Nevada Senator John Ensign (R-homewrecker) skates on sex/bribery charges before the Federal Election Commission despite the fact that it is undisputed that his parents forked ovre $96k to his mistress for…what? Services rendered? Silence?
And why does this moral crater slide like butter down the side of prime steak?
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Because his parents say they were so moved by their love of their son’s object of desire that they it was just a joy to hand her and her family nearly 100 big ones. It was a gift, you see, and no, not ever, never a bribe.
And the FEC did not spit in stifled laughter at this nonsense. Oh no. They swallowed:
“As a practical matter, it is doubtful that an investigation would produce any additional evidence that would contradict or outweigh this testimony,” the FEC wrote. “Accordingly, we conclude that an investigation in this matter is unwarranted and would not be an efficient use of Commission resources.”
Nothing to see here, move along…
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I’m not a lawyer (yes — this is yet another field of knowledge about which I know nothing) so I can’t judge whether or not the evidentiary standard the FEC invokes here is really this constraining.
But there is no way this passes the smell test.
The man catted around; arranged to have his mistress paid off; and he’s good to go.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Your Republican Party.
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With an emphasis on Party.
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Update: and yeah, I know that IOKIYAR is old, old news. But I’m antique enough and tired enough that this kind of naked, in-my-face reminder that there is one law for thee and me and one for them…F**k it. I can’t even write a simple sentence about this any more, I’m that pissed.
Image: Eugène Delacroix, “Louis d’Orléans Showing His Mistress,” 1825-6
Villago Delenda Est
OK, this will sound like a broken record (oops, showing my age!), but IOKIYAR.
Hunter Gathers
This week, on another installment of It’s OK If You Are A Republican..
This guy gets my vote as Most Pathetic Person of 2010. What kind of douchebag gets mommy and daddy to pay off his mistress?
Mike Kay (Hippie Hunter)
this was the price for getting his vote on DADT.
Cris
@Villago Delenda Est: A broken CD skips even more furiously than a broken record.
Of course, I guess even CDs are passé now.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hunter Gathers:
George “deserter from the Air National Guard” W. Bush?
Hunter Gathers
@Villago Delenda Est: Naw, Dubya would have had Turd Blossom fork over the cash. Or get Dark Lord of the Sith Cheney to shoot her in the face.
Strypgia
Remember the ancient past, when this kind of thing would irretrievably sink a man’s whole career? Gary Hart blew up his whole campaign just for pictures with a mistress. This is flat out payoffs, and we get a shrug?
Ash Can
And Rangel got dinged for what?
Dennis SGMM
So the FEC failed to deliver a debilitating wrist slap to Ensign. So what? The only cure for the U.S. Senate is to release a few dozen shit-eating pigs in the chamber and then bolt the doors.
Dennis SGMM
@Ash Can:
He was dinged for being a dinge who didn’t know his place.
Anonymous At Work
The FEC’s statement reads likes, “We have a record of a payment that’s barely-technically legal but fails every smell-test we have. However, no party to the transaction is going to give testimony that it was illegal and there’s no other proof, so we’re gonna have to give up for lack an angle to work.”
Hunter Gathers
@Dennis SGMM: So what happens when Jim DeMint and Rand Paul run out of things to eat?
J.W. Hamner
I’ve always felt this blog was lacking in oil paintings… I just hope Levenson doesn’t declare himself Balloon Juice’s art curator.
beltane
@J.W. Hamner: Well, we could use a resident art curator here, or maybe an Ombudsman Emeritus of the Fine and Applied Arts. I would suck at the job, since the events of the past few months have made me think of nothing but Hieronymus Bosch.
Maody
@beltane: or Guernica
Dennis SGMM
@Hunter Gathers:
That’s an insult to shit-eating pigs.
Linda Featheringill
@J.W. Hamner:
Yes.
I do enjoy the paintings.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen this one. Don’t think I would forget it. [Am I old enough for this blog?]
MobiusKlein
@Anonymous At Work: 20 people saw the murder, but nobody can remember what the killer’s face looked like.
Why didn’t Clinton pay off the various folks, that’s what I want to know.
Linda Featheringill
@beltane:
Ooooh! Some H.B. would be nice!
Mike Kay (Hippie Hunter)
I think the bigger issue is how to use the scandal in upcoming 2012 senate race.
Ensign is dumb enough to run again. If he does, he should be the number one target.
Instead of just doing primary challenges, this would be a perfect chance for the blogosphere to field a candidate of their own for a winnable seat.
tim serbo
@Linda Featheringill: pretty unsettling painting, isn’t it?
Maody
from H.B.’s Garden of Earthly Delights
Bob L
@Mike Kay (Hippie Hunter): That would be kind of funny if Ensign was primaried by Angle.
El Cid
An innovative GOTV effort in Spain.
kdaug
Don’t get me started on the whole war crimes/torture thing…
ruemara
Have to admit, I am loving your use of classic paintings-AND NOT THE SAME DAMN ONES-to illustrate your posts. This one is spot on, horrifying, titillating and lovely, all at the same time. Yes, I loves me some Delacroix
Also, too, fuck republicans. If I could hold my tongue and fake being one, I’d probably be a nationally known commentator. Ain’t no money worth diving into that slime pit.
