Watching the CNN stream of the Sanford presser, and it appears he has had an affair.
I don’t know if Sanford is a culture warrior or not, I’m assuming you would have to be as a Republican and chair of the RGA, but for whatever reason, I have to say I like the guy more than I did yesterday, even if he is a hypocrite. He is standing up there, owning his mistake, is not being evasive, and just laying it all out for everyone, and clearly this is a tough thing for him and his family. It is remarkably refreshing.
Another thing- you were all there for the birth of a euphemism, as “hiking the Appalachian trail” and “flying to Argentina” are now going to have new meaning culturally.
greynoldsct00
Okay, but how much of this is owning up to it because he got snagged?
Tompls.
Aren’t
just more specific implementations of “going Galt?” To me, this isn’t as big of a cultural watershed as, say, “wide stance” or something of that import.
Bill E Pilgrim
Eh, I think being a rich American expatriat living in Argentina beats being a Republican anywhere in the US these days hands down.
I have to say they do always seem so understanding of it all when it’s themselves they’re talking about, compared to say oh, 1998.
JGabriel
I’ll give Sanford points for one thing: at least he didn’t drag his wife up there to “stand by” him and be publicly humiliated during the presser.
.
Lyle4
He’s only admitting to it because his staff screwed the pooch and made people suspicious.
And just like Ensign, he was carrying it on with a married woman. WTF is with these morons?
JonathanW
But that’s the thing, Sanford doesn’t have to do anything himself. Greater wingnuttia will gladly dodge, weave, and spin on his behalf.
Should we also be giving him credit for not beating his wife?
lamh31
HE GOT CAUGHT!!!!
He was not confessing because it was heavy on his heart. He confessed because his lies caught up to him. I don’t care how much you cry. He cheated.
Now someone on MSNBC is trying to say he was brave. What woulda been brave was to RESIST the temptation to cheat…
Sorry this guy ain’t no different than John Edwards in my book
flukebucket
My guess would be 100%. But to me it was never about whether he was boinking some other woman or man.
It is about the way he went about doing it. I still can’t get over the fact that a Governor of a state in the United States can just get up one morning and say, “Fuck it. I’m takin’ the week off without telling anybody.”
I did not even know that was possible.
Napoleon
This has been another episode of “Being a Republican means not needing to keep your pecker in your pants”.
In all seriousness it was tough watching him and I hope it works out for the best for him and his family. At least he didn’t seem to be evasive or throw anyone under the bus, or my least favorite thing have the wife stand next to you in what just has to be the worst moments of her life (see, Spitzer, Elliot).
Binkyboy
Do you call a post-op tranny “she”? A Republican having a straight affair with nothing weird? Impossible.
lamh31
HE GOT CAUGHT!!!!
He was not confessing because it was heavy on his heart. He confessed because his lies caught up to him. I don’t care how much you cry. He cheated.
Now someone on MSNBC is trying to say he was brave. What woulda been brave was to RESIST the temptation to cheat…
Sorry this guy ain’t no different than John Edwards in my book
Xenos
In the old days before they had anti-depression medications some patients were told to go walk the Appalachian Trail. It takes about nine months to go the full length, which is how long the depression would last.
As for Sanford, did he really have to go to Argentina for a fling? And was this affair with a male or female?
myrtle parker
Oh please!
He got caught. Period.
The only reason he is having a press conference and apologizing to anyone is because he was *caught* in a bold-faced lie.
What’s more, he didn’t resign as governor. He didn’t even address the fact that he lied as recently as *this very day* to the people of his state. He lied to his staff as recently as yesterday. He didn’t tell his wife where he was going!
Don’t you think that if he had already admitted to an affair several months ago and was in the process of trying to reconcile with his wife that he’d at least tell her before disappearing for a week with no word??!!
He is a liar. And a cheater. And he got caught. That is all.
patrick
John, you’re being awfully generous toward the guy.
He bailed our on his wife, family and State responsibilities without a word and from all indications he would have come back without a word if he hadn’t been busted out.
He had no other choice after the events of the past few days.
I mean, he could have tried to keep the farce up, but it wouldn’t have worked.
anonevent
Yeah, but the 600th most important elected official in the country (president->vp->speaker->….gov ca->gov tx->…gov sc) running off to Argentina because of an email relationship. You can’t make this stuff up.
T Paine
GOP = Gaggle of Philanderers
Ken
So, can we get past the “cut Sanford some slack” routine?
Dreggas
I knew it. Sanford didn’t go to argentina to “do something exotic” he went there to “do someone exotic”.
SGEW
Meh. If the person Gov. Sanford was sleeping with turns out to be a consenting adult human female we’ll all have forgotten about it in a few months, at most.
As to his “culture warrior” status goes, I suspect that we’ll see some lovely old quotes of his from the Clinton Impeachment days show up on the Daily Show this week (Sanford was a Rep back then and voted for impeachment, iirc).
myrtle parker
Oh please!
He got caught. Period.
The only reason he is having a press conference and apologizing to anyone is because he was *caught* in a bold-faced lie.
What’s more, he didn’t resign as governor. He didn’t even address the fact that he lied as recently as *this very day* to the people of his state. He lied to his staff as recently as yesterday. He didn’t tell his wife where he was going!
Don’t you think that if he had already admitted to an affair several months ago and was in the process of trying to reconcile with his wife that he’d at least tell her before disappearing for a week with no word??!!
He is a liar. And a cheater. And he got caught. That is all.
Jay Andrew Allen
Not to mention “My dear, dear friend in Argentina”…
South Carolinian
I predict this is just the first foot to fall. Sanford will probably resign, making our Lt Gov Andre Bauer the head guy. Unfortunately, Andre has his own stuff in the closet so to speak, along with his pal Lindsey Graham. Who knows where this will end?
J.
I just caught the tail end of the conference. I guess I shouldnāt be at all surprised, but, okay, I was, a little. Though thank God he didnāt drag his wife (and/or kids) into it, not that it sounds like she would have gone. Actually the funniest/most distracting thing about the conference were all the smiling laughing people (mostly young women) in the background, who were chuckling as Sanford was issuing his mea culpas.
My big question is: When are the Republicans going to get off the self-righteous hypocracy train theyāve been riding? How many more of these scumbags do we have to hear from?
Bokonon
But … but … but … BILL CLINTON!!!
Carl Nyberg
The online relationship turned romantic a year ago.
Sanford had been working with his wife, father-in-law and spiritual adviser for five months.
What kind of advice was he getting from people? Did anybody encourage him to go to Argentina?
And Sanford didn’t really man-up to deciding to go to Argentina or engaging in a premeditated deception. He made it sound like he was planning to go to KFC down the street but happened to walk by McDonald’s on the way.
Comrade Dread
I feel bad for his family, and I feel bad that a painful situation is out in front of the country for everyone’s perusal, but come on, dude…
Your the high profile governor of a state and you leave without telling anyone incommunicado and with no security detail for four days?
You’re asking to get caught.
jnfr
Well, he said his wife has known about this for months, so I’m guessing if he hadn’t gotten caught we’d still be in the dark.
The Saff
I’m sick to death of these hypocrites. I had no respect for Sanford yesterday and I have no respect for him today. He’s just another rich schmuck who acts all high and mighty with his family values party but then gets caught with his hands in the cookie jar.
dr.hypercube
Disagree. Owning the mistake would have involved saying something like “My behavior over the past week has been so irresponsible and erratic that I must resign my Governorship.” He acted like a nutcase; if I behaved like that – disappearing from work, BSing about where I was… Unemployment.
Joshua Norton
Pretty lousy for an “America First-er”, Mark. Why buy Argentinian when South Carolina is full of ā well, whatever.
bago
The real question is: Who is Tom Davis?
JGabriel
Erick Erickson, The Lessons of Mark Sanford’s Hike:
After all these years, still bringin’ the crazee.
.
Lt
John
How do you know he’s telling the truth? Evidence says we should think otherwise.
arguingwithsignposts
I’m so disappointed in you, John. He didn’t admit to shit. He was called out. He shows no remorse for his dickishness about what he did with the stimulus money. He doesn’t seem to want to STEP DOWN from his exalted position.
Fuck him. I feel no more for him than I did five days ago. I feel for his family, but that’s his shit to deal with. Stop using them as shields, you fucking selfish bastard.
gex
@greynoldsct00: Well, I suppose it’s the soft bigotry of lowered expectations, but it seems he really did level with everyone. Truth be told, most politicians, when caught, try a little longer to pull one over on us.
Too bad he didn’t address the important question of why he left the state to fend for itself without an executive for a week. Not that Republicans care about governing.
MazeDancer
He did this deranged thing to get caught.
You don’t go AWOL, never check in with staff, and fly off to Argentina and think that anything other than being caught will happen.
He’s lost in the morass of trying to toe the Republican value line when it’s absurd and impossible to maintain. The only way “out” is to meltdown in public. There is no sane way to be a Republican.
While it hurts to see anyone in pain, he’s also selfish, selfish, selfish, as he admitted. You want to get your heart in the right place, as he kept claiming, you resign first. And then go into counseling. He’s asking for a “zone of privacy”. Without wanting to give up being Governor. Or paying any political price.
greynoldsct00
WTF’s with the server; have we brought it to it’s knees?
gopher2b
Did he bring his wife out? I hate when they do that.
Comrade Kevin
And now the USA gets its version of discussing Uganda.
SalParadise
The comments here are awesome and only getting better:
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/06/23/the-lessons-of-mark-sanfords-hike/
South of I-10
I’m just glad his poor wife didn’t have take the walk of shame with him. I couldn’t watch the press conference and the article read is unclear – has the wife known about the affair for 5 months? I wouldn’t consider jetting off to Argentina without telling anyone as working on the marriage.
rikyrah
drag his wife?
No, his wife, who has been giving him the SHIV since this entire thing began….
No, she told him he was on his own.
And, count me in the ‘ he only confessed cause his ass was caught’ group.
patrick
@Dreggas:
You WIN the internets.
eric k
Here is my take on it:
His story is that he went to Argentina to break off the affair and he now plans to work with his wife n repairing their marriage.
If that is all true it is a compelling human story and he should be given privacy to work on it.
But that is the personal side. on the professional side he was incredible irresponsible. He should at the very least have told the Lt Gov he was going to be gone and arranged for him to take over. Going forward, governor is a more than full time job, and if he has this much distraction going on (if he is so distracted by it that he leaves town for a week without preparing the Lt Gov to run the state then clearly he isn’t up to the job) he should resign so someone who can devote himself to the job can take over.
Mad Typist
This.
I’m with the other commentors here – you give Sanford too much credit. He is only “owning up to his mistake” because all other avenues have been exhausted. There are no more lies he can tell.
bago
First rumors as to the identity of the “other person”.
ed
I like the guy more than I did yesterday, even if he is a hypocrite. He is standing up there, owning his mistake, is not being evasive, and just laying it all out for everyone, and clearly this is a tough thing for him and his family. It is remarkably refreshing.
Fuck Sanford. He got caught and this is the best damage control he’s gamed out. He’s busted and he knows is and he’s trying to avoid a Sammy Sosa Situation (i.e., denying and ultimately facing worse consequences). Well fuck him. I say we assemble all the Family Values bulljive he ever upchucked and put it out there to help make this world a better place. Bury that asshole and his asshole party.
JK
@JGabriel:
Sanford’s exhausting, meandering preamble will go down in history as one of the greatest examples of double talk since the great Professor Irwin Corey.
It’s quite possible that Sanford begged his wife to stand by him today and perhaps she told him to go to Hell.
Sanford didn’t man up or own up to anything. He simply got caught and was unable to weasel his way out of the situation. The walls finally closed in on him and he had no choice but to stop concocting bullshit cover stories.
He deserves no sympathy. He’s just another sanctimonious, holier than thou scumbag.
BenA
It just makes me ill… being a father… I just can’t imagine doing anything like this to my kids. It’s just sick. Really, really, really sick. Just another crazy narcissistic Republican asshole.
Peter J
You sure he didn’t try? Maybe it says more about his wife than him?
—
I need to rewatch the last part, but did he ever fess up to deceiving anybody about the destination? That’s the part that will end his term as governor. It’s one thing to just go off somewhere, it’s a complete ballpark if you’re saying you’re going somewhere and then going somewhere else.
Comrade Stuck
Huh, South Carolina is Wingnut Central Command for the bible thumping culture war. I’m sick of them condescending to the rest of us, and offer no quarter. Fuck’em with a rusty pogo stick, and their tearful GOD laced apologies for themselves and their pecker driven hypocrisy delivered from cracker hell.
myrtle parker
He lied to his wife about the trip. In fact, he didn’t even inform her of anything. This despite the fact that he was supposedly in the process of reconciling with her after he’d been caught cheating all of 5 months ago.
So, a few hours later he gets home and sees that his lies aren’t going to pass and then he decides to hold a press conference and “Come to Jesus” ??
Please.
Keith
Gee, I feel so stupid and shamed for having made fun of him for assuming he was having a nervous breakdown. Oh, wait, I didn’t assume a nervous breakdown! (seriously, the only two parts that didn’t follow my prediction were the Argentina part and that the other person was a woman – and I still have yet to find a transcript from Sanford to see if he mentions a “she” or “her”; sorry, but after those BS “Sanford Found…In Appalachia!” headlines, I’m going to assume editors are just filling in blanks right now)
Joshua James
Owning his mistake?
Really John, you’re too easy on the guy … Yeah, the press makes a big deal of infidelity and it should be left up to the couple to deal with in private, but the reason it’s front and center is BECAUSE OF CONSERVATIVES like SANDFORD making family values a talking point.
That’s one … two … HE LEFT his job for days without telling them who was in charge in his absence, where he would be, and how to contact him.
Had there been an emergency on a large scale that involved executive action from his office, the whole state would have been fracked, frozen … that’s it. He endangered the lives of his constituents with his behavior.
That’s BAD, that’s not admirable. I don’t care how he gets his freak on, or with who … but how he did it was not cool, man, not cool.
And to echo the others here, he’s only fessing up because he got caught and had no other choice.
