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You are here: Home / Politics / Mark Sanford

Mark Sanford

by DougJ|  June 22, 20094:55 pm| 161 Comments

This post is in: Politics

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The story about South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s whereabouts is getting a lot of play on the tv today. There’s a lot of discussion of this killing his political future, some of it a little mean.

It sounds to me like the guy may have had a nervous breakdown and I hope everyone lays off. Anybody can suffer from mental illness and when they do, they deserve sympathy, not mockery.

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161Comments

  1. 1.

    Ash

    June 22, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    I dunno, if the governor of a state has a nervous breakdown, I’d sure hope no one lays off. He wouldn’t be fit for office. Well, ok, not like he is anyway…….

    My theory however is that a sex scandal is about to break, and it involves an illegal Mexican transvestite.

  2. 2.

    John Cole

    June 22, 2009 at 5:00 pm

    If it is a nervous breakdown, as much as I don’t think he is fit to be President because of his beliefs, it would be nice to think that we have advanced somewhat from the days of Thomas Eagleton.

  3. 3.

    djork

    June 22, 2009 at 5:01 pm

    Maybe he was raptured…..

  4. 4.

    MikeJ

    June 22, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    He’s going to come back carrying bin Laden’s head on a stick, you’ll see.

  5. 5.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    June 22, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    My guess is hemorrhoid surgery, but since he was 40% hemorrhoid they’re trying to figure out how to announce that he’s now only 4 feet tall.

  6. 6.

    Will

    June 22, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    It sounds to me like the guy may have had a nervous breakdown and I hope everyone lays off. Anybody can suffer from mental illness and when they do, they deserve sympathy, not mockery.

    Or he really could have just decided to step out for a mini-vacation without alerting the whole world. Or his wife. Actually sounds kind of fun when you put it that way.

  7. 7.

    DrPresident

    June 22, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    They are laying into him over at democratic underground. Those people are cold. I hope he’s found and doing well.

  8. 8.

    Saragon

    June 22, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    Were this a nervous breakdown, you’d have seen executive authority for South Carolina handed off to the Lieutenant Governor at some point — someone would’ve insisted on that.

    My best guess is that my governor’s on a bender or having an affair. The latter would seem to bolster his reputation in the GOP, so maybe it’s a political maneuver.

  9. 9.

    PeopleAreNoDamnGood

    June 22, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    Yeah, because when a guy is seriously mentally ill, there is nothing more compelling than getting him well quickly and back in control of the government.

  10. 10.

    Punchy

    June 22, 2009 at 5:07 pm

    Anybody can suffer from mental illness and when they do, they deserve sympathy, not mockery.

    Many of us are aghast that a sitting Governor of a state can simply shut off his phones for FOUR DAYS and be completely AWOL from his family and job responsibilities.

    If I went AWOL from my job for 4 days, I’d be canned. I could care less about the personal aspects of this — if you’re Going Gone(TM) for 4 days, it’s your DUTY to put your Luty Gov in charge. Period. To just up and out without telling anyone is derelection of duty, and insanely stupid.

    Edited to sound less harsh on Doug

  11. 11.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 22, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    That’s why I said in the other thread, I hope he’s ok!. Stories like this too often end up with a note being found.

    ** I did here someone just say on the teevee they had been in contact with him and he was on his way home, but who knows.

  12. 12.

    Ramalamadingdong

    June 22, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    Maybe he is at the Priory Clinic with Susan Boyle

  13. 13.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    June 22, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    He’s at Disneyworld right now wandering around the Hall of Presidents, eating a turkey leg.

  14. 14.

    DougJ

    June 22, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    Nobody’s mocking, Strawman.

    I just watched a bunch of people mock him on Shuster’s show.

  15. 15.

    DougJ

    June 22, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    Yeah, because when a guy is seriously mentally ill, there is nothing more compelling than getting him well quickly and back in control of the government.

    I see your point there. If it’s a serious episode he should probably step down for a while.

  16. 16.

    Raenelle

    June 22, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    Damn. I didn’t see that coming. I’ve been pondering the old liar or stupid question. Insane, as obvious as it now seems, just didn’t occur. Think outside the box; outside the box.

  17. 17.

    Steve S.

    June 22, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    A football player who is old and injured gets cut. Fuck Mark Sanford if he can’t handle the job. This isn’t the goddamned Special Olympics, a governor has a great deal of responsibility and a profound degree of power over many people’s lives, sometimes even life and death power. Or do you think it’s a good idea to have somebody prone to a “nervous breakdown” signing death warrants and making clemency decisions? The hell with him.

  18. 18.

    PeopleAreNoDamnGood

    June 22, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    I see your point there.

    This may rank as the funniest understatement in the history of funny understatements.

  19. 19.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    June 22, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    Anybody can suffer from mental illness and when they do, they deserve sympathy, not mockery.

    Unless they have made worse the lives of thousands of people who need help themselves, for instance by rejecting federal stimulus money then taking it and trying to use it to pay down debt instead of paying for social programs.

  20. 20.

    JenJen

    June 22, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    As mentioned in the other thread, maybe Sanford’s just Gone Galt.

    Is “nervous breakdown” the new “rehab”? I’m not making fun, I’m sincerely not. It just sounds more rehab to me, is all.

    Edit: DougJ’s spot-on about Shuster’s take, via Twitter:

    Shuster1600SC: Governor Mark Sanford says “goodbye” to 2012. http://bit.ly/3wcrYe
    3 minutes ago from web

    Seems a weird way to approach this story, through the 2012 lens, doesn’t it? For one, isn’t it still 2009?

  21. 21.

    gbear

    June 22, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    Anybody can suffer from mental illness and when they do, they deserve sympathy, not mockery.

    Usually what people get is stone dead silence. Way more common than sympathy or mockery. People just don’t want to know.

  22. 22.

    Redshirt

    June 22, 2009 at 5:17 pm

    Finally! Wingnuts goin’ Galt folks!

  23. 23.

    numbskull

    June 22, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    I’m in charge of a very small unit – 4 FTEs and me. I had to take care of a personal matter this morning. On the assumption that I would miss the first half of the day, I emailed the four that I manage about my assumed absence, gave them some direction, and asked for their plans for the day and week.

    This guy is supposedly in charge of the entire state’s executive, has powers over the state’s NG units and other units that could require immediate attention, and has a phalanx of people, starting with the Lt Gov on down, to take up his slack if he even thinks he’s going to be sitting on the pot an extra quarter hour.

    So in what world is it OK for him to take off without ANY notice?

    If there is a mental problem, then the problem needs to be dealt with. But again, that’s where there is a Lt Gov, numerous staffers, etc. ad nauseum.

  24. 24.

    Elie

    June 22, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    # 11 —

    So if what you heard was true — it would be like :
    “Sheez — I forgot to go to the office for the last four days!” Slap forehead –“guess I had better go back!”

