John Ensign Rides to Harry Reid's Defense

Recently embattled Nevada Sen. John Ensign came to currently embattled Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's defense in a radio interview in Nevada Monday.

"I think we need to get away from this politics of gotcha," Ensign told KKOH in Reno while discussing the controversy surrounding Reid since the revelation of his comments about Barack Obama's lack of a "Negro dialect."

"I don't think there's a person walking, certainly not a politician out there, that hasn't made comments they regret," he said. "When you make those comments, as long as you take responsibility for your comments and apologize for them, I think people should accept that."

Ensign said Republicans are being hypocritical for calling on Reid to resign as Senate majority leader while also lamenting Trent Lott's 2002 resignation from his post following his comments praising the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.).

"Democrats were really wrong in what they did to Trent Lott, and we shouldn't do the same thing to Senator Reid," Ensign said.

The Reno-Gazette Journal also mentioned Ensign and Reid's longstanding non-aggression pact -- "an agreement with Reid not to criticize each other."