What a shame. And to top off the day John McCain is no longer a Maverick, and behold, never really was, according to whom you might query. Well, the Maverick himself.
I don’t know if I can bear the disappointment. But I hear wingnuts are on the march to annihilate dems this November and take away Nancy’s BiG Ass Gavel.
John Ensign? Who is this John “Ensign” of whom you speak?
Well, at least the local rag is on the case. Even if the national media would rather stalk John Edwards, who, as everybody knows, has way more power in this country than Ensign does.
The fact that there hasn’t been an Ensign Resign *yet* (not to mention a David Vitter Resign) speaks volumes about the state of the GOP.
4.
Martin
McCain never said he was a maverick. He said he was the Original Maverick™. I bet you doped-up hippies are always calling up Microsoft when you need replacement windows, too.
5.
Martin
The fact that there hasn’t been an Ensign Resign yet (not to mention a David Vitter Resign) speaks volumes about the state of the GOP.
Real Republicans quit at the top of their game, apparently. Or something. Also.
6.
Mike Kay
Are you saying a devout member of the C Street Fellowship is in trouble!! How dare you!
He’s a Republican. He won’t resign unless he’s convicted. Hell, maybe not even then.
8.
demo woman
How long before Fox News calls him a democrat?
9.
JimPortlandOR
Frog March! In RED jumpsuit instead of orange!
Some structured prison time breaking actual rocks sounds like the right solution.
10.
Mike Kay
Are you saying a devout member of the C Street Fellowship is in trouble!! How dare you!
Next, you’ll be saying Sarah Palin abused her office in firing the state chief of police without cause because he won’t participate in settling a family score.
Expect to hear “Senator Stevens” a lot, along with a lot of noise about scalp hunters and trophy hunting overcoming true justice.
/spit
14.
Mike Kay
@J.W. Hamner: This. Let’s remember, IOKIYAR. Hell, they had ted stevens on tape and he still didn’t resign.
15.
FlyingToaster
@J.W. Hamner — Careful. Jim Traficant was purportedly a Democrat and he didn’t resign, either. After his conviction and expulsion from Congress, he ran for re-election as an independent from his jail cell.
Of course, sexual pecadillos weren’t among his problems.
16.
demkat620
I still don’t get how this story has gotten as little coverage as it has.
It has sex, money, bribes. I mean c’mon. Who’s Ensign blowing?
17.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
“Of course, Democrats have had their own sex scandals, Wolf, from John Edwards to of course Bill Clinton who was of course impeached, so I think it’s of too early to say that this will cause problems for Republicans.”
“Both sides have scandals they’d rather not talk about, Candy. We should of course remember that.”
18.
Steve
Also, I heard Karl Rove’s indictment will be made public any day now.
19.
MattF
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republicans try to defend Ensign– but he’s a not-all-that-powerful politician (unlike Stevens) and, for Republicans, it’s all about Power. Also, just parenthetically, what Ensign actually did was awesomely slimy. But we’ll see.
Also, just parenthetically, what Ensign actually did was awesomely slimyembrace free market solutions to social issues.
Much better.
24.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
It has sex, money, bribes. I mean c’mon. Who’s Ensign blowing?
What did Tom Coburn know? And when did he know it?
25.
mr. whipple
This is clearly an anomoly. I suspect that Ensign is a closet Democrat, as deemed by his Liberal views of sexuality.
26.
Roger Moore
Frog March! In RED jumpsuit instead of orange!
How about a nice white jumpsuit with a big scarlet “A”. It would certainly be appropriate.
27.
Martin
Mine explosion in Raleigh County, WV
6 dead, 21 missing. Damn. Even Mexico has good enough building codes so that a 7.2 earthquake only killed 2 people. We’re going something wrong here, folks.
28.
Mark S.
Why is Stevens even relevant? If the DOJ screws up one case, all their cases are tainted? You might as well let everyone out of prison.
