John Ensign, Born Again Promise Keeper
Philandering Nevada Senator John Ensign is a born again Christian who was also a member of the family-oriented “Promise Keeper” group. Among the seven promises of a Promise Keeper:
PROMISE 3
A Promise Keeper is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.
PROMISE 4
A Promise Keeper is committed to building strong marriages and families through love, protection and biblical values.
He urged Bill Clinton to resign as a 1998 Senate candidate, saying, “He has no credibility left.” Ensign had a 100% pro-family rating on his voting record from the Christian Coalition, and the same score from the Family Research Council (dedicated to “Defending Faith, Family and Freedom”) and the American Family Association (standing “for traditional family values”). He discussed marriage on July 13, 2004, speaking in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
“Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded,” Ensign proclaimed from the Senate floor. “For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation. It predates the founding of our nation and even the landing at Plymouth Rock. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America and the world as a whole, has relied, including even the church itself.”
Ensign concluded, “It is not right to mold marriage to fit the desires of a few, against the wishes of so many, and to ignore the important role of marriage.”
Ha ha ha ha ha.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:22 am
For once, I’m speechless. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Kregg Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 11:38 am
SGL said: For once, I’m speechless.
K: I doubt it… ;-)
S: The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
K: While I think this guy ought to be run out of town on a rail, why are you Libs up in arms? Shouldn’t you be embracing this poor misguided soul with his human frailties and circumstances and offering him condolences? ;-)
TDro319 Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
The only one who seems to be “up in arms” about this Ensign guy is you, Kregg.
Gay Rob Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:56 am
ADULTERY IS BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN…LOL
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Gay (and apparently on ’shrooms) Rob…what you are responding to?
Gay Rob Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 3:05 am
I am just being sarcastic. You mean I have to actually explain this to you?
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 2:44 am
I just don’t see the context is all or why it’s supposed to be funny.
Kregg Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
SGL said: For once, I’m speechless. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
K: Do you consider Letterman ‘breathtakingly hypocritical’ for making jokes about sluts and getting knocked up when he has a son conceived under the exact same conditions as the Palin girl?
TDro319 Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
K: Do you consider Letterman ‘breathtakingly hypocritical’ for making jokes about sluts and getting knocked up when he has a son conceived under the exact same conditions as the Palin girl?
TD: No. Letterman is a comedian. He’s paid to make jokes. His jokes were in jest, and he’s taken a few hits about his wife and kid in the past and laughed it off. Hypocracy is accusing someone else of immorality while you, yourself, are guilty of it.
Kregg Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
TD said: No. Letterman is a comedian. He’s paid to make jokes. His jokes were in jest, and he’s taken a few hits about his wife and kid in the past and laughed it off. Hypocracy is accusing someone else of immorality while you, yourself, are guilty of it.
K: Exactly. Littleman was accusing someone else of immorality with A-Rod while he, himself, was guilty of the same indiscretion – having sired a child out of wedlock. I’m glad we can agree on this…
TDro319 Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
K: “Exactly. Littleman was accusing someone else of immorality with A-Rod”
TD: So, if A-Rod wants to make jokes about Letterman, who’s stopping him? Letterman can take it. He has before.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:34 am
“Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America and the world as a whole, has relied, including even the church itself.”
Yeah that’s real nice, and regardless of whether or not there’s any truth to these happy ideas marriage as a legal entity is separate and distinct from the social “institution,” and, as such, should not and must not be denied to same-sex couples.
Kregg Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Rocky said: “…marriage as a legal entity is separate and distinct from the social “institution,”
K: How is the legal entity of marriage separate from the social institution?
Rocky the Liberal Rottweiler Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
“How is the legal entity of marriage separate from the social institution?”
You’re kidding, right? Tax policy? Child custody? Child support? Spousal rights? Community property? Marriageable age? Divorce law? Prenuptial contracts? Inheritance?
None of that gets decided in church. It’s got nothing to do with “social conventions,” or who honors and obeys, or whether sex is for fun or exclusively for procreation, or if anyone ever stands in front of an altar and makes declarative statements to their divinity of record.
It’s all about the law. It’s about the legal entity created on behalf of two people when they’re awarded a “marriage license” by the government. It’s got more in common with the statutes creating the legal fiction of a “corporation” than anything in the “bible.”
Kregg Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Sometimes you make my head hurt. I’ll ask again, “how is the legal entity of marriage separate from the social institution?” Hint; it isn’t. The social institution of marriage brought about the legal recognition of it. The legal entity serves the societal institution. You cannot change one without changing the other.
