Poll: Should Senator John Ensign resign for having an extramarital affair?

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News is breaking that Senator John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, will acknowledge an extramarital affair shortly. From the Washington Post:

Sources in Washington and Nevada say Republican Sen. John Ensign, a rising star in the Republican Party considering a 2012 presidential bid will hold a press conference later today in which he will acknowledge an extramarital affair.

Ensign, a member of the Senate GOP leadership, flew back to his native Las Vegas today in anticipation of the public announcement, sources said, missing a vote considered key to the Nevada tourist industry.

Two senior GOP political strategists, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said the announcement was imminent. They declined to say with whom Ensign had the affair.

via The Fix – Ensign to Acknowledge Extramarital Affair.

It’s worth pointing out that Ensign, who resigned from his seat in the House of Representatives during his unsuccessful campaign against Democratic Senator Harry Reid, voted to impeach President Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky affair in 1998 – during a lame duck session of Congress, after he was already on his way out of Washington, DC.

In 2004, he also gave a speech, posted at his website, on the Senate floor regarding, “the sanctity of marriage.” Click on it while you still can:

“Marriage recognizes the ideal of a father and mother living together to raise their children,” Ensign said. “Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded. For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America has relied.”

So, is what was good for the goose good for the gander? Should Ensign resign? Or like his Republican counterparts, Senators Larry Craig and David Vitter, will he continue to serve with an ethical and moral pall cast over his remaining time in office?

The answer seems to rely on whether or not he “admits guilt.” According to the AP back in 2007, he called on Craig to resign after getting busted in a men’s room toe-tapping sting in 2007, but did not push Senator Vitter, who used the service of prostitutes, offering this remarkable parsing to explain his position:

A GOP leader Sunday denied a double standard in pushing Sen. Larry Craig to resign after a sex sting guilty plea, while remaining silent over GOP Sen. David Vitter’s involvement with an escort service.

A senior Democrat said a double standard by Republican leaders is exactly what occurred.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., the Senate Republican campaign chairman, said Craig “admitted guilt. That is a big difference between being accused of something and actually admitting guilt.”

“David Vitter never did that. Larry Craig did,” continued Ensign on ABC’s “This Week” program.

What do you think? Answer our poll and explain yourself in the comments.

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