Sex Scandals Galore

Sex scandals are an amazing thing. Rising GOP star Senator John Ensign (NV) was forced to apologize to the Senate yesterday for his affair with a former staffer. That scandal simply added another bruise to a party which has been knocked around like a piñata the last three years. There were whispers surrounding Ensign as a potential nominee for President. His promise lay in the fact that he would be a conservative alternative to the already-rans who are more or less already running (Palin, Romney, Huckabee, etc) That star has already faded. Ensign’s career may not be over, but he will have to keep his head down for so long that there is little chance of him seeking a higher office anytime soon.

Is that all? No.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (also a Republican) went missing last Thursday. He left the governor’s office, turned off his cell phone and pager, and went for a drive. His staff didn’t know where he went. His family didn’t know where he went. He just went. It was originally reported by his staff that these short disappearances weren’t that unusual. His wife said that he sometimes would just go off somewhere quiet to work on journal articles or editorials that he has fallen behind on. When he got back, he said originally that he had taken a hike on the Appalachian trail, then quickly admitted that he had actually taken a vacation to Argentina.

Then he dropped another bombshell on the GOP. He admitted in a press conference this afternoon that he has had an affair with “a dear, dear friend” who lives in Argentina.

Sanford’s name was also getting a lot of play as a possible Anti-Obama for his steadfast rejection of stimulus funds to his state. Sanford could have run on the fiscal conservative tag and revitalized the GOP all by himself. Instead, his career will likely end in disgrace. Former South Carolina GOP Chair Katon Dawson is already talking about whether the Governor should resign or not.

If either the Senator or the Governor decides they want to take a look back to their comments they made during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, then they may rediscover what their own moral standards are concerning illicit affairs and officeholders. Said Sanford of Clinton, “Very damaging stuff. This one’s pretty cut and dried… I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally [to resign]." What did Ensign say? "The honorable thing for him to do is to resign and not put the country through this."

But then again, these men have already proven themselves to be hypocrites once. Why would it bother them to be proven that again?