Ensign's Sex-Scandal Enabler?

[babylonsister]

Ensign's Sex-Scandal Enabler?

by Max Blumenthal


Senator Tom Coburn knew of John Ensign’s affair 16 months ago—and concealed it from the public. But what, Max Blumenthal asks, did the conservative moral crusader tell his friend in private?

snip//

The disclosure of Coburn’s role in the scandal not only raises questions about the extent to which he participated in a cover-up, but may also prove damaging to his reputation as perhaps the staunchest advocate of conservative sexual mores in Senate history. Coburn is the senator who denounced NBC’s broadcast of Schindler’s List as “an all-time low, with full-frontal nudity.” He has warned of “rampant” lesbianism in Oklahoma public high school bathrooms. And he has battled to discredit condom use. Elected to the Senate in 2004 after serving eight years in the House of Representatives, Coburn has demonstrated an uncanny ability to transform zealous and occasionally very weird moral crusades into headlines.

“Our culture that too often glorifies promiscuous sex without consequences should not be surprised by this scandal,” Congressman Coburn declared at the height of impeachment proceedings targeting President Bill Clinton for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. “The tragic consequences of the president's behavior should prompt us to reassert the high moral standards that form the foundation of our freedom.”

During his time in the House during the late 1990s, and then as co-chair of President George W. Bush’s Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS, Coburn (who is an anti-abortion obstetrician from Muskogee) spearheaded a campaign to undermine public confidence in condom use. The campaign culminated with a press release he headlined, “Condoms Do Not Prevent Most STD’s. When Coburn ran for the Senate in 2004, he campaigned on a hardcore anti-abortion platform, declaring in a debate against his Democratic opponent, Brad Carson, that he favored the death penalty for “abortionists.”

Four months after being sworn into the Senate—he won the cliffhanger election thanks in part to a last-minute race-baiting ad blitz—Coburn hosted an event for young staffers called “Revenge of the STD’s.” Theme music from the Star Wars film, “The Phantom Menace” blasted as staffers filed into a darkened room in the Senate basement, while Coburn’s aides furnished them with fliers portraying Yoda and C3PO shrieking, “Oh, how dreadful!” Once they were seated, Coburn projected graphic images of diseased, wart-infested genitalia on the wall while describing the ghastly consequences of engaging in sex with multiple partners. According to a press release for the event, staffers were treated to “a free pizza lunch” while they watched Dr. Coburn’s slideshow.

In October 2007, when Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) announced he would finish his term after pleading guilty to soliciting sex with an undercover cop in a bathroom stall, Coburn joined Ensign and a number of other Republican senators in calling for Craig’s immediate resignation. “He ought to keep his word,” Coburn rumbled. Now, with Ensign is at the center of an embarrassing sex scandal, Coburn has affected an unusually tolerant tone. His transformation from anti-sex crusader to adultery enabler has been overnight.

more...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-21/ensigns-sex-scandal-enabler/full/

[Vinca]

1. My, my, my. It seems the most holier-than-thou are mere mortals.

Maybe now they will STFU.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Hypocrisy is the norm for Republicon Homelanders

Republicons are truly the Latter Day Pharisees

[malaise]

18. Ensign's confession shows his conceit has no boundaries

http://www.lvrj.com/news/48722032.html
<snip>
Ensign in 2004 wasn't shy about wrapping himself in the Federal Marriage Amendment, which sought to change the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as only between a man and woman. The act became a conservative rallying cry and fomented anti-homosexual sentiment.

"It is not right to mold marriage to fit the desires of a few, against the wishes of so many, and to ignore the important role of marriage," Ensign said.

No, we wouldn't want to sully that sacred institution.

Ensign wasn't alone in his criticism of President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and he also took a point-blank shot at Sen. Larry Craig following the Idaho Republican's arrest in a Minneapolis airport bathroom during a gay sex sting.

"We need people who are in office who will hold themselves to a little higher standard," Ensign said.

I grade on the curve on these sorts of things, but I'm not sure Ensign met the minimum requirements for "higher standard." Craig's alleged behavior was sleazy. Ensign admitted nailing a subordinate and family friend.

It was Ensign who abused his position of power.

[RC]

3. There are some really sick people out there.

And even sicker people keep electing them.

[JohnnyLib2]

4. These public vs. private life stories are so informative.

And yet, it works for many, for a long time.

My cynicism is reinforced......

[JI7]

5. so Coburn watched Schindler's List and the full frontal nudity was what stood out to him ?

[tanyev]

7. And he had no problem with showing graphic images of "diseased genitalia" during a pizza party?

Ew. I might not be able to eat pizza ever again.

[Neecy]

6. I hope tihs taints Coburn

He's one of the most nauseating holier-than-thou jerks in the Senate.

[XOKCowboy]

8. Let me guess. Now Coburn will be touting religous "forgiveness"

ie "He humbled himself before the Lord and was forgiven so we should do the same". That way he still looks saintly to his pudding-headed followers.

