First we were hit with news of the Sen. John Ensign affair — you know, the one where he was caught having an affair with an employee who happened to be the wife of his best friend and former Administrative Assistant? Then we got overly bombarded with the tragic love tale of Gov. Mark Sanford, who took “TMI” to a whole new level with intricate details of trysts with his Argentinian mistress. Well, apparently Sen. Ensign must have desperately wanted the spotlight back, because he’s now front and center in the news again in a very big way, which prompts the question: is the GOP engaging in a scandal contest?
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It appears that following the affair, Sen. Ensign and his parents have been paying off his lover Cynthia Hampton and her husband. In April 2008, John Ensign’s parents each made gifts to Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton, and two of their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000. This after Cynthia Hampton was paid $25,000. as “severance pay” once the affair became public. This is very bad news for Ensign. As a supposed “Christian Conservative” and member of the “C Street Foundation” (some sort of detox facility for Congressmen who are into sexcapades), Ensign is expected to be above such behavior. But now that huge sums of money are exchanging hands, authorities are getting involved to see if there is some violation of ethnics. A Washington ethics group has called on the Department of Justice to conduct a criminal investigation into whether Ensign gave his mistress considerably more than $25,000 in severance pay which may have gone unreported. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said it has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to order a criminal investigation after Doug Hampton disclosed the severance payment. “As despicable as Sen. Ensign’s conduct has been, it now appears it also may have been criminal,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW. “The Department of Justice has a responsibility to ensure that all Americans – even high level political officials – are held accountable for their actions.”`
So take that, Gov. Sanford. The score is now 2 for Ensign and 1 for Sanford. Your move!
And while all of this Repub BS continues to play out in the news, Repub Senators have assumed their usual role during the media-driven GOP bullsh*t show_aka the “Confirmation Hearings” of Judge Sotomayor_smh.
The truth is, I haven’t watched a minute of the hearings and from what I’ve read, things have gone pretty much as I had expected; Repub senators doing their damndest to derail the Judge's nomination (rolling my eyes) while the Judge maintains her cool and integrity under pressure, answering all questions with careful deliberation, intelligence and in “dulcet tones that seemed to lull her opposition into, if not complacency, then at least resignation.”
I applaud the Judge!
And I’d wager that long after she’s been confirmed to the Supreme Court, Repub bullsh*t will still be playing out for all the world to see_smh.
Pitiful.