370 HIDING BIG ED’S SHOW! Colonel Sherburn appeared in a dream, mocking a well-hidden program: FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2011

Why we hope to own the Post: Some call it the sincerest form of flattery (click here, then click this). Our lawyers are leaving that out.

Years ago, we did a radio show with young Continetti. At the time, we had no idea our influence was so strong!

The ballad of Senator Ensign: John Ensign has finally resigned from the Senate. At the top of the New York Times front page, Eric Lipton writes the news report, including the background information.

In our hard-copy Times, the following background account begins in paragraph 5. (On-line, some changes have occurred.) We’ll highlight a basic part of the story we liberals may not have heard:

LIPTON (4/22/11): The resignation marks the final chapter in the career of a politician who a few even thought might reach the White House, but who instead got caught up in a particularly salacious Washington scandal. Mr. Ensign, 53, a veterinarian and former casino executive, had cast himself as a religious conservative, and lived with other lawmakers in a Capitol Hill townhouse run by a religious group.

But in 2007 he began an affair with the wife of Doug Hampton, his best friend. The families had been close, vacationing together once. Their children were playmates, and the senator even encouraged Mr. Hampton to come to Washington, where Mr. Hampton became his most loyal aide. Mr. Hampton's wife, Cynthia, worked as treasurer of Mr. Ensign's campaign and political action committee.

After learning of the affair in 2008, Mr. Hampton confronted the senator. Soon after, he and his family were given $96,000 by the senator's parents, described by Mr. Ensign as a gift, and Mr. Hampton left the senator's staff.

Humiliated, and struggling to make a living, Mr. Hampton threatened to make the affair public. Senate ethics investigators have been examining whether Mr. Ensign then tried to buy his silence by using his office to help Mr. Hampton’s fledgling lobbying career.

In paragraph 6, still on the front page, the Times included a basic part of this story: The Ensigns and the Hamptons were long-time best friends. We were struck by the high placement the Times gave this fact, because we had been struck by something else last evening:

Last night, we were struck by the way Rachel Maddow disappeared this fact, as she always does.

Does it matter that these couples were long-time best friends? That’s a matter of judgment, but it’s certainly part of the story. Unless you’re watching liberal TV, in which case you never hear that fact, and a tawdrier tale will be served. This is part of the contemptuous, disrespectful way Maddow clucked out the tale last night. Disrespectful to women, that is:

MADDOW (4/21/11): But then, after all of that, in 2009, John Ensign got caught cheating on his wife. He was shtooping one of his own staffers who was married to another Ensign staffer, all the while he was—all of which was taking place as he was serving as the Republican Party’s Senate campaign chairman. Incidentally, in that next election, the Republicans lost a ton of seats in the Senate.

When John Ensign’s affair was outed, the senator cut both of the staffers in the situation loose. He cut loose the one he was shtooping and he cut loose the one that she was married to. Both of them had to leave John Ensign’s employ.

But when they did, Senator Ensign’s parents cut their family a check for $96,000. His mom and dad did it. They are very wealthy apparently. They own casinos.

If that $96,000 was a severance payment to the senator’s girlfriend and her husband, that could be construed as illegal. So, a lawyer for the Ensign family claimed at the time that this $96,000 was really just a gift—a gift specifically structured as eight separate $12,000 payments to avoid paying the gift tax.

Quote, "His parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of longtime friends during a difficult time."

Despite that nearly $100,000 payoff, the husband whose wife Senator Ensign was shtooping complained publicly about the senator’s behavior, and about the financial straits of his family, after both husband and wife lost their jobs with John Ensign.

Last month, that same husband was indicted on charges of lobbying illegally, specifically, lobbying Senator John Ensign illegally—lobbying Senator John Ensign illegally from a job that Senator Ensign arranged from him after that whole “I have to fire you and your wife because I’m shtooping her” thing. The husband was indicted. Senator Ensign was not indicted.

Maddow is a lovely smiling warm humane presence—but only within the tribe. Outside the tribe, her contempt is often quite plain and quite strong. Last night, Cindy Hampton was simply “the one he was shtooping;” Doug Hampton was “the one she was married to.” But then, tribal players have always referred to The Others as things.

(Doug Hampton was also just “a staffer” last night. Viewers weren’t told that he was Ensign’s chief of staff. Covering keister, Maddow included the fact that the families were friends—but only in someone else’s voice, in a context where the fleeting claim seemed suspect.)