RNC officials worked to distance Chairman Michael Steele from the controversy — insisting that not only was he not in attendance but that he had no knowledge of the reimbursement — and promised changes in the way that people were reimbursed by the committee.
I guess we know where the buck stops in the RNC.
In the NCAA, they’d call that lack of institutional oversight.
@15: I was being flip. Clinging to power until the last possible second is most definitely bipartisan. If there’s anything IOKIYAR going on, it’s evidenced in the lack of coverage.
31.
Midnight Marauder
Expect to hear “Senator Stevens” a lot, along with a lot of noise about scalp hunters and trophy hunting overcoming true justice.
True enough. But this time, it would appear that federal investigators are taking extra precautions to make sure that they “get their man,” as the article from the Las Vegas Sun indicates.
32.
gbear
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs called Steele’s comment on race “silly”, adding: “I think Michael Steele’s problem isn’t the race card, it’s the credit card.”
Gibbs is so much fun.
Ensign is going to be a wingnut martyr before the week ends. It doesn’t matter what he does. He’s a persecuted conservative. That trumps everything, including facts.
Damn. Just when it looks like the Democrats may be getting themselves into some deep shit in November, they pass the biggest piece of social legislation since Medicare. THEN the Republicans give them an assist by frowning on the much needed financial reform legislation AND former POW McCain shoots straight into his big toe. Of course, the Ensign deal is icing on the cake. Looks like that plan to put David Vitter out front in the Senate is going to work wonders …
37.
Zifnab
@arguingwithsignposts:
The fact that there hasn’t been an Ensign Resign yet (not to mention a David Vitter Resign) speaks volumes about the state of the GOP sheer bulletproof nature of incumbency.
These guys wouldn’t be holding their ground if the party at large thought they were electoral threats. Compare Ensign to Bunning, who is getting the bums rush out of Kentucky because of poll numbers that collapsed years ago.
Vitter and Ensign aren’t going to get yanked out of office until it becomes clear they can’t get reelected.
That said, if Ensign leaves his seat, what is going to happen to Nevada? They’ve already got one major Senate race with Reid. Does Ensign’s seat drop onto the ballot as well? Do we wait till 2011 for a special election?
I’m not surprised he hasn’t resigned, but I am disgusted with the lack of media buzz about this. As demkat620 said, it has all the makings of a good popcorn movie. WTF?
These guys wouldn’t be holding their ground if the party at large thought they were electoral threats. Compare Ensign to Bunning, who is getting the bums rush out of Kentucky because of poll numbers that collapsed years ago.
The fact that Bunning is apparently a bigger asshole than your average Republican (which is, admittedly, a very *difficult* nut to crack) is part of that equation. But Ensign’s shenanigans are beyond even Edwards’ peccadillos. And while the Clenis was getting serviced in the White House, there were no monetary angles involved.
I realize it’s all about the electoral calculus for these dipshits, but damn, sometimes politicians need to man(woman) up and do the right thing regardless of whether you can get away with it with the electorate.
Sheesh.
40.
MoeLarryAndJesus
Has anyone suggested the headline “Ensign Pulverized” yet?
41.
trollhattan
Careful now, this is B.O.B.’s Very Own Senator we’re talking about here. Don’t get him crabby.
The question I have about the whole John Ensign controversy is this:
Why would anyone volunteer to be on his staff?
That was a real violation of trust.
43.
fourlegsgood
Oh, that mean Obama, making that nice Ensign man go away – why it’s gotten so DC is so awful that your garden variety, mistress paying off, ethically challenged GOP senator can hardly have a little peace. Such is life in our new socialist hell.
I can hardly bear the pain.
(snicker)
44.
mistersnrub
This is clearly just more evidence of Obama’s draconian, dictatorial tactics. This banana republic-esque junta must not look backwards to prosecute crimes of its political opponents.
Rove will be on the bobblehead shows this weekend saying something to that extent. 3:2 odds.
