GOP Marital Infidelity and Cover Ups

I find it amazing that the freepers and wingnuts continue to be duped into voting for members of the GOP as the "party of family values" when media coverage suggests that such alleged family values warriors have more affairs and disingenuous cover ups of affairs than their allegedly ungodly Democrat opponents. One example of this ridiculous situation is Louisiana Senator David Vitter who has a penchant for prostitutes - both at home in New Orleans and in Washington, D.C. Another example that hopefully will get increased attention and media coverage is the marital infidelity of Senator John Ensign and his help mates in attempts to cover up the affair, Senators Mitch McConnell and Tom Coburn. Several New York Times stories look at this sordid affair which displays GOP hypocrisy in stark terms. Here are highlights from some articles. First this:

*

The Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide, current and former officials said Friday.

*

The complaint that initiated this inquiry focused on whether Mr. Ensign improperly used campaign money in April 2008 to make a $96,000 severance payment to Mr. Hampton and his wife, Cynthia Hampton, who once was treasurer of Mr. Ensign’s campaign. At that time, Mr. Hampton and his wife, who was still having an affair with the senator, were forced out of their jobs.

*
So far, no evidence has surfaced that the money for this payment came from the government or from campaign money. But the new accusations, detailed in an article that appeared Friday in The New York Times, appear to be a more serious threat to Mr. Hampton and Mr. Ensign, ethics lawyers said.

*

And then there is this about Ensign's helpmate, Coburn:

*

In acknowledging the affair, Mr. Ensign cast it as a personal transgression, not a professional one. But an examination of his conduct shows that in trying to clean up the mess from the illicit relationship and distance himself from the Hamptons, he entangled political supporters, staff members and Senate colleagues, some of whom say they now feel he betrayed them.

*

Mr. Ensign allowed Senator Tom Coburn, a friend and fellow conservative Christian, to serve as an intermediary with the Hamptons in May in discussing a large financial settlement, to help them rebuild their lives. “John got trapped doing something really stupid and then made a lot of other mistakes afterward,” Mr. Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, said in an interview. “Judgment gets impaired by arrogance, and that’s what’s going on here.”

*

Mr. Coburn, an ordained deacon, took the lead in questioning Mr. Ensign, who acknowledged that Mr. Hampton’s accusation was true. . . . Mr. Albregts said he believed the Hamptons might have a civil claim against Mr. Ensign over their dismissals from his staff and the consequences for their family. That began a series of intense, though ultimately futile conversations intended to reach a financial settlement. Mr. Hampton went back to Mr. Coburn, who offered to talk to Mr. Ensign about restitution for the Hamptons to help them relocate from Nevada. Mr. Coburn said he raised the issue with Mr. Ensign, who said, “I’ll listen.”

*

With family values like these hypocrites, the Christianists are clearly being played for fools. When are the sheep going to wake up?