by Mark Silva and updated at 1:20 pm EDT
In an era when a senior Republican senator from Idaho is undone by a toe-tapping stop at an airport's men's room and a popular Democratic governor from New York loses his job over his calls on a call-girl ring, a mundane extramarital affair may seem somehow potentially less politically volatile.
Some have survived such affairs: Sen. David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana. Some have been sunk by such affairs: Democratic former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, erstwhile nominee for vice preident and would-be candidate for president.
So now it is Sen. John Ensign, Republican from Nevada, admitting an affair with a former staff member. Ensign is variously described as "telegenic'' and "a rising star'' of the Republican Party, seen in some quarters as a potential candidate for 2012.
It will be left to the court of public opinion to decide what impact his confession will have on all that. But the track record suggests that this is not a catapult to higher office.
Already today, Ensign has withdrawn from his party leadership post in the Senate -- resigning as chairman of the Republican Policy Comittee, the fourth-ranking position in the party's leadership. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has accepted Ensign's resignation by telephone.
Ensign is pictured above making his confessional in Las Vegas -- photo by Isaac Brekken / AP) Here is a report on Ensign's affair from the Los Angeles Times:
By Ashley Powers
LAS VEGAS -- Nevada Sen. John Ensign, an emerging Republican leader who has been mentioned as a possible 2012 presidential candidate, apologized Tuesday for an extramarital affair with a former staff member but indicated that he had no plans to resign.
"It's absolutely the worst thing I have ever done in my life," he said at a televised news conference. "If there was ever anything that I could take back in my life, this would be it."
A grim-faced Ensign, 51, did not identify the woman he was involved with from December 2007 to August 2008, although he described her and her husband as close friends who had worked for him. "That closeness put me into situations during a very difficult time in my marriage, which led to my inappropriate behavior," he said. "We caused deep pain to both families, and for that I am sorry."
He and his wife, Darlene, sought counseling, he said, and their marriage is "stronger than ever." She was not at the news conference but issued a statement supporting him. They have three children.
It was unclear why Ensign made the disclosure so abruptly. He skipped a Senate vote related to tourism, his state's lifeblood, and flew to Las Vegas for the hastily arranged news conference.
The silver-haired, telegenic conservative has been a rising star in the Republican Party. He is a regular on the cable news circuit, often criticizing President Obama's economic stimulus package. Ensign recently visited Iowa, where he chatted up locals, ate ice cream and fueled speculation that he was gearing up for a presidential bid.
He headed the GOP's Senate campaign panel in 2008, when the party lost at least eight seats. Now he chairs the Republican Policy Committee, a Senate leadership position.
Political experts speculated that Ensign's admission would do him little harm here. "He's the leading voice in Nevada and in the country for fiscal restraint," said Robert Uithoven, a Republican consultant based in the state.
But the revelations could derail his national ambitions, at least in the short term, by turning off values voters in the South and the Corn Belt, experts said.
"It's hard enough for someone in Nevada to run on the national stage because Nevada has such a libertarian streak that others don't understand," said Joseph M. Valenzano III, who teaches political communication at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "He didn't need this."
The senator also could be vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy. He belongs to Promise Keepers, a Christian group whose members pledge, among other things, to abide by biblical principles to build strong marriages.
As a candidate for the Senate, Ensign demanded that President Clinton resign after having an affair with a White House intern. He also voted to impeach Clinton.
Years later, Ensign strongly suggested that Sen. Larry Craig resign in the wake of his arrest in a 2007 airport bathroom sex sting in Minneapolis. The Idaho Republican pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
Ensign is a social conservative who opposes abortion and backs gun rights, but he won office by touting small-government principles, said Eric Herzik, who chairs the University of Nevada, Reno, political science department.
A veterinarian, Ensign spent four years in the House and was elected to the Senate in 2000. Two years earlier, he had lost a contentious race by a few hundred votes to Sen. Harry Reid, now the Senate majority leader.
The pair has a well-known nonaggression pact: They refuse to criticize each other in public.
"I don't know the details. I talked with him today," Reid told reporters, according to CQPolitics.com. "Of course, he's my friend. This is a private family matter. I just hope that Darlene and he work things out."
Ensign, among Nevada's most popular politicians, has vowed to help the state party rebuild after the devastating 2008 election.
