More GOP hypocrisy on "family values"

This time right at home with Nevada's junior senator, John Ensign:

“When you take the social conservative banner, there’s a higher level of scrutiny on these kinds of things,” he said. “The public comes down a lot harder on people who carry that banner,” he added.

American social mores have become more tolerant in recent decades, and in the process, voters have become more accepting of different sexual orientations (see Rep. Barney Frank); drug use (see Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama); and extramarital affairs (see President Bill Clinton.)

But there’s still one unforgivable sin: Hypocrisy.

“People have survived extramarital affairs, but he’s got a hypocrisy problem to deal with,” said another Nevada Republican operative who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about a fellow Republican. “He’s got a serious hypocrisy problem.”

During his first Senate campaign in 1998 against Sen. Harry Reid, Ensign called for Clinton’s resignation in light of his acknowledged affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, saying Clinton “has no credibility left.”

Now we know that Ensign had an affair with a member of his staff. He also betrayed the woman’s husband, a close friend who also worked for him — not unlike San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Recall that Republicans like to use “San Francisco values” as an epithet.

Ensign also must now account for his prior defense of “traditional” marriage. In calling for a constitutional amendment to ban gays from marrying, he said, “Marriage is an extremely important institution in this country and protecting it is, in my mind, worth the extraordinary step of amending our constitution.”

Ensign was head of Senate Republican election efforts last year, an effort that failed badly. He tried to get Sen. Larry Craig to resign his seat after the Idaho Republican pleaded guilty in 2007 to soliciting sex from a man in an airport bathroom.

Ensign called Craig “a disgrace.”

A few months later, Ensign’s own affair began.

I've always thought this guy was an empty suit. Turns out he's worse.