Currently, 46 of the 50 states permit appointment by the governor; only Connecticut, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wisconsin rely completely on special election. . . In eight other states, the governor may fill a vacancy by appointment, but a special election is to be held as soon as possible. In the remaining 38 states, the governor may fill a vacancy by appointment, and the appointed Senator will serve until a replacement is chosen by election at the time of the next general election.
I don’t know if Nevada is one of those eight states that require a special election as soon as possible.
46.
Origuy
@Zifnab: In Nevada, the governor appoints a replacement to serve until the next regularly-scheduled statewide election. I guess that would be this November. Source.
So I guess the question is whether Ensign resigns before Gibbons. I don’t think Gibbons is currently facing indictment, so he’ll probably appoint Ensign’s replacement, assuming he does resign.
47.
Mark S.
@asiangrrlmn
As demkat620 said, it has all the makings of a good popcorn movie.
Perhaps the fumes from all that ink on the money is an aphrodisiac of some sort? Or is it that all that money just makes them all crazy? Makes me appreciate Reid’s Mormonism at this juncture more than I did. He’s at least not involved in this kind of horseshit.
Ensign is totally innocent in his own mind. Ergo he will never resign. He will instead provide evidence this is all a vast left wing conspiracy funded by… wait for it… HILLARY CLINTON. What, you were expecting Soros?
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republicans try to defend Ensign—but he’s a not-all-that-powerful politician (unlike Stevens) and, for Republicans, it’s all about Power. Also, just parenthetically, what Ensign actually did was awesomely slimy. But we’ll see.”
I think this could go either way. Ensign had sex with a woman, so they’re less likely to want to shove him out, unlike with Larry Craig. Although, unlike with Vitter, who was from a state with a Democratic governor when his diaper business leaked out, Nevada has a Republican governor right now, so they don’t have as much to lose if he resigns.
And as for being slimy, well, this is only a guess, but I bet other Republicans are more likely to blame his girlfriend or her husband than they are to blame Ensign. This is the party of a guy from Pennsylvania who choked his mistress so badly that she hid in the bathroom and called 911, and when he later lost, Grover Norquist said she was just “whining”, and, implicitly, I guess, that it was unjust that he should have lost. Lovely people.
No politician manufactured in the C Street Factory of Leaders and Saviors has noticed any reason to resign their elected offices, on account of being chosen by their diety and not answerable to voters or anything. Also too
54.
tc125231
Well, I used to think people’s sex lives were there own business. Then Ken Starr, Lyndsey Graham and the rest of the Hyde Commission taught me that the government has a DUTY to make all people’s sex lives as public as possible, even if no consenting adult involved desired the publicity.
(Weren’t you still supporting these gobs of shite while all that was going on Mr. Cole?)
So I say, bring it on. Hell, Clinton didn’t even pay anyone money. Bet they’re sorry that they educated all of us so thoroughly….
55.
Tenzil Kem
Anyone want to speculate wildly about what an open race for a second Senate seat would do to Harry Reid’s re-election chances?
56.
kay
I still don’t get how this story has gotten as little coverage as it has.
It has sex, money, bribes. I mean c’mon. Who’s Ensign blowing?
I’m going to go the other way. I think media are waiting for actual facts or an indictment because he’s probably in serious trouble. I think that’s why we haven’t heard speculation or silliness on the sexual angle, a la Vitter.
It’ll get plenty of press if he’s indicted. He’s a Senator.
I still don’t know why he didn’t resign. I think the affair is the least of his problems, although I am baffled why membership in that completely bizarre religious cult doesn’t concern voters. For all the freaking out that Americans supposedly do over who listens to what preacher, there’s this wacko cult operating right under their noses in DC and they don’t seem to mind a bit.
I couldn’t get through the book about The Family. I got it as a gift, and I really made an effort, but religion bores the hell out of me, and always has.
One of the members would start droning on about the cult philosophy and I’d get that same urge to flee I had in vacation Bible School.