    Is that how it would go?

    I am sure there are other alternatives —

    ” Jeez, wanted to get a tastee freez the other night and Gosh, woke up in my car with the hand dipped chocolate cone all over my pajamas and really sticky fingers! Guess I had better go home and let the Missus know that I am ok”

    Other alternatives if he is indeed on his way back?

  25. 25.

    harlana pepper

    June 22, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    Sanford is a privileged fuckwad with absolutely no feeling for the common man. As a SC resident, he wanted to deny me and all my unemployed brethren the extension of unemployment benefits and also would have put thousands of state employees out of work, including teachers, had he not been overridden by the republican legislature. Even before that, when the economic shit hit the fan, he started blaming everything on struggling state agencies. I hope he does have a fucking nervous breakdown. Maybe he’ll find out what it feels like to be a human being for a change. No sympathy whatsoever. Suffer like the rest of us.

  26. 26.

    chris

    June 22, 2009 at 5:21 pm

    I’ll have sympathy for him just as soon as he admits to having some sort of breakdown. Until then, why should I assume? They’re lying to those they serve, AGAIN, and for that they deserve every brickbat that comes their way.

  27. 27.

    R-Jud

    June 22, 2009 at 5:21 pm

    @Death By Mosquito Truck:

    He’s at Disneyworld right now wandering around the Hall of Presidents, eating a turkey leg.

    I LOL’d.

    JenJen, I believe “nervous breakdown” is the new “suffering from exhaustion” which was the new “tired and emotional” which was the new “in rehab” which was the new black (and soon will be again.)

  28. 28.

    Rosali

    June 22, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    He went off on a rumspringa.

  29. 29.

    PeopleAreNoDamnGood

    June 22, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    Tales of Two Party Headquarters:

    Democrats: The governor’s office is on the phone, they have a problem, the governor has had a mental breakdown.

    Staffer: See if we can ahold of the lieutenant governor!

    ===========///

    Republicans: The governor’s office is on the phone, they have a problem, the governonr has had a mental breakdown!

    Staffer: How will anyone know?

  30. 30.

    ** Atanarjuat **

    June 22, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    Governor Sanford failed to stop the Porkulus Express from barrelling through his state. Imagine the the sense of despair, the crushing defeat, the endless shame.

    It’s hard out here for a pimp wingnut.

    -A

  31. 31.

    tammanycall

    June 22, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    So no one else thinks he’s gone on a bender? You’re all much nicer than I am…

  32. 32.

    harlana pepper

    June 22, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    Indeed, mental illness is serious business but rest assured that Sanford will receive the best care available which is more than I can say for most of his constituency who are out of work and, I am sure, desperately need counseling and support for that very reason.

  33. 33.

    Punchy

    June 22, 2009 at 5:38 pm

    But did the strip clubs he visited serve Arugula and dijion mustard?

  34. 34.

    Maus

    June 22, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    It sounds to me like the guy may have had a nervous breakdown and I hope everyone lays off. Anybody can suffer from mental illness and when they do, they deserve sympathy, not mockery.

    This depends entirely on what he may have done beforehand.

  35. 35.

    harlana pepper

    June 22, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    Jeez, you just hit a chord there. Sorry for being such an asshole, but talk of mental illness hits too close to home. I would feel differently if he had ever given a shit about any of us poor slobs. I don’t wish him dead or anything, but a Scrooge-style transformation, while extremely doubtful, would not be a bad thing.

  36. 36.

    LarryB

    June 22, 2009 at 5:45 pm

    @John Cole:

    it would be nice to think that we have advanced somewhat from the days of Thomas Eagleton.

    It’s not the same. Eagleton was smeared as potentially unfit for high office because he had sought mental treatment years in the past. Stanford, on the other hand, is a sitting governor. There are actually laws on the books that require him to hand over control to his successor if he’s unfit to serve. If I lived in S.C., I’d want to know if he was so out of it he had to “rest” in detox or a sanitorium.

  37. 37.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    June 22, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    @R-Jud:

    Death By Mosquito Truck: He’s at Disneyworld right now wandering around the Hall of Presidents, eating a turkey leg.

    R-Jud: I LOL’d.

    I wanted to do something more biting (eg. he’s hanging in Charlie Crist’s closet) but I’m deathly afraid of pulling a walterjohn.

  38. 38.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 22, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    I will wait to see wtf happened to him before mocking him. However, no matter where he is or what’s happened to him, if he didn’t let anyone know where he was for four days, he is not qualified to be governor.

  39. 39.

    sgwhiteinfla

    June 22, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    DougJ

    I just have to ask where the nervous breakdown meme came from? Not only that but if a Dem governor was in the same situation there isn’t a chance in hell the wingnuts would give them the benefit of the doubt. I am not on some lets do what they do type of shit but I mean seriously, there are about a gazillion other viable reasons for why this guy has been AWOL that are just as likely as something as remote as a nervous breakdown, many of them illegal and highly embarrassing.

    To be honest, after how he tried to deprive the undpriviledged kids of SC of the stimulus funds to repair there schools I couldn’t give any less of a fuck about his mental well being. They have already found him and evidently he is fine physically so screw him. Hell his own wife wasn’t and isn’t concerned.

    Sorry but I can’t take the high road with that asshole.

  40. 40.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 22, 2009 at 5:48 pm

    @sgwhiteinfla: They found him? Link?

    Never mind. Found it. Yes. Highly suspicious. He needs to be ousted, regardless.

  41. 41.

    Deborah

    June 22, 2009 at 5:50 pm

    “So no one else thinks he’s gone on a bender? You’re all much nicer than I am…”

    I went straight for “sex scandal much worse than that Nevada guy’s;” bender didn’t occur to me. Going galt is kind of brilliant.

    I realize it could end with a body in a hotel room but….if that is the case, rather scary he’s been in charge of a state and no one noticed any reason to remove him.

  42. 42.

    harlana pepper

    June 22, 2009 at 5:50 pm

    @Maus: you just said in a few words what i was trying to say in 3 lengthy posts. bravo!

  43. 43.

    El Cid

    June 22, 2009 at 5:51 pm

    From The State:

    ************************

    “I was recently made aware that Governor Sanford has frequently been eluding SLED agents and disappearing at odd times,” Knotts said. Previously, Sanford has not been out of all contact – including with his own office – for this long before, a source, who insisted on anonymity, said.

    Knotts said the state’s chief executive should never be unreachable.

    “As the head of our state, in the unfortunate event of a state of emergency or homeland security situation, Governor Sanford should be available at all times to the Chief of SLED,” the senator said.

    “If for any reason, including the unknown whereabouts of the Governor, he is unable to perform the duties of his office the Constitution provides that the lieutenant governor assumes the position of governor.