Otherwise, no way he’d fess up … the affair had been going on for a year and he’s said nothing up until now. Nothing.
Now he had to air it out and he’s obviously hoping that the people will give him a Vitter pass on it and he’ll get applause when he returns to his job.
Personally, frak this guy, seriously. You’re far to easy on him.
You’re using that empathy that Republicans frown upon, and while I understand it, it’s wasted on Sanford.
Elie
His staff lied but did he ask then to lie?
He should resign — not about the affair but the abdication of the appropriate behavior as the CEO of the state. He did not live up to requirements in his marriage or in his role as Governor..
Also, who paid for this?
He is only sorry that he got caught — no special points for bravery.
Comrade Kevin
Mark Sanford, Democrat?
rikyrah
Tamron Hall just brought up a SECOND trip where he ‘ dropped off the radar’, and they only knew about that one because of fires that brought him back.
Brachiator
@lamh31:
I would pay good money to see a politician who was brave enough to hold an introductory news conference and say:
“Good evening. I just wanted to introduce you to my wife, Betty. And over there is my mistress, Veronica. And I’ve got my eye on that cutie over there. Thank you and good night.”
Unless your extramarital affairs rise to the level of Italian prime minister Silvio “Sex Machine” Berlusconi, transgressions like Sanford’s are really small beer. Except of course to the family value wingnuts.
Apart from this, it is hard to view someone as “brave” who told such a clumsily stupid lie. And that his wife knew about the affair made it less likely that she would assist in maintaining the lie.
Libertina
Culture warrior? I doubt it. But a perfect leader for the party of ME. One step above most of the others for owning it, but typical conservative imposing rules on everyone else that they have no intention of following themselves.
Libertina
Culture warrior? I doubt it. But a perfect leader for the party of ME. One step above most of the others for owning it, but typical conservative imposing rules on everyone else that they have no intention of following themselves.
blogenfreude
Fox IDs Sanford as Dem.
Tom
Turn Sanford into a woman, cast Diane Lane and you have hit!
Pasquinade
Fox News identified Sanford as a (D) during the press conference.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/24/746358/-Fox-News:-Sanford-a-Democrat
pablo
Right you are, sir!
Here
patrick
@SalParadise:
20 pounds of crazy in a 5 pound sack.
Johnny B. Guud
The media is in a frenzy about this. They were late to the show on the repression in Iran two weeks ago, but they’re all over the story of Sanford owning up to an affair. Wall to wall coverage on this one.
If I was from South Carolina, I’d be more concerned about how much he ripped me off with his adventures across the globe, than anything else:
For the “benefit the state” indeed….
Maus
Uh, if he hadn’t disappeared from his family for seven days without telling his wife and children this would make sense. As it is, it doesn’t, and I don’t like him any more. He didn’t come out because he wanted to, he was FORCED to.
greynoldsct00
Cripes they’re despicable!!
N M
I’d like to kick off a new meme:
The uncovering of this affair (who tipped off that reporter?), the uncovering of John Ensign’s affair, the sapping of Huntsman, these are all elements of BHO’s incredible manipulation of the levers of US Gov’t to clear the field for 2012! /black helicopters
Other examples are welcome and appreciated.
A la lanterne les aristos!
Sigh… it’s like they’re not even trying anymore… they’re just going through the motions.
I miss the the passion of when our mutual hatred was new and exciting.
::sniffle::
myrtle parker
Reconciling with his wife for past 5 months DOES NOT INVOLVE lying to her or not informing her and then just taking off for past week.
Can you imagine? He professes to be reconciling with his wife, but he decides to spirit off and see his mistress for a week without informing his wife of where he was going?
Please!
Ed in NJ
So let me get this straight- Sanford says he’s trying to reconcile with his wife, who discovered he was having an affair 5 months ago. By secretly flying down to Buenos Aires to have sex with the other woman?
Good luck with that.
Tony J
Huh?
Looks to me like he ‘confessed’ to his wife, back aroundabout the time he was told the Party would back him in a 2012 run for the Presidency if he “had his affairs in order”, then he carried on the affair until someone close to him decided to let the cat out of the bag.
Oh, was that snark? I hope that was snark. I think it was. It was, wasn’t it? Yeah, it was snark.
Jager
What a moron…its not a surprise people fuck around on their spouses, it is a surprise when people are so stupid about it…if Sanford can’t handle his own shit, how can he handle S Carolina’s or to even think about running for President…
JGabriel
MazeDancer:
While I agree that Sanford should resign, that’s not actually the reason. After all, it’s not traditional for people to quit their jobs because of difficulties in their marriage – unless the job itself is the cause of the difficulties.
No, the reason Sanford should resign is because his judgement is so impaired that he thought it acceptable to vanish from his job as Governor without notifying anyone where he would be, or how to contact him, or naming someone to be in charge during his absence.
.
drmagoo
I’ve seen a few people now making positive comments about Mark Sanford, because he admitted all (or so it seems) in his press conference today.
Screw that.
He cheated on his wife for a year (which is their business, sure, but I’m not going to think of him as a stand-up guy) and left the citizens of the state of South Carolina without a governor for days. That alone should be an impeachable offense.
I don’t care that he apologized, I don’t care about God’s laws and our laws, I care that this guy screwed around on his family and on his job (a somewhat important one, even if it is South Carolina). You don’t get to mea culpa your way out of this one, bub.
Scott de B.
At the very least, this means no politician can ever go on an actual hike on the Appalachian Trail. At least not without eyewitnesses and photographs.
cj
Why are Republicans getting only a slap on a hand for the media? Here we had John Ensign who cheated on his wife and gave his mistress pay raises, also giving everyone in her family a job. Which he basically did what John Edwards did…I wonder if Ensign will face any committees for those raises and job placement like Edwards?
Now we have Standford fling to another country WHILE HIS STATE IS IN CRISIS just to get a blow-job. Will he face any kind of discipline action for his actions? Probably not because he is a Republican and only discipline action are for Democrats.
To me him coming forward BECAUSE HE WAS CAUGHT (remember he said this was going on for 5 months (?)) does not make him a better man than those other Senators that done the same. So I give him NO props for having a press conference and crying a little.
He is only standing up there and owning his mistakes because was caught.
I guess I know now why Standford dislike Obama so much. He sees a man actually being a man towards his wife and kids, instead of pretending to be one like Standford was.
MobiusKlein
When does Spitzer get his job back?
The Sphynx
@Xenos:
NINE months? I beg to differ…
Jay in Oregon
@greynoldsct00:
All of it.
I’m sure that he just happened to have the bad luck to be flying down to Argentina to break off the relationship when the press caught up with him. He’s no more honest than everyone else who got caught and said “but I was going to end it!”
And the rub? I could care less about whose bed he hangs his pants off of. That’s between him, her, his family, and God.
What I care about is that he is unfit for the position of Governor because he went to Argentina to break it off/get some Latina lovin’ and left his state without leadership (such as it is). It’s dereliction of duty.
rikyrah
I just thought of something..
FIVE MONTHS?
He revealed this to his wife FIVE MONTHS ago, and it took him 5 months and A WEEK to ‘break it off’?
G-T-F-O-H
Dreggas
@patrick:
*BOWS* Thank you, thank you very much.
YellowJournalism
@blogenfreude: Didn’t they do this before with another Republican who was in disgrace?
JK
@blogenfreude:
@Pasquinade:
Fuck Fox News Channel. They are the most intellectually dishonest news organization in America. This is probably the 3rd or 4th time these assholes have incorrectly identified a Republican as a Democrat.
Fox News programming is a putrid, super-sized, steaming pile of excrement.
Fox News is the most powerful name in lies, distortions, half-truths, and quotes taken out of context.
Zifnab
See, this always gets me John. You say, “I don’t care if a politician sleeps around on his wife, so long as he is doing his job.” Then you note time and again how this guy ISN’T doing his job – be it by leaving the country unannounced, picking fights with his state legislature, grand-standing for a 2012 Presidential run, or jacking off to party ideology in the face of economic crisis. Then you notice that he’s in one of those scandals you don’t say you care about. And THEN when he has to take the walk of shame, you say you think MORE highly of him because he wasn’t evasive about the affair he was having when he secretly left the country.
Are you kidding me?! If you don’t care, his scandal is a political nuisance. If you do care, I can’t see how giving a good press conference makes up for sleeping around on your wife. At best the guy is a distracted and irresponsible governor. At worst he’s a lying, cheating prick.
But really? Wowed by a politician at a press conference? That’s a bargain basement standard for judging elected officials.
Death By Mosquito Truck
I’m with ya John. There was something admirable about his press conference mea culpa and I thought he showed a lot of humanity.
I think he’s fallen in love with two people and honestly doesn’t know what the hell to do.
shelley matheis
Cue the RW smokescreen on this. It’s all the media’s fault! And if the man was a Democrat (which Fox News ‘mistakenly’ identified him as during the conference) everything would be hunky-dory. Sure. Cause we all love John Edwards now, don’t we?
Maus
Not a Democrat, therefore not surprising? Only the bible beaters can be “truly sorry”.
Michael
He’s full of shit, and has all the fake contrition of somebody who is ducking and weaving. Had it been real contrition and not the excusemaking of a pathetic boy (with all the Fundamentalist codein there designed to reach potential defenders), he would have:
1. Skipped the rambling description of the Appalachian Trail and his prior good deeds.
2. Said “I’m only going to make a short statement, and won’t be taking questions out of respect for my family and the others I’ve wronged”.
3. Announced that he was not where he told his staff or family, and that he has caused a crisis within his family.
4. Announced a short sabbatical while he sorts through his family issues, and will make any future decisions at the conclusion of the sabbatical, and then walked off the podium.
Instead, we got all that “Left Behind”, “life’s rambling” Christianist code shit that is about as utilitarian and meaningful as a cheer at a football game, where he praises everybody who he’s screwed and then launches into tears.
I live in the South, have vomited up the Koolaid and recognized his pleas for spin assistance for the cultural sickness and psychosis it is. It is uniquely Southern, and it is bullshit.
Screw him. He gets no sympathy from me just for how he played his confession.
Louise
There is NOTHING “refreshing” about what we just saw. It’s the same old tired excuses from a cheating husband and irresponsible politician.
In fact, he *avoided* the only real issue; his abandoning his post as Governor. No apology to the LG, no statement as to how he will stop ditching his state whenever he feels like it, nothing.
I think this is Lily’s influence on you, John. You’re all soft inside right now.
JR (not the other JR)
@greynoldsct00: Yeah, the (D) thing happens way too much to be a coincidence.
Stacy
Yeah, I’m not thinking that his admittance was too heroic either. He’s taking what he thinks will be the path with the least damage to him, and if the multiple claims of “Ooo, how brave he is to admit it!” I’ve been hearing are any indication, it’s working well.
Not that I really care about the sex. If he is a big “family values” grandstander, yeah, it’s a bit gross that he spent Father’s Day banging some other woman. And I have no problem with ridiculing him for that.
But on the other hand, if he and his wife had something worked out, it’s their business, not ours.
What I find kind of interesting is that this was brought to public attention by the GOP themselves, considering Sanford was a 2012 front-runner. I have to wonder if there was a motivation here, perhaps local bickering, or a larger scale plan to thin the 2012 primary herd?
Poopyman
My take is that his wife told him to fuck off, possibly weeks ago. That’s why she seemed unconcerned about where he was. She really didn’t give a shit. And no way was she going to get up there with him for even the tiniest bit of support.
Can’t wait for the first interviews with SC’s First Lady. Should be good!
And yeah, we’re killing the server.
Comrade Stuck
@Death By Mosquito Truck:
And, as is wont of the male race in these situations. Let teh pecker decide.
GambitRF
Stay classy Fox News
ironranger
Every time an R gets embroiled in a scandal, Fox accidently on purposed identifies him as a Dem. I’ve lost count how many times they’ve done this. Does this puzzle their already confused viewers or do they even notice?
Notorious P.A.T.
Yeah, I’m sure he’s a great guy.
JGabriel
Scott de B.:
And thus a new political meme is born: Never hike on the Appalachian Trail alone.
.
Maus
Yeah, John sometimes backslides into feeling sorry for conservatives for no understandable reason. I say this not for partisan reasons so much as that the sole factor in the devils advocacy is that it seems to be reserved for Republicans. Sure, they’re human like the rest of us. They do dumb shit like the rest of us, but for fuck’s sake I’m not going to encourage this behavior, nor am I going to see it as anything honorable or laudable.
Dave C
I’m sure this has been amply stated already, but I would have an easier time buying the Governor’s newly-affected contrition stance if he hadn’t been actively deceitful up until the very moment he was caught.
JPK
Did he cry when he talked about disappointing his children on Father’s Day?
georgia pig
Gimme a break, John. Sanford is a shitbag. You run off to Argentina without telling anyone, leaving your wife and kids to wonder what the fuck you’re doing, and you get congratulated for your “honesty” when your hand is forced by a reporter that nails your ass at the Atlanta airport? This fucker is no better than John Edwards, pure, out-of-control narcissism, in keeping with his grandstanding about the stimulus when his state has a 13% unemployment rate and crumbling schools. Fuck him.
Ash Can
Baloney. It’s the same old crap, right down to Fox’s misidentification of his party; only the name and the date are different this time around.
myrtle parker
Ed in NJ,
No, the excuse is even dumber than that. See, he had to fly down to Buenos Aires in secret, without telling his wife, who he’s been trying to reconcile with after being caught in an affair, in order to break up with his mistress.
Yah, and I have a bridge for sale to any fool who would swallow that whopper.
Tsulagi
Iād go simply with āGoing Argentinaā as the tag for the straight Pubs in the Party of Family Values whoāre caught horizontally tangoing with the opposite sex. Especially for the really brilliant ones certain theyāre pulling off a covert liaison operation like this one that played out across the country. āGoing Widestanceā for that huge demographic, their not-gay gay not gay-married R-peers.
Say what you will, you do have to appreciate the innate winger ability to bring the comedy.
DonnaInMichigan
These republicans front runners for Potus keep dropping like flies, and who will they end up with as a leader of their party?
Sarah Palin.
