Today, GOP senator John Ensign of Nevada admitted to an affair with a family friend and staffer.
Normally, I would not have even cared. Senator Ensign’s affair is his business. I believe that we too often pay too much attention to the private lives of public figures and government officials. Obviously, Senator Ensign, his wife, and family have some things they need to work through.
However, what Senator Ensign claims to stand for obligates me to say something.
This is the same Senator Ensign that denounced President Clinton’s affair as embarrassing and insisted that he resign. This is the same Senator John Ensign that called Republican Senator Larry Craig a disgrace and called for him too to resign after Craig was arrested for allegedly soliciting sex in an airport restroom in Minnesota. This is the same Senator Ensign that actively campaigned for the Federal Marriage Amendment which sought to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman and who defined marriage as sacred. And yes, it is the same Senator Ensign who expressed aspirations to run for president in 2012.
And now Senator Ensign admits to an affair with the wife of a friend and staffer. In other words, he slept with his friend’s wife. And it appears he wouldn’t even have come clean if it had not been for someone attempting to use the affair to blackmail him.
When you are quick to pronounce judgment on others, make sure your own house is in order.
Should the private lives of government officials be so closely scrutinized?
8 comments:
Momma always said "What is done in the dark will always come to the light."
P.S. good post on the Talented Tenth...good comments as well
Yeah, really. Perhaps the GOP does not quite have the proper grasp and this concept. And thank you for the compliment.
Politicians are supposed to encompass and exemplify the moral imperative associated with leadership. If your wife can't trust you...is the public expected to?
Thats going a little to far in my opinion, but that is the slippery slope the GOP has put in place.
And you are exactly right, anon. They should be held at a higher standard. But humans make mistakes. But when you point out everybody else's "mistakes" while you cover up your own, that's hypocrisy!
I am glad his wife wasn't standing by his side when he took responsible for this mess.
When that happens, I always feel so sorry for the wife. The must be the most humiliating feeling in the world to have to stand up there next to your husband while he tells the world he was unfaithful.
I don't know if I should see them as incredibly strong women or incredibly stupid women.
Whoah power is quite the aphrodisiac and how ironic that Mr. Ensign was active in the christian men's organization, The Promise Keepers..
Should the private lives of government officials be so closely scrutinized?
YES.. I think the lowest of cheaters and anyone who cheats, whether you cheat on your taxes, on a test, cheat someone out of money that is a sign that you are lacking in CHARACTER AND INTEGRITY AND YOU ARE SELFISH. So no you need not be in any kind of office. Why would you bring shame to your name? He has 3 kids I don't know how many are girls but what a message to his sons and daughters
Well, we all are human and are prone to doing human things which includes erring, although some errors are more grievous than others.
Of course government officials should hold themselves to a higher standard, but we should also realize that they are human. Perhaps the detail of this whole thing that gets me is even after he erred, he did not immediately stop and ask for forgiveness but continued his self-righteous campaigns against others who he was just as guilty as.
Post a Comment