(Nevada News Bureau) – A compilation of quotes from Sen. John Ensign’s exclusive 8:00 am one-hour interview with Alan Stock on KXNT 840 AM this morning:
Alan: “Do you regret what went on? I mean, you had an affair with your best friend’s wife. So, do you regret it? And if so, how come you kept going back?”
Ensign: “I do regret it. If I could ever take anything I’ve done back, this would be the one thing. It was a huge mistake. There was a lot of pain that I caused to a lot of people. I have apologized to everyone, to as many people as I can.”
Alan: “Did you try to secure a job for Doug Hampton, to be able to get in to lobby you?”
Ensign: “I recommended Doug for jobs, the same way that I’ve done for many people over the years, as he was leaving my employ. I called several people to see if they would interview him. It’s a very common practice. It’s perfectly legal. I complied with all Senate Ethics Rules. And I will cooperate with any investigation to prove that.”
Alan, sharing an email question from a reader: “Would the Senator consider resigning his seat for the good of the Party?”
Ensign: “First of all, I was elected to a six year term, and I fully intend on serving that out. I have a voting record that I think is consistent with the way I campaigned, based on fiscal responsibility and conservative values.”
And: “A lot of people running for office next year want me involved in their campaigns. It isn’t about me. It’s about supporting the principles of freedom, conservatism, and the Constitution.
Alan: “I know you’ve said you regret your affair. Do you also regret going to the Promise Keeper’s rallies and all the proclamations you made?”
Ensign: “First of all, I had standards…have standards. I didn’t meet them, but that doesn’t mean the standard is wrong. Fidelity in marriage is a standard I believe in…”
And: “My wife and I have worked things out. We’re doing better than we’ve ever done before. I’m grateful to have a wife who is willing to fight for our marriage.”
Alan: “Do you regret calling for Bill Clinton’s resignation during the Monica Lewinsky scandal?”
Ensign: “In my own life, I think I need to focus on fixing my own problems instead of worrying about other people. You do a lot of self reflection during a time like this. I’m trying to learn from my mistakes. I never want to do something like this again.”
Re: a caller question about Alan Stock’s call for Ensign’s resignation and whether Alan still stands by it
Alan (to Ensign): “Well, I did ask for that because you had not addressed the issues for 6 months, and I was concerned about the impact on conservative candidates. And I won’t withdraw my call for your resignation. And I know you don’t plan to resign, but if at any point you feel you would be a hindrance to candidates, would you reconsider?”
Ensign: “If I resign we will have a second Senate race. The people who want to defeat Harry Reid should think about that. Another race would take attention and resources away from the Reid race. You would have a splitting of resources, and I think that hurts the conservative cause.”
And: “We only have 40 US senators. The Democrats have 60. Another senate race here would take resources from defeating Democrats in states across the country. We need to increase, not decrease our numbers.”
On health care:
Ensign: “I totally disagree with the health care bill. This is a terrible piece of legislation.”
And: “I don’t agree with rushing this bill through by Christmas… I mean, this bill is one sixth of our economy. We ought to spend at least a couple of months on it. Making sure it’s fully vetted, debated, amended.”
And: “If there is a public plan in the bill, I believe Congress should be part of it. We shouldn’t force it on the American people if we are not willing to live with it ourselves.”
On Iran:
Ensign: “I agree that we should try every diplomatic means possible. But a military option should be on the table. The world cannot afford to allow Iran to get nuclear weapons.”
And: “We should be willing to do whatever it takes.”
In answer to a caller question re: national security and political correctness in the military re: the Ft. Hood shootings:
Ensign: “We did a hearing on this in the Homeland Security committee… We had some expert witnesses and it was agreed that this was mostly a problem of political correctness. People are overly sensitive to not offending people. If people are making statements that might be a threat to the United States – whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, or atheist – we should investigate if we have cause to believe there might be a danger.”
In answer to a caller question on job scarcity, illegal immigration, and the suggestion of a five year moratorium on immigration:
Ensign: “The problem in this country is not legal immigration. The problem is illegal immigration. You don’t necessarily want a moratorium… I’ve talked for years about securing the borders and interior enforcement. But we don’t have the resources… I’ve proposed over the years, doubling the amount of border security guards, and we have done that. We’ve made progress, but illegal immigration is still a problem.”
Ensign: “Regarding jobs, one of the crazy things we do in this country, we educate people from all over the world in our universities, and then ship them back home, to create jobs in other countries.”
In answer to a caller question on Ensign’s failure to have a live Town Hall meeting:
Ensign: “I’ve had multiple Town Hall meetings, three to four thousand people on our Telephone Town Hall Meeting. And I’ve also done Town Hall Meetings in companies with their employees. We’ve done it with groups of doctors and nurses… They’ve been a little more organized.”
And: “The Senate is different than the house, we don’t have the same mailing privileges as the House, to be able to mail out to our constituents. We can put a little ad in the paper… The reason I have not done them is the difference in the mailing rules.”
Alan: “Well, you could notify us here, and we could let 150,000 people know.”
Ensign: “We’ll look at doing some of them here in December.”
In answer to a listener email on a storage facility at Yucca Mountain and nuclear energy:
Ensign: “Nuclear power is important to the future of our country. But Yucca Mountain is dead. It’s on its last leg. Which is fine, because we have 100 to 200 years to decide what to do. Dry cask storage is working right now.”
And: “I believe we should recycle and reprocess our nuclear waste. UNLV has gotten some funding to do some reasearch on processes… Nuclear power provides about 20% of the energy in the U.S. In France, it provides 80%.”
In answer to a caller with a question about Ensign’s initial “Yes” bailout vote and also a “Yes” vote on No Child Left behind and other “big government” measures
Ensign: “Yes, I voted for the first TARP funds. And it was one of the worst votes I ever made.”
And: “I voted against the second bailout. I voted against Cash for Clunkers.”
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
RSS