Michael Steele:

You’re surprised that an action/adventure star destroyed something?  I’m surprised it took him this long.

Not With a Bang, But a Whimper [Calitics]

At last – we have some news about our favorite Promisekeepers. Ensign not only won’t resign, he’s going to run again in 2012. Entitled, anyone?

As for our favorite governor, would it surprise you if discovered he got some help from the conservative media while he was “hiking the Appalachian trail”?  Not me:

In an email to Sanford press secretary Joel Sawyer, Brendan Miniter, an editor of the Wall Street Journal‘s OpinionJournal.com, called out his own paper’s first-day coverage (sub. req.) of the story, writing: “Someone at WSJ should be fired for today’s story. Ridiculous.”

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Josh finds a very interesting detail regarding the Ensign-Fucks-a-Staffer scandal – this happened when Coburn and the other snakehandlers made him write to Cindy and break off the relationship:

So Ensign agrees to do this. But the members of his fellowship had so little trust he could follow through that they had him write out a letter to the mistress that he was ending the relationship and then drove him to the local Fedex office to make sure he actually dropped the letter in the box. So he does that. But then after he shakes them loose he calls the mistress to tell her his friends made him write the letter and to ignore it.

Guess they didn’t trust him to keep his promise.

In case you didn’t guess, I am really really really enjoying this.

Ensign’s Weirdest Moment [TPM]

Ladies and Gentlemen, this might be the GOP scandal of the year:

It looks like John Ensign’s sexual dignity — which hasn’t been high lately — has plunged to new depths. His lawyer has just released a remarkable statement saying that Ensign’s parents paid the Hamptons $96,000 after he told them about the affair.

From the statement:

In April 2008, Senator 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. Each gift was limited to $12,000. The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts.

Structuring anyone?

Ensign Still Bringing Dirty Laundry to be Washed [TPM]

It seems my concern that the John Ensign sex scandal would fade into the background was misplaced:

Doug Hampton spoke publicly for the first time today about the affair his wife had with Sen. John Ensign, saying the Nevada Republican continued his pursuit even after intermediaries tried to get him to stop.

Hampton said that Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and others urged him to end the affair and help the Hamptons pay off their home and move to Colorado. But Ensign was so infatuated that he continued, Hampton said.

You can watch the first installment of Hampton’s interview here – it’s positively cringe-inducing. Among other things,  we learn that the estimable Senator Coburn made Ensign send a letter to Cindy, the object of his affection, telling her that their invisible sky god didn’t approve of them having sexytime. Unfortunately, Ensign was  back fucking her the next day – he even called her and told her the letter was coming and to ignore it.

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The Las Vegas Sun had a report Sunday that fleshed out the story of John Ensign’s philandering:

When Sen. John Ensign hired Doug Hampton to be his senior aide in November 2006, Nevada Republicans were baffled.

Hampton was an unknown, without a policy profile or political experience.

According to eight Nevada and Washington Republicans, Hampton’s chief qualification: He and Ensign were best friends, as were their wives.

“It was a hire based on a relationship,” said a prominent Republican who was granted anonymity to speak freely.

“Best pals,” said another Republican. “It was ridiculous.”

Yesterday, TPM linked to the piece and asked if perhaps Ensign hired fellow Promisekeeper Hampton to help him keep his little soldier in his pants:

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