    “I want to know immediately ­ who is running the executive branch in the governor’s absence,” Knotts said.

  44. 44.

    canuckistani

    June 22, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    I’d like to think he’ll turn up in a hermit shack in a swamp in 10 years, calling himself “Skink”.

  45. 45.

    Tiparillo

    June 22, 2009 at 5:54 pm

    Am I the only one who thinks he is burnishing his creditials for a 2012 presidential run? He can now say he went Galt in 2009 after standing up to the Obama socialist stimulus plan. Makes him the front runner, don’t it?

  46. 46.

    Hedley Lamarr

    June 22, 2009 at 5:56 pm

    What if his “mental illness” turns out to be that he caught teh gay?

  47. 47.

    donovong

    June 22, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    Two Points: One, he is my governor and I while I am convinced that he is batshit crazy, I don’t think his “illness” is of the type that would engender my sympathies. I a hoping he simply realized just how full of shit he really is, and decided to go Galt.

    And, two, what the fuck did you do with the real DougJ?!?

  48. 48.

    donovong

    June 22, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    Two Points: One, he is my governor and I while I am convinced that he is batshit crazy, I don’t think his “illness” is of the type that would engender my sympathies. I a hoping he simply realized just how full of shit he really is, and decided to go Galt.

    And, two, what the fuck did you do with the real DougJ?!?

  49. 49.

    JasonF

    June 22, 2009 at 5:59 pm

    The Governor has been found!

  50. 50.

    oh really

    June 22, 2009 at 6:01 pm

    It sounds to me like the guy may have had a nervous breakdown…

    If Sanford had a nervous breakdown, it seems unlikely that a few days off will get him back to full mental health. I have no interest in mocking anyone who suffers from mental illness, but if that were actually the case, the people of his state should be the first to know. Keeping something like that secret is not the opposite of making fun of someone, though both are irresponsible.

    While it would be nice to think we’ve progressed since Eagleton, I don’t know that there’s a lot of evidence supporting that hope. If someone in an important elective office has a breakdown, suffers from severe depression, or exhibits some other signs of serious mental illness, stepping aside would be the appropriate thing to do. We’re never going to progress past Eagleton if we hide people’s problems.

    If Sanford really does have a mental illness problem, he could step aside, regain his health, and then return to office. He was duly elected in his state, so it doesn’t matter what I think of his politics, he’s entitled to serve as long as he’s competent. If he needs time away, so be it. If that were the course followed, we truly would be making progress.

  51. 51.

    donovong

    June 22, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    And, what Harlana Pepper said @25. Also.

    Sandlappers Rule!!

  52. 52.

    Delia

    June 22, 2009 at 6:06 pm

    “I was recently made aware that Governor Sanford has frequently been eluding SLED agents and disappearing at odd times,” Knotts said. Previously, Sanford has not been out of all contact – including with his own office – for this long before, a source, who insisted on anonymity, said.

    Well, ya gotta admit, this is pretty odd behavior, even for someone who aspires to a national leadership role in the Wingnut Party.

  53. 53.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 22, 2009 at 6:06 pm

    When I was living in Mississippi in the 90’s we had a nutbag governor named Kirk Fordice, who would disappear from time to time, until he wrecked his car one dark and stormy night.

    He later blamed it on Bill Clinton, or something like that.

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    June 22, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    It sounds to me like the guy may have had a nervous breakdown and I hope everyone lays off…

    This is bad, lazy and strange protocol, especially because of this:

    According to AP reports, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said he didn’t know where Sanford is but said he had not been put in charge.

    And in the context of the governor’s office and wife saying that they don’t know where the governor is, but that they are not concerned, this should be unacceptable.

    Even in crazy California, there is protocol that has to be followed if the governor is going to be out of the state or temporarily incapacitated for medical reasons. And you can’t do this kind of thing as president, and a presidential nervous breakdown would vault a vice president into the office, at least temporarily. Hell, even Star Trek had a command protocol for a captain’s breakdown.

    I won’t speculate in the absence of any information about the governor, but I think that his state should re-assess what they do in situations like this.

  55. 55.

    Jon H

    June 22, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    My money’s on a poppers binge.

  56. 56.

    Michael

    June 22, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    To borrow Jimmy Buffett borrowing Lord Byron:

    “I was headed to the 7-11 for a paper and a slushee. Next thing I knew I was on I-95, headed for Florida. Please don’t tell that to my old lady, she’ll kick my ass.”

    Either that, or he was off having clandestine meetings with Senator Tomarchio about the great new plans for the ASA…..

  57. 57.

    mistermix

    June 22, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    DougJ is right. If Sanford has a mental illness, it’s sad for his family and I hope he recovers.

    That said, unfortunately VIPs often get worse treatment than the average person with the same disease. Earl Long, Huey’s brother and Governor of Louisiana is a great example. When he was confined to a mental hospital, he appointed one of his toadies to be head of the hospital system so he could be released. Who knows if psychiatry could have done anything for old Earl — he seemed beyond help or reason — but it’s a sure thing that he didn’t get a chance.

  58. 58.

    Jon H

    June 22, 2009 at 6:10 pm

    Or maybe he’s trying to find slaves to work on the plantation he owns.

  59. 59.

    JR

    June 22, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    This doesn’t sound like mental breakdown to me. Those can be handled quietly and passed off as vacations, especially on holiday weekends. You go to a quiet spot and bring in support staff to help.

    This reads to me like a serious physiological medical emergency, something that he or his crew feared might derail future ambitions if it became public and would be worse for his image than simply dropping off the face of the earth. I’d be worried more about a transient ischemic attack/stroke more than breakdown, given the utter communications blackout involved.

  60. 60.

    harlana pepper

    June 22, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    @donovong: yeah, man!

    and, dammit, they found him!

  61. 61.

    ericvsthem

    June 22, 2009 at 6:13 pm

    @Comrade Stuck: re: ex-Gov. Kirk Fordice, it is refreshing to see that GOP’s penchant for cognitive dissonance has remained intact over the last 11 years.

  62. 62.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 22, 2009 at 6:16 pm

    Who knows if psychiatry could have done anything for old Earl—he seemed beyond help or reason

    The Kingfish was born crazy as a shithouse rat. If he coulda been cured, he wouldn’t a been The Kingfish no mo;

  63. 63.

    Jon H

    June 22, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    He’s a GOP governor with an o’erweening ego. My honest guess is that it’s not a breakdown, it’s an abuse of power.

  64. 64.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 22, 2009 at 6:20 pm

    Wrong Long on #61. disregard

  65. 65.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    June 22, 2009 at 6:25 pm

    Maybe he’ll find out what it feels like to be a human being for a change. No sympathy whatsoever. Suffer like the rest of us.

    That does seem to be the absolute only way to get a Republican to show compassion and empathy, doesn’t it? The only ones who show even a little support for gay rights are the ones who have gay relatives; the only ones who favor money for medical research are the ones who watched a love one wither away; etc etc etc.

