Free Republic

Bob Woodruff et al. just reported this on ABCNews.com: John Edwards Indicted By Federal Grand Jury for Conspiracy and False Statements ... Pretty serious. But I noticed something interesting about the article having read it in its entirety: Number of paragraphs: 24. Number of words: 947. Number of instances Edwards’ party affiliation is mentioned: ZERO.Think that if the indicted was a Republican, Woodruff and friends wouldn’t have told us? Lest one think this it’s wrong to make a generalization from a single article, ABC News’ story about Edwards from yesterday (also by Woodruff, et al.) also fails to mention his...

“These findings are so disturbing … that had Sen. Ensign not resigned and had we been able to proceed to that adjudication, that it would have been substantial enough to warrant the consideration of expulsion,” Ethics Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said on the Senate floor.

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, damaged politically and facing a Senate ethics investigation over an extramarital affair, said Monday he won't seek re-election next year. Ensign, who is under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, said he decided last week against seeking a third term because he was worried about the effect of a campaign on his family.

The long-simmering Senate Ethics Committee investigation of Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada may be heating up, and this puts Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in an intriguing position. Boxer chairs the ethics panel, . . .

Democrats will look to bring up a stalled campaign finance reform bill for another key procedural vote on Thursday. Jim Manley, a top spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Twitter the Senate would debate the Disclose Act on Wednesday, with an eye toward holding a vote on Thursday. The legislation, crafted by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), looks to respond to a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year loosening restrictions on corporate and labor spending in elections. While the legislation enjoys some bipartisan support in the House, Senate Republicans have complained that the bill is a partisan...

Nevada Sen. John Ensign said Monday it is wrong for his fellow Republicans to call for the resignation of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over racially insensitive comments he made about President Obama. Reid has apologized to Obama since a new book quoted him describing Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign as a light-skinned African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Ensign said Monday that Reid's apology was sincere and that the Nevada Democrat regretted how his comments were taken. "I think we need to get away from this politics of gotcha," Ensign told KKOH radio...

Washington, DCJudicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington’s “Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.”  The list, in alphabetical order, includes: 1. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT):  This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 “Ten Most Corrupt” list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him.  In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat.  In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against...

Americans who fail to pay the penalty for not buying insurance would face legal action from the Internal Revenue Service, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. Senator John Ensign (R-NV) received a handwritten note Thursday (September 24th) from Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Tom Barthold confirming the penalty for failing to pay the maximum $1,900 fee for not buying health insurance. Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it “Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold.” (The PDF scanned note...

Politics: The senator who called the president a liar and never apologized may have worn out his welcome in his home state. Harry Reid may be riding the liberal agenda into political oblivion.In 2004, Republicans defeated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle largely on the theme that he neglected his home state in favor of national party interests. The GOP is hoping that in 2010 lightning will strike a second time, and Nevada polls indicate it may be more than wishful thinking. In 1998, Reid beat John Ensign by a hair-thin 428 votes. Ensign would go on to win Nevada's other...

Despite admitting to having an affair and having his parents pay off his mistress, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) yesterday said he plans to stay in office -- and run for re-election in 2012. Ensign told the Las Vegas Sun he's been getting emails and phone calls from supporters urging him to stay put. Those supporters, he said, include senators on both sides of Senate leadership. "I fully plan on running for reelection," Ensign said. "I'm going to work to earn their respect back." He quoted his supporters as saying, "Keep your head up. This thing will pass."

Sen. John Ensign’s (R-Nev.) political future remained unclear late Thursday while his Senate colleagues largely avoided questions over revelations that Ensign’s father paid nearly $100,000 to the family of his former mistress after her husband discovered the relationship.

Is Mark Sanford's behavior contemptible enough to make him King of Heels, or does that (dis)honor belong to John Ensign, Eliot Spitzer or John Edwards? ... Let's compare [them] low-blow by low-blow ...

"Inside Edition" has beaten everyone to the punch with this lovely photo of Sen. John Ensign, his wife, Darlene, and Cindy and Doug Hampton, the couple at the center of the Ensign extramarital scandal. This picture was taken in 2001 at a high school reunion. "Inside Edition" says, "According to former classmates, Cindy Hampton (known as Cindy Barnes at the time) and the senator's wife, Darlene, were close friends in high school in California. Both women wrote about their lives in the 2001 reunion yearbook. "Hampton writes: 'Doug and I just celebrated our 13th anniversary.Life is awesome and we are...

Beleaguered Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) appears to be following a path into the shadows traveled by many scandal-plagued lawmakers before him — by hiding from the press, refusing to talk, and hoping that time will push the whole episode into the background.

Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign was unfaithful to his wife; there's no excusing broken vows. But the steps he's taken since the story broke on Wednesday provide a reminder that there is a road to redemption in truth. And not just for one U.S. senator and his family, but for American politics. In his public confession and acts of atonement, Ensign has brought a refreshing change to the roster of recent Beltway loose-belt scandals that have hit both sides of the aisle. In a press conference, Ensign -- allegedly motivated by a blackmail threat - admitted to an affair with...

Doug Hampton, the supposed blackmailer of John Ensign, went to Megan Kelly of Fox News for help, the week before the story broke. "I love this country and considered it a great privilege to work in the US (sic) Senate. I am bringing this to you and Fox News to address this professionally and correctly. I could have sought the most liberal, Republican hating media to expose this story, but there are people’s lives at stake and justice is about proper process as well as outcome. Senator Ensign has no business serving in the US (sic) Senate anymore! I will...

Sen. John Ensign has been quick to describe his dalliance with an aide in brief and simple terms. The affair is over. The apologies made and accepted. No questions will be answered, the married Nevada Republican said in his brief admission of infidelity. But the first public statement from the woman once involved with the 51-year-old rising political star suggests more is brewing behind Ensign's neat account. Cindy Hampton and her husband, a couple Ensign has described as "close friends," issued sharp remarks Wednesday through an attorney. "It is unfortunate the senator chose to air this very personal matter, especially...

SEIU is now targeting Nevada Senator John Ensign in an attempt to break Republican ranks against the stimulus bill. Not content with trying to convince the public and its member of how the stimulus bill would benefit them, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger (shown in SEIU photo from Flickr) claims in a press release about their efforts,“The extreme right wing of the Republican leadership seem so stuck in the divisive politics of the past that they didn’t get the memo of change American voters delivered in 2008,” said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. “They talk a big game about working together to...

We are already seeing Sen. Ensign being attacked by local liberals, and it is spreading to the national level. However, reserve your judgement for a moment. You must consider certain facts about the affair. * Ensign was separated from his wife at the time. * One they reconciled, he ended the affair. * The husband apparently demanded money from Ensign to keep quiet. So it will depend on your own value system as to whether he should really take heat for violating his vows. It would be understandable to hold scorn for Ensign since he slept with the wife of...