Do Not Be Misled By The American Flags

Politicians always have been a shameless lot, but the exploits of John Ensign and Mark Sanford rise above the pack.

Sanford, the Republican governor of South Carolina, serially cheated on his wife, left the state rudderless when he went AWOL to bang his Argentine mistress in Buenos Aires, and then in a series of apologies acknowledged that said mistress was his true soulmate, although he was trying to fall back into love with the mother of his four children. Oh, and he wasn't going to resign.

That seemed par for the course until it was revealed that he spent a ton of state money to go on his shagging missions.

It's time to say bye-bye, Markie.

Ensign, a Republican senator from Nevada, did the wild thing for eight months with a campaign aide whose husband was his chief of staff. Their son also was on Ensign's payroll. When the cuckolded hubbo threatened to blow the whistle, Ensign went public while privately paying the family $96,000 in hush money provided by his gadzillionaire daddy.

It turns out that not only is Ensign not going to resign, he plans to run for re-election.

It's time to say bye-bye, Johnnie.

Meanwhile, another resident of the C Street Christian hangout in Washington where Ensign lives and Sanford sought counseling has been caught in the crosshairs of adultery.

The wife of former Congressman Chip Pickering, a Mississippi Republican (natch), has filed suit against his college sweetheart and alleged mistress for alienation of affection.