Bonnie Erbe

John Ensign, Defender of Marriage--Except His Own

June 17, 2009 RSS Feed Print

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By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

This is rich—another hypocritical politician. What a surprise! John Ensign's anti-gay marriage Senate career ended on Tuesday when he came out of the closet about his affair with a married campaign staffer. Apparently Sen. Ensign (R-Nev.) only went public when he discussed the affair with the staffer's husband—who also worked on his campaign—and the husband asked Sen. Ensign for a lot of money.

Sen. Ensign, while running against Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in 1998 called on President Clinton to resign for having his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. One wonders whether Ensign is considering giving himself the same treatment. Of course not, at least now. But this nasty mess does seem to have knocked Sen. Ensign off the top of the list of GOP presidential nomination contenders in 2012.

This incident will also, let us hope, rob him of the credibility to campaign as a defender of marriage (against gay marriage.) ThinkProgress.org ran the following quotes from Ensign on the topic:

"I believe that marriage should be defined as that between one man and one woman. You want to do what is ideal for children and all of the studies show that the ideal for children is to be in a household with a father and a mother." [4/19/09]

NB: I know of no study that shows cheating in marriage is good for the children.

"Mr. President, I rise today to speak on a topic that is very important. That is the preservation of the most important structure in our society." [7/13/04]

The list of hypocritical politicians throughout American history is long, storied and bipartisan. The list of hypocrites who campaign against gay marriage is much shorter, but growing rapidly enough to ponder the question, who is doing the institution of marriage more harm: gays and lesbians who want in, or married heterosexual politicians who ignore their marital vows. Clearly, it is the latter.

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Tags:: John Ensign,; marriage

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Beth - I offer this.... Jesus would turn to the sinner and forgive their sin and then lay upon them the command - go and sin no more.
Straight, gay, Christian, Atheist - does not matter - there are and will be "hypocrites" throughout history and forever more- Why? - because we are human and we live in a fallen world in which we allow ourselves to be controlled by sin rather than living in submission to our calling as children of God and followers of Christ.
You are absolutely right in our call "to love one another" and it would appear that those speaking out against homosexuality at times seem less than loving, but it is written for Christians to call out other Christians who are not living a life of holiness. Calling someone a homosexual Christian is in essence inaccurate but rather he or she is a Christian with homosexual sin to bear and overcome. Hundreds of thousands have.
Boundries are crossed when language becomes harsh and it seems that those who speak out against homosexuality are denying human rights - it has very little to do with the person's rights and more to do with the sin. Sin doesn't just corrupt an individual as we are ALL part of the body of Christ, so each other's sin has great whithering effect on us all.
Scripture is clear on homosexuality. I wonder what life would be like if we stopped trying to change scripture to fit into our lives and choices and instead allow our choices and lives to fit into scripture.
If someone so chooses to live a life outside the holiness of their salvation and desires to live by the desires of their flesh - then one can only expect a brevity of blessing as living in the flesh disconnects us from our spirits where we find the ties that bind.
The journey on the slippery slope continues.... peace of Christ be with you and with us all.
Jeff

Jeff of CA 6:09PM July 03, 2009

I must be missing somehing. Like a computer harddrive, I was born in 1929 and believe my brain was a blank slate, until programmed. Parents taught me their beliefs and societal place in youth, church taught me basic religion, but as I grew and gained knowledge, I started thinking for myself. Same as gays and lesbians, at about age 9 I realized how I had been conceived, but unlike them I continued to mature and gain knowledge. Mixing K12 schooling, then work place 1947 - 1950, I enlisted in military in 1950 and gained a different perspective. I had never been encouraged to gain higher education, but in military during Korea I was promoted, realized I had brains and aptitudes, and was encouraged to grow. Rather than work union, in suppressed area of Ohio, I chose to remain for career. Have been married 57 years this year, and have never slept with any woman other than my wife. Why? My own life style, decisions, and beliefs. I do not criticize others, since when I meet my maker, I only have to account for my own actions. If any of prior posters or others know something I don't, please elucidate. In my lifetime, and meeting/maintaining personnel records of officers and enlisted, supervising and managing others, I view with suspicion those who try to micro-manage others lives. So Sen. Ensign was human, and in weak moment and temptation period, allowed an incident to happen for which he repented, apologized, and took full responsibility. I also note so many in politics, life, business who have done same or more, and blame the tempter. But again, only God (by whatever name, and in whatever form) has the right to judge. "Only those who have not sinned, should cast the first stone". No one else has the right to judge or criticize.

Frank25 of CO 7:05PM June 22, 2009

...so does religion. Nearly everyone who opposes gay marriage uses religion as their reasons for doing so. It comes with the territory.

Beth of MA 9:37PM June 20, 2009

John Ensign, Defender of Marriage--Except His Own

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