Is Sen. Ensign Actually 12 Years Old?

Upfront: My apologies to 12-year-olds.

Yesterday it was reported that Senator John Ensign (R-NV), the ardent defender of the sanctity of marriage against the radical gay onslaught who recently admitted an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer, had Mommy and Daddy pay off the family of the woman with whom he had the affair to the tune of $96,000.

Today, we find out that the woman's husband, Doug Hampton, upon his discovery of the affair, "went to the went to a group of men associated with the C Street Christian fellowship to which Ensign belonged, and asked them to 'confront' Ensign."

Already we're in weird territory here: couldn't Hampton have just kept this between himself, his wife, and the Ensigns? Why bring in these outsiders? Hampton's determination to avoid recognizing that his wife had any agency in the affair, and his decision to address it in an outside men-only forum, goes beyond self-delusion and into a kind of misogyny. But set that aside because things get weirder...

…At that confrontation, according to Hampton, [Sen. Tom Coburn] and the other men urged Ensign -- the son of a multimillionaire casino magnate -- to pay for the Hamptons' home and for a move to Colorado. But as Hampton described it, they also insisted that Ensign write a letter to his girlfriend -- later obtained by the Las Vegas Sun -- breaking things off and expressing remorse. Then, says Hampton, two of the men, Tim Coe and Sherman, actually drove Ensign to a FedEx office, apparently to make sure he sent the letter.

And yet, Hampton said that soon after ditching his detail of religious protectors, Ensign called Cindy to warn her that the letter was coming and that she should disregard it. Twenty-four hours after sending the letter, said Hampton, Ensign was with Cindy in Las Vegas.

Emphasis original.

Good lord. And Ensign was considered by the Republican leadership to be a viable presidential candidate.

[Standard Disclaimer: Senator Ensign's sexual shenanigans are his business. The fact that he conspired with other Republican Senators to hide the affair and silence both the woman with whom he had it and her husband with a payoff is not.]