Back in the dinosaur days of journalism, the mainstream media report of John Ensign’s resignation would say that he quit in disgrace over a scandal involving adultery, hush money and influence peddling. That’s because the plain and well-documented truth is that he violated the trust of his best friend, cheated on his wife, had his family pay money to keep the whole thing quiet, and set up his friend as a lobbyist whose clients would get special pleading.
Instead, both the Post and the Times say that Ensign resigned while “under inquiry”. It’s bad enough that neither paper can just state the facts plainly. It’s even worse that the stories they filed at the end of a pretty salacious scandal are about as interesting as a report on the happenings at a local PTA meeting.
PurpleGirl
IOKIYAR
They must be civil and polite and giving the salacious details of his scumbag behavior wouldn’t be civil, polite or nice to his family.
Jamie
I’m sure that the press would have noticed if Ensign were a Dem. Remember what they did to Edwards?
JonF
They could have explained what he was under investigation for, but:
1-I think that they have already multiple times
and
2-Technically thats a fair description of his status. He’s not going to be charged with any federal crimes and resigning effectively ends the senate investigation on him.
WereBear
Republicans mean well, I guess. He wanted to see his mistress’s kids go to college.
And you say R’s are heartless! No! They are merely gutless and soulless!
cmorenc
The lack of colorful detail in the telling of the Ensign story could be because no really colorful sexual details were revealed…no blowjobs with semen-stained dresses, no cross-dressing, no diapers, no drunken chasing of strippers down in the Tidal Pool in D.C. Stripped of any of those sorts of details, it becomes just another bland tale of corruption involving a politician and the trading of money for favors, albeit in reverse of the usual direction of flow in these things. And oh, yeah, it also revealed an improper liason with a mistress connected with Ensign’s staff, but…See Boehner, John for how much media play that’s worth (again, no prurient details). We’re too jaded nowday.
bkny
this comment from ensign’s resignation announcement cracks me up … and says so much:
“While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate,
The Thin Black Duke
What a dirtbag.
I dunno, but the very idea of asking my parents for hush-hush money to pay off my mistress would make me, as P.J. O’Rourke commented in another context, erupt in a big, wet “technicolor yawn”.
Ewwww.
MattF
Well, in the modern world of today, the tabloids are what we have for investigative reporting. I assume they’ve investigated and decided that nothing really sordid happened– i.e., no wetsuits or kittenfucking– just politicians, staff, and lobbyists in standard missionary positions. I’m guessing that we should actually be grateful that they’ve held off.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Fix’t.
I’m sure that Faux Noize will be happy to show Ensign with a D-NV under his image too.
Also.
wagon
Damn liberal media!
ET
What is even worse, Charlie Sheen rating a police escort is front page and the Ensign story in which a sitting Senator of the United States of America is resigning is relegated to page 4.
The WaPo is a pale imitation of a facsimile of what it used to be. The people running it are running it straight into the ground.
JPL
My governor resigned when he was a representative before the congressional ethics committee released it’s report. Maybe Ensign can run for governor. IOKIYR
Omnes Omnibus
@ET: Charlie Sheen is the son of a former president, so, of course, he is news.
JPL
For those that don’t know Gov. Deal resigned while under investigation and then ran for governor. The wingnuts didn’t care because he was a repub.
Cat Lady
It’s just not news anymore when Republicans are found out to be corrupt hypocritical ignorant amoral hacks only out for themselves and theirs. It’s who they are and what they do, and everyone, including media types, have no other expectations of them. John Edwards had the audacity to talk about two Americas. If he had just campaigned on tax cuts for the rich, he’d still be a viable politician.
Nicole
Well, the Brits can still kick it old school. The headline on the BBC website: “US Sex Pay Probe Senator Resigns.”
NonyNony
@JPL:
The cynic in me says that’s exactly what Ensign is planning – get out now and no further investigation happens and he can run for another office without the shadow hanging over him.
Still – it’s tough to recover from the idea that he was cheating with his friend’s wife and then ran to mommy and daddy to “fix it” for him by buying off his former friend. It’s not so much the scandal as the childish aspect of running off to rich mommy and daddy to fix it for him that turns the stomach. I think it’s easier for pols to recover from straightforward illicit affairs than it is to recover from something that makes you look either like a moron or downright evil.
Well, if you’re a Democrat they’re hard to recover from. Looking downright evil is actually a selling point for Republican voters – which is part of the reason why they have zero problems with McCain or Gingrich stepping out behind their wives’ backs and taking up with mistresses while their wives were hospitalized. Meanwhile Democratic voters don’t like voting for evil – so Edwards doing the same thing was a career ender.
SRW1
In all fairness, you have to admit that neither a blue dress nor a cigar appears to have been involved. There just was no good hook to this thing.
Pongo
The one I love is ’embattled Senator John Ensign,’ which makes it sound like he is being battered by forces outside his control (poor baby). I know that’s not the intent, but that phrase conjures up a hero fighting against impossible and unfair odds, rather than the sociopathic schmuck Ensign actually is.
piratedan
@SRW1: I hear ya, lets review shall we?
1) guy is a moral values candidate
2) calls out a sitting Prez to resign because he can’t keep his pecker in his pants or that he got a hummer (not sure which was more egregious)
3) exhibits the said same behavior
4) with an employee
5) who is married to an employee
6) refuses to resign because “this is different”
7) fires affected staff, both the schtuppee and the cuckold
8) pays them off
8a) using his parents for flash via installments
8b) and his cronies for jobs for the “happy couple” in the afterglow
8c) and hires the kid (thankfully, he’s a boy?)
8d) uses another Senator as his “bagman/broker”
Pretty much a case of been there done that, right? After all, no one died mysteriously (ala Scarborough staffer), no boats were involved (ala Gary Hart), hiking wasn’t there as a twist (on the Appalachian Trail), Cancer wasn’t involved (see Edwards or Gingrich), or even Craigslist… so what could we do with a story like that considering the public appetite for hard news in these American Idol times?
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@piratedan:
How about a “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” TV ad for the Nevada tourism board?
burnspbesq
The only reason anyone should care about Ensign’s resignation is that it opens up a seat on the Finance Committee at a time when taxes are a major issue, and the Republicans will undoubtedly put someone worse (someone much worse, if that’s possible) into that seat.
It also means that the Gov of Nevada will appoint a Republican to fill the seat, and that person will have the advantages of incumbency in 2012, rather than the seat being open, but I’m not sure how important that is.
But go ahead, y’all, focus on the things that are now trivial because they have been well known for a long time.
Elizabelle
If not for TPM’s banner headline, I would not have known that Ensign was resigning. You sure couldn’t find the story easily on yesterday’s WaPost website.
The Post literally buried it at the bottom quarter of the site, below where you often find the entertainment AP links (what Kardashian is doing what, etc.)
This is the Senate. Their local major industry, as it is.
Very strange and saddening, too.
H-Bob
The best line was “he resigned to spend time with someone else’s family” !
SRW1
@piratedan:
Jebus, I feel bad having induced you to do all of this compiling. My comment was meant as snark. I obviously still have to work a lot on that skill.
piratedan
@SRW1: no sweat, I knew it already thanks to TRMS and my pet peeve about hypocritical “family values” R’s.