  66. 66.

    Peter J

    June 22, 2009 at 6:26 pm

    Obama is getting rid of the 2012 competition.

    First Huntsman, then Ensign and now Sanford.

    /WINGNUT OFF

  67. 67.

    eric

    June 22, 2009 at 6:29 pm

    The bottom line for the whole debacle: poor judgment. If he has failed to disclose a prior medical condition to his doctors or to the Lt. Governor, then poor judgment, if has merely left the reigns of power without telling anyone where or why he was going, then epicly poor judgment. There is not one explanation that he can give that would evidence sound judgment, unless he was kidnapped by the taliban and his office did not want to publicize it.

    Luckily for him, the GOP does not limit its leadership to serious people.

    eric

  68. 68.

    The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

    June 22, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    Earl spent so long desperately looking for the Deduct Box that it drove him insane.

  69. 69.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 22, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    @Peter J:

    He keeps it up, he might outdo Clinton’s Dead Pool.

  70. 70.

    Little Dreamer

    June 22, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    Well, considering his financial politics having quite a lot in common with Sarah Palin, he better not try to collect any reimbursement for those four days.

  71. 71.

    Garrigus Carraig

    June 22, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    Agree on abuse of power. Apparently he wanders off to walk the earth on the regular. I’m getting the vibe that he thinks the governorship resides within his person (“L’état, c’est moi!”), rather than being a position of responsibilities bound by certain rules which he happens to hold.
    Whatever. Republicans need to start behaving. This is getting out of hand.

  72. 72.

    Jon H

    June 22, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    Apparently a few years back he enlisted in the Reserve, and went off to Alabama for two weeks of boot camp. While he was governor. And he didn’t pass authority to the Lt. Gov.

    The guy’s basically an ass, is what the problem is.

  73. 73.

    robertdsc

    June 22, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    I’d like to think he’ll turn up in a hermit shack in a swamp in 10 years, calling himself “Skink”.

    Brilliant.

  74. 74.

    JK

    June 22, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    I’m not prepared to jump to the conclusion that Sanford suffered a nervous breakdown.

    It’s far more likely that he’s spending quality time with a high end escort.

  75. 75.

    Nylund

    June 22, 2009 at 6:35 pm

    Being a Republican would drive me insane – so many logical contradictions. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a nervous breakdown.

    But honestly, my first thought was a weekend away with the mistress (or mister, as seems to be the case with the wingnuttiest of prominent Republicans).

  76. 76.

    arguingwithsignposts

    June 22, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    @mistermix:

    That said, unfortunately VIPs often get worse treatment than the average person with the same disease.

    what? assuming that the avg. person even gets treatment, that’s maybe. But they have all those dollar bills to cushion their hardship.

  77. 77.

    ethan salto

    June 22, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    Wut:

    “Sanford’s last known whereabouts were near Atalanta, where a mobile telephone tower picked up a signal from his phone, authorities said.”

    I’m not sure what’s going on, but this quote suggests that something seriously abnormal is afoot. The fact that the “authorities” tracked down the last ping from his cell phone, and that they would disclose that — whoa.

  78. 78.

    Mike in NC

    June 22, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    Sanford is a privileged fuckwad with absolutely no feeling for the common man.

    Jesus, would it be possible to have some of my measly unemployment benefits diverted to help this prick GOP millionaire feel better about himself?

  79. 79.

    binzinerator

    June 22, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    If it is a nervous breakdown, as much as I don’t think he is fit to be President because of his beliefs, it would be nice to think that we have advanced somewhat from the days of Thomas Eagleton.

    When have conservatives given a shit about other people suffering from mental illness?

    Haven’t people in Sanford’s party insisted for decades that all those homeless and poor people suffering from mental illnesses would just have to buck up and ride it out? That it’s their fault for letting themselves get that way? That they should have made better decisions in their lives? That if they only had some pride and some gumption like real Americans they’d never allow themselves to get that way? That no way is the state gonna pay for their mollycoddling and feel-good therapy, nor are they gonna get any more anti-psychotic drugs for nothing from the taxes of hard working Americans.

    If it turns out the guy had a mental breakdown, I’ll grant him the same degree of empathy his party has had for others suffering from depression, mental breakdowns and any other debilitating mental conditions — which is next to nothing. Or maybe like some conservatives I have known I can exude a self-satisfied quiet contempt because it means the man is weak.

    This is a guy with a lifetime rating of 92 from the American Conservative Union — the darling of the party of personal responsibility, of family values, whose libertarian and fiscal beliefs means programs to aid the mentally ill are nothing more than stealing money from the pockets people who work for a living.

    If it’s a nervous breakdown, fuck him. He gets government provided health care to help him get better. Where the fuck is ours?

    If most people dropped off the radar for 4 days do you think 1) their employer wouldn’t fire them and 2) they would have insurance through that employer that could treat them for the depression?

    Fuck no. Allow me to remind you a shit load of ordinary people live in fucking conservative libtard “Right to Work” states that fucktards who think like Sanford helped to create. All of which made it extra-easy for ordinary people to get their asses fired by their employers for any reason whatsoever.

    Mental illness? Alcoholism? An affair? Fuck him. I have as much sympathy for him as I do for John Ensign, and for the same goddamned reasons. They are fucking hypocrites.

    My guess is hemorrhoid surgery, but since he was 40% hemorrhoid they’re trying to figure out how to announce that he’s now only 4 feet tall.

    This oughta win the internets for a week.

  80. 80.

    DonkeyKong

    June 22, 2009 at 6:40 pm

    Would’nt it be funny if Sanford cut mental health services.

  81. 81.

    Michael

    June 22, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    I’d like to think he’ll turn up in a hermit shack in a swamp in 10 years, calling himself “Skink”.

    The only problem with that is that Skink is a good guy. Sanford would be like the anti-Skink, torturing endangered species or killing puppies or something.

    If he really was off listening to the muse and writing, it was probably secession ordinances, pro-Slaver treatises and the first set of orders to the SC National Guard after his grand pronouncement of secession (along with his unilateral declaration of accession to the office of Emperor and President for Life)…..

  82. 82.

    Little Dreamer

    June 22, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    Man disappears for four days, wife and other man who is scheduled to take over missing man’s duties are not concerned. I think they should be ahead of all others on the suspect list.

    (said as a joke, hoping nothing seriously foul has happened to this man)

  83. 83.

    geg6

    June 22, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    Nope, sorry. No sympathy from me, a person who has a person in her immediate family who has a mental illness. Whatever the reason for this most recent absence, he’s apparently done it before and this is some of the most irresponsible behavior I can imagine on the part of a governor. He should be thrown out of office for gross incompetence. It matters not one bit WHY he’s gone Galt, no top executive of a state should be out of touch with state officials or with his/her security detail for ANY REASON WHATSOEVER. The only exception would be if he’d turned power over to the leutenant governor. If he hates the lack of solitude that is part and parcel of being a chief executive of his state, he should resign. And this asshole thinks he might be president?

