No wonder she's getting all grabby. Those plush animals are stuffed with straight CA$H.

Who dares to peer into the complicated moral machinery of U.S. John Ensign’s expertly coiffed heart? The senator has said he won’t return $28,000 in donations from indicted Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. His rationale for keeping his claws on the dough? Ensign’s spokesman shrugs all gee-whizlike and tells the Review-Journal the money’s “already spent.” While other Republicans are washing their hands by shunting their icky Stevens money to charities, Ensign stands on the principle of pragmatism.

But wait … is that wubbly, jangly harp music I hear signaling a flashback to, oh, about July 3, 2006, when the Review-Journal reported Ensign gave to charity about $8,700 — the equivalent of a buncha dirty Jack Abramoff-tinged money the senator had received and had been “already spent”? Why yes, it is ….

Snip:

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., says he made a charitable contribution last year equaling the amount he received from a former Bush administration official recently convicted of lying about his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

David Safavian, who was convicted June 20 on four of five counts of deceiving federal officials and obstructing justice, contributed $4,372 to Ensign from May 1997 to November 1999, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Safavian’s wife, Jennifer, also gave $300 to Ensign in March 1998.

Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said the senator made a contribution of $8,648.50 to the Nevada Patriot Fund last Oct. 1.

Ensign’s contribution equaled donations he received from the Safavians and some from Abramoff, Finn said.

The Nevada Patriot Fund provides financial assistance to families of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ensign’s contribution came less than a month after he said he did not intend to return the Safavian donations because the money already had been spent.

“I never would have taken the money if I had known what I know now,” Ensign said. “We take money from a lot of different people, and I don’t know the background of all of them. You just try to keep your own integrity intact.”

Note the initial diss and the similar “already been spent” justification.

‘Scuse me while I ratchet up the egg timer counting down Ensign’s imminent flip-flop …