On Wednesday night’s The Rachel Maddow Show, the story of how Rick Santorum and wife Karen dealt with the loss of their newborn son Gabriel again became fodder for criticism of Santorum’s presidential prospects. Although he handled it in a marginally more delicate fashion than Alan Colmes did (for which he apologized), MSNBC contributor Eugene Robinson cited the incident as a “weird story” that might put off some Republican voters.

Throughout the past several months, the main headline regarding the union battle has been the campaign by Wisconsin Republicans– led by Governor Scott Walker to restrict collective bargaining rights. According to Rachel Maddow, the tactic has done nothing but hurt the Republican Party and, she jokes, in part because of its efficiency in generating failure, the bluest of blue states is following suit– Massachusetts.

Congressional publication Roll Call is reporting that Sen. John Ensign is planning on resigning tomorrow. Sen. Ensign is an embattled Nevada Republican best known for carrying on an affair with the wife of his former top aide, an affair which indirectly resulted in Sen. Ensign’s parents paying said wife a sum of money.

Wikileaks’ Congressional opponents are recharging their batteries, and while Julian Assange has bigger legal fish to fry in Europe, he could soon be facing the consequences of breaking U.S. law by outing foreign intelligence sources. One of the senators behind the legal push, John Ensign, debated vocal Wikileaks ally Judge Andrew Napolitano on Freedom Watch on Friday, and while he made clear who he was protecting, he had a hard time defining “journalists”– and why Assange doesn’t count.

Silver lining for Republicans? Visiting Keith Olbermann tonight to talk about the details of pro-abstinence Republican Rep. Mark Souder‘s affair with a staffer, Washington Post blogger David Weigel noted that the relative damage compared to the Eric Massa affair shows that, perhaps, Republicans are better at cleaning up after themselves with these scandals.

This is the reason why Jon Stewart and The Daily Show deserve all the accolades they receive: they take a topic that would be so very banal in the hands of any one else, and make it far more entertaining and informative with their own treatment. In this instance the topic is political sex scandals and the associative and hypocritical rhetoric that follows

The sudden downfall of Eugene Robinson‘s career at the hands of his libido (no pun intended!), brought to mind all the other politicians who have suffered a similar fate . Behold, a catalog of the most awesome most absurd ways the most lustful lads have been captured in the media.