  84. 84.

    Wile E. Quixote

    June 22, 2009 at 6:43 pm

    @John Cole

    It sounds to me like the guy may have had a nervous breakdown and I hope everyone lays off. Anybody can suffer from mental illness and when they do, they deserve sympathy, not mockery.

    @Maus

    This depends entirely on what he may have done beforehand.

    I’m with Maus on this one. If you’ve been a world class asshole and gone out of your way to shit on people in need then don’t come sniffing around for sympathy when you’re in need yourself.

  85. 85.

    sgwhiteinfla

    June 22, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    Ok so it turns out that before this punk ass bitch went off on his “sabattical” he found the time to weigh in on slavery and the stimulus funds.

    SANFORD: A guy from the northeast did a study on generational accounting. Generational accounting says what is the imputed tax for a young person born in America today? And remarkably, that number is 82, which at all ain’t that far from a thing called slavery. If you’re giving away 82% of every dollar you earn every day and every week and every month, A, it’s not a good deal, B, it collapses the capitalistic system because nobody has any initiative to work at that point, and C, it really isn’t that far from slavery. And what the Republic was originally set up was on the notion that was just talked about a moment ago, which is this larger notion of freedom. And economic freedom is a part of the larger notion of freedom.

    I think I was a little to nice earlier.

    Fuck that muthafucka!

  86. 86.

    Peter J

    June 22, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    The reports about his staff knowing where he is, is probably just is damage control.

    He’s gone mad, living in the woods, slaughtering teenagers who are skinny dipping in the lake near his cabin.

  87. 87.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    June 22, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    @JenJen:

    … isn’t it still 2009?

    Only out here in where the people live. For the media elites it is always the next election year. Always.

    Sanford is fine. He just got his ass handed to him by the State Supreme Court when they said he had to take all that gummint money from the no good soc1alists in DC. He’s probably licking his wounds and hoping for a bright sun shiny day.

  88. 88.

    Little Dreamer

    June 22, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    His wife, Jenny, told the Associated Press her husband has been gone for several days and she doesn’t know where, but she is not concerned. She also told the Associated Press that Sanford did not contact her or their children on Father’s Day.

    Missing Father’s Day, I guess that might be forgivable, but, did he miss church too?

  89. 89.

    Jay B.

    June 22, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer told the AP that Sanford was taking time to “recharge” after his failed fight against federal stimulus money.

    “Recharge”?! Do they have to spell it out for you? HE’S A FUCKING ROBOT!

    If not, you do have to empathize, it has to be really fucking exhausting not totally being able to screw other people out of benefits.

  90. 90.

    Deborah

    June 22, 2009 at 7:02 pm

    Okay, if he’s been found alive and slipping his security detail is a regular thing of later, I’m going straight for a secret life as a caped crusader for justice, preferably Die Fliedermaus.

    But it’s probably an affair.

    And with everyone else on putting the LG in charge whenever he has to don those tights.

  91. 91.

    Peter J

    June 22, 2009 at 7:03 pm

    If Sanford wasn’t from South Carolina I would have guessed that this is what the 2011 South Carolina republican primary whisper campaign would be based on.

    I wonder what state they will pick this time.

  92. 92.

    geg6

    June 22, 2009 at 7:04 pm

    If this doesn’t sound like a guy who’s got a piece of ass squirreled away in Georgia, nothing does. Didn’t even talk to his kids on Father’s Day? Seriously? GOP family values!

  93. 93.

    harlana pepper

    June 22, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    I’d say this episode dashes any hope of his running for prez in 2012. awwwww :D

  94. 94.

    harlana pepper

    June 22, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    @geg6: No shit. Actually, I was thinking coke binge.

  95. 95.

    Ed in NJ

    June 22, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    Nice to see the field clearing for Palin in 2012:

    Jindal-trainwreck speech after SOTU
    Huntsman-off to China
    Ensign-can’t keep it in pants
    Sanford-on a bender

    I can’t wait to see the Republicans try to spin this over the next few days. He either skipped out on his family purposely on Father’s Day, or has a mental or substance abuse problem. This of course won’t stop the Foxies and Freepers from claiming this is normal behavior.

  96. 96.

    geg6

    June 22, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    harlana pepper: Or a coke binge with the piece of ass he has squirreled away in Georgia.

  97. 97.

    Martin

    June 22, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    If you’ve been a world class asshole and gone out of your way to shit on people in need then don’t come sniffing around for sympathy when you’re in need yourself.

    That’s kinda where I am right now myself. If you’re going to tell the 4.5M South Carolinians to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps even when help has been offered, then you’re totally fair game to get fired when you run off the reservation.

    Either the social safety net works for everybody or for nobody.

  98. 98.

    spudvol

    June 22, 2009 at 7:26 pm

    Republican+Disappearing for 4 days=Gay Cruise

  99. 99.

    Calouste

    June 22, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    @geg6:

    Georgia? Governor? Piece of ass?

    Wouldn’t that be a piece of mule?

  100. 100.

    Little Dreamer

    June 22, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    @Martin:

    South Carolinians won’t fall for that, go for the “he missed church” angle. That they’ll have a lot of trouble with.

  101. 101.

    jrg

    June 22, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    Have they searched the massage parlors along the I-95 corridor?\

  102. 102.

    Martin

    June 22, 2009 at 7:29 pm

    South Carolinians won’t fall for that, go for the “he missed church” angle. That they’ll have a lot of trouble with.

    So, Satan whisked him away for an intimate weekend in San Francisco?

  103. 103.

    Laura W

    June 22, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    @harlana pepper:

    I was thinking coke binge.

    mmmmm……coke binge.
    Sorry. 20-year-old flashback in progress.

    @geg6:

    Or a coke binge with the piece of ass

    mmmmm….Sorry!
    Snap out of it, Laura!!

  104. 104.

    Little Dreamer

    June 22, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    @Martin:

    I never said anything about Satan. The fact seems to be that he missed church, that’s a very bad thing in South Carolina right wing circles.

  105. 105.

    DougJ

    June 22, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    That said, unfortunately VIPs often get worse treatment than the average person with the same disease. Earl Long, Huey’s brother and Governor of Louisiana is a great example. When he was confined to a mental hospital, he appointed one of his toadies to be head of the hospital system so he could be released. Who knows if psychiatry could have done anything for old Earl—he seemed beyond help or reason—but it’s a sure thing that he didn’t get a chance.

    Very interesting story.

  106. 106.

    Martin

    June 22, 2009 at 7:44 pm

    I never said anything about Satan. The fact seems to be that he missed church, that’s a very bad thing in South Carolina right wing circles.

