed a crime that is the reason why Ensign asked Clinton to resign. He did not ask Clinton to resign because he had sex with an employee and then looked into the camera and lied about it to millions of Americans. He did not ask Clinton to resign who had a MO of destroying women who talked to reports about their affairs with him (he was in the process of destroying the cigar girl until the dress stopped his destruction train). Yes, Clinton was a big big women's rights dude.
Ensign answered the reporter's question about Ensign and Clinton.
"Whatever you think of Clinton, he never prattled on about the sanctity of marriage as Ensign did."
False......it is funny that libs like yourself like to state falshoods when presenting your arguments or perhaps you guys are just dumb. You are probably just dumb.
In his 1996 campaign Clinton ran ads in Southern states which boasted of him signing the Defense of Marriage Act. At the end of those ads it says, "President Clinton has fought for our values and America is better for it."
Let's get real.
THE ONLY REASON why you are harping about Ensign is because you are a Democrat. It has absolutely nothing do with principles or morality.
Wow....the truth is now revealed.
Yeah, let's get real, SgtRock.
Ensign's own words betray him. He did not ask Clinton to resign because Clinton had committed a crime.
Did you read the column? Did you understand the time line?
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Yes, I read the column and you guys are putting words into Ensign's mouth. He said, "what he put his whole Cabinet through and what he has put the country through" that includes Clinton committed a felony crime of perjury.
Somehow, you guys want to put your own spin on that statement and limit it only to the affair.
BTW, in the same article the reporter mentions that Ensign talks about Clinton's misuse of the office. Hmmmm...I wonder why Ralston fails to mention that.
I wonder why..hmm...why...oh..why....Perhaps it is because Ralston is talking head hack who is a Democrat????
In my opinion, this is just another show of arrogance and "I can get away with it" attiude. Why not, it's been going on for years in the political arena.
Here's food for thought. How many other cities in American have the motto "what happens in .....stays in .....? This is not a compliment or an endorsement for morality!!! And if you think these acts are going to end, think again!
Only a dingbat would go where John Ensign went when said what Bill Clinton did was worse than what he did. What subtitutes for brains in that large cranium of his -- air?
Umm....SgtRock?
He said that BEFORE Clinton's testimony! You're the one who's spinning things.
Even if Clinton did commit a felony, he hadn't done it yet when Ensign said what he did. That's Jon Ralston's point.
Perhaps Ralston doesn't mention Ensign's comments about Clinton's supposed misuse of his office because the column is about Ensign's misuse of his office.
Both you and John Ensign can scream all you want that Bill Clinton's bad behavior excuses Ensign's, but the rest of us know better.
Yo rock,
Ralston is a very good Democrat. He is quite well respected by those who can read irrespective of political slant.
If you were as good a Republican as Ralston is a Democrat, maybe you could make a living as an incredibly widely-read wordsmith with a sense of humor that rolls 'em in the aisle around the world.
Hatin' on Ralston is akin to peein' in our lemonade.
"He said that BEFORE Clinton's testimony! You're the one who's spinning things.
Even if Clinton did commit a felony, he hadn't done it yet when Ensign said what he did. That's Jon Ralston's point."
Wrong...wrong...wrong.
Ensign statement was on Sept 11, 1998 which was three days after the Starr Report was submitted to Congress.
Clinton committed perjury on January 17, 1998.
The news that Starr was investigating the perjury charge was out in the public well before Sept. 11, 1998.
The perjury was not the only crimes committed by Clinton.
He also encouraged others to committ perjury in a court of law, too and to file false sworn testimony and directed White House staff to help cover up those crimes, too.
Obviously obstruction of justice was a crime committed by Clinton, too.
you know what sucks?
I can't think of one administration in my lifetime that did not have crooks; many who were even charged and went to prison. Presidents avoid it because, frankly, I don't think we have the stomach to have an Ex in Prison, and they have a big-time insulation factor. From the very first Prez W to the most recent Prez W,
history is replete with bad actors and their minions.
Politics; Power + Greed = The Devil's Playground.
Ensign's got a problem like OJ, he's surrounded himself with people that tell him what he wants to hear, not what he needs to hear.
Can you smell what the rock is cooking? Why dear sgt every time someone brings up the wrongs done by some republican you automatically try to bring something bad up about Bill Clinton. I have to agree that Clinton wasn't/isn't perfect but do you think you could stay focused on one politician at a time?
Magnifying the wrongs of a democrat to reduce the wrong perpetrated by a republican. It gets old, nance/rock. Try and stay focused!
Again I respect your comment but don't agree with it.
I am just pointing out the hypocrispy the Democrats who wanted to give a pass on Clinton and now have found this prinicpled stand against affairs.
I guess we're gonna let slick willy go.
A modicum of evidence, a wad of cum on Monica's dress. I guess we're gonna let ole slick willy go.