I’d decide I had this urgent need to run off and organize a drawer, or do my nails, something urgent and crucial.
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General Egali Tarian Stuck
What a shame. And to top off the day John McCain is no longer a Maverick, and behold, never really was, according to whom you might query. Well, the Maverick himself.
I don’t know if I can bear the disappointment. But I hear wingnuts are on the march to annihilate dems this November and take away Nancy’s BiG Ass Gavel.
slag
John Ensign? Who is this John “Ensign” of whom you speak?
Well, at least the local rag is on the case. Even if the national media would rather stalk John Edwards, who, as everybody knows, has way more power in this country than Ensign does.
arguingwithsignposts
The fact that there hasn’t been an Ensign Resign *yet* (not to mention a David Vitter Resign) speaks volumes about the state of the GOP.
Martin
McCain never said he was a maverick. He said he was the Original Maverick™. I bet you doped-up hippies are always calling up Microsoft when you need replacement windows, too.
Martin
Real Republicans quit at the top of their game, apparently. Or something. Also.
Mike Kay
Are you saying a devout member of the C Street Fellowship is in trouble!! How dare you!
J.W. Hamner
He’s a Republican. He won’t resign unless he’s convicted. Hell, maybe not even then.
demo woman
How long before Fox News calls him a democrat?
JimPortlandOR
Frog March! In RED jumpsuit instead of orange!
Some structured prison time breaking actual rocks sounds like the right solution.
Mike Kay
Are you saying a devout member of the C Street Fellowship is in trouble!! How dare you!
Next, you’ll be saying Sarah Palin abused her office in firing the state chief of police without cause because he won’t participate in settling a family score.
Leelee for Obama
@ demo woman
You mean they haven’t yet? Ailes is getting slow.
Midnight Marauder
@demo woman:
Two hours after the indictment is public.
Kirk Spencer
Expect to hear “Senator Stevens” a lot, along with a lot of noise about scalp hunters and trophy hunting overcoming true justice.
/spit
Mike Kay
@J.W. Hamner: This. Let’s remember, IOKIYAR. Hell, they had ted stevens on tape and he still didn’t resign.
FlyingToaster
@J.W. Hamner — Careful. Jim Traficant was purportedly a Democrat and he didn’t resign, either. After his conviction and expulsion from Congress, he ran for re-election as an independent from his jail cell.
Of course, sexual pecadillos weren’t among his problems.
demkat620
I still don’t get how this story has gotten as little coverage as it has.
It has sex, money, bribes. I mean c’mon. Who’s Ensign blowing?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
“Of course, Democrats have had their own sex scandals, Wolf, from John Edwards to of course Bill Clinton who was of course impeached, so I think it’s of too early to say that this will cause problems for Republicans.”
“Both sides have scandals they’d rather not talk about, Candy. We should of course remember that.”
Steve
Also, I heard Karl Rove’s indictment will be made public any day now.
MattF
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republicans try to defend Ensign– but he’s a not-all-that-powerful politician (unlike Stevens) and, for Republicans, it’s all about Power. Also, just parenthetically, what Ensign actually did was awesomely slimy. But we’ll see.
arguingwithsignposts
A nice article in the Sun, ruined by this in the final paragraphs:
(emphasis mine)
Todd as a political correspondent, yes. Guru? um, no.
SiubhanDuinne
I posted this in the Greenspan thread, but it’s more appropriate here: according to WaPo alerts, the RNC chief of staff has announced his resignation.
khead
Sorry – off topic but…
Mine explosion in Raleigh County, WV
Martin
Much better.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
What did Tom Coburn know? And when did he know it?
mr. whipple
This is clearly an anomoly. I suspect that Ensign is a closet Democrat, as deemed by his Liberal views of sexuality.
Roger Moore
How about a nice white jumpsuit with a big scarlet “A”. It would certainly be appropriate.
Martin
6 dead, 21 missing. Damn. Even Mexico has good enough building codes so that a 7.2 earthquake only killed 2 people. We’re going something wrong here, folks.
