Nevada's John Ensign Resigns

"How's my hair?" Image from source, ABC News

Well, Captain Hairdo finally cashed in his chips. Or rather, he's cashing them out in early May, for some reason. He was busted all the way back in 2009 for making sweet love down by the fire with a staffer's wife. Slowly, the facts came out that said staffer and wife (and their son) benefited greatly from John Ensign's (and his parents') largess. Maybe illegally, surely unethically. For a while, he acted like he'd be running for reelection in 2012. He ultimately announced that he'd retire when his term was up. He commented several times that if he resigned, it would be as good as saying he was guilty.

Now he's announced his resignation. You connect the dots. Meanwhile, Nevada politics has been thrown into a tizzy. Dean Heller, currently a US Congressman, was going to run for Ensign's seat in 2012, but now is a shoo-in to be installed by Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a Republican. This leaves Congresswoman Shelley Berkley in a tricky spot, since she's already announced that she'd likely be running for the Senate seat. Instead of a contest of current Congresspeople, Berkley would be running against a sitting Senator.  And then there is resident nutball Sharron Angle. She was running for Heller's seat, but now she gets a shot at a special election for his seat, a time when voter turnout will likely be light. So she may get swept in, in a fluke, and have incumbency in her favor in 2012!

Could Ensign have planned it this way? Unlikely. If he just wanted to make it hard on Berkley, he could have waited until she had a lot more invested in the race. If Ensign wanted to boost Heller and/or Angle, he could have resigned earlier. More likely, he left now because something unsavory was about to happen with his ethics investigation.

[Excerpt]

Sen. John Ensign Announces Resignation From US Senate



Sen. John Ensign announced Thursday he is resigning from his seat in Congress, where he served for 11 years, and he will send a letter to Vice President Joe Biden on Friday stating that his resignation from office will be effective on May 3, 2011. . .
 
Read more at: ABC News

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) Not Running For Senate in 2012

"And so, since my parents paid the hush money, this is not
technically prostitution. . ." Photo from NY Times

Wow, that was slow. It's been forever ago, politically speaking, that John Ensign got busted for schtupping one of his staffers (and that's just the tip of that iceberg of a story). Why now? I mean, David Vitter got busted soliciting hookers from the House floor for goodness' sake, and he got both a standing ovation from his colleagues and won reelection! My guess is that Ensign either a) is polling badly, b) is having trouble raising money, c) his wife is pitching a fit and doesn't want the attention all over again, or d) all of the above.  But like the earlier disgraced Senator from a neighboring state, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Wide Stance), Ensign will serve out his term, which for Ensign is all the way to January 2013! Way to milk the taxpayer, Captain Hairdo!

[Excerpt]

Senator, After Scandal, Won’t Run Again



Senator John Ensign, the two-term Nevada Republican caught up in a sex and ethics inquiry, announced Monday that he would not seek re-election in 2012 to avoid what he predicted would be an “exceptionally ugly” campaign. . .
 
Read more at: New York Times

Sharron Angle Still Dodging Reporters

Sharron Angle has learned to avoid most of the press not on "her" side (FOX "News" and conservative talk radio). Virtually all of her appearances have been in friendly venues, and her rare mainstream media appearances--planned and unplanned--haven't gone so well.  Angle should realize that dodging questions on camera makes her look guilty, like Nevada Senator John Ensign or Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons running away from a scandal.  Maybe she wants to join the Nevada rogues gallery?

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NV-Sen: Angle runs from pregnant reporter



Another must-see video out of Nevada -- this time Sharron Angle literally flees a pregnant reporter for Reno's NBC affiliate who was trying to ask her a question about GOP congressman Dean Heller's criticism of her view that unemployment benefits have "spoiled our citizenry" and give people and incentive to not find work. . .