    Isn’t that the only cause for missing church in South Carolina right-wing circles? I thought there was a direct connection from the breakdown of social values to Satan via San Francisco, with birth control, taxation, tolerance of brown people, rejection of flag pins, and coveting your neighbor’s wife’s brother as milestones on the trip.

  107. 107.

    dbrown

    June 22, 2009 at 7:45 pm

    Drugged out – booze or pills caught up with him. Asswipe.

  108. 108.

    Violet

    June 22, 2009 at 7:49 pm

    The wife is clearly not covering for him anymore. That means it must be a case of him having a piece on the side. Otherwise, his wife would still be willing to cover for him – “He’s gone to ‘our cabin’ in the woods to recharge,” or “He’s gone hunting with some buddies for the weekend,” etc. For the wife to say, “I don’t know where he is” means she’s not covering. Interesting card for her to play.

  109. 109.

    Cyrus

    June 22, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    Wait, where are people getting the idea that he has been found? From JasonF‘s comment? This is as close as it comes to saying he has been found:

    But Sanford’s office told the lieutenant governor’s office Monday afternoon that Sanford has been reached and he is fine, said Frank Adams, head of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s office on aging.

    And later,

    The governor’s office issued a statement Monday afternoon: “Gov. Sanford is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session, and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside. We are not going to discuss the specifics of his travel arrangements or his security arrangements.”

    Still no comment on where, or on why other than boilerplate that could have been written by an intern. Yesterday, family and employees were saying they didn’t know where he is but they aren’t worried. Today, they’re saying they aren’t worried. If the first part of the original statement has changed, the article linked in JasonF’s comment doesn’t make it clear.

    It’s still all speculation, a nervous breakdown seems to be the most likely possibility, and if that’s the case PeopleAreNoDamnGood seems to have the right of it.

  110. 110.

    harlana pepper

    June 22, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    I am salivating at the thought of how in the flying fuck he’s going to ‘splain all this. He’s a dumb fucker who cannot think on his feet, so this is gonna be rough.

    Oh, oh, the stimulus battle! Hand me my smellin’ salts, Viney!

  111. 111.

    geg6

    June 22, 2009 at 8:05 pm

    This just gets weirder and weirder. His staff is claiming he’s found but no word on where he is, why he disappeared, and the wife keeps throwing him under the bus, first calmly saying she has no idea where he is but she’s not worried and then making sure the press knows he didn’t have anything to say to his kids on Father’s Day. I have a suspicion she won’t be standing next to him with that rictus of a grin when he finally mans up and calls a press conference to tearfully apologize for breaking his marriage vows. Wonder if he’s into diapers or wetsuits?

  112. 112.

    kay

    June 22, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    They’re very poor at vague excuse-making. I think I could easily cover for someone for 4 days. Two of the four were a weekend, right?

    They’re not even trying.

  113. 113.

    Ed in NJ

    June 22, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    Look, the fact is that after all this attention, he still hasn’t gotten in front of a camera to show everyone he’s ok. It’s safe to say the reason is that he can’t. Either they haven’t found him, or he’s in no condition.

  114. 114.

    El Cid

    June 22, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    @harlana pepper: Thank you for pointing out the bright side of all this. I too look forward.

    I am hoping for a made-up story involving him doing something noble, a charity gesture or something, which will quickly fall apart because it’s really a dumb story.

  115. 115.

    Little Dreamer

    June 22, 2009 at 8:07 pm

    @Martin:

    That’s because you have a fairly common (and yet very wrong) understanding of Satan.

    Satan is IN the churches, not keeping people out of them.

    Why does it say about God’s people being part of the Whore of Babylon: “come out of her my people” (Rev 18:4) – John the Revelator wasn’t talking about some disintegrating buildings in Iraq.

  116. 116.

    El Cid

    June 22, 2009 at 8:12 pm

    Maybe Sanford is simply trying to demonstrate that the governor who governs best is he who governs least.

  117. 117.

    LD50

    June 22, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    The first Letter From a Concerned Citizen there is tardalicious:

    I am not concerned about where Gov. Sanford is. I think that if the Federal government won’t let our governor run the state the way he feels is best for SC’s citezens, then why do we even need a governor?

    You’re right. Perish the thought that a governor might have to answer to the federal government when the Democrats are in power.

    The stimulous most definitely caused stress to Gov. Sanford and he probably is taking a break.

    You’re right again. South Carolina was offered millions of dollars in free money. If that wouldn’t cause the governor to have a crackup, I don’t know what would.

    Again, what is the point of having a governor who is unable to do his job correctly because the Federal government steps in and tells him how to run our state. What happened to states sovernty rights?

    Hmmm… seems to me that people from South Carolina like to talk about ‘states sovernty rights’ rights a lot, but it’s not usually in the context of states getting free money. Didn’t SC make a big deal about ‘state’s rights’ in the middle of the 1800s for some reason?

  118. 118.

    LD50

    June 22, 2009 at 8:20 pm

    This just gets weirder and weirder. His staff is claiming he’s found but no word on where he is, why he disappeared, and the wife keeps throwing him under the bus, first calmly saying she has no idea where he is but she’s not worried and then making sure the press knows he didn’t have anything to say to his kids on Father’s Day. I have a suspicion she won’t be standing next to him with that rictus of a grin when he finally mans up and calls a press conference to tearfully apologize for breaking his marriage vows. Wonder if he’s into diapers or wetsuits?

    I keep thinking of the Senator Pat Geary character from Godfather 2. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Geary)

  119. 119.

    kay

    June 22, 2009 at 8:28 pm

    @LD50:

    It’ s hard to be generous to southerners, sometimes. Because they hate the rest of us, and all.

    Still, maybe one day they’ll accept the Union, and learn to love us. I’m hopeful. These things take time.

  120. 120.

    kay

    June 22, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    I would just like to mention that the governor freely chose to become a national anti-Obama voice.

    If he was feeling some strain, perhaps he shouldn’t have taken on that role. Because if he hadn’t, no one would have noticed him missing.

  121. 121.

    LD50

    June 22, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    SANFORD: A guy from the northeast did a study on generational accounting. Generational accounting says what is the imputed tax for a young person born in America today? And remarkably, that number is 82, which at all ain’t that far from a thing called slavery. If you’re giving away 82% of every dollar you earn every day and every week and every month, A, it’s not a good deal, B, it collapses the capitalistic system because nobody has any initiative to work at that point, and C, it really isn’t that far from slavery. And what the Republic was originally set up was on the notion that was just talked about a moment ago, which is this larger notion of freedom. And economic freedom is a part of the larger notion of freedom.

    My theory is that being this stupid is what caused his crackup.

    That, or waking up with the proverbial ‘live boy or a dead woman’.