And they will have no one to blame but themselves.
thefncrow
I don’t think this is over yet. This morning, when there was discussion that Sanford wasn’t alone, there was speculation that the woman was a wealthy donor of Sanford’s who owned a house in Argentina.
That would indicate that she doesn’t reside in Argentina, but in the US, and Sanford went to visit her while she was staying at her house in Argentina, or they both went to Argentina together, either of which would make the ludicrous claim that he left to go break up the affair even more ludicrous.
I have to admit, though, it’s a shrewd political move to admit to the affair and hope that the scandalous coverage of the affair drowns out the people pointing out that Sanford abandoned his post and the professional and ethical standards that move violated. He’d practically have to instantly resign if the focus had stayed on that topic.
Moe Gamble
Red State says his family knew where he was. So the prick put his wife through five days of knowing that he was out there banging his mistress.
Yeah, real nice guy, John.
jerri blank
I’ve got my Sanford underwear on today — it keeps hikin’ up the trail.
Joshua Norton
Well, his wife DID admit he was “writing something”. She just didn’t mention that it was pornographic emails.
John Cole
Sometimes I wonder about the collective wisdom of the commenters here. To the 45 people who felt the need to scream “HE IS ONLY APOLOGIZING BECAUSE HE GOT CAUGHT,” all I have to say is no shit.
Arranging a press conference and apologizing before he got caught would have pretty damned weird, wouldn’t it? Maybe he could have apologized pre-emptively- ‘Hey, I might have an affair in the next four years, so if I do, I’m sorry.”
Christ on a crutch, of course he is apologizing because he got caught, you morans. But he owned up to it, stated what he had done, why he had done it apologized, and didn’t bullshit. If it turns out he was lying and other shit went on, then I will reassess the situation. But as for now, I liked his press conference. I thought it was one of the better ones I have seen, and he seemed sincere.
Tony J
Yeah. And cue an MSM meme revolving around Edwards, Spitzer, Blagovitch, a pox on both houses, this is just a nine-day wonder, and in no way is it of interest to anyone who exactly leaked the gossip that got Sanford bang to rights in the first place.
Unless the wife comes forward, in which case he’ll be cut loose by Party and Media alike. And the meme will be that the Republicans treat their adulterers a lot more harshly than Democrats; cue lots of reflections on how popular Teddy Kennedy still is on the Left, despite, well, his mistakes.
Ash
Especially since he’s used STATE MONEY to fly to Argentina before. Of course, knowing our lovely “journalists,” we’ll just hear more about that.
IndieTarheel
@Comrade Kevin:
Faux Newz’ version of the “unperson” ceremony. They’ve had a lot of practice.In truth, I would have been more surprised if they hadn’t called him a Dem.
cj
BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT!!!!!
“Fallen in love with two people”(?) you mean his dick fell in love with a Latina butty because it sure wasn’t his heart that’s where true love resides.
steve s
I love this comment posted yesterday morning on the red state article which was lnked above:
Poopyman
rikyrah says:
I just thought of something..
FIVE MONTHS?
He revealed this to his wife FIVE MONTHS ago, and it took him 5 months and A WEEK to ābreak it offā?
G-T-F-O-H
I may have missed it, but I didn’t hear him say it was over.
AnotherBruce
It’s a feature, not a bug.
And it really shows you what they think of the intelligence of their viewers.
blogenfreude
@YellowJournalism: Foley and, I believe, Larry Craig.
Vico
New euphemisms:
To say nothing of “driving up the coastline.”
Jason
@flukebucket: Yeah, I’m sure I’m late to this, but this whole thing is odd: like the ethics of what he did is primarily related to the affair, and not the actions in pursuit of the affair.
I got sympathy for the dude, but cheaters don’t up and go to see their lovers to end things. That, in itself, is the opposite of “ending things.” If you’re going to be straight with people, just don’t go in the first place. If you’re going to lie, just keep lying.
Eh, you know. Up to SC now, I guess.
steve s
Let’s post ths here, in case red state tries to delete it:
Paul L.
Odd the progressive private sex life excuse is not longer operative. 90% Mexican criminals guns from gun shops/shows lie David Neiwert is on the case.
@lamh31:
Did his wife have cancer and he used that campaign prop?
Did he deny the affair before as a “tabloid lie”.
Did he get his mistress pregnant and had a married staffer take the blame?
What his mistress a prostitute that he laundered money to?
Has he ever pursued any cases against someone for prostitution?
Don’t forget Spitzer dragged his wife up there with him when he confessed.
JenJen
Gotta join the chorus here and completely disagree with you, John.
Sanford’s hand was caught in the cookie jar, and when that happens, you kind of have to own up to it. Spitzer did the same thing when he was caught with the hooker. Sure, at least Sanford didn’t pull a Larry Craig, but I don’t think we should be exactly throwing flowers at the guy.
Honestly, the marriage thing, that’s his own business. The question remains: Who was in charge of South Carolina? Was Governor Sanford coordinating the cover-up from his undisclosed location? How many days did he know the story was brewing stateside, and how long did it take for him to assure South Carolinians that someone was running the state effectively in his absence?
I don’t see how he just walks away from this, forgiven and blessed. If, as Sanford said, Clinton should have resigned after the Lewinsky affair, more for desecrating and abdicating the office, then Sanford should step down. Period.
In other news, I just read that Fox News identified Sanford as a Democrat during the presser. They pulled that same shit with Craig, and with Foley. (Edit: I see blogenfreude already caught that.)
Indylib
I give him about 2 seconds worth of credit for not trying to perpetuate a cover up today, but that’s it. The scumbag has supposedly been in marriage counseling for 5 months, but had to go to fucking Argentina to break up with his mistress? Really?!!! This affair supposedly began on the internet, I would have thought a break-up e-mail or text to the mistress would have sufficed, no?
Library Grape
Here’s a wrap-up of how much of a scold Sanford has been when it comes to other people’s sex lives: (via TP http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/24/sanford-affair/ )
āThe bottom line, though, is I am sure there will be a lot of legalistic explanations pointing out that the president lied under oath. His situation was not under oath. The bottom line, though, is he still lied. He lied under a different oath, and that is the oath to his wife. So itās got to be taken very, very seriously.ā [Sanford on Livingston, CNN, 12/18/98]
āWe ought to ask questionsā¦rather than circle the wagons for one of our tribe.ā [Sanford on how the GOP reacts to affairs, New York Post, 12/20/98]
āI think it would be much better for the country and for him personally (to resign). I come from the business side. If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, heād be gone.ā [Sanford on Clinton, The Post and Courier, 9/12/98]
āThe issue of lying is probably the biggest harm, if you will, to the system of Democratic government, representatives government, because it undermines trust. And if you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.ā [Sanford on Clinton, CNN, 2/16/99]
Sanford has also been an opponent of same-sex marriage, saying in 2004, āAs Jenny and I are the parents of four little boys, weāve always taught our kids that marriage was something between a man and a woman.ā [The Post and Courier, 2/11/04]
PaulW
Here’s the thing: if Sanford hadn’t disappeared the way he did, leaving everyone hanging like that, if he had just brought his girlfriend here to the states to a secluded lakeside cabin near the hiking trails, if he had just said to the Lt. Gov “Hey, I gotta crash for the weekend, take care of things while I’m gone,” NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE GOTTEN PUSHED TO THE LEAD STORY.
Sanford’s an idiot. He can’t even plan his affairs properly.
And pulling this stunt on Father’s Day weekend??? His kids shouldn’t give him anymore presents ever again.
Comrade Stuck
I don’t comes to the blogs to be an uninformed idiot.
I comes to the blogs to be an informed idiot.
Michael
Whattaya know – Sanford voted to impeach Bill Clinton on 3 out of 4 counts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/housevote/sc.htm
Tonal Crow
I always thought that “flying to Argentina” was something done by deposed dictators and their toadies. I had very much looked forward to hearing, “In the aftermath of their indictment at The Hague, Former Pres. Bush and VP Cheney were spotted entering a private jet at Dulles. A spokesperson said that they were flying to Argentina.” Now that it’s become a euphemism for sexual adventurism, perhaps they’ll have to use another term for the literal act.
zmulls
I’m with JoCo on this one. It was a true apology, and he realizes he’s got to pick up the pieces. Everyone gets to a point in his life where he totally screws up personally and has to own up and start rebuilding — some people screw up bigger than others.
I get depressed at how quickly we all demonize politicians especially when they’re on the other side. There’s no glee here. It’s sad and small. This isn’t a Gingrich who f**ks over two wives for hotter women and goes around asserting what a good person he is — this sounds like someone who at least believes what he says about sin and redemption.
He’s right to step back and see how people take his apology before resigning. I think the fact he walked off the job without saying boo may tip the scale towards having him resign, but overall this is a personal issue and I’d much rather let him deal with it privately.
He’s given up the RGA chairmanship and he’s no longer on the short list for 2012. At what point do we stop screaming for blood.
Betsy
John, I’m usually with you on this sort of thing, and I like that your impulse is to give people the benefit of the doubt and show compassion. But in this case the only thing that would have been “refreshing” would have been if he’d gotten up there and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this affair has taught me that intimate relations between people are complex, muddled, individual, and all-too-imperfect. Accordingly, I have revised my belief that the state should act as though no one ever has non-marital, extra-marital, or homosexual sex. I now support comprehensive sex education, subsidized birth control, gay marriage, and the right to safe, legal abortion.” Now THAT would be refreshing. As it is, it’s just part of the ritual. I can still pity him, but I don’t need him to come contritely before the cameras and explain the details of who met whom when, if that changes nothing about the way he governs.
Little Dreamer
Well, while I have to admit, I had a lot of fun speculating on the hookers and blow and possible affair, the only reason I find fault with this man personally is because he didn’t hand over the keys to the state before he left.
The only reason why the affair registers is because he’s a family values Republican, and if he didn’t wear that ideology on his sleeve, I’d just shove it aside, personally.
Paul L.
@cj:
Well he could not marry the woman he loved because our bigoted society’s outmoded intolerant views on marriage. ;)
Faux News
I was hoping that gawd awful song “Torn Between Two Lovers” would be playing in the background during Sanford’s rambling semi coherent speech.
Can we just let SC seceed?
Ron
@YellowJournalism:
Yes, they identified Mark Foley as a democrat as well.
Ash
…and another woman and her husband and their kids.
JGabriel
Death By Mosquito Truck:
Been there, he’s not acting like it. Close, though. Sanford’s acting more like someone caught in the cognitive dissonance of being in love with someone, while his “moral” philosophy dictates allegiance and faithfulness to another, i.e. his wife.
Sanford may very well love (agape) his wife, but he doesn’t appear to be in love (eros) with her any longer. At least, that’s how his performance came across to me. YMMV, etc.
.
Delia
Bottom line: if Sanford had really been trying to reconcile with his family, he wouldn’t have pulled this shit on Father’s Day weekend. He’s making up the excuses as he goes along.
greynoldsct00
Not everyone SCREAMED John and isn’t the point to have a discussion here?
Michael
wife noze. we got 2 brake up. ok with u???
plasticgoat
You are being way too generous. This man chose to spend father’s day frolicking by the seaside with his mistress in Argentina while his kids were at a perfectly good seaside in South Carolina. He is a world class ass.
Punchy
Oh please just fuck off with this. Yeah, fidelity’s a bitch. It’s just so haaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrd to stay loyal for a God-fearing, “Christian” blowhard, eh?
Personal responsibility USED to be the hallmark and cornerstone of the Republican platform. Excuse me that’s it’s so “tough” for him to own up to the bullshit he purposefully crafted.
GMAFB.
Keith
Am I the only one who has a nagging suspicion that the reason Sanford went to BA on Father’s Day is that he knocked the other woman up? Would be interesting to contrast how the usual suspects report it vs. how they reported the Edwards affair/rumored paternity.
JGabriel
Paul L.:
Provisionally, we’re assuming she’s not a prostitute; as for the money laundering, or some other corrupt financial transfer or arrangement, presumably that will discovered over the next week or so.
With Republicans, every sex scandal also involves a financial one.
.
handy
Yeah but Sanford’s wife didn’t stand beside him while he confessed his sins to America, therefore he’s a better man. Or something. That’s what Rush told me.
John S.
Leave it to Paul L. to stuff 10 pounds of stupid into a 1 pound sack.
cj
Paul L, did Standford or did he not give false information to his staffers? Did he use state funds to travel to Argentina? Do we know for sure that his mistress is not pregnant? As if that matters.
So since his wife is not suffering from cancer his cheating is less hurtful? Are you kidding me?
Also I noticed that Standford only got emotional or cried when he was talking about his Senate buddies not his family.
scav
Pun factor has certainly dropped. Would have been better off with penguins.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Library Grape:
and a lover in Buenos Aires.
Okay, AMONG the things we’ve always taught that marriage was between were: a man, a woman…
Well, at least he’s traditional. Having a second home in Buenos Aires goes way back before WWII.
Listen I don’t begrudge Republicans any of this. It’s entirely human, I agree. I just wish they’d finally shut the hell up with all the moralizing about others when this many of them have been revealed as utterly incapable of living within their own professed puritanical ideals.
Delia
Um, himself and the image he sees when he looks in the mirror?
Jason
@Michael:
:( but i luv u!!! wtf ur wife is a skank. come 2 BA on dl i got beer!!!
Jim-Bob
Sanford’s excuse = Appalachian FAIL!
Death By Mosquito Truck
@John Cole:
Me and you both, buddy. Throw out a furry pic and distract them from their mob vengeance.
Little Dreamer
@cj:
Who is this STANDFORD guy you are referring to?
The governor of SC who just admitted to an affair: Sanford
The guy who just got indicted for a ponzi scheme: Stanford
Brachiator
@John Cole:
What else was he going to do but own up to it? And he seemed sincere about what, exactly?
And note here that I am not ganging up on him because he is a Republican. But giving style points for admission and contrition, Sweet Jebus and Mary Magdalene!
This might depend on who he was sleeping with, and whether she is a hottie or has a story to tell.
