Sen. Ensign, Can You Keep A Promise?

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From the SeattlePI.com:

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2012, on Tuesday admitted a lengthy affair with a campaign aide who was married to a member of the Senator's staff.

"I violated my vows of marriage," said Ensign, a conservative and born-again Christian active in the Promise Keepers organization.

The two-term senator said the affair began late in 2007 and ended in August of 2008. He did not identify the "woman in question" - to use a phrase made famous by former Sen. Gary Hart - but she apparently worked for Ensign's Battleborn Political Action Committee.

Ensign's paramour and her husband - described by the senator as "close friends of mine" - no longer work for Ensign.

According to the AP, Ensign has been a rising star among conservatives, speaking out against President Barack Obama's stimulus package, statehood for the District of Columbia and union-organizing legislation and in favor of gun owners' rights.

Ensign called Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky "an embarrassing moment for the country," and dubbed airport bathroom hook-up artist--fellow Republican Larry Craig--a "disgrace" for the Idaho senator's stalled amour.

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Lend A Helping Hand Or Get Out Of The Way.

Here's more from Mike Lux on HuffPo:

There are some similarities and lots of big differences between this health care fight and the last one. So far, Obama has shown that he has learned the lessons of the last fight well -- he made it a top priority, he said he wanted to get it done in the first year, he put a down payment on reform into his budget. All of those are good strategic moves that Bill Clinton did not do. But the biggest difference by far is that Obama and the Democrats agreed to have the option to put health care reform into the reconciliation package, meaning we would only need 50 votes instead of 60.

So here's the point I made to CNN: Obama is doing a great job of including the insurance companies and their stalwart Republican defenders in the discussions, welcoming their ideas, etc. But this bill does not need to be bipartisan, and if the Republicans want to insist that the insurance industry gets what they want, we can do this without them. We will need 83% of the Democrats in the Senate, and 85% in the House, and an effective, popular president can get that done.

And to those who worship at the alter of bipartisanship, who say we need a bipartisan bill for something to be "sustainable," I would suggest you check your history books: many of the greatest reforms in our nation's history -- including ending slavery and most of the great New Deal reforms -- came without much or any bipartisanship. So, look, if you Republicans want to stop carrying water for an insurance industry desperate to avoid legitimate competition from a public plan, you are welcome to the table, come on aboard. But if not -- as I said to CNN -- we will just roll you and muscle this one home.

I'm with Lux. Screw bipartisanship. GOP Confederates aren't interested in President Obama's agenda, especially health care reform.

Roll 'em.

The Repeal Of The Glass-Steagall Act From Someone Who Saw Its Effects Coming.