State Republicans should be very afraid

By Jon Ralston

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.

Question: What are the nine most frightening words in the English language for the Nevada Republican Party?

Answer: Jim Gibbons and John Ensign are running for reelection.

And if you believe what the principals say — a significant “if” with this pair — that reality has arrived, surely causing many GOP pols to become less hirsute as their hair is pulled out in tufts at this apocalyptic proposition for the next two election cycles.

In an interview this week with the Sun’s Lisa Mascaro, Sen. Ensign declared his intentions to stay in office and even run for reelection in 2012 — despite a national scandal over an affair with a staffer who was his wife’s best friend and whose husband was the senator’s closest pal and top employee, and despite confirmation Ensign’s parents paid off the couple after they were banished from D.C. (It’s still hard to write all of that without wincing.)

Also this week, The Man Formerly Known as Governor unveiled a campaign Web site

(http://www.jimgibbonsgovernor2010.com/) that was more amateurish than most Web pages set up for high school presidential contests, and the announcement comes despite an approval rating that makes Ensign look like a rock star. (Soon after I disclosed on RalstonFlash.com the existence of the site, which among other embarrassments had a “vidio” link, the crack Gibbons 2010 staffers took it down for repairs.)

So there you have it, the reason for so much Republican despondency and, following the Newtonian laws of politics, Democratic glee: The state’s two highest Republican officeholders, both beset by different sorts of sex scandals, one confirmed as a historically hypocritical senator and the other as a historically incompetent governor, want to lead the party’s ticket the next two cycles.

Ø and Ensign (I’d use a symbol for him, too, but it might not be fitting for a family newspaper) have a lot in common. Both believe their interests — self-perpetuation — come before anything else, including the state, their party and the institution. Both are in denial about what they have done, perhaps delusionally blaming others for their foibles. And both have confirmed in the public’s mind that a politician’s selfishness and arrogance have few, if any, boundaries.

Perhaps Ensign and Gibbons will have a joint news conference to officially announce their reelection bids. They could say they are joining Promise Keepers and will both use Tom Coburn as their OB/GYN and deacon. And they could announce a joint fundraiser at — where else? — C Street.

Imagine the banner the pair could unfurl as they make the announcement:

“Gibbons-Ensign: A New Kind of Family Values for the GOP”

Or: “Gibbons-Ensign: Promises Kept (sometimes)”

Or: “Gibbons-Ensign: It’s Time for a Change (of wives)”

I can only marvel at how the Democrats are containing their elation — at least publicly. In a display of an abiding principle — if your opponent is committing suicide, get out of the way — the state Democratic Party has not called for Ensign to resign. And if you don’t think the Democrats are praying that Gibbons is the gubernatorial nominee, you don’t know how this game works.

I suppose I could excoriate Democratic elected officials for not calling for both men to resign, for putting politics above the state’s future, for calculating that whatever damage Gibbons has done is done and that Ensign can’t do much anymore (except vote). But what’s the point? Everyone knows what they are doing.

The more salient question is what Republican officials are doing. They surely know how deleterious the Gibbons-Ensign two-cycle ticket will be to the party, probably consigning the GOP to oblivion here for a decade or more as new lines are redrawn in 2011. They are prostrate in the face of the depredations of both men and their spinelessness is incalculably damaging to the party and the state.

Does politics always come before the greater good? Can I really be this naive?

The Gibbons-Ensign combination has become a source of ongoing national ridicule. National Journal labeled Nevada the second most dysfunctional state in the country (thank goodness for New York). An MSNBC host actually asked me last week if Nevadans were the kind of folks who were going to let what Ensign did be forgotten. And National Public Radio is scheduled to run a piece today about both Ensign and Gibbons — and my guess is it will not be about their leadership qualities.

Just imagine how GOP elected officials and candidates are feeling. Which leads me to another Q and A.

Question: What are the nine most heartening words in the English language for the Nevada Republican Party?

Answer: John Ensign is resigning and Jim Gibbons won’t run.