Maody
christ in limbo
cleter
Will Ensign get a teabaggy primary challenger?
beltane
@Maody: Thank you for providing us with a preview of next year’s Values Voters summit.
Roger Moore
@cleter:
No. There will be no teabaggers by the time the 2012 election rolls around. The whole tea party meme will have run its course, and there will be a new astroturf group filling the same niche.
Linda Featheringill
@Maody:
Garden looks very nice on my desktop. Go ahead, stretch it. Who will be able to tell? :-)
Linda Featheringill
@tim serbo:
Property.
Maody
@beltane: they aren’t that creative
@Linda Featheringill: well, maybe… always one of my favorites.
I proclaim myself the BJ NewBie With The Useless & Very Old Art Degree Who Can Find Good Art On The Internets
If one can’t make money with such, at least one can entertain.
Linda Featheringill
@Maody:
Some of those degrees that won’t earn a living for you can truly enrich your life. And “they” can’t take that away from you!
Dennis SGMM
@Maody:
Try a four-decade-old Lit degree. Imagine my surprise when I found that I could, and did, make more money as a machinist.
Maody
@Linda Featheringill: also, too. yeah.@Dennis SGMM: and me as a cook and gardener… but still underemployed at 55
Maody
his asshattedness
Dennis SGMM
@Maody:
Heh! Having such degrees means that we can appreciate our circumscribed existences in ways that those without same can not. Rather than saying to myself “This sucks!” I can instead say to myself “Ineluctable modality of the visible.”
It makes a huge difference.
fucen tarmal
this maybe a little bit off topic, but do you think the model delacroix used, asked her male companion, “does this oil painting make my ass look big?’ and is my ass crack really that hairy?
A Humble Lurker
@Maody:
….Whoa. Parts of me hurt just looking at that.
Chris
As usual, Republicans take a portion of government, break it, accuse it of not working, and voters reward them for being properly cynical, instead of naively hopeful like those dumb Democrats who actually think there should be rules and that they should applied with a semblance of logic or fairness.
Government doesn’t work when one party is intent on sabotaging it at every possible chance – and the other party (A) refuses to bust them for it, and (B) openly helps them half the time.
Maody
@Dennis SGMM: and I can say, “dreams of madness and beauty, the emporium that is life.”
@A Humble Lurker: one would hope so.
The Other Chuck
@Maody:
I can’t be the only one who thought of goatse.
Maody
@The Other Chuck: beltane brought up H.B. first. don’t lay that shit at my back door, Mister/Ms.
Maody
one of my favorites, The Little Deer.
it seems to have something to do with this, but maybe someone else can put words to it.
flounder
If Democrats don’t relentlessly attack Ensign for being a corrupt philanderer that has to rely on his mommy and daddy to buy people off for him in 2012 (after they encourage Democrats to switch to Republican for the primary and make sure he doesn’t get Lowdened), then the party is more f-ed up than the FEC.
J. Michael Neal
This specific event isn’t a case of IOKIYAR, though the overall situation is. The FEC is equal opportunity ineffective. It’s hamstrung by it’s procedural rules and partisan spats. Don’t ever expect usefulness from it.
@Mike Kay (Hippie Hunter):
Not only is he running, recent polling shows him way ahead of potential challengers.
Gin & Tonic
@The Other Chuck:
But maybe the only one to admit it.
asiangrrlMN
Head, desk, thump. Head, desk, thump. Repeat ad nauseam until I forget that I read this post.
RosiesDad
Not to worry. The Senate Ethics Committee will hold a hearing, they’ll find Ensign guilty of 13 of 15 charges and then they’ll slap his wrist. Because that’s how they do on Capitol Hill.
RosiesDad
@flounder:
Yeah, maybe they can get Charlie Rangel to spearhead the effort.
piratedan
what bothers me the most is that he gets elected into office on the high and mighty platform. Based on his superior ethics and morals, a good honest C-Streeter. Then he screws over his own office by diddling the help, paying off the cuckold with family funds no less. Has the help of his morally rightous Rev. Coburn to broker the deal to handle the payoff and folks are willing to forgive him this and not impeach him on ethics charges and still hold Slick Willie (who was a horndog and everyone knew it) more accountable. While I’m not in favor of politicians catting around as a general principal, I tend to hold those guys that set themselves up to a higher standard for ethics and morals because that’s how they roll. When they prove to be the moral weaklings to the flesh that they are, how is it that they get off the hook so easily? If that was one of the primary considerations for you holding office (since that is what you ran on) how in the hell do you get a pass on that crap in the mainstream media?
Fleas correct the era
I’d appreciate it if someone would let Mommy and Daddy Ensign know I’m pretty loveable myself, on a good day.
Well, let’s say, for the best hour of a good day.
Well, likeable, anyway.
Richard Shindledecker
We need a new filing category here: like ‘I fuckt your wife so you won’t have to’.
Thanks Tom!