June 17th, 2009 at 11:40 am
He screwed up, must’ve gotten caught, quickly resigned his public position and has kept his marriage together, hasn’t he? Nothing newsworthy here. I do agree however that the PK group is a flawed and dangerous organization. It’s good that you have them on your watchlist.
June 17th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
What is your point?
If he’s a hypocrite, so what? How many people lie and want to cry out, “Bush Lied.” If you are a liar, does that means Bush didn’t lie or you are somehow unqualified to point to anyone who lies?
Therefore, Does the fact that John Ensign didn’t keep his promise, mean that he’s wrong about Clinton? After all, aren’t you being the hypocrite if you want to bash him for his unfaithful conduct and not do the same to Bill Clinton?
Why must we always attack the messenger? After all, “A broken/stopped clock is right twice a day!”
TDro319 Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
“Therefore, Does the fact that John Ensign didn’t keep his promise, mean that he’s wrong about Clinton?”
He accused Clinton of doing the same thing he’s guilty of. How can you call someone else’s behavior “immoral” when you, yourself, are immoral.
And Bush lied to the American people. The American people didn’t lie to him.
Kregg Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
TD said: He accused Clinton of doing the same thing he’s guilty of. How can you call someone else’s behavior “immoral” when you, yourself, are immoral.
K: Easily. If something is immoral an immoral person can personally point that fact out.
TDro319 Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
K: “Easily. If something is immoral an immoral person can personally point that fact out.”
TD: The difference is, Clinton never lectured anybody else on their lack of morals. Ensign did. Therefore he’s a hypocrite. We don’t judge Ensign for cheating on his wife, we accuse him of pointing out the faults of others while taking no notice of his own.
June 17th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
[...] wouldn’t be homophobic Theocon and Clinton-crotch-hound Sen. John Ensign (R — NV), would it? Why yes, it [...]
June 17th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I think cons are missing the gene that fails to notice that when you go preaching family values and you yourself at not practicing morality, then you are a hypocrite.
It is amusing to me to see their twisted logic “Well, what Clinton did was immoral, it’s still immoral.” Whatever.
Kregg Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:27 am
We are MISSING the gene that FAILS to notice…? Wouldn’t that mean that we possess the gene that DOES notice hypocrisy?
Theres no twisted logic here, SGL. I think this guy’s a hypocrite. So whats your point?
June 17th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Tell me Kregg;
Do you always tell the truth and never lie; all the time? Have you ever taken anything that might not belong to you? Ever borrow something you never returned? Ever done anything that was less than honorable or decent? Ever?
If you have not been perfect then I guess you would call yourself a liar and a cheat. In fact, you would be immoral by your standard of measurement. (Very simple logic using your arguments)
Do you now disqualify yourself to publicly point out lying or other dishonorable behavior?
Doesn’t look like it.
Think!
Daddio Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
We should all “think” Helipilot. Actually your comments should be put to EVERY blogger on this site. Me, you, and everyone who comments here.
What say you Helipilot?
Kregg Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:29 am
You’ve made my earier point.
flap Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 3:15 am
That’s what annoys me about “you liberals” sometimes…SOOOOO quick to criticize a moral failing by someone on the right who has probably tried very hard to live his life in a moral fashion and then he slips up.
Says the left: “OOOH, YOU AREN’T PERFECT!” Does that remove from the truth of any of the “family values” that this guy preached? Removes from the efficacy of the argument perhaps but not the truth of it.
Who is perfect? I will grant you that this guy NOW doesn’t have much room to talk about family values. If he was preaching about family values whilst humping his honey, yes, he’s a hypocrite.
“Hypocrite” is like “racist”…needs to be used sparingly.
TDro319 Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Spare me the routine, Flap. This Ensign guy stood on his soapbox demanding others resign for doing something he’s guilty of himself. He demanded Clinton resign for the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Larry Craig to resign for his bathroom tryst. Funny, he didn’t demand Diapers Vitter’s resignation. I wonder why.
The last thing I need to hear is a holier-than-thou hypocrite lecturing me on the same family values he seems to lack.
flap Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
“Spare me the routine, Flap.”
Spare me your spare me, TDro. Was he guilty of doing those things at the time he was talking about it? If he was, then you’re right.
TDro, I don’t want you to criticize people for lying because, at some point in the future, you WILL lie about something. That would make you a hypocrite.
I would agree with you to the extent that he has NOW lost any ability to criticize those people with marital infidelities. This guy is obviously not a beacon for family values anymore.
June 17th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Sen. John Ensign (R-Nevada) has made previous and public statements about other political officials — with their indiscretions — needing to resign.
Yes, Mr. Ensign has called on the likes of 42nd President Bill Clinton (D-Arkansas) and Senators Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to do the right thing.
