Another Republican in the news for a tawdry affair. This one a retread:

In acknowledging the affair [last June], Mr. Ensign cast it as a personal transgression, not a professional one. But an examination of his conduct shows that in trying to clean up the mess from the illicit relationship and distance himself from the Hamptons, he entangled political supporters, staff members and Senate colleagues, some of whom say they now feel he betrayed them.

This major NYTimes investigation goes on for nearly 4,000 words. A synopsis. Some web discussion. A Dan Savage reader proposes (apparently before the news of the moment):

Go ahead and ban gay marriage by Constitutional amendment. BUT, add this proviso: Every time an elected Republican politician in America is caught having an affair, 1,000 gay marriage licenses are issued. For politicians at the federal level, make it 5,000. And if the affair is with a person of the same sex or if money is involved, double the number of licenses (2,000 for local and state, 10,000 for federal elected office holders). By my loose estimate, that should generate a healthy 20-50 thousand gay marriages a year—EASY—and the Republicans will have no one to blame but themselves and their leaders. All those marrying gay folks could toast the cheating hypocrite who won them their marriage rights at their reception, which, I don’t know, sort of brings the two sides together in a way, too.

The idea came to me when I was reading this story, about a local family-values Republican who apparently got some city contractors to buy a car for his mistress (money was involved: 2000 gays would be legally married tomorrow in my system).

10,000 for Ensign. That’s 200 per state. For congressional offenders let’s apportion by district.