Where have you gone, Larry Flynt? A nation turns its prying eyes to you.
jl
Talkingpointsmemo is asking where the money came from. Says evidence that state funds were used to finance the tango. That would be interesting, given Sanford’s devotion to Donner Party conservatism.
So, we are done with the sex, now time for the $$$$$, to make this complete. (I guess, no guns in this tale, so won’t make a real blockbuster movie)
Little Dreamer
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Bingo!
David
Okay, he had an affair. Lots of people do that. Dumb but it happens.
He took off for a week-long tryst without explanation and left his state with no chief executive. That is criminal stupidity.
Garrigus Carraig
Someone may have mentioned this, but isn’t the way he handled this indicative of a deranged desire to get caught? Suicide by press, as it were? Because if he didn’t want to get caught, he would have said he was going on vacation & handed the reins to the lt. gov. Oh, and he wouldn’t have left over Father’s Day. And that would have been that; no one would have made much of it.
He wanted to get caught. Maybe the strain of preparing a presidential run was too much for him.
I hope the legislature investigates the expenditure to determine whether the people paid for the trip, & considers whether he broke any laws by leaving the country without being in touch or delegating to the lieutenant. And then impeaches him. Oh such joy. Oh such joy. And then yeah I hope he gets some help with the crazy.
Little Dreamer
@jl:
And who paid for the previous trip?
JGabriel
cj:
I noticed that too. Still don’t know quite what to make of it.
Could be that Sanford’s more afraid of the loss of friends and political power than he is of hurting his family, could be something more deeply Freudian, I guess. Seemed kinda weird, whatever it was.
.
cj
@Paul L
This was not my comment. I was commenting on what someone else was saying, but the blockquote didn’t work right.
This was my comment to that statement….
Jason
@John Cole:
Yeah, uh, no, not really. Or do you mean not in comparison to flying to Buenos Aires to meet with his online lover after leaving a decoy van in another airport, or something?
It would have been weird to have a press conference to say “there is some serious personal shit in my life that you’re going to find out about and here it is I need some time alone with my family also I need to go to Argentina” – weird because it would have been a minor footnote in the press day, weird because it would actually have been more responsible and would have actually shown contrition in the face of personal and professional ethical lapses, and weird because HE WOULDN’T HAVE DONE IT JUST BECAUSE HE GOT CAUGHT but previous to said getting-caught, which is actually brave. There, now I’ve shouted too.
Tsulagi
You could be on to something there.
Weāve had the Bush Doctrine calling for preventive war. Some talk of the Obama Doctrine for preventive detention.
Maybe Pubs should institute the Argentina Doctrine, preemptively apologizing for their coming family values lapses. That could take some of the bite off later hypocrisy charges and save the expense of wives, staff, reporters, etc. trying to find their naked ass during Naked Hiking Days.
Mr Furious
“Went to break it off.”
Please. That’s what phones are for. If he needed to do it in person, it didn’t have to take five fucking days.
So he’s “a better philanderer” because after he lies to his wife for months and is supposedly reconciling with her, he then goes down to BA and screws his mistress for four days before he dumps her?
That just makes him a bigger assholeāto his wife AND to his mistress.
And that’s the BEST spin available on the trip’s duration.
Professor Fate
well aside from awarding him a few style points for having a mistress in Argentia – he’s an utter dirtbag who’s deepest emotion seems to be he’s sorry he got caught. And just what was he doing for 5 days ? Prolonged breakup sex? On Father’s day? what the hell?
I am willing to bet money – like 4-5 bucks that he visited her on the state’s dime. It’s the way of these things.
Tonal Crow
@Betsy:
This.
Joshua James
@John Cole
Okay, but you never mentioned he was only doing it because he got caught … you just liked his mea culpa …
To us, it’s … of course he’s going to apologize, what else is he gonna do? Jimmy Swaggert apologized, too, and so did Ensign and Spitzer and Vitter … and on and on and on …
How is it we are morans for not buying the sincerity of a dude caught cheating on his wife and also leaving his job (akin to an airline pilot putting the plane on autopilot, not telling his copilot, who’s asleep, and then nipping off to the back for a bj in the bathroom) for days unattended and yet, because he seemed sincerely uncomfortable (and I’ll bet he was) we should admire him a little bit more?
Sorry man, don’t see it. I can have empathy for a guy in a troubled marriage, I can … but this fellow’s a narcissistic asshole who endangered lives (which you never mention in your post above) and I, like many others, don’t get how you can’t see that …
Just my opinion, of course.
scav
@John Cole: Granted, I’ve seen worse – but he also came across as whiny about privacy blah blah blah and I got hints of the usual pre-emptive x-ian forgiveness get out of jail free card. This judge from this left field gives him a 5.7. And I refuse to participate in any collective intelligence – I’m only here for the snark.
JGabriel
It’s testament to how bizarre Sanford’s whole escapade was, that the fact that it took place over Father’s Day almost seems like a footnote.
.
georgia pig
@John Cole: Sorry, no cigar. Yeah, ok he owned up. Doesn’t make up for federal and state agents spending days trying to figure out where the fuck he is (for all they knew, he was murdered or kidnapped). I don’t give a shit about his infidelity, or even the hypocrisy of it. He owned up to the affair, but he didn’t own up to being a fucking drama queen. As amusing as they are, I really don’t want to know the details of his sordid little life. He could have simply released a statement saying he was having marital and other personal problems and, preferably, resigned. Instead he jumps in front of a camera.
Dork
Boners Hairies, Argentina
Death By Mosquito Truck
@Mr Furious:
Maybe he was trying to break it off inside her.
anonevent
The reason I’m not accepting his apology, John, is that he didn’t apologize for leaving his state leaderless. He owes his wife and kids the apology for cheating, but he completely failed in his job as Governor for running out without making sure someone was in charge of the state. And yet he feels that he can just go back and do the job.
binzinerator
@Comrade Stuck:
This.
And add me too the those who say he had little choice after getting caught in his own web of lies.
Why should we now believe that that ‘refreshing’ performance had no political calculation involved?
MazeDancer
@JGabriel
Absolutely agree that no elected official gets to be this irresponsible and keep their job. But was feeling some outrage at this guy trying to hold onto his job while and going on and on about getting his heart right. And how his spiritual advisors tell him that life is all about getting one’s heart right.
And TV commentators saying he was “Being a man” about it. Yes he had lots of rambling honesty, painful to watch. He doesn’t know what to do. There is no Republican playbook for honesty.
Stronger, more manly, more honest, and more impressive, and more heart felt, IMHO, would have been resigning. At the top of his statement. Resigning first would have had a little courage to it. And would have been showing some “right heart”. That he was taking responsibility, fully, and putting his state, his family, and whatever’s left of his sanity first. And he was going to go do that by resigning. And then went on to take questions.
Irony Abounds
Faux News sucks, no doubt about it, but Shep Smith is the best guy on cable news bar none. He doesn’t toe the Fox line, and he is the only part of Fox News that is fair and balanced.
gwangung
When he gives up the governership.
In terms of job performance, that’s the big thing he failed at, the one responsibility that he dropped, big time. Do that in the real world, you lose your job.
Why shouldn’t that happen here?
Johnny Pez
It sure would be ironic if it turned out Sanford’s Argentinian hottie was Fanne Foxe.
Death By Mosquito Truck
@JGabriel:
Nah, for me thats the undercurrent that drove it. What dad is gonna go hiking on the AT fathers day weekend without taking his sons? I think if it had been any other weekend, we’d have all been meh.
Edit: Hell, I can’t go to the auto parts store without rounding up the mini-me and slurpee change.
Bill E Pilgrim
My prediction in the middle of the press conference about the use of “rambling” is coming true:
Salon:
“In a rambling, teary statement…”
New York Times:
“…apologized in a rambling news conference…”
That’s what struck me, it was the weirdest conference I’ve ever seen in the way that he did all of the apologizing and even tearing up a little, before even telling us what it was all about.
“And, I’m indeed very sorry, and have disappointed all of you. And this kind of behavior, well, it goes without saying that I’m ashamed. And I’ve had many conversations with friends, and I’m sorry to them also. Now, do you have any questions?”
“Uhm, yes Governor. What did you do?”
Mr Furious
@Death By Mosquito Truck: LOL. That pun occured to me…
Tonal Crow
@Punchy:
Well, yes, it’s always been prominently featured in their rhetoric. It’s just that it’s also always been prominently lacking in their substance. Nothing’s changed there. Cue the “He’s not perfect, but he’s a Christian and so he’s forgiven” catch-all excuse in 5…4…3…2…1….
The Grand Panjandrum
OT: Dick Cheney’s undisclosed location is freeaing over. Final from South Africa: USA 2, Spain 0.
Michael
beerz r gud. ok i come 2 BA. ily2 ;)
Joshua James
He also voted for Clinton’s impeachment, if memory serves … so fuck ’em.
A Mom Anon
Everyone’s caught up in the sex part on this. I get the feeling the wife told him to take a flying leap,left with the kids and had a pretty good idea where he was and who he was with. I feel bad for the 4 little boys more than anyone else.
If I took off and left my job for days and no one could reach me,I’d be out of a job. This is what pisses me off about asshats like this,they never experience consequences for their actions like most people would if they did the same thing.
steve s
How many more traditional marriages will the gays greedily wreck before they are sated????
Comrade Stuck
@cj:
Mr. cj.
go slow. It takes a while to get the skeeterreepers subtle, yet diabolically delicious snark.
Ash
@The Grand Panjandrum: I actually watched the end of that game. They were kicking a little ball around this big field. And there were like big nets and stuff. I was so confused.
scav
@A Mom Anon: yup, and suddenly we’ve brought up class warfare again. we’re just so getting above ourselves vis-a-vis our betters.
YellowJournalism
Yeah, does Hallmark make a card that says, “Hey Dad, Happy Father’s Day! Thanks for not ditching us to see your mistress in Argentina this year.”
LindaH
Actually I give credit to Sanford’s wife for not doing the expected wifely thing of appearing with her cheating spouse just to try and save his career. All the other wives who stood by their husbands were not being chained to the podium. They walked up there on their own two feet and did the “right” or at least expected thing. I suspect the Mrs. Sanford told the Governor something along the lines of “if you want someone to stand by you during this Press Conference then call your girlfriend and let her do it, because right now I wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire” I bet their next marital counseling session (if there is one) will be interesting to say the least.
.
Death By Mosquito Truck
All you complaining you’d lose your job if you took off for a couple of days- yer right. They’re already looking for a reason to get rid of yer lazy-plays-online-all-day ass. If you were worth keeping, they’d figure out a way to make it happen.
Punchy
In the context of this thread, this is fucking halarious.
murryville
as a south carolina resident what gets my goat is he had to go to south america! for some poontang. if he likes it so much down there so much he shouldve just gone to South of the Border on I-95 near Florence!
and another thing – when can we get a super adventurers (south park) themed vid with Sanford’s apology spliced in it. come on internet people, use your science!
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@Death By Mosquito Truck:
This story would have been a lot better if Sanford had been caught with a furry outfit in his luggage. All this anticipation, and it (apparently) turns out to be a vanilla straight-sex affair? Meh x100.
The least he could have done was put on a wetsuit or two.
@steve s:
lolz.
Aries M.
No sympathy for this reason: I think he’s still lying.
I’m having a hard time believing he went down to BA to “break up” with his gf in person for five days. Five days for a break up? Alone with this woman in BA with extreme measures taken to ensure complete and total privacy? Suuuuuuuuure. ‘Cause that’s how people break up.
Et Tu Brutus?
Well, he is one up on old Larry ‘ wide stance ‘ Craig, eh. More to this imbroglio than we so far have heard, no doubt, state money used to finance Mssr. Sanford’s affair certainly, but might there be details yet to come out of a much more lurid nature?
Don
Oh come on, the dude’s a douche but he’s got a Lt. Gov. Are we to believe they’d let half the state burn while looking for him rather than immediately turning to the next in command?
I think it was poor form not to let the looie know he’s be out of contact – and he has indicated in interviews that he did not have any idea Sanford was incommunicado before the press asked him about it – but claiming that he endangered anyone is pretty weak.
When E Erikson looks more reasonable than you it’s time to be concerned.
Death By Mosquito Truck
@tripletee (formerly tBone):
With a married lady with two kids? Jesus, does anyone fool around with tightbodied teenies anymore?
The Saff
I could swear Time magazine named Sanford one of the worst governors a few years back. I can’t find it in their archives but I seem to recall that’s why his name always meant something to me.
Comrade Stuck
I will say it again. A day with a wingnut sex scandal without diapers and toe tapping is a good day here in the land of baby jeevus.
P.S> Aunt Millie Whitehead from the Kansas Church of the Pentecostal Jesus Beavers agrees from her fainting couch.
Palooza
Oh bullshit John. This a$$hole lied up the minute of his “mea culpa.” If Eliot Spitzer needs to resign, so does this guy (and I think that Spitzer did not need to resign). IOKIYAR is in play here. Fucking hypocrites.
spavis
@John Cole:
To the people who are saying “he onoly apologized cause he got caught” there was a gov awhile back (NJ?) who resigned for having an affair without being caught cause of a conscience thing. So there’s that.
But as far as Sanford goes…
Things he didn’t apologize for:
1) what he did to his kids
2) not telling his staff where he was going
3) not putting the state Lt in charge
4) not taking some security or notifying the embassy
Things he wasn’t clear about:
1) was the affair with a boy or a girl
2) was he really going to break it off
Otherwise what did he actually apologize for or admit to or say he was going to take action on (divorce, resignation of gov)?
rā¬nato
Sorry to interrupt this schadenfreude-fest, but in case any of you care about soccer, the USA became the first team to beat Spain since November 2006, winning the FIFA Confederations Cup semifinal 2-0.
They will now play against either South Africa or Brasil *gulp* in the final.
Tim F.
His wife described the kids as ‘my’ kids, publicly lied to cover his ass and then got caught when he did, and then didn’t show up to his press conference. Sanford will be a single man soon.
gex
@blogenfreude: People who are unfamiliar with the alphabet should not be in the news profession. Or the “news” profession.