  122. 122.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 22, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    Curiouser and curiouser. The plot thickens….

  123. 123.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    June 22, 2009 at 8:45 pm

    I’ve known a lot of people who’ve struggled with mental illness and in most cases it didn’t make them into complete dicks.* Sanford is, first and foremost, a complete dick. If he’s suffering some sort of mental breakdown, he’s still a complete dick and he’ll continue to be a complete dick once he’s recovered. But there’s a 99.9% chance he just fucked off somewhere and is now shitting his pants because the proles have noticed.

    *Mental illnesses that cause complete dickery in people who are normally not dicks are really, really hard to mask.

  124. 124.

    Crazy Kale Lady

    June 22, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    @geg6:

    I have a suspicion she won’t be standing next to him with that rictus of a grin when he finally mans up and calls a press conference to tearfully apologize for breaking his marriage vows.

    No, she won’t.
    IIRC (and I probably don’t, since it was a long night full of very. good.wine.) the whole broughahahahahaha about the Sullivan’s Island house for sale was, um, “splitting the sheets” related. I think. I could be wrong. I often am when I drink too much.

  125. 125.

    Anne Laurie

    June 22, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    Man disappears for four days, wife and other man who is scheduled to take over missing man’s duties are not concerned. I think they should be ahead of all others on the suspect list.

    Now that Alan Stanford’s talking to the federales, Sanford had to take his, uh, “undocumented campaign funds” out of the Atlanta safety-deposit boxes and move them offshore before they could be confiscated. Hookers and health issues be damned, I say this is old-fashioned ‘Take the money & run’ shenanigans… which is why both his wife and his second-in-command are clammed up.

  126. 126.

    sgwhiteinfla

    June 22, 2009 at 8:50 pm

    Think fast….

    Is this a parody or not?

    http://thatsrightnate.com/2009/06/22/did-obama-murder-stimulus-critic-mark-sanford/

  127. 127.

    geg6

    June 22, 2009 at 8:52 pm

    We really have the wingnut trifecta today. First, Sanford goes Galt. Then Uncle Pat shows up in a video at an English-only conference railing about Sonya Sotomayor’s apparent illiteracy while standing beneath a banner that says they are at a “Conferenence.”. Then we get the Missouri state rep who wants to cut the summer meal program for poor children because hunger is a great motivator. I feel like we live in an SNL skit or a South Park episode on days like these.

  128. 128.

    Lyle4

    June 22, 2009 at 8:52 pm

    I can’t believe there were only 7 Going Galt references in this whole thing. Step it up people!

  129. 129.

    Laura W

    June 22, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    Never mind. Too freaky for me tonight.

  130. 130.

    Calouste

    June 22, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    @Lyle4:

    “Going Galt” is out.
    “Going Sanford” is in.

  131. 131.

    geg6

    June 22, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    So Lyle4…a little time on your hands this evening? ;-)

  132. 132.

    Jay B.

    June 22, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    Uncle Pat shows up in a video at an English-only conference railing about Sonya Sotomayor’s apparent illiteracy while standing beneath a banner that says they are at a “Conferenence.”

    I can’t believe a bunch of “white nationalists” like Pat and the Vdare douchebags couldn’t spell “Confederence” correctly.

  133. 133.

    MBunge

    June 22, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    I’m not sure I quite get the “advanced from the days of Thomas Eagleton” comment from Cole. If there’s only one thing that was proven by George W. Bush’s time in office it’s that it really, really, REALLY matters who is in charge of the government. Not only does that person have to make a lot of decisions about a lot of important things, but they’re also the center around which all the other decision-makers orbit. If someone wants to be President, Vice-President or governor…shouldn’t we know if that person has a history of mental illness, addiction, etc?

    Mike

  134. 134.

    Batocchio

    June 22, 2009 at 9:01 pm

    I hadn’t heard that angle to what’s currently a bizarre story. Look, if he’s had a breakdown, by all means, let him get help – but he needs to step down. He was already a crappy governor. And actually, hasn’t he opposed all sorts of unemployment benefits and health care, including mental health care? I’m with ya on stigmatizing mental health, but I’d like a more accurate, confirmed picture here.

  135. 135.

    Peter J

    June 22, 2009 at 9:13 pm

    He’s been sent to one of Obama’s ACORN reeducation camps.

    /WIGNUT OFF

  136. 136.

    Johnny Pez

    June 22, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    If only Sanford were wearing his red-and-white striped shirt and bobble hat, he’d be much easier to locate.

  137. 137.

    Deborah

    June 22, 2009 at 9:29 pm

    Re 136: If the papers of SC have any sense of humor at all, they’ll lead with that tomorrow. (crosses fingers)

  138. 138.

    tripletee (formerly tBone)

    June 22, 2009 at 9:33 pm

    Anybody can suffer from mental illness and when they do, they deserve sympathy, not mockery.

    Well, sure, but let’s be clear: given the current state of the Republican Party, this blog is going to be 100% pet pictures if we’re not allowed to mock mentally ill people.

  139. 139.

    Shalimar

    June 22, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    Gregory McDonald already did this plot 25 years ago: http://www.amazon.com/Fletch-Man-Who-Gregory-Mcdonald/dp/0375713492/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245720335&sr=1-1

    In that book, the Governor running for President slips away with his driver every so often to go to a remote cabin for a few days and unwind. I think there was also a former mistress who left him the cabin years before, but I haven’t read it in a decade so I could be remembering that part incorrectly. Need to look around for a copy to reread, it was a pretty good book. I wonder if Sanford is a fan.

  140. 140.

    Elie

    June 22, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    Not all “mental illness” is the same.

    People with “personality disorders” such as narcissism and borderline personality can many times function but their judgement and relationships are aberrant, leading to crazy behavior. Personality disorders are not as amenable to treatment as say, depression but many of these (which include antisocial, dependent and other personality disorders) can include depressive and paranoid features.

    I have no idea if this guy is even remotely mentally ill. He disappeared in what I think is an inappropriate way from a position of great responsibility without providing for the transfer of power or access to where he was. That at best, sounds like a major aberration in judgement. What is spectacular to me however, was that he was allowed to do this (although apparently SOMEONE did get tired of/and concerned about it enough and ratted him out).

    There is a lot written on personality disorders so you can look them up on Wikepedia and other sources. Again, we have no idea what he really is up to so this is the most rampant speculation…

  141. 141.

    sgwhiteinfla

    June 22, 2009 at 10:01 pm

    I am still asking where the hell the diagnosis of nervous breakdown or any other mental illness came from?!

    Hell its akin to Bill Frist’s long distance diagnosis of Terry Schiavo.

    Nothing at all suggests this to be the case with Sanford and yet we are supposed to hold back ridiculing this asshole based on something pulled out of thin air?

    Give me a break.

  142. 142.