Hypocrisy pure and simple.

[XOKCowboy]

9. Just read the article and BINGO - Got it on my first try nt

[malaise]

10. Both Coburn and Ensign have some questions to answer about "The Family"

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/06/19/did-the-ensign-confrontation-over-his-affair-take-place-at-a-family-gathering/
<snip>
That home, of course, is where Doug Hampton claims a confrontation about Ensign's affair occurred in February 2008.

Citizen92 asked a very good question in a past thread--where John Ensign and Tom Coburn share a place together.

I searched and the Hamptons didn’t own property in DC (city). Neither do the Ensigns. Neither do the Coburns. At least under their own names. Any ideas who owns the Coburn-Ensign pad? Or are they renters?

To which I asked whether or not Ensign and Coburn are members of The Family.

The Family, as Jeff Sharlet has reported, is a secretive fellowship that aims to mobilize pseudo-Christian issues to accrue power--what he described "a good old boy's club blessed by God."

They were striving, ultimately, for what Coe calls "Jesus plus nothing" -- a government led by Christ's will alone. In the future envisioned by Coe, everything -- sex and taxes, war and the price of oil -- will be decided upon not according to democracy or the church or even Scripture. The Bible itself is for the masses; in the Fellowship, Christ reveals a higher set of commands to the anointed few. It's a good old boy's club blessed by God.

As Jeff has reported, the Family owns a C Street house in which--at least as recently as 2002 or 2003--Ensign lived.

The brothers also served at the Family's four-story, redbrick Washington town house, a former convent at 133 C Street S.E. complete with stained-glass windows. Eight congressmen—including Senator Ensign and seven representatives—lived there, brothers in Christ just like us, only more powerful. We scrubbed their toilets, hoovered their carpets, polished their silver.

[nashville_brook]

13. Harper's -- March 2003. Jesus Plus Nothing: Undercover Among America's Secret Theocrats

http://harpers.org/archive/2003/03/0079525

link, if you have a subscription.

[malaise]

14. Check the link on the Family on this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5892625

What's particularly interesting is the article has Ensign living at said house before this scandal broke.

[malaise]

16. Thanks

Both articles are very interesting. I wonder how many of them are in both Iraq and Iran

[IcyPeas]

11. This seems to have already dropped off the MSM

I've hardly heard anything about it recently. Go figure.

[orion007]

12. Malaise, very interesting

Don't understand how no one has found a photo of Cynthia Hudson yet, very strange.
As far as Coburn is concerned he probably was living vicariously through Ensign,or had a peep hole in their shared apartment!
sick bastards..........or had Ensign confess his sins to him......blow by blow

[babylonsister]

15. Have you looked for a pic? I've seen several posted on DU. Try

google.

[malaise]

17. I tried Cynthia Hampton, Nevada

http://images.google.com.jm/images?gbv=2&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&sa=1&q=Cynthia+Hampton+Nevada&btnG=Search+images&aq=f&oq=

I think the first one and the one in the second row are the same person and she sure is pretty.

The other Cynthia Hampton which was posted on DU also shows up on some sites.

[babylonsister]

19. That's not the pic I've seen. If I find it, I'll post. nt

[malaise]

23. Ths is the one

but apparently she's from California and there's a story on line re why she left the Watchtower Organization

[konnichi wa]

20. I believe TAC's approach to the whole sex thing is a reaction to his father's actions.

O. W. "Bill" Coburn was a letch of the first order...he even kept an apartment not far from his own home for his frequent liaisons. His wife Joy, Tom's mother, was and is a lovely woman who stoically presented an outward unashamed face to the world all those years. Tom's siblings were much less affected by these shenanigans because they were older and a bit more distant from the familial craziness. His dad gave Oral Roberts several million dollars not long before dying...many of us who knew him well figured it was his way too late attempt to buy a ticket into heaven...as absurd as that would sound to anybody who associated with him.
Tom just went goofy over the whole situation.

[badgerpup]

21. I don't like jumping to conclusions...

...but I'm seriously starting to wonder if most (if not quite all) of the loud, pious holier-than-thou 'Family and/or Christian Values' self-aggrandizment one hears is a actually a code for "I'm doing stuff I shouldn't oughta be doin' with people I shouldn't oughta be doin' it with".
In other words, if they ain't walkin' the walk, then they're SCREAMING the talk.
I think Freud called this "reaction formation".

For example, most of the loudest, most rampant homophobes I've met were closet cases...(and yes, my gaydar is pretty good, thanks :hi: ).


It doesn't necessarily follow as the night the day...but the evidence does seem to point that way, does it not? :shrug:

[babylonsister]

22. I've definitely had the thought that Coburn has his his own closet full

of skeletons. You're right, the loudest mouths seem to get caught in the act.

[checks-n-balances]

24. I think you're really, really onto something there

Usually when they 'protest too much,' it's a cover/distraction for their own similar behavior.