By our count, Maddow told us that Ensign had been “shtooping” Hampton six separate times last night. We paid a price for this conduct, of course. At the end of this, her opening segment, Maddow staged one of the nut-cake morality plays in which she pretends to be deeply embarrassed by a very naughty bad thing she has said. Ensign’s resignation “may give the Republican Party a leg up on holding onto that Senate seat in next year’s elections,” she correctly noted. And then, the highly embarrassed lady profusely apologized for having used the very bad phrase, “a leg up.” As the segment ended, she put her head all the way down on her desk in utter sheer mortification.

But then, whatever her virtues may be, Maddow is a balls-out nut and a bit of a fake, as has been clear for some time. To watch the full segment, click here.

If you watch the Maddow show, you never hear that the Ensigns and the Hamptons were long-time friends. The Times saw this as a basic part of the story. On liberal cable, you get denied this knowledge

Clearly, that fact is part of the story—but does the fact make any difference?

Well yes, in some ways it does.

A minor difference: The fact that these families were long-time friends may have colored the conduct of Ensign’s parents. Of course, the Justice Department dropped its criminal probe of Ensign in December; Maddow semi-disclosed that fact (see above), but only after pleasing us liberals with this pleasing tidbit: “If that $96,000 was a severance payment to the senator’s girlfriend and her husband, that could be construed as illegal.”

A larger difference involves simple humanity. Might we put in a good word here for Senator Ensign’s conduct?

According to the Times, the solon got caught up in “a particularly salacious Washington scandal.” In some ways, we’d have to differ. Presumably, it might be a better world if people never broke their vows and their marriage commitments. But people break their vows all the time—and Ensign did so with someone he actually knew, with a woman who was his own age. (Ensign is 53; Hampton is 48.) As “salacious Washington scandals” go, this is very unusual conduct. You might even call it “human.”

You might call such conduct “human.” But if you’ve watched the Maddow show in the last few years, you have been given a different impression. Basic facts have been withheld, presumably to improve the tale from the tribal perspective. Your hostess, so kind within the tribe, is quite unkind to those without. She has persistently kept you from knowing the human context of this affair.

And so, from the mind of this beautiful child has come a rather ugly judgment. Cindy Hampton, 48 years of age, was simply “the one he was shtooping.” To Maddow, Ensign was “shtooping” Hampton. Hampton, 45 years of age at the time, apparently played no role in this conduct.

In fairness, we were spared one indignity on last night’s broadcast. For once in her tribal life, Maddow kept the children out of it! You see, the Hamptons have a son who is now 21 years old. A few years ago, Senator Ensign got him an internship at the Republican Senate Campaign Committee; the post even paid the grand sum of $1000 per month! There is nothing even vaguelyunusual about such conduct, until a tribal hater gets hold of it. And sure enough! To Maddow, this vile and troubling conduct was plainly part of the cover-up! “That damage control included putting his mistress’ teenage son on the Republican Senate Campaign Committee’s payroll,” she excitedly told you last year (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 3/19/10). But then again, as we’ve already said, Maddow’s a bit of a nut—and she likes the word “mistress.”

We’re always amazed when they drag the children in to serve their tribal tastes. But the haters love to do it. (As a child, John Kerry went to school in Switzerland! When he was eight years old, Al Gore was a big tattletale!)

Let’s review: We were spared the tale of the son last night, but we got a good dollop of “shtooping.” After that, we got to marvel at Rachel’s goodness when she put her head on her desk, embarrassed by something she’d said. But then, whatever her various virtues may be, Maddow is a balls-out nut—and a tribal hater.

In the long run, this is very bad politics for progressive interests.

Full disclosure! We’re so old that we can remember when the haters and the balls-out nut-cakes were sticking their big long noses into the sexual life of a Big Major Democrat, making up and withholding facts to suit their tribal needs. Back then, we liberals sometimes pretended to hate that shit, even though some of our biggest “leaders” were deeply involved in the hunt. (Cough—Frank Rich.) Today, we churn this garbage oursleves. We entertain ourselves with talk about “the one he was shtooping.”

Last Sunday, we liberals learned of our greatest shortcoming; it seems we’re just too tolerant! (See THE DAILY HOWLER, 4/18/11.) Last night, Colonel Sherburn came to us in a dream, snorting about this silly idea. To learn what the fiery colonel said, continue reading below.

Colonel Wilkerson briefly appeared in the dream, but Sherburn cuffed him aside.