The GOP has been hobbled by an unpopular governor, Jim Gibbons, whose estranged wife has accused him of having affairs with at least two women.
Comments
It seems that marriage to many is between a man and a woman............... and others.
Posted by: bill r. | June 17, 2009 8:20 AM
What a peach! The GOP's finest!
It's not the affair. It's the hypocrisy!
Posted by: athena | June 17, 2009 8:45 AM
"It was unclear why Ensign made the disclosure so abruptly."
Ummm, he was pushed into disclosing the affair to avoid blackmail, at least that is what the political press is reporting (like Yahoo!).
So...if he hadn't been being blackmailed, we would never have known? Keep those promises, John!
Posted by: athena | June 17, 2009 8:55 AM
It's a good thing Republicans only demand Democrats resign when they have affairs, or else Ensign could be in trouble.
Posted by: Paul | June 17, 2009 9:11 AM
So much for what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!
Posted by: Richard Friedman | June 17, 2009 9:26 AM
Athena, there are enough broken vows on both sides of the aisle that neither side should stand in judgment.
Posted by: vla | June 17, 2009 9:37 AM
Ahhh, the Loons on the Left are going all gaa-gaa again. Athena, what is the hypocrisy here? This idiot had an affair. His fate is now up to his family and the Nevada voters. People do make mistakes, we all make mistakes, but regardless of mistakes there is still right and there is still wrong.
That is the concept the idiot loons on the left seem to not understand. Bristol Palin gets mocked because she did have sex, but she still preaches abstinance. She is preaching the right thing (who really thinks it's a smart and good thing for 17 year olds to have sex?), but she did made a mistake. She got caught up in the moment.
It's like a drug addict who now preaches to kids to not use drugs. We have these folks who now do the right thing telling kids to not make the mistakes they made. I guess you could call them hypocrites because if they abused drugs why shouldn't I?
Ensign, for whatever reason, has at least fessed up to his stupidity, his mistake. At least he isn't parsing the meaning of "is" and unlike Obama, who as far as I know never apoligized for his reliance on cocaine in college, apologized for his mistake. The only thing Obama apologizes for is alleged U.S. misdeeds in the eyes of the Loony Left.
Posted by: John D | June 17, 2009 10:32 AM
Ah Siliva, I was sure you were going to have today's lead story about our own Senator Durbin dumping his mutual funds and stocks the day after his private briefing with the Sec. of Treas. and the Fed Chair back in Sept. before the market hit the skids. Or that the Dems. blocked an investigation into Speaker Pelosi outrageous claim that the CIA lied to Congress. Or maybe that buried story about the questionable firing of IG Walpin, whole exposed the misuse of federal tax dollars by Kevin Johnson, Obama's basketball buddy. Wasn't it the Prez, as a Senator, that toughen up the independence of IG from politics by requiring a 30 day notice to Congress? Any of these Democract issues concern you? Besides, sex and politics is so passe'.
Posted by: bubba Porter | June 17, 2009 10:38 AM
The prviate lives of politicians and their extramarital affairs are unimportant. (Except for Bill Clinton and John Edwards, in which case affairs are incredibly important)
Posted by: Typical Republican | June 17, 2009 10:42 AM
Thanks for reminding us, just how moral the Republican Party, the Party of NO, really is !! They can question the morals of other members of our government, but they live by the adage of: Don't do as I do, but do as I say !! Their hypocrisy has led to our economic meltdown, people losing their homes, their jobs and in some cases, their lives, be it, by the blood-letting in Iraq or the lack of healthcare, which is turning into Deathcare !! The morals of the Republicans, the Party of NO, are as commendable as slum-landlords, who take the tenants money and don't worry about the deplorable conditions, the landlords greed allows to fester !! Shame on the shams, of the Party of No !! I pray that they can see the light and quit throwing stones, at anyone and get their own house in order, before they attack others !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE.NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | June 17, 2009 11:56 AM
BUT FOR Ensign's having railed on Clinton for the unspeakably immoral abomination of having had an affair (some sources are stating he wanted to actually have Clinton stoned according to Old Testament law), my reaction would be that it's Ensign's business and his wife's.
.