BDeevDad
Saw online:
RevPhat
It is my understanding that it is a much shorter and less invasive process to pray the adulterer out of a sinner.
rā¬nato
John, please please please tell us what Erick Erickson has to say about this. I can’t bear to go to RS; but it should be some good stuff.
JL
He pretty much admitted they were separated already but not in a legal sense. Granted Spitzer’s display was awful and Vitter’s comical but it would be unusual to call a spouse that is separated from you to stand by you.
Yesterday he complained that he was cutting his vacation short. If he went down to break up, which I’m not sure he claimed, it sure took a long time.
Dracula
/so badly wants to be able to raise a hand…(the legal ones, natch)
georgia pig
@rā¬nato: Awesome. Mark who?
Et Tu Brutus?
Death By Mosquito Truck:With a married lady with two kids? Jesus, does anyone fool around with tightbodied teenies anymore?
I’m tryin’ man, but jest bein’ a poor progressive Dem puts quite the crimp in the action with the teens ( now if I were a rich man, perhaps Limbaughistic even, oh man, lock up yer daughters ;>)
tripletee (formerly tBone)
@Tim F.:
Fixt.
Martin
Wow, this is becoming a pandemic. At what point are the odds lower that a Republican is having an affair than isn’t?
Well, of course he didn’t go there for that reason, but once he realized yesterday that he was busted, he had to do that to recover at least some dignity from this situation. So yeah, he’s still lying about this.
If Sanford keeps his job while Spitzer did the right thing and stepped down, then the GOP deserves no quarter on policies from Democrats in any venue.
Cat Lady
@zmulls:
Never. We take every single one of these Republican hypocrite episodes and stuff it down their throats, shove it up their asses, step on their necks and kick them in the groins with them until they stop being moralizing, self-aggrandizing, holier than thou spewers of sanctimonious self-righteous bullshit. Fuck Mark Sanford and his apologies to “people of faith”. He was thinking with his dick until he couldn’t get away with it, and now he’s “brave” for not being able to come up with an excuse that made any sense.
I want to hear what his wife thinks. Oh yes I do.
Comrade Stuck
A cry for help from the Outage Queen herself.
binzinerator
@rikyrah:
I’m still amazed it took even a week to ‘break it off’. I mean, how the hell does that work? Fly across an ocean, arrive in Buenas Aires and then absentmindedly browse the bookstores there for a few days, thinking over what you wanna say?
Sounds like a sure-fire way to reconcile with one’s wife, don’t it?
“Honey, I promised you and I’m finally going to do it. Right now. I’m going to end the affair. For us. For the kids. Because I want to be with you. Because I want to get back to the way we were, to the love we had, to the deep connection we had. I know we can do it. And I want that, I really do.
“So I’ll be flying to Argentina to tell her it’s over, because even though it all started by e-mail, I really feel I owe it to her to end it face-to-face, to be there for her when I tell her it’s over for ever.
“Oh, and I’ll be gone about a week, mebbe give or take a day, so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me.
“And if anyone asks, tell them I’m working on other projects. Or went hiking or something. I don’t know, make something up. Ciao!”
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
Suffice to say, without going into details, I’ve been involved in something like this, as an innocent caught in the crossfire.
And I just moved back to SC a few months ago.
And I’ve seen GOP fools weep over this kind of thing, without any real thought of comment about their family, aside from the boilerplate “I’m sorry I caught them in this” — which, to me, always read “I’m sorry ya’ll found out.”
And to say I’m no fan of Sanford’s policies is to vastly understate the matter.
With all that said? I fall in with John Cole, here. No way am I forgiving him making a literal Federal case over the stimulus, and then using state funds to shag some lady. No way am I forgetting he’s another in a long line of people who can’t hold up the values they’d like to force on another.
But I’ll be damned to 7 hells before I let the hate and judgmental attitude of that side take me from a snarky bastard to an unfeeling git, unable to recognize someone who’s actually fucking hurting. For once, I think we have someone who actually believed in the stuff he talked about, who wasn’t posturing. And now he’s faced with the unreality of that posture, and the utter stupidity hiding these things leads you to. He built his hell, yes — but even with that, I can’t let someone who did step up, and asked for the right kind of privacy — not a defensive one, but one out of respect for his wife and kinds, not for him, and without that stupid tone so many politicos get about this sort of thing.
I feel for him. I really can’t help it. I feel more for his family, and esp. his kids, but yeah, I feel for the bastard.
I’m also reminded by friends who’ve been here in SC the whole time I was absent, that the Lt. Governor is even worse than Sanford. So even if I thought he should resign, we’re looking at a Bush/Cheney on a state level.
Joshua James
@Don,
Actually he DID endanger his constituents … a Lt Gov just can’t step up and order emergency action (like getting the National Guard to help with a flooding town, for example) on his own … he has to be handed the reins, so to speak, he can’t just pick ’em up and go “giddeyap” …
There’s a legal process, you know?
RAM
Back during the Clinton impeachment, then-U.S. Rep. Sanford said Clinton should be convicted, not because he lied about having sex, but because he cheated on his wife and violated a scared vow. So fair’s fair seems to me…
Death By Mosquito Truck
Spitzer was paying for a prostitute. Sanford is having consensual sex with a milf. There is a difference.
Violet
@zmulls:
When Republicans in general stop telling all the rest of us how to live our lives, what we can do with our private parts, and what we can do with other consenting adults. When they start to treat us with sympathy and empathy as humans, and recognize that individuals can make their own choices and the world won’t fall apart, then maybe it’ll be time to stop screaming for blood.
However, back here in the real world, the Republicans are still moralizing, telling us what we can and can’t do and with whom, in areas in which they have no businesses being involved. So when one of their own, and a possible Prez contender no less, disappears, lies about his whereabouts, abdicates his responsibilities, gets caught, and only then admits to bonking a woman other than his wife…well, sorry. Time to pay the piper, bucko. You live by the rules you make.
If Sanford had been the type to say that, for example, President Clinton’s infidelities were not a matter of national importance, and really the Congress should be focusing on real issues, like health care, national defense, climate, education, taxes, or whatever, then I’d be inclined to cut him some slack. But no, he moralized and voted to impeach. I’m happy to ask him to live by the standards he set for others.
Little Dreamer
@RAM:
Best freudian slip I’ve ever seen.
Face
@Tim F.: Single, you say? Well, I have it on a good source that he’s already got a girlfriend somewheres down near Chile….
Blue Raven
John, for me, it’s not that I expect him to pre-emptively apologize in case he decides to go for some Argentine totty. It’s that I expect him to admit when he gets back from abandoning his job for a week that he did exactly what he really did instead of lying like a cheap rug. It’s that I expect him to not abandon the post his state’s voters put him in. It’s that I have this bizarro fantasy that there are elected Republicans who preach about monogamous heterosexuality and actually follow that.
The apology, however prettily phrased, is the first thing he should’ve done, not the fourth. And it certainly should have included an admission of failure to do his job, a change of heart on sex-behavior politics, or both.
And as someone who practices ethical non-monogamy, his kind disgusts me completely. If you have to be with more than one human being to be happy, do it right and admit it, goddamn it. Stupid conservative bullshit mandating dishonesty in place of sane discourse.
PeopleAreNoDamnGood
@John Cole:
Well, I have a different take.
Mine is that the apology was unnecessary. The world did not line up at his podium today to hear him apologize. It lined up to hear him explain his behavior vis a vis the governorship of the state.
The only way he could give the world what it needed at 2 pm would have been for him to walk up and say, “I am resigning as governor effective immediately. My personal business is not in order at the present time. I misled my staff and my family and the people of this state, and I am stepping aside so that the lieutenant governor can take over those duties and the state can move on. Now I will take a few questions.”
We didn’t need the apologies. We didn’t need the lectures about faith, god, and sin. All that rambling, that’s all stuff between himself and his family and his pastor, and his staff.
I don’t generally presume to think I am on the high ground in the matter of anyone else’s life or choices, but in this case, I am looking at it strictly as a citizen. Once he satisfies those obligations, he can take care of his private business on his own time.
thefncrow
@JGabriel:
TPM actually just put up an item that apparently Sanford’s wife has issued a statement that says she asked him to leave two weeks ago. So I don’t think she would have played along even if he asked.
binzinerator
@Joshua Norton:
Oh that’s rich, very rich! I didn’t connect his wife’s explanation with Sanford’s explanation of how he met the other woman via email. Good one!
JL
Seems that Mrs. Sanford admitted they were separated two weeks ago. No wonder she didn’t stand by his side.
Cat Lady
@Cat Lady:
@Violet:
You said what I said but you’re so much nicer. I’m spitting nails about the “good for him for being honest in a hastily called presser he had to have because he got caught”.
He came home from an illicit bender to a shit storm, and had nowhere to hide. No one should give him credit for anything. Yes, he could have lied, but you’d have to be a delusional maniac to think you could have made up a lie that would have flown in this day and age.
bago
@Death By Mosquito Truck: Yeah. Namely the taxpayer funds used to go MILF hunting.
Adolphus
230 comments down and I expect no one will see this, but it looks like the Smithsonian’s American History Museum will soon be opening an exhibition about the Appalachian Trail.
Awesome timing.
Also, I used to work on Mt. Washington which is on the Appalachian Trail. People who walk the whole thing, or at least significant parts of it, are called Through Hikers. They have a particular odor as their sweat is wicked away from their bodies via space age polymer formula garb and collects with the chemicals that the garb is made of. Far worse than regular BO and we called it “Through Hiker Stench.”
Feel free to work “Through Hiker Stench” into your vocabulary referring to the humiliation of being known as an adulterer.
Keith
I won’t link to RedState, but their current top headline is priceless: “To majority media and other Democrats : we police our own, and you donāt get to judge “. And then you start scrolling down to every other post on the site, and the laughs start piling up.
Leelee for Obama
Not to be bitchy, but….is this new “honesty” from the supposed 2012 contenders to run against Obama their way of telling their Party-not no, but HELL, NO!
Just askin’
Tsulagi
You jest, but skimming through the tread to a RS post on Sanfordās Argentina Adventure one commenter blamed the opposition for ācooking up the affairsā that have ensnared their innocents. Can’t fool him. He also blamed vi_agra. Will their victimization never cease?
RevPhat
Renato said:
I go by there. The viking hasn’t yet responded. E Pluribus Unum says Dems don’t get to judge. They police there own. Then in really big font he tells us all to shut up.
To which I responded: So we won’t get to hear
what kind of cigar the Gov., ummm, smokes?
Right now the libs comments outnumber the cons.
JenJen
@Keith: Just read that, and was coming over here to let everyone know exactly how much that post cracked me the hell up. :-)
Kilkee
@South Carolinian: Ohh, popcorn!
The Moar You Know
Another bible thumping, double standard douche bag goes down. These right wing, “moral, do as I say, not as I do, Christians” are just priceless.
Chicago Jeff
John. I read your blog faithfully on a daily basis. Since you began calling a spade a spade in terms of what today passes for Republicanism, I truly respect your opinions and find your ability to get to the heart of a matter refreshing.
However, regarding this issue, I completely disagree!
“I donāt know if Sanford is a culture warrior or not”
“I like the guy more than I did yesterday”
“just laying it all out for everyone”
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Along with the others shining examples of traditional marriage savers (Larry Craig. Mark Foley. David Vitter. John Ensign. Mark Sanford), Sanford is specifically crusading against allowing two in-love, tax-paying, same-sex, life-partners to be as lawfully recognized as as a couple.
With these conservative “culture warriors”, it is becoming frightening clear that the lunatics really had taken over the asylum. Scary stuff.
As insidious as it gets. Also enormously enraging for a committed gay individual such as myself.
If you really do like him more now, it’s you I like less today than yesterday.
JL
Part of the statement by Mrs. Sanford….
kay
I try to be generous then I turn on the tv and Ken Blackwell is blaming “the culture” for the governor’s behavior.
That’s the “larger question”, according to Blackwell. Such a load of crap.
Don’t blame the rest of us, Ken. Sanford makes his own decisions.
Xanthippas
I’m usually not that quick to grab the pitchfork for this sort of thing, but I think you’re wrong here. The only reason he’s owning up to this is because he got caught. There’s no plausible explanation for his behavior short of the truth, and there’s nothing admirable about the fact that he is essentially forced to confess.
binzinerator
@John Cole:
Ah puuuuhleez. That God’s Law shit wasn’t bullshit? Read Michael‘s comment:
I’ve lived in the South and recognized it instantly too. And Michael’s absolutely right — it is bullshit.
As for sincerity, OK he seemed like it. But the kind of assholes Michael is talking about it are really really good at seeming sincere. But you got all this evidence that says he was a lying sack of shit (cf the past week up to today), and that he’s still not being a stand-up guy about all of it, as myrtle parker pointed out. I mean fer fucks sake flying to see one’s mistress for a week is not ‘breaking it off’. That’s not working on reconciling a marriage. It’s the opposite.
Elie
Peoplearenodamngood @232
“Mine is that the apology was unnecessary. The world did not line up at his podium today to hear him apologize. It lined up to hear him explain his behavior vis a vis the governorship of the state.
The only way he could give the world what it needed at 2 pm would have been for him to walk up and say, āI am resigning as governor effective immediately. My personal business is not in order at the present time. I misled my staff and my family and the people of this state, and I am stepping aside so that the lieutenant governor can take over those duties and the state can move on. Now I will take a few questions”.
Nailed it
Brachiator
@The Saff:
Google News Timeline kicks butt. The reference was to the November 13 or so issue of Time Magazine . Here is a bit of a story mentioning the Time article (Time magazine says Sanford one of nation’s three worst governors):
“November 13, 2005 – A Time magazine article says South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is one the nation’s three worst state chief executives.
The magazine, on newsstands tomorrow, notes the state’s loss of its AAA credit rating under the Republican governor’s watch and his penny pinching habit of sleeping in his office while in the US House.
The article says critics within the GOP fear Sanford’s thrift has brought the state’s economy to a standstill and that business leaders are losing patience with him….
The magazine said the best governors were Democrats Mark Warner of Virginia, Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Republicans Kenny Guinn of Nevada and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.”
