Rick Santorum and the Sanctity of John Ensign's Marriage
Rick Santorum may no longer a Senator, but he remains an endless source of amusement - and hypocrisy. In 2002, the devout Catholic blamed the shocking clergy sex abuse scandal consuming his church on Boston's supposed "political and cultural liberalism." Warning of the slippery slope to "man-on-dog" nuptials to be triggered by same-sex unions, Santorum dedicated (and titled) a chapter of his 2004 book to protecting "the Sanctity of Marriage." As it turns out, protecting fellow Republican John Ensign may have been Rick Santorum's higher calling.
As The Hill reported Friday, cuckolded ex-Ensign staffer Doug Hampton accused his former boss of engaging in a cover-up of his affair with Hampton's wife, an effort allegedly aided and abetted by Santorum:
The scandal surrounding Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has ensnared another senator as Doug Hampton, the husband of the woman with whom Ensign had the affair, alleges a widespread cover-up and said he is considering legal action.
Hampton initially reached out to Fox News urging the network to report the affair, but Ensign admitted to it before news outlets made it public. In an interview that aired Thursday, Hampton accused ex-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), a Fox News contributor, of leaking word of his letter to Ensign.
A phone call to Santorum's assistant at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and an e-mail to Santorum's personal account were not immediately answered Friday morning.
If true, Hampton's allegations wouldn't merely add another jaw-dropping chapter to the latest Republican tale of sin and debauchery which has already featured pay-offs from Ensign's parents and possible criminal violations of campaign finance laws. Hampton's charge suggests Rick Santorum is more concerned about the sanctity of the Republican Party than marriage.
In his 2004 tome (Rick Santorum: A Senator Speaks Out on Life, Freedom and Responsibility), Santorum defended a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman:
It sort of bothers me when I hear the comment made - and it has been made over and over, not only here on the floor but by many pundits - about we have more important things to do. I cannot think of anything more important to America than family and marriage. I cannot think of anything more important than the basic social building block of our country, and that is what marriage is, that is what family is. And it is in jeopardy.
It's in jeopardy, all right, from the likes of John Ensign, Mark Sanford and, apparently, Rick Santorum.
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