Mark S.
Why is Stevens even relevant? If the DOJ screws up one case, all their cases are tainted? You might as well let everyone out of prison.
arguingwithsignposts
Per SuibhanDuine’s tip: WaPo link:
I guess we know where the buck stops in the RNC.
In the NCAA, they’d call that lack of institutional oversight.
J.W. Hamner
@15: I was being flip. Clinging to power until the last possible second is most definitely bipartisan. If there’s anything IOKIYAR going on, it’s evidenced in the lack of coverage.
Midnight Marauder
True enough. But this time, it would appear that federal investigators are taking extra precautions to make sure that they “get their man,” as the article from the Las Vegas Sun indicates.
gbear
Gibbs is so much fun.
Ensign is going to be a wingnut martyr before the week ends. It doesn’t matter what he does. He’s a persecuted conservative. That trumps everything, including facts.
slag
Speaking of…I wonder if Harry Reid and the rest of the senate will give Ensign a standing ovation on his last day.
Calouste
@ FlyingToaster
Of course the man was such a strong Democrat that he voted for Hastert as Speaker and was promptly stripped of all his committee assignments.
Violet
Official Republican-dom will pretend he didn’t exist. He’ll still have plenty of friends, but not in public.
The Grand Panjandrum
Damn. Just when it looks like the Democrats may be getting themselves into some deep shit in November, they pass the biggest piece of social legislation since Medicare. THEN the Republicans give them an assist by frowning on the much needed financial reform legislation AND former POW McCain shoots straight into his big toe. Of course, the Ensign deal is icing on the cake. Looks like that plan to put David Vitter out front in the Senate is going to work wonders …
Zifnab
@arguingwithsignposts:
These guys wouldn’t be holding their ground if the party at large thought they were electoral threats. Compare Ensign to Bunning, who is getting the bums rush out of Kentucky because of poll numbers that collapsed years ago.
Vitter and Ensign aren’t going to get yanked out of office until it becomes clear they can’t get reelected.
That said, if Ensign leaves his seat, what is going to happen to Nevada? They’ve already got one major Senate race with Reid. Does Ensign’s seat drop onto the ballot as well? Do we wait till 2011 for a special election?
asiangrrlMN
I’m not surprised he hasn’t resigned, but I am disgusted with the lack of media buzz about this. As demkat620 said, it has all the makings of a good popcorn movie. WTF?
arguingwithsignposts
@Zifnab
The fact that Bunning is apparently a bigger asshole than your average Republican (which is, admittedly, a very *difficult* nut to crack) is part of that equation. But Ensign’s shenanigans are beyond even Edwards’ peccadillos. And while the Clenis was getting serviced in the White House, there were no monetary angles involved.
I realize it’s all about the electoral calculus for these dipshits, but damn, sometimes politicians need to man(woman) up and do the right thing regardless of whether you can get away with it with the electorate.
Sheesh.
MoeLarryAndJesus
Has anyone suggested the headline “Ensign Pulverized” yet?
trollhattan
Careful now, this is B.O.B.’s Very Own Senator we’re talking about here. Don’t get him crabby.
Whazzup with that place, anyhoo?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-6235749-504083.html
Bringing the crazy.
Linda Featheringill
The question I have about the whole John Ensign controversy is this:
Why would anyone volunteer to be on his staff?
That was a real violation of trust.
fourlegsgood
Oh, that mean Obama, making that nice Ensign man go away – why it’s gotten so DC is so awful that your garden variety, mistress paying off, ethically challenged GOP senator can hardly have a little peace. Such is life in our new socialist hell.
I can hardly bear the pain.
(snicker)
mistersnrub
This is clearly just more evidence of Obama’s draconian, dictatorial tactics. This banana republic-esque junta must not look backwards to prosecute crimes of its political opponents.
Rove will be on the bobblehead shows this weekend saying something to that extent. 3:2 odds.