(Funny how a couple of the top rated governors are now in the Obama administration).
Nellcote
Would this be a good time for congress to try to repeal DOMA?
PeopleAreNoDamnGood
@Nellcote:
Unless they figure out a way to defend marriage from its real threats, like addiction to alcohol or drugs, or violent abusive behavior, or child abuse, or fifty other things that have nothing to do with gay marriage …. we don’t need no stinking DOMA.
Comrade Stuck
It’s not about the adulterous sex. I don’t care a wit if a politician parks his truck in the wrong garage. I don’t even care much if they break stupid morals laws i don’t believe in, ie paying for sex, (though I prefer they stay out of public places like bathrooms). And as for shirking his duties as governor, well that’s a judgment for the citizens of South Carolina to make.
It’s the phony bible based fidelity rules that America demands of public figures to get elected. And it is fueled almost exclusively by republicans, and forcing dems to stand on the same pedestals of faux virtue. See John Edwards and his all American family campaign image gone south.
It’s a kind of national schizoid surreal circus every time it happens, which I hear playing out on my teevee right now. And as hard as it to endure it, I think it is necessary to be aired, if for no other reason to demonstrate to all the frivolous nature of panty sniffing politics, and to do battle with hypocrisy. It’s not like there aren’t enough problems in the world to solve, than waste time with this shit.
gex
@Chicago Jeff: You must not have been here for the “why don’t the gays just wait until the time is right” / “these shrill gays have no one to blame but themselves for not attaining marriage rights yet” thread.
Anne Laurie
Maybe I’m just loathe to give up my own fantasy but — there wasn’t a single hot-sheets-hotel room available in the greater Atlanta area?
I wonder what the financial-disclosure laws are like in Argentina? I know it’s a truism that some guys will do anything to make their penis happy, but ditching a pretty significant public position and flying to another hemisphere just to spend five days “breaking up” with the extracurricular pvssy seems… above & beyond.
I’m still waiting for some enterprising journalist — or, more likely, fellow wannabe-Repub 2012 candidate — to uncover some variety of financial chicanery, whether it’s laundering illegal campaign/lobbying contributions, stealing from his wife’s family funds, or good ol’ Al-Capone-style tax evasion.
Michael Sheridan
@Keith: I was just about to post on that Red State offering. It’s a great look at the GOP cult of victimhood, isn’t it? Everybody is always out to get the GOP, and we’re the ones with the double standards….
He bitches about how Clinton is still a rock star, and that GOP transgressors disappear, and sees no irony in blaming the media for that while claiming the GOP will be responsible for purging their own ranks.
If the GOP didn’t continue to make “Purity of Essence” a matter of public policy, maybe they wouldn’t feel the need to ostracize Craig and Foley and Ensign and Sanford, et al., in order to maintain their sanctimoniousness.
And maybe pigs will fly….
Elie
To follow on my previous comments, this is NOT about sexual indiscretions etc. Its about his judgement as CEO of his state. Not notifying his Lt Governor about an extended absense, misuse of state vehicle and possibly of state funds for this little escapade. And how about the LIES. Did he ask his staff to lie and cover up this little adventure?
His personal life is his personal life and his business to straighten out. I am uptight about his public responsibilities.
Will
I’m sick of being lectured at by these guys about human morality. Really, they clearly all live completely different lives than those they harangue the rest of us with. Lives that sound pretty fun, actually. Mistress in Argentina? Awesome! Why is it one thing for them, and something different for all of us?
Fulcanelli
Can we now say we have definitive proof that people who constantly mount the bully pulpit to rail against immorality do so to appease their consciences and distract attention from their own behavior? They rail most against that which they hate in themselves out of some kind of twisted guilt complex.
Jimmy Swaggart Syndrome.
We’ve seen this so many times over so many years, it’s now become a feature, not a bug, and not even debatable anymore in my opinion. Perhaps the ratio of infidelity to marriages with politicians is higher due to the seductive effect of power and money on both the cheater and the cheatee, but at least the Democrats and Progressives don’t preach fire and brimstone while trying to mind everybody else’s business in the bedroom, or try to waffle out of accountability with cheap, mewling “born-again” and “wide-stance” horse shit.
Sanford’s wife knew her mule was kickin’ in another woman’s stall and it’s their business, nobody else’s, with the exception of his abrogation of his governorship duties, and possible use of state’s money for his trysts, etc. He’ll suffer enough on the home front, this I know for sure.
If we get too many more opportunities to wipe out the sanctimonious, family-values Republicans as a species and don’t make it happen we deserve to have them back in power. Give Sanford some space and let’s club the rest of these hypocrites without mercy.
Peter J
@Death By Mosquito Truck:
He could have become a leading advocate for polygamy.
It would have had the same effect on his political life, but in the long run it might have help other republicans suffering from the same problem.
Sebastian Dangerfield
Reasons why the Sanford presser was bullshit, flim flam, and fake sincerity (that unfortunately fooled Jon and Josh Marshall) and that Sanford is twice the douche he was before the presser:
1. Sanford fessed up only after the local S.C. reporter busted him at the airport.
2. Sanford recklesly disregarded his duties as the chief executive of the state in order to have a last tango in B.A.
3. Sanford’s claim that he went to B.A. for six days to break off the affair makes no sense. (Under the circumstances, a phone call would suffice.)
4. Sanford apologized to “all people of faith” for letting them down, as if having religious scruples somehow necessarily entials reverence for Mark Sanford.
5. Sanford used state resources — at a minimum, a state vehicle — for his dirty business and took prior trips to Argentina on the federal taxpayer’s dime.
6. Sanford had his lackeys lie to the public on his behalf, and most likely has had several staff people waste taxpayer money enabling his shenanigans.
7. Sanford is a grandstanding douchebag who recently refused, in the teeth of a legislative override of his veto of the budget, to file an application for badly needed State Fiscal Stabilization Funds until the S.C. Supreme Court ordered him to do it — all to fuel his ego and presidential ambitions at the expense of his constiuents. (I know that has nothing to do with the presser, but you can’t say that too many times.)
JenJen
Some Sanford-Mistress emails. Ummm, ick.
asiangrrlMN
@PeopleAreNoDamnGood:
I agree one-hundred percent with this. I am listening to his apology, and I do think he is sincere. However, all that crap he spewed about God’s law really rubbed me the wrong way. “Spiritual advisor”, my eye.
@Betsy:
This, too.
The feel bad for the emotional torment that he is experiencing, however, he was unbelievably irresponsible in taking off like that without handing over the reins to his lieutenant. If he used state money to do it, that makes even more wrong. Whatever I feel for him personally, it doesn’t change the fact that he needs to resign. Now.
I don’t think it’s going to happen, but what can you do.
Oh, and one more thing. If the fuckers of the GOP dare to continue grandstanding on being morally superior, then it’s on.
Ned R.
@JenJen: I just noticed those — but more importantly, the paper said that they got those e-mails in December.
Roza
The affair, nothing new … it is the hypocrisy of these blowhards
that is mock worthy
Death By Mosquito Truck
I must be misremebering all the progressives that stood up and condemned Bill Clinton for screwing around on taxpayer money, not doing his job while getting hummers in his office and for being a lying unfaithful adulterer blah blah *eyes glaze over* blah fucking blah.
Fulcanelli
@JenJen: Those damn curvy hips with tan lines will get’cha every time. Those damn things carbonate testosterone like mentos and diet coke. Ouch! It’s gotta suck having that stuff flyin’ around in the press. He may wish he’d stayed there.
Tonal Crow
@kay:
If it ain’tn’t for teh gheys agitatin’ fer special rights, and flauntin’ it, and molestin’ left and right, and the wimmin leavin’ the kitchen and the blacks gettin’ all uppity and rapity-like, then good old white boys wouldn’t be forced to do things they know ain’t right. It’s the cult-ure of corr-uption.
/wingnut
eric k
Elie is exactly right, his “apology” was lame because he never addressed the real issue, his irresponsible abandoning his job for a week, he just showed that for Republicans it is all about the sex.
As for Red State, what a frickin joke. They spend all day yesterday completely making shit up to defend the guy (he told his staff, his family knows where he is…) which they obviously knew nothing about, they we’re just saying whatever they thought would best serve the party. They have just proven (as if anyone doubted it) that they are complete and total hacks with zero credibility.
Jay in Oregon
@Joshua James:
C’mon, these are Republicans. “Rule of law” is for the other guys.
eric k
Death by Mosquito,
Remind me again when Bill Clinton left the country for a week without telling anyone leaving the country with no executive…
Let me be perfectly clear, I could care less if Sanford is having an affair and splitting with his wife. The only reason this is an issue is because he left his job for a week without telling anyone.
If he had simply told the Lt Gov I need to go out of town for a few days on vacation, your in charge, no problem, and likley no one even finds out about his affair.
Now the fact that he is a total hypocrite who makes other peoples morality his business makes him a douche-bag, but that would simply be an issue for the voters to decide next election. The abandoning his job might be grounds for recall now if he doesn’t resign.
Tonal Crow
And this.
JenJen
Oh dear, Erick has updated again. Can’t link, just can’t do it. But, you know, ugh.
I realize that sometimes the schaden just freuds itself, though, I really do. ;-)
tim
It is always rewarding to see self righteous hypocrites of any stripe revealed, as in the case of Sanford.
It is also revealing to read thru this comment thread and take in the full scope of stupid, self righteous, puritanical horseshit among the readership of this blog.
Ninety per cent of commenters don’t give a fuck about Sanford’s abandonment of his professional duties; they’re all engorged with outrage at the fact of his cheating and lying and matrimonial villainy, his caddish betrayal of the frail and delicate Mrs. Sanford. Never mind that said commenters don’t know shit about the state of their interpersonal situation. And why bother finding out? It’s much more fun and self-stroking to sit in judgement, writing anonymous condemnatory notes online to one’s blog chums.
If fully HALF of the straight marriages in this country end in divorce, then you can bet that way more than that percentage of marriages involve infidelity and yet Americans continue to pretend that news of an affair in SOMEONE ELSE’S MARRIAGE is a big deal.
I wonder how many self righteous commenters in this thread are fucking someone on the side?
Inquiring minds…
Sebastian Dangerfield
Death By Mosquito Truck: First, the ol’ “B-b-b-but Bill Clinton got blown!!” screech is getting very old.
Second, you probably do not misrember; you probably did not talk to many progressives. I hated the sumbitch as a flim-flam man and narcissistic fuck who’d sell his granny, wife, and daughter to get himself out of a scrape. Many progressives did and do. This shouldn’t need pointing out, because you’re simply trying the ol’ “change the subject nya nya CLENIS!” troll shtick, and it is fail.
In sum, that Clinton was a narcissistic douchebag, a reckless idiot, etc. is all quite true — and quite irrelevant. That many people defended Clinton also true and irrelevant. Sanford engaged in serious dereliction of duty, jetting off to a country where kidnapping rich important foreigners is something of a local industry. Hugely reckless.
And if any comparison were to be made, you would find that Clinton did not disappear for a week to another country, letting few to no people knowing where he was and leaving the government that he was elected to run in a situation in which no one was sure who was in charge.
jrg
I’m supposed to feel sorry for this guy because he’s the latest victim of his own moral posturing and shows up to a press conference blubbering like a baby?
Not. Gonna. Happen. You think this guy really cares about Bill Clinton’s marriage? Or some suicidal gay teen? Or some young mother faced with a pregnancy that could kill her? You think he’s the only victim of his moral posturing?
Fuck him. Social cons deserve no mercy.
colleeniem
Ummm, is it verboten to remark that if this his way of breaking it off with a person he “loved” that this was a really shitty way of doing it? I don’t know the particulars of the relationship, obvs, but to spend 5 days with a person as a last hurrah, which seems romantic and shit, is really a great big mind-fuck. It is not heroic, it is completely, utterly selfish.
Which he said.
Kudos to him for calling a spade, a spade, I guess. But every day he was there and didn’t break up he took action with malice aforethought.
I know this technically doesn’t have to do with governing, but I’m a girl, and this kind of thing bugs me. It says he’s willing to literally fuck with someone for whom he claims to have genuine affection. What does that say about his overall loyalty to others to whom he has an obligation (i.e. his constituents)?
JMHO.
Death By Mosquito Truck
@eric k:
It’s South Carolina, d00d. Are we worried they’re gonna attack Fort Sumter again? You fuckers are just trying to score max political points over this guy’s life unraveling. Fuck all of ya, you disgusting vultures.
Lyle4
BWAHAHAHAHA, and it just gets better.
The State has found the e-mails
http://www.thestate.com/sanford/story/839350.html
Aaaaaand I see I’m like 100 posts too late, ah well…
ethan salto
I’m watching this press conference now and I don’t like him more. His rambling bullshit apology is incredibly narcissistic. All of the “y’all’s” and stories and crap about God is stomach-turning.
I’ve thought Sanford was a know-nothing fuck since he started turning up (like a bad penny) in the national media, and this confirms my initial impression.
We’re lucky another moronic Republican has self-disqualified from national office. I hope he resigns promptly and moves to Buenos Aires.
gwangung
Ah. Well, since I’m totally single, I can say what the hell I want, then….
patrick
I’ve participated in the schadenfreude of this as much as anyone else, and will probably continue to do so. It’s always good fun to watch the high and mighty get right-sized.
But to be serious for a minute, I’ve been in one of these little triangles before, and it’s a miserable place to be for everyone involved. I especially feel for those poor kids having to watch this crap unfold.
I did some pretty crazy assed things in the middle of it too – like sell everything I owned, cash out of the American Dream and move to another country style crazy.
But I’ve never been a moral scold and tried to impose my moral/religious/theological beliefs on others.
And THAT is what makes Mark Sanford’s unfortunate situation worthy of all the schadenfreude, and to some extent, deserving of the bloodlust.
If he resigns voluntarily in the next couple of days, and doesn’t make the good people of South Carolina force him out, I might, just MIGHT, believe that he actually believes in the little morality lesson he graced us with today.
Because he can say it all he wants, but until he does the action, it’s just empty words.
