Ensign quits Senate GOP leadership post

By DAVID ESPO – 29 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada has stepped down
from his leadership post one day after admitting he carried on an
extramarital affair with a woman who was on his campaign staff.

Ensign conveyed his decision in a phone call with Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell, who said he had accepted the resignation. Ensign
was chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking spot
in the leadership.


He remained away from the Capitol during the day, and aides declined to
answer additional questions about the affair.

Ensign, a rising star in conservative circles and Nevada's most popular
Republican, disclosed the affair at a hastily arranged news conference
Tuesday, shattering his prospects for heading his party's ticket three
years from now.

"Last year I had an affair. I violated the vows of my marriage," Ensign
told reporters, refusing to take any questions. "It is the worst thing I
have ever done in my life. If there was ever anything in my life that I
could take back, this would be it."

*****Ensign, 51, belongs to the men's Christian ministry Promise
Keepers, and has championed causes pushed by the Republican's
conservative religious base.*****

Earlier this month, he went to Iowa, home to the nation's first
presidential precinct caucuses, to speak as part of a conservative
lecture series designed to define the Republican Party after its
shattering defeat in last year's elections. Aides said the visit was
about staking out a leadership position within the Republican Party.

"This really doesn't help a Republican Party that has tried to run as a
party of family values," said Chuck Muth, a self-described
conservative-libertarian activist. "It absolutely makes the party look
hugely hypocritical."

Ensign did not disclose what prompted his decision to declare his
infidelity.

Ensign's spokesman, Tory Mazzola, said the affair took place between
December 2007 and August 2008 with a campaign staffer who was married to
an employee in Ensign's Senate office.

In 2002, Ensign missed several public appearances and dropped official
business for about two weeks to deal with what his aides then described
as a family matter. A person familiar with that episode, speaking on
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said
Tuesday the absence followed an earlier affair.

Ensign's admission complicates Republican Party efforts to unseat
Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, also from Nevada, in next year's
midterm congressional elections.


- It's the hypocrisy of "Republican family values" that makes this sort
of news significant.

*****Ensign, 51, belongs to the men's Christian ministry Promise
Keepers, and has championed causes pushed by the Republican's
conservative religious base.*****


What a crock of bullship - Republican conservative causes.




--
Republican conservatism is so far out of the mainstream, it is serving
as a drainage ditch somewhere.

On Jun 17, 3:10*pm, HK wrote:
Ensign quits Senate GOP leadership post

By DAVID ESPO – 29 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada has stepped down
from his leadership post one day after admitting he carried on an
extramarital affair with a woman who was on his campaign staff.

Ensign conveyed his decision in a phone call with Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell, who said he had accepted the resignation. Ensign
was chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking spot
in the leadership.

He remained away from the Capitol during the day, and aides declined to
answer additional questions about the affair.

Ensign, a rising star in conservative circles and Nevada's most popular
Republican, disclosed the affair at a hastily arranged news conference
Tuesday, shattering his prospects for heading his party's ticket three
years from now.

"Last year I had an affair. I violated the vows of my marriage," Ensign
told reporters, refusing to take any questions. "It is the worst thing I
have ever done in my life. If there was ever anything in my life that I
could take back, this would be it."

*****Ensign, 51, belongs to the men's Christian ministry Promise
Keepers, and has championed causes pushed by the Republican's
conservative religious base.*****

Earlier this month, he went to Iowa, home to the nation's first
presidential precinct caucuses, to speak as part of a conservative
lecture series designed to define the Republican Party after its
shattering defeat in last year's elections. Aides said the visit was
about staking out a leadership position within the Republican Party.

"This really doesn't help a Republican Party that has tried to run as a
party of family values," said Chuck Muth, a self-described
conservative-libertarian activist. "It absolutely makes the party look
hugely hypocritical."

Ensign did not disclose what prompted his decision to declare his
infidelity.

Ensign's spokesman, Tory Mazzola, said the affair took place between
December 2007 and August 2008 with a campaign staffer who was married to
an employee in Ensign's Senate office.

In 2002, Ensign missed several public appearances and dropped official
business for about two weeks to deal with what his aides then described
as a family matter. A person familiar with that episode, speaking on
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said
Tuesday the absence followed an earlier affair.

Ensign's admission complicates Republican Party efforts to unseat
Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, also from Nevada, in next year's
midterm congressional elections.

- It's the hypocrisy of "Republican family values" that makes this sort
of news significant.

*****Ensign, 51, belongs to the men's Christian ministry Promise
Keepers, and has championed causes pushed by the Republican's
conservative religious base.*****

What a crock of bullship - Republican conservative causes.

--
Republican conservatism is so far out of the mainstream, it is serving
as a drainage ditch somewhere.

Maybe it's blood pressure. Perhaps HK number of posts is related to
his blood pressure, when it goes up he posts more. This suggests a
strategy for getting rid of him but I still think he deserves our
pity............NAH, LOOK HARRY, A REPUBLICAN.