    Meredith

    June 22, 2009 at 10:05 pm

    Dear Governor Sanford,

    Don’t come back. It’s cool. We don’t miss you.

    Love,
    South Carolina

  143. 143.

    prospero

    June 22, 2009 at 10:06 pm

    Awwww…..widdle baby Sanford couldn’t handle the pressure? Poor widdle baby.

    He chose a life in the public eye. If he had a nervous breakdown, oh well. Rock and fuckin’ roll. Deal with it.

  144. 144.

    Little Dreamer

    June 22, 2009 at 10:11 pm

    Well, I unfortunately took a trip down weirdo lane in pursuit of snarkalicious fun in this story and found out that Kate from Jon and Kate Plus 8 has also been missing for four days. Coincidence?

    (I never watched the show, I have heard references of “Jon and Kate” and always avoided wanting to know anything about it, I’m so sorry I didn’t heed that normal routine today).

  145. 145.

    Meredith

    June 22, 2009 at 10:15 pm

    According to our local news anchor on twitter a minute ago, his office has announced he’s… hiking the Appalachian Trail.

  146. 146.

    Little Dreamer

    June 22, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    @Meredith:

    So he’s just an irresponsible governor who didn’t tell his wife or second in command where he was, missed father’s day and ditched his security detail. Hmmmm.

    How is he going to deal with the Secret Service in Washington if he gets elected as the president? I don’t think they’ll let him go hike the Appalachian Trail alone whenever he feels like it.

  147. 147.

    Meredith

    June 22, 2009 at 10:40 pm

    I’m not buying it.

    If it is true, I wonder if he’s hiking the whole damn thing, or what.

    Again, I’d be totally fine with that. As a South Carolinian I’ve had more than enough of him lately. Hike that bitch all the way to Maine, Mark.

  148. 148.

    Elie

    June 22, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    Merdith @147 —

    But Oh Gosh, beware of the Black Bear scat along the way — oops — slipped off the trail a bit there Guv?

    What bull

  149. 149.

    Calouste

    June 22, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    @Meredith:

    hiking the Appalachian Trail

    Is that what the kids call it South Carolina these days?

    Btw, didn’t his wife say that he was away from the kids to concentrate on writing? Kinda hard to do while hiking.

  150. 150.

    JK

    June 22, 2009 at 10:51 pm

    @Meredith:

    CNN just reported that Sanford is hiking the Appalachian Trail. What a douchebag.

  151. 151.

    Little Dreamer

    June 22, 2009 at 11:04 pm

    Something is definitely fishy, and the more they come out with these non-connecting excuses, the more they look like they are covering something up.

  152. 152.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 22, 2009 at 11:05 pm

    @JK:

    CNN just reported that Sanford is hiking the Appalachian Trail. What a douchebag.

    It could have been worse. He coulda gone hunting with Dick Cheney,

  153. 153.

    El Cid

    June 22, 2009 at 11:21 pm

    ‘Um, he, uh, the Governor, is, um, concentrating on his, uh, writing as he, um, hikes the Appalachian Trail, I mean, he is writing when he takes breaks, which, um, he doesn’t need that much because he’s fine, he’s fine, and uh, he was in Atlanta picking up, you know, hiking gear, and, um, didn’t want to attract his normal crowds of, you know, fans and such, to the small businesses that he is patriotically shopping at, and the Governor was really, very, quite, 100% sure that, um, he had left a note on the fridge for his wife, particularly this being fathers day, and, um…’

  154. 154.

    rikyrah

    June 22, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    IFFF he was having a ‘ breakdown’, then I don’t think his wife would be reacting the way that she did. She’s a proper Southern political wife, who basically just shived her husband.

    So, unless she’s a cold mofo, I’m not thinking ‘breakdown’.

    I’m thinking an underaged illegal named Pedro

    or Shaniqua (any age will do).

    Take your pick.

  155. 155.

    LD50

    June 23, 2009 at 12:00 am

    @Redshirt: I’m sure Sanford’s up in the Appalachians designing metal alloys with his like-minded colleagues, unshackled by the tyrrany of taxation or regulation.

  156. 156.

    JR

    June 23, 2009 at 2:58 am

    Then why would his “last known whereabouts” have been near Atlanta? If I were driving from SC to the Appalachian Trail, I wouldn’t be taking I-20 all the way into downtown Atlanta just to head north again, especially when it would be much faster and less congested to take 85 into Georgia.

    This still stinks to high heaven.

  157. 157.

    Calouste

    June 23, 2009 at 3:09 am

    @JR:

    My hypothesis is that he flew out from Atlanta to somewhere far away enough that he couldn’t make it back today in time after the bal started rolling. The Appalachian trail hiking is a viable smokescreen where people could be incommunicado for a day or so, but it is also conveniently close to Atlanta that he can fly in tomorrow, drive a few hours from the airport to the trail and show up somewhere in the afternoon.

  158. 158.

    cyr

    June 23, 2009 at 8:40 am

    Just for the record, there is very little cell service in the bottom section of the AT (which starts about 40 or 50 miles north of Atlanta near Dahlonega) and once into GSMNP there are NO cell towers for miles and miles, hence no cell service at ALL.

    Also, the logical route to the start of the AT from Columbia, SC goes right through Atlanta by way of interstate travel (which is the most logical route to take because the quality of east/west roads in the west side of SC/eastern GA pretty well sucks, especially once you get into the mountains). Google will tell you to take the road to Greenville and then cut over the foothills, but google is dumb when it comes to ‘ease of driving’ and there’s no way in hell I’d be driving from Greenville to Dahlonega via backroads.

  159. 159.

    Krista

    June 23, 2009 at 8:43 am

    As someone who suffers from chronic depression, I would be the first to be sympathetic if Gov. Sanford had had a “nervous breakdown.” However, all these excuses and weirdly elongated explanations just add fuel to the fire of speculation. If he has had a nervous breakdown, a simple explanation that he was in a hospital recuperating from nervous exhaustion (God forfend anyone should be honest about mental illness in public) would end the story. Seems more likely that he’s AWOL and, if so, the concern should be for his safety. And if he is hiking, it’s certainly an extended hike and surely his press people/office might have considered in advance what the “official explanation” would be in case of questions! He is, after all, a governor and a simple, clear explanation of any absences seems like a given requirement for the office.

  160. 160.

    Jim

    June 24, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    Where are the pics of the Giovs Mistress…anyone doing “scoop” journalism ???

  161. 161.

    none

    June 24, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    My hypothesis, considering the current economic collapse on the horizon for the US, is that Gov. Sanford took time to understand and research the economic collapse of Argentina which happened much like the current events in the US.

    “Argentina quickly lost the confidence of investors and the flight of money away from the country increased.”

    http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090614_the_american_empire_is_bankrupt/
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_economic_crisis_(1999–2002)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlDNMB6wYmI

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