He broke trust with his wife, his kids, his Party and his State. Saying “I’m sorry” isn’t enough – not when you’ve been the kind of moral scold that he’s been.
And for what it’s worth, I’m betting that he will resign voluntarily – very soon.
passerby
I justs got back from a 2:00 meeting so I missed the presser, haven’t watched it yet, and have only read up to comment one-seventy-something, so I’m late to the party.
Did he apologize to the people of SC for his nonchalant and flagrant indifference toward his dereliction of duty? Of course not. In his mind he doesn’t view his no call/no show behavior as a dereliction of duty, in his mind, he’s the f’ckin Gov, the Big Dog. Rules don’t apply at his level so no apology needed.
It is this kind of recklessness as an elected political figure that I think he would like keep out of the discussion so that he doesn’t have to give up this Big Dog status and power.
I’d like to say his personal life is his personal life, but that’s kinda hard to do given how public he’s now made it. He’s glad to trot is personal business out and yeah, he’s a crumb, but I think he needs to check his attitude towards his role as Governor.
Someone, upthread in the sea of comments, said:
and it got me thinking that maybe he’s hoping that the personal aspects of his blunder will create an emotional storm of outrage (spin assistance), while obscuring and distracting folks away from the political blowback he facing.
Politically? I hope he goes down. But, he may be able to do what Vitter, Craig, Ensign, et al, did and keep his seat. Hell, he may even yet be a Republican POTUS candidate for 2012.
gwangung
Totally.
And it was so unnecessary. How much effort would it take to say, “I’m taking a few days off to be with loved ones. Take the keys, Lt. Gov.”?????
Death By Mosquito Truck
@patrick:
Shorter Patrick: He started it.
.. along with about 45 other assholes in here.
Here’s a thought:
Comrade Stuck
Man that’s deep/
Comrade Darkness
I wonder how many self righteous commenters in this thread are fucking someone on the side?
The platform of this governor’s party states clearly that it is the government’s primary role to tell people who they can marry, screw, and give birth to, where and when. But they don’t give a flying fuck about following a single of those rules themselves.
Fuck em all until they stay the fuck out of our own personal lives.
PeopleAreNoDamnGood
Interesting reference. I personally never liked Clinton, but one thing you gotta say about him, he doesn’t do that preachy crap about faith and sin and try to define the moral rules for other people.
Ken J.
Can Elliot Spitzer come back now? (Especially since he’s been shown to have been mostly right about the financial industry…)
Someday perhaps we’ll become like France, where the elder statesman died with his wife at one side and his mistress on the other… :-)
steve s
Can we get a verb, please? Not clear what you’re trying to say.
Tonal Crow
@Death By Mosquito Truck:
Criticizing Sanford’s hypocrisy is hardly equivalent to Sanford’s attempts to impose his ideology by force of law. While it’s certain that some scolding him for the adultery itself are committing their own adultery, that’s a completely different question.
BTW, where is “Mosquito Truck”? And what’s so special about dying there?
Mike in NC
I’m betting he won’t unless somebody pours a lot more fuel on the fire in the next 48 hours. Instead he’ll pop up on Larry King to bare his soul again, and maybe stage a weepfest with Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin. They’ll all talk about how “God hates the sin but loves the sinner” blah blah blah and pretty soon the Sunday morning TV talking heads will comment on Sanford’s remarkable skill at doing damage control and his chances of clinching the GOP nomination in 2012.
patrick
@Death By Mosquito Truck:
Dude, I don’t need to change – not on this score anyhow – because I’ve never been the kind of holier-than-thou moral scold that Mark Sanford has been.
I don’t try to impose my particular moral code/religion/theological beliefs on others.
That’s the part that the True Believers never get. It’s not the actions that bring you down, it’s the hypocrisy.
RevPhat
Well the Viking has his response up, titled “The Real Lessons of Mark Sanford’s “hike” ” Best I can tell the real lessons are we live in a fallen world and we elevate our politicians too high.
He finishes with this quote:
To which I replied:
Dreggas
@rā¬nato:
I’ll take second place to Brazil. I am still jumping for joy (metaphorically speaking) that we beat spain 2 to 0. That’s pretty huge.
binzinerator
@asiangrrlMN:
Damn, asiangrrlMN. It’s been on for effin’ thirty years now.
Adolphus
Just flipped through the channels looking for Scrubs reruns and saw George Stephanopolous remark to Charlie Gibson that it’s only Democrats who “Hike the Appalachian Trail” who are forced out, all the Republicans seem to stay in office. Interesting that, and it’s the first time I have seen it noted in the MSM.
On Fox meanwhile they are in high dungeon that Obama is golfing during the Iran crisis and reminding people that Bush was criticized for golfing during the Iran war and implying a double standard. They completely left out that it was Bush himself (or was it his spokesperson?) who said Bush knows what sacrifice is because he has given up golf out of respect for our soldiers in harms way.
And no Scrubs reruns. The only half-hour with Scrubs. I am back on the nets.
RevPhat
Kinda messed up on the Viking’s quote…I guess invoking God’s name made me hiccup.
eric k
Mosquito,
If anything happens that requires the Governor, like say a natural disaster requiring the National Guard they can’t legally do it if the governor hasn’t arranged for the Lt Gov to be in charge.
Yeah more than likely nothing will happen, but that is the point, unexpected emergencies are by definition rare and unexpected. And isn’t like this was some big burden, all he had to do was tell the LG he was out and sign a memo. The going off on the spur of the moment with no preparation for his absence shows a huge lack of judgment.
And I notice that you don’t reply to any of the comments about a champion of limited government spending using state funds on trips to see his mistress in Argentina.
gwangung
Hypocrisy should be dinged.
But Sanford should get whacked on the head, big time, for his stupidity and irresponsibility. Wanna be the Big Cheese in the state? Fine, but you gotta take the heat when you screw up on your public duties like he has. Don’t try and palm it off on his personal mistakes; you screwed up on your PUBLIC duties.
Adolphus
Better, when a stateswoman can die with her boy toy on one side and her husband on the other.
Laura W
@Death By Mosquito Truck:
You wanna see “disgusting vultures”? Turn on CNN and watch Wolf, Candy and Gloria READ and MOCK the personal, private emails between them on the fucking air.
I’ve not had a strong opinion about this all day, in any direction. I see all sides.
This fucking email release is surreal to me. Who among any of us would want our most private exchanges to be read on air or published or debated in comment threads?
Seriously. Where this is going now is making me sick.
WTF is wrong with us all?
Death By Mosquito Truck
@Laura W:
It’s the predictable result of the partisan culture war family values bullshit Republicans have been pushing for thirty years. Unfortunate response but almost understandable if not so fucking self-defeating in the long run.
PeopleAreNoDamnGood
@Laura W:
I totally agree with you. The email publication is revolting, beyond words. These emails are nobody’s business.
At all.
Brachiator
@tim:
Hmmm. On the side. I’ve haven’t tried it that way yet.
Oh, yeah, babies, I’m going Appalachian hiking. On the side.
I couldn’t be self-righteous, since I am not claiming that either my religion or my political ideology gives me extra sparkly depths of morality.
And besides, as any number of people have noted here, it is the lack of judgment that really is at issue here, and one that the good governor is trying to ignore.
He’s the chief executive of the state, and yet he’s sneaking around out of the country tomcatting, and (supposedly) neither his staffers nor the Lt. governor know where he is.
It is not the end of the world, and I am not joining the cheerleaders calling for his resignation. Hell, I want him to stay in office.
So I can mock his stoopid ass.
kay
I for one didn’t and don’t care if he leaves the state for 4 days.
I have no idea where my governor is minute to minute, nor do I care.
I think it’s silly to say the state was rudderless, or whatever. They’d slot some underling in there temporarily if there were a hurricane, whether Sanford authorized it or not.
I think he probably has to resign if he spent taxpayer money on the trips, though, or if he deliberately lied to his staff, and they then lied to South Carolinians.
RevPhat
Adolphus@302 Brava!
Laura W @302 What’s wrong with us, I trace back to Clinton’s impeachment and Ken Starr’s insistence that we should know all about his love of cigars. We’ve never managed to get back up that slippery slope.
Comrade Stuck
@Laura W:
Yea, I just heard Marmot Mike Allen reading some emails on the The Ed Show. Way way too much over line.
Dreggas
@Laura W:
It’s the scarlet letter as reality. Naming and shaming has a long history in this country and it goes back to our puritanical roots. With the rise of fox news and other tabloid media outlets as well as the 24 hr news cycle the major MSM companies have to compete for ratings.
This is one reason I’d never run for public office and am glad I am not famous. You are under a microscope 24/7 with the media just waiting for you to slip.
patrick
@PeopleAreNoDamnGood:
Agreed.
eric k
I agree about the emails, releasing them is lame.
As usual the press is focused entirely on the sex instead of the real issues, the abandoning his job and the potential use of state money.
But as others have said the Republicans have only themselves to blame for it, they have been the ones making personal morality an issue
Brachiator
@Comrade Stuck:
If I am governor, a public figure, and I am dumb enough to use a government computer to send emails, then I am asking, no begging and pleading to be made a puiblic spectacle.
Especially when I am drawing attention to myself with BS lies and strategems.
Ya know, I have a little sympathy for the guy. He may have been trying to settle his little affair with the minimum of attention. But his judgment was just spectacularly bad. Spectacular.
It reminds me of the time presidential aspirant Gary Hart claimed he wasn’t cheating on his wife and dared the media to follow him. They soon found him and Donna Rice doing Monkey Business on the Monkey Business.
Sanford was a dope.
Sex is fun.
Adolphus
I have to admit that the email release is over the line for me, too.
And with respect due to Kay @307, I can’t agree. I don’t know what SC’s constitution says but in most constitutions there are lots of things the Governor has to do and they cannot be delegated without official, written authority.
And remember that no one knew when he would be back, if he was coming back. So if something does come up that needs the governor do they wait? How long? Take it upon themselves to cover? What if something goes wrong while unofficial authority is being exercised by his staff or the LT Gov extra-constitutionally? Would everything he did while “in charge” be revoked? Open to legal action by other branches of government?
It all could have gone horribly, horribly wrong. The office is more important than the person and he should have left someone in charge, with the keys to the governor’s mansion.
But I don’t want him to resign. This is up to him, the voters in SC and their elected representatives. Let democracy work.
Death By Mosquito Truck
@eric k:
Did he use state funds improperly?
Comrade Stuck
@Brachiator:
No shit. but I just heard CBS read one of the emails on air with Sanford describing his lovers gentle or smooth kisses and that it was something he’d never experienced before.
How the fuck do you think that makes his wife and kids feel. It’s some sick shit to read those to the world, and I don’t care what computer they were sent from and who owns it.
edit – and the quote you attributed to me was from Laura W.
RevPhat
Looks like my responses as noted above: I replied:
Just got me banned. Stupid misoginists.
Elie
“Itās not the actions that bring you down, itās the hypocrisy.”
Nope – sorry. Its the actions like skipping out on your responsibility without appropriate communications to your staff and Lt Governor, its taking a government car for your personal use and the mis-use of taxpayer dough — probably yours and my dough if federal..
To me its ALL about actions and those only related to his performance as Governor.
And that is why he will resign. Piffle on his screwing around. Let his wife and family deal with that.
Elie
Adolphus:
There are limits to one’s personal perogatives to stay in an office when you have completely miscarried your responsibilities.
Apparently he has a year and a half left in his tenure but it seems to me that his presence (such as it is) would be extremely distracting in terms of performing the State’s business. I also don’t expect that his relationship with the Lt Governor or other members of his party — much less those across the aisle, will be improved by all of this — much to the diservice of South Carolina.
If he has any integrity or character at all, he will resign and do it quickly.
Brachiator
@Comrade Stuck:
I feel for his kids. His wife is an adult and made her accomodation with his behavior.
You may not care, but you can’t say it’s private if it is a government computer.
didn’t mean to attribute that to you. I sometimes get it wrong when I attempt multiple commenter references in a single post.
kay
@Adolphus:
Sorry, Adolphus, no sale.
There are indeed specific duties the governor carries out, but if the governor isn’t there, and there’s a hurricane, they’re going to override that in 20 minutes, and the Lt Gov is gonna step in. There are certainly rules and laws, but who is going to challenge that underling who steps in? No one is. They’re not going to be filing a lawsuit.
I don’t think the governor is crouched over a weather map, either, plotting allocation of rescue resources. I don’t think the job is that singular, or hand’s on.
I think the whole “dereliction of duty” thing is silly. I know pundits have to say it, because we’re all pretending it’s reality, but I just don’t think it matters at all.
Comrade Stuck
@Brachiator:
I didn’t say it was private. I said it was sick to read them to the world. Just because people can do something, doesn’t make it right to do.
kay
Just for the record, I’m not charmed by that confession, either, so I’m not defending him.
It seemed amazingly arrogant to me. What an outsize sense of his own importance, and the importance of his stupid vacation.
Sanford didn’t let me down, so he shouldn’t worry.
I barely know the nitwit, and after that ridiculous stimulus performance, where his state has a 22% unemployment rate and he was standing on “principle” rather than increasing FOOD STAMPS, nothing else he did could really disappoint me.
I knew he was a pompous ass.
Elie
kay
I have to disagree with you.
Dereliction of duty is about being available to do your job. Can you just skip out on your job, not let anyone know where you are — even though your work may still be done by others? If we take your point to its extreme, there is no reason that any Executive needs to show up to work — someone else will eventually do it the job or “take over”.
But he is PAID (and ususally pretty well), to be actively engaged and to perform consistent with the requirements to communicate his absense from that engagement other key departments or personnel. Anyone at any job does that…
Also, your comment does not take into account the missue of funds — another key responsibility that he has abrogated at least to some extent…
binzinerator
@tim:
Dude, it’s the fucking hypocrisy. The guy does the republican family values act and traditional marriage BS and wants to use the power of the state to force what everyone else’s marriage should be or not be — because for fucks sake the asshole says the biggest threat to heterosexual marriage is gay marriage — and then the fucker sneaks away from his wife and kids to fly off to South America to bang his mistress over Father’s Day.