Partisans be damned: Nevada’s governor, Jim Gibbons, is a Republican — and he can replace Ensign with a fellow GOP.
So on what exact date will John Ensign give up his seat, as the junior senator from the State of Nevada, in the U.S. Senate?
June 17th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Candy83,
so if Mr. Promisekeeper Senator Ensign doesn’t want to be an Adulterer AND a Hypocrite, he has to resign. I would NEVER want to be THAT public of a hypocrite even in Nevada.
-the hypocrisy police
Candy83 Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 12:02 am
4MOREYEARS,
Be glad for two things:
1) You are not Sen. John Ensign.
2) You are not a publicly elected official.
(Apologies to you, in advance, if any of points 1 and 2 are incorrect.)
—Candy83
June 17th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Another Mr. Clean overcome by the hornybug. Swell.
Kregg Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:30 am
It’s everywhere…
June 17th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
OMG…hypocrisy in politics…Ensign was the last senator, i was really clinging to that 1% that wasn’t, now my ideals of a utopian senate is dashed.
There is a slight difference between Mr. Ensign and everyone else that has been mentioned in this thread, and that is the legal difference. Larry Craig broke the Law, Ted Stevens broke the law, Bill Clinton broke the law.
Like McCain holds public office even after cheating on his first wife, not all philandering is worthy of resigning your position over.
Personally I’ve lost respect for Mr. Ensign and I would most likely not vote for him (if I lived in Nevada).
What has been lost is the good example of Ensign and his wife working through their issues (it was also lost in the Clinton scandal) So many marriages are lost over this issue, some of which could be saved for the better.
Kregg Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:31 am
Well said, Guido…
flap Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 3:17 am
“Bill Clinton broke the law.”
But it was just perjury about SEX…who cares about laws?!
Larry Craig is a wacko. I’m not disturbed by the gayness of it, I’m disturbed by the BATHROOM STRANGER aspect of it.
TDro319 Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
“But it was just perjury about SEX…who cares about laws?!”
Who cares about laws? Why certainly not the last administration! Although I’d like to ask you one question….how many people died because Clinton lied? I already know how many died because Dubya and the Dick lied.
flap Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
“how many people died because Clinton lied?”
You’re implying that Bush lied about something? If you try to toss a crumpled piece of paper into a trash can and misjudge the throw, does that mean you LIED about it? Misjudging or misinterpreting isn’t lying, TDro.
TDro319 Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
“Like McCain holds public office even after cheating on his first wife, not all philandering is worthy of resigning your position over.”
Then this Ensign guy should take his own advice. He vehemently called for the resignations of Clinton and Craig for their sexual indiscretions.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 2:46 am
because they broke the law.
I wouldn’t have called for the resignation of FDR or JFK either.
June 18th, 2009 at 2:17 am
[...] Alan Colmes was not forgetful of Ensign’s ties to that traditional values group. In Colmes typical low-key style, he doesn’t pronounce a judgment on Ensign. He just presents a couple of the seven promises that Ensign seems to have botched. [...]
June 18th, 2009 at 9:30 am
To Daddio;
(I can’t be very sincere if I’m not willing to apply it to myself.)
So then, well said!
Forgive me if I slip over that line.
Thanks
June 18th, 2009 at 9:49 am
It probably doesnt matter to some, but wasnt senator Ensign being extorted or threatened by extortion and had to come clean?
TDro319 Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Of course Ensign had ulterior motives for “coming out” about his affair. I seriously doubt he would’ve admitted to it simply because “it’s the right thing to do”.
From Fox News:
“An influential Republican senator went public Tuesday about an extramarital affair he had with a member of his campaign staff — a decision that FOX News sources say was prompted by a blackmail threat.”
Surprise, surprise!
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
June 19th, 2009 at 2:47 am
it does appear he told his wife about it before this and kept it a private matter, which it was and he has all the right to.
TDro319 Reply:
June 20th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Sure he did. AFTER he found out the mistress’ husband was planning on “outing” him. What a guy! He preferred his wife find out about it before the press did.
GuidoVanHorn Reply:
June 21st, 2009 at 2:04 am
it actually sounds like she’s known for quite a while and they have been going to counseling sessions for an extended period of time. This isn’t the Creevey example of telling your wife you are a gay-american during the press conference.
June 18th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Besides the case of this man’s moral failings with his marriage, he also helped the mistress and her husband financially. So we are talking about more than just oops I had an affair, shame on me!!
OldLefty Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Because he makes a political issue of “Family values”.
crh3e Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Yeah helping to get your mistress’s husband a job sure does sound like “Family Values” to me.
June 18th, 2009 at 9:12 pm