By Jon Ralston
Sunday, July 12, 2009 | 2 a.m.
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If John Ensign were still the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, trying to preserve GOP seats, what might he say about scandal-ridden John Ensign?
Might he look down from his high horse and declare this is “something that I thought was not only embarrassing to himself and his family, but also to the whole United States Senate ... That’s one of the things that I’m proudest about our leadership is the swift action, not only calling for an immediate Senate investigation, ethics investigation, removing him from his committees but also sending the signal to him that it was probably best that he resign ... It was best for himself, best for his family and best for the institution of the Senate.”
Those were the exact words that then-NRSC chief Ensign told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos as the campaign season began two years ago, eagerly tossing Idaho Sen. Larry Craig out of the morally unassailable GOP Men’s Club. Granted, Craig was accused of breaking the law — soliciting sex from a man in an airport bathroom. But Ensign solicited sex from a staffer who was his best friend’s wife and then, according to the former pal, forced both out of the office, had his parents pay them off and continued to pursue the wife. Who committed the greater crime?
As many wonder whether Ensign will survive in the drip-drip-drip of revelations, catalyzed by Doug Hampton’s dramatic interview last week, it seems only a matter of time until GOP figures, worried about damage in 2010 and 2012 when Ensign and the presidency are up, begin to treat him with the same political expediency he offered Craig.
Embarrassingly mute Nevada and national Republicans, who by their silence condone this increasingly tawdry and sleazy scandal, surely are privately chattering about how they want Ensign to resign. Ensign’s successor at the NRSC, John Cornyn, was remarkably tepid when the Sun asked him about his colleague’s chances to recover. “I just don’t know the answer to that,” Cornyn said, being slightly more gracious to Ensign than Ensign was to Craig two years ago.
The flip side is true, too, as The Hill reported Friday under the headline, “Senate GOP’s silence ominous for Ensign.”
As the capital newspaper reported, “On Thursday, however, not a single Republican approached in the Senate would openly defend him.”
<snip>
More:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/12/will-ensign-do-whats-best-his-party/:evilgrin:
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