People like Sanford have been ginning up outrage over and poking their noses into other people’s relationships for fucking years. And it turns out the biggest threat to the guy’s marriage or anyone’s marriage isn’t teh Gay or affronting God’s Law or whatever bullshit sanctimonious fuckers like Sanford uses to get his biblethumpers all outraged about –no, it’s the cheating and lying and villainy. Just like he did.
You must be a republican. Because you don’t seem to be able to understand irony or hypocrisy.
Adolphus
There are indeed specific duties the governor carries out, but if the governor isnāt there, and thereās a hurricane, theyāre going to override that in 20 minutes, and the Lt Gov is gonna step in. There are certainly rules and laws, but who is going to challenge that underling who steps in? No one is. Theyāre not going to be filing a lawsuit.
Which assumes that everyone in politics in SC plays nice and weren’t sharpening their knives and drooling over his cadaver BEFORE this little episode. They certainly were and even some Republican state polticians are not fond of Sanford, let alone the Democrats. All they would need is one pencil ordered without the requisite form signed where it needs to be according to some obscure SC constitutional requirement or statute and I have no doubt some ambitious politician would make a constitutional crisis out of it.
And if you don’t think that can happen, you haven’t been paying attention.
No, I don’t know where my governor is 24/7/365, but I have to trust that he won’t do something stupid on my time and my dime. The office is more important than the person. They know this before they run for office.
Again, this issue is between him and his voters and the SC legislature, but I’ve seen people fired for not showing up for work for two days. Dude was gone for almost a week. It’s called “abandonment of employment” and it’ll get you fired from even a union job. I see no reason not to scrutinize his actions in this case and hold him responsible.
Edit: I scewed up the block quote. 1st paragraph was Kay’s.
kay
And you have to love a wildly wealthy governor who vetoes emergency funding for his state ten times, and then forces a lawsuit, which he loses, all to promote his national standing.
While planning a vacation in Argentina with his girlfriend.
That’s arrogance.
Chuck Butcher
@Elie:
Nah, let’s beat him over the head with all of his shit. From his US Rep days kicking Clinton through today. Oh man keep Ken Blackwell up there claiming there are a set of rights and wrongs and their leaders…blah, blah.
How exactly does one combat the American Taliban’s “moral superiority” if one doesn’t look at their claims and their leaders on the basis of their claims? I care that he’s a liar and cheat … and hypocrite – to boot. Yes, sex is a part of it – of course it’s a part of it – it’s their mantra. What the fuck else? It isn’t my mantra, it’s his</em. Cripes, DBMT, it is his story, his theme – it is mine to call horseshit; to all of it. Not the comfortable bits and pieces about succession, about the cloak of horseshit Family Values trying to cover “ME, ME,ME”
I don’t cheat on my wife and I don’t approve of cheating, but I’ve never advocated anything in that realm. I do not mess around in other people’s relationships unless they jam it in my face as standing for something. Standing for something. That is exactly what Sanford has done.
The entire story matters, you can’t break it up into discreet parts, the whole damn thing hangs together on the basis of each of its parts. I can feel bad for his wife and kids, but I had nothing to do with this problem – he did.
Laura W
@Brachiator: You are attributing (blockquoting) my words to Stuck. They do not belong to him. They were mine, although he seemingly agreed with my sentiments.
I’m not debating anything here but my abject horror that media, and a few commenters here, find it appropriate to mock personal email exchanges between two humans who are apparently “in love”. ALL POLITICAL HYPOCRISY, ABANDONMENT OF GOVERNMENTAL DUTIES, AND MARITAL BETRAYALS ASIDE…sorry, back to my inside voice.
Seriously. There is so much to charge this man with…do we really need to be salacious, emotional voyeurs? Think of this little community here, for instance. How many of us know each others’ real names? Know a bit about each others’ psyches? And yet, we protect and safeguard that, because MOST OF US HAVE INTEGRITY and honor the humanity and vulnerability in all of us, even when we are pissed with each other, hate each other, and fight with each other. There is an unspoken, but understood, code of ethics and respect that somehow prevails.
I’m often sick with the media but tonight it actually made me cry when I watched CNN reading those emails aloud, and prior to that, when I clicked through to find them online. Because there is nothing else more important on our planet to focus upon right now.
I’m done.
+2.5 Ketel Ones and <5 hours sleep = Raw Emo.
kay
@Adolphus:
We just disagree, Adolphus. I’m a lawyer. I believe in rules, and chaos makes me nervous.
I just think the state would deal. It doesn’t bother me too much.
I certainly would hope they could cobble something together.
My governor was with Biden today, so he’s accounted for. I’m looking at him on tv. He looks miserable.
Adolphus
Plus: According Politico apparently Adultery is illegal in South Carolina.
I’ll donate $25 to the local animal shelter if someone in SC legislature doesn’t bring that up before the end of the month as a reason to impeach or he should resign.
If they do, I’ll donate $30.
maya
RevPhat:
Good point. I remember just how fast everyone gobbled up the transcripts. Newspapers flourished, people standing in front of TV showrooms watching the spectacle as MSM ratings soared. Sex sells and no advertiser wants a prude news organization at this time. Think of the economy. Ironically, Stanford may have just delivered his own Stimulus package
kay
@Elie:
I think they skip out a lot, Elie.
Not for 4 days, but I think there are 50 governors, a lot of them are just bizarre (Palin!) and they do all kinds of crazy shit.
Good God, Elie. Blago, Palin, that insane governor in Texas who wants to secede…. and Huckabee!
Governors are wacky.
kay
@Elie:
I get it Elie. I get the fiduciary relationship. I’m just not sure I’d enforce it.
You’re right in a serious sense, though. If he violated the rules of succession, or whatever, one or another of his political enemies will nail him on it.
He’s not well-liked, apparently, Sanford. Probably because he’s a big weepy jerk.
Elie
Chuck Butcher
While I understand your point, don’t we just prolong the same construct by using it on them?
I want to abandon that whole moral (as in sniffing underpants and playing gotcha) judgement thing and move towards performance, competence and the ethics associated with appropriate execution of an office. If that sounds cold and dry, well it is…
We have spent too much time trying to argue using their emotional and inately hypocritical context. I want to change aways from it — basically remove it as a consideration. You don’t do that if you use the same lame accusations against them…indeed you just make that point of view stronger..
Elie
kay:
I had not thought of it that way, but maybe you are right — maybe some Governors ARE wacky. But should we normalize the wackiness by accepting it as a standard?
Yes, I would suppose that out of 50 people you would have your share of loonies. But the loonies should not get to define the majority — unless you are saying they are all wacky — which I don’t think is true..
And yes, I am sure that many take a few quirky liberties — but to this extreme? I don’t think so…
The Governors reflect our society and all its pimples. That said, even while we all acknowledge our quirks, we know that if those quirks don’t line up with our responsibilities, that we will pay a price.
Sanford will pay that price in my opinion…
eric k
Mosquito,
We know he drove a state car to Atlanta, so at the very least there is that.
It also appears he has scheduled junkets to Argentina in the past, those would seem to be questionable and it has yet to be determined who paid for the latest trip
Chuck Butcher
@Elie:
Lemme see, I didn’t suggest bringing up God or the rest, just Sanford and his BS – him bringing all that to the plate. He and his ilk bring that stuff the plate so I’m happy to hit them over the head with it.
He wanted to play, he wanted to make claims about and to morality so contrasting that with his reality is … what? Against the rules of behavior or sense? I’m not playing his game, I’m advocating smacking him about the head and shoulders with his game playing.
Adolphus
Kay: Don’t forget, Spiro Agnew was Maryland’s Governor. Marvin Mandel his successor did some time if I recall. And O’Malley was slapped around abit in The Wire. (though they changed him from Irish to Italian. The rest was spot on though.)
Everyone disses Maryland governors. They are just as wacky as every one elses.
And I was just thinking. If those four boys are ever out past whatever insanely early curfew they set for them, if they will be punished. So they were out for an extra hour, at least they didn’t leave the country and ditch 3 million South Carolinians without calling. (What’s the matter?!?! There are no phones in Argentina?)
prospero
Oh man, I feel just awful for this guy. And hey, what a classy move, coming forward and admitting his mistake. Let’s all just drop this, okay?
I mean, it’s not like a stained dress from the Gap drove the national dialogue for a number of years during what should have been the best economy of my lifetime. It’s not like the politics of personal destruction reigned triumphant the first time we sent that cokehead born-again asshole to the White House. Or the second time.
Let’s just drop this, because Republicans have always been classy and acted in everybody’s best interest when Democrats were the ones committing indiscretions.
Republicans have always been compassionate and sensitive. I mean hey, it’s not like anybody cheered when Kitty Dukakis finally tried to off herself. It’s not like Clinton’s teenage daughter was made the butt of jokes much worse than anything directed at any of the Palin brood. And consider the kindliness and “love thy enemy” attitude of both Rove and Atwater.
Compassion? Give the guy a break? FUCK. THAT. NOISE.
Elie
Chuck:
No — but I think that the differential between the game of gotcha and the actual gotcha may be difficult..I really do believe that if promotes the same meme over and over. First your side is “IT” , then the other side is “IT” (IT meaning caught with pants down and being rubbed in it). The game echoes that hypocrisy that you want to diffuse.
I guess that I want to make an obvious and cleaner step away from that whole thing and leave mistresses and clandestine issues out of the public sphere — like the French.
I want performance, accountability and competence in office. Let them be human but I don’t want to spend time or sacrifice good public figures with the consequences and retaliation that always follows in the gotcha game…Make em pay their price on performance in office. Period. (in my opinion)
Death By Mosquito Truck
@eric k:
Dunno if that means he broke any laws. Don’t have knowledge of sc law as pertains to gov’s powers/spending, don’t see the necessity to speculate as it will all come out eventually. Right now he’s guilty of fucking someone thats not his wife and for that his private emails are all over the place and we’ve already decided he needs to resign. Sorry dawg, I aint a republican so I don’t think that way.
Pasquinade
Leviticus 20:10
South Carolina law:
Tonal Crow
@Elie:
Raving hypocrisy is a performance issue. In this case, a governor is using (and advocating the use of) the force of law to impose his (basically religious) beliefs upon others. At the same time, his actions show that he hasn’t acted, and perhaps cannot act, in accordance with those beliefs. That reflects not just upon him, but — much more importantly — upon the beliefs he’s attempting to enforce. It shows that basic components of those beliefs are false and injurious. For example, he’s said that teh ghey is endangering marriage; no, he and his fellow liars are endangering it — and depriving gays of liberty, to boot. He’s implied that Christians are better than non-Christians; that’s just false — and BTW, tends to show that their ‘God’ doesn’t exist. And he’s slavishly idealized long-term sexual fidelity, which isn’t practical for most people — including him — and whose idealization sets up many marriages for failure.
I have no interest in bashing his infidelity, only his hypocrisy, and thereby exposing the impracticality and inhumanity of the beliefs he’s using the law to impose.
PattyK
John,
First of all, you keep misspelling “morons.” The first time you did it I assumed it as was a typo but that’s harder to assume now that you’ve done it twice. So drop that “a” in the second syllable and put in an “o” for pedants like me? OK?
Secondly, the back story on Sanford I think is that Mrs. S may have all the money in that family. So I’ve read somewhere on the internet but please correct me if I’m wrong. If it is true that she has all the money then she holds all the cards. He would not have come out publicly as he did today if he held those cards. Yes, and he took pains to mention his in-laws and how he sought their forgiveness.
Too late. He’s finished in that family.
Patty K
Tonal Crow
@PattyK:
http://www.beersteak.com/breaking-news/get-a-brain-morans-pic-go-usa/
Adolphus
PattyK
I don’t mean to speak for John, but spelling “morons” as “morans” has become an internet thang much like “frist!”, “teh,” or “pwned.”
It’s based on that famous photo of the guy with the mullet with a sign that said, “Get a clue Morans” at a McCain or Palin rally.
Be aware of all internet traditions.
Rosali
@PattyK:
You may not be aware of all internet traditions.
Adolphus
What Tonal Crow linked.
He has more energy than me.
harlana pepper
FUCK! No pun intended, but I haven’t worked for 4 fucking months, I get a one-day assignment (today) and I miss all the fun. I can’t even access the presser vid now on msnbc! SHIT!
kay
@Adolphus:
There was a governor in 2006 who staged a coup. Was it Kentucky?
I watch my state legislature on television sometime and it’s like they took random crazy people off the streets to fill the seats.
Elie
Tonal Crow:
Yes, see that you may be bashing his hypocrisy. Unintentionally however, you are also promulgating the same gotcha mentality because while you are highlighting hypocrisy while discussing his infedelity, the other side will be highlighting our next Democratic office holder’s infidelity for another reason — political agenda, whatever – Practically however, the results are the same — both of you would be highlighting the infidelity but for different reasons. The game just keeps going..
I am saying that if we step away from that (which I fully recognize is almost impossible given our weird culture), and stick with performance — eventually we may actually be able to focus on that more than this bs.
I recognize that my idealism is probably stupid
Comrade Stuck
@harlana pepper:
You didn’t miss much. Just another family values wingnut falls on his dick. Same movie, different wingnut.
maya
Adolphus:
Ah, yes. I remember that number from the hit musical, Tweeter on the Roof.
Elie
harlana:
What Stuck said — :-)
Et Tu Brutus?
So, some of you honestly believe that dragging a public figures sex life through the mud for purposes of entertainment/profit started with the Clinton/ Lewinsky debacle? Please, open your eyes and try a little critical thinking exercise. Sex sells, particularly in a culture still suffering through the hangover from it’s puritanical roots, always has, always will, even in those more open minded cultures in Asia and Europe. It’s human nature, which don’t make it right, just inevitable. Hell, the small portion of one that I read actually made feel sorry for the dumb bastard, unlike his presser.
Elie
Well Et tu Brutus —
You won’t mind then if he takes YOUR tax payer dollars on his pootie adventure…
Let him pay for his sex on his on dime. I get curiously uninterested in sex when someone is ripping off my dough — esp to get