Mark S.
@Zifnab
This was the best I could find:
I don’t know if Nevada is one of those eight states that require a special election as soon as possible.
Origuy
@Zifnab: In Nevada, the governor appoints a replacement to serve until the next regularly-scheduled statewide election. I guess that would be this November. Source.
So I guess the question is whether Ensign resigns before Gibbons. I don’t think Gibbons is currently facing indictment, so he’ll probably appoint Ensign’s replacement, assuming he does resign.
Mark S.
@asiangrrlmn
They might have already made it.
Leelee for Obama
Perhaps the fumes from all that ink on the money is an aphrodisiac of some sort? Or is it that all that money just makes them all crazy? Makes me appreciate Reid’s Mormonism at this juncture more than I did. He’s at least not involved in this kind of horseshit.
PaulW
Ensign is totally innocent in his own mind. Ergo he will never resign. He will instead provide evidence this is all a vast left wing conspiracy funded by… wait for it… HILLARY CLINTON. What, you were expecting Soros?
arguingwithsignposts
Leave John Ensign AAALLLOOONNNNEEEE!
FlyingToaster
@Calouste:
Hence my “purportedly”.
It seems that he’s running again.
I think he should run representing conspiracy theories…
Mumphrey
@ MattF
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republicans try to defend Ensign—but he’s a not-all-that-powerful politician (unlike Stevens) and, for Republicans, it’s all about Power. Also, just parenthetically, what Ensign actually did was awesomely slimy. But we’ll see.”
I think this could go either way. Ensign had sex with a woman, so they’re less likely to want to shove him out, unlike with Larry Craig. Although, unlike with Vitter, who was from a state with a Democratic governor when his diaper business leaked out, Nevada has a Republican governor right now, so they don’t have as much to lose if he resigns.
And as for being slimy, well, this is only a guess, but I bet other Republicans are more likely to blame his girlfriend or her husband than they are to blame Ensign. This is the party of a guy from Pennsylvania who choked his mistress so badly that she hid in the bathroom and called 911, and when he later lost, Grover Norquist said she was just “whining”, and, implicitly, I guess, that it was unjust that he should have lost. Lovely people.
bcinaz
No politician manufactured in the C Street Factory of Leaders and Saviors has noticed any reason to resign their elected offices, on account of being chosen by their diety and not answerable to voters or anything. Also too
tc125231
Well, I used to think people’s sex lives were there own business. Then Ken Starr, Lyndsey Graham and the rest of the Hyde Commission taught me that the government has a DUTY to make all people’s sex lives as public as possible, even if no consenting adult involved desired the publicity.
(Weren’t you still supporting these gobs of shite while all that was going on Mr. Cole?)
So I say, bring it on. Hell, Clinton didn’t even pay anyone money. Bet they’re sorry that they educated all of us so thoroughly….
Tenzil Kem
Anyone want to speculate wildly about what an open race for a second Senate seat would do to Harry Reid’s re-election chances?
kay
I’m going to go the other way. I think media are waiting for actual facts or an indictment because he’s probably in serious trouble. I think that’s why we haven’t heard speculation or silliness on the sexual angle, a la Vitter.
It’ll get plenty of press if he’s indicted. He’s a Senator.
I still don’t know why he didn’t resign. I think the affair is the least of his problems, although I am baffled why membership in that completely bizarre religious cult doesn’t concern voters. For all the freaking out that Americans supposedly do over who listens to what preacher, there’s this wacko cult operating right under their noses in DC and they don’t seem to mind a bit.
WereBear
No one has told them they are supposed to mind.
I woukd think a lot of them don’t even know.
kay
I couldn’t get through the book about The Family. I got it as a gift, and I really made an effort, but religion bores the hell out of me, and always has.
One of the members would start droning on about the cult philosophy and I’d get that same urge to flee I had in vacation Bible School.
I’d decide I had this urgent need to run off and organize a drawer, or do my nails, something urgent and crucial.