But Ensign DID rail on Clinton for having his affair with Monica Lewinsky (IMO, Clinton's business as well), and he DID call on Clinton to resign because of said affair, stating that Clinton had no credibility left. That makes Ensign susceptible to his own words when the whole affair game comes back to bite him in the keester. Making public statements about somebody else's behavior and deciding to cheat on your wife are both acts wholly in control of any individual; therefore, one who throws stones ought to keep himself WELL OUT of glass houses forevermore.
.
Ensign ought to be subject to exactly the judgment he laid on Clinton -- no more, no less.
Posted by: Op109 | June 17, 2009 12:55 PM
Geographically Ignorant Little Johnnie D:
The hypocrisy is that Ensign demanded that President Clinton resign when his visits with Monica Lewinsky were made public. Yet Ensign the hypocrite has already announced that he will NOT resign his seat in the Senate for doing the exact same thing - committing adultery.
How much simpler can we make it for you to understand?
Posted by: BC | June 17, 2009 1:28 PM
Good ol' John D.......it doesn't take much research to see which side of your mouth you are talking. Here is your post on Edwards:
Edwards is just another crooked Dem who talks a good game but is full of it. Like most liberals, Edwards spoke of helping the little guy all the while he just screwed them over, usually to his financial gain.
Posted by: John D | August 9, 2008 11:56 AM
Posted by: bill r. | June 17, 2009 1:30 PM
The bigotry and hypocrisy of the Republican party is astounding. They reek of it. Ensign is a rat and his insincere and transparent apology reflect his adultery and dishonesty.
Posted by: Doug R. | June 17, 2009 1:35 PM
Senator Ensign is a veterinarian by training. How can his fence-jumping habit be broken? "Neuter and Spay, it's the Only Way."
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/john-ensign-promise-keeper/
Posted by: Mike Licht | June 17, 2009 3:54 PM
Bill r., what in the world does my comment you posted about Edwards have anything to do with this? You pull a comment about Edwards screwing (and not sexually) the little guy for his financial gain.
Anyway, then we have Geographically Ignorant BC (please enlighten everyone on your ignorance regarding geography, please!!) bringing up Clinton's affair with Lewinsky (many Loons have brought that affair up). Loons, let me explain the differences:
1. Lewinsky was a teenage intern in the White House. If Clinton was a corporate CEO or member of the military, he would have been thrown out for sexual harrassment.
2. Clinton lied to the public: "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."
3. Then he lied in front of a grand jury.
4. He went after woman like prey and then tried to destroy those that turned on him, see Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broadderick and others.
5. Ensign's affair was with an adult (unlike Lewinsky) and he didn't lie about it. In fact, he was the one who notified the world of it.
The only real similarlity between Clinton and Ensign is on the stupidity front.
Posted by: John D | June 17, 2009 11:57 PM
SAY HEY!! Sen. Ensign, you were saying about President Clinton????? whiteagle38
Posted by: Raymond Juneau | June 18, 2009 11:23 AM
John D., Monica Lewinsky was an adult. She was 22 at the time of the affair.
Posted by: Nel | June 18, 2009 11:33 AM
Yes, Nel, the 50-year-old Clinton hit on the college student. Sort of makes Clinton like Drew Peterson, huh???
Posted by: John D | June 18, 2009 1:47 PM
No John, she was not a college student either, not that it matters.
Are you saying that it is more acceptable to you in some way for a man to have an affair with a woman who worked for you who was married to a good friend? Incidently, since the ever so honest Senator Ensign hasn't identified who he had the affair with, we have no idea how old she is. She could be as young as Ms. Lewinsky. I'm sure if it turns our that she was in fact a younger woman, you'll be comparing Senator Ensign to an accused murderer as well, won't you?
Posted by: Nel | June 18, 2009 2:11 PM
The Sen. Ensign story is front page above the fold two days in a row, while the more egregious adultery of Rep. Loretta Sanchez is completely ignored by the congressional media? Could it be that she is a Democrat? Extra, extra, read all about it--
http://latinopoliticsblog.com/2009/06/02/the-making-of-the-%E2%80%9Cloretta-sanchez-scandal%E2%80%9D/
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/06/is-congresswoman-loretta-sanchez-having-an-affair-with-a-married-defense-lobbyist/
Posted by: CalState | June 19, 2009 6:03 AM