Read more at: DailyKos

Sen. John Ensign is Literally an Idiot

This morning on KXNT-AM, the local hit right-wing radio station, Alan Stock was interviewing the junior Senator from Nevada, the sexually adventurous John Ensign. Ensign is better known for his extramarital escapades, his ethically dubious cover-up of same, and his hairdo than he is for smarts. And this morning--while skirting any talk of the above (as far as I heard)--Ensign still managed to misuse the word "literally" at least five times in the space of the six or seven minutes I heard him talk.  Did you know that President Obama is literally driving this country into the ground?  Wait, this country sort of is the ground, so he's. . .driving the. . .ground? into the. . .uh. . .

Harry Reid Steps in It; Steele Overplays It

Image from source, Chicago Tribune

For the second time in the past two weeks the antiquated term "negro" has been in the news. Last time, it was the use of the word in the census. This week, it has been revealed in a tabloidy political book that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used the word in relation to then Senator Barack Obama. Now, to be fair, Reid was not using the word in a pejorative way.

His statement--saying essentially that in America today, a fairer skinned black person with an educated, middle-American speaking style would do better running for President than would a darker skinned person with a more colloquial speaking style--is true. It may be uncomfortable, and it for sure was inartfully articulated, but it is true. Predictably, conservatives are making hay with it. But true to form, they're taking it way around the bend. Having Michael Steele, lord god king foot-in-his-mouth--with his own racially insensitive statement last week--be their point man is just bizarre. Comparing Reid to former Leader Trent Lott, who said that a segregationist would have solved all of our problems as President in the forties is even weirder. And demanding that Reid step down as speaker is just stupid.

As a Nevadan, I have my gripes with Reid. But we also have Senator Ensign, so come on now, which has had a worse offense?

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Sen. Harry Reid and the 'double standard'

GOP Chairman Michael Steele and other Republicans on Sunday accused Democrats of a double standard, saying they accepted Sen. Harry Reid’s apology for racial comments about President Obama, but they also should have demanded that the Nevada Senator step down. . .

Read more at: Chicago Tribune

Sen. John Ensign's Parents Paid Off Mistress?

Picture from Politico

Well, one of my Senators is the nice--if somewhat ineffectual--Majority Leader of the Senate. The other is. . .well. . .getting in deeper and deeper water. Details of Senator Hairdo John Ensign's affair, and its apparent attempted cover up just keep piling up. And he said as recently today that he doesn't plan on resigning. But don't worry, Republicans. If he does resign, we have a Republican Governor (who also had an affair, if you can imagine), so the Senate isn't likely to go up to 61 Democrats just yet.

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Ensign’s Parents Gave Nearly $100,000 to Ex-Mistress, Family

Sen. John Ensign ’s parents gave $96,000 to a former campaign staffer with whom he had an extramarital relationship and her family, his attorney said Thursday, denying that the payments violated campaign finance laws or Senate ethics rules. . .

Read more at: CQ Politics

Olbermann's WTF? Moment: John Ensign and Gitmo Health Care

Having just trashed Sen. John Hairdo Ensign (R-NV) in a previous post, I could not resist letting Keith Olbermann keep slugging away at him. For years, as a resident of Nevada, Ensign seemed like the invisible Senator, only appearing around election time. But lately, he's been popping up all over the place, usually saying something supremely stupid. He's still at it. This time, he says that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay get better health care than the average American. D'oh!

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Minnesotans Want Norm Coleman to Concede to Al Franken

Image from source, Talking Points Memo

I still can't believe that Senate Democrats aren't screaming bloody murder about the ridiculously protracted 2008 Senatorial election in Minnesota. But then, I'm quickly losing patience with Senate Democrats, and have no shortage of things about them that I don't understand. Republicans may be the party of "NO!" but at least they're predictable.

C'mon, Harry Reid! I live in Nevada, and I already have one clueless boob, Sen. John Ensign (R-Obviously) to worry about. Do you really have to keep making it two? Republicans--even out of power--would never stand for this. Norm Coleman is dragging out his fight with no real chance of winning. He's stalling, it's obvious, and Reid is doing nothing. Ridiculous.

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Poll: Majority Of Minnesotans Want Coleman To Concede Defeat To Franken

A new Rasmussen poll reaffirms that Minnesotans want their disputed Senate race to finally end and for Norm Coleman to concede defeat to Al Franken, with the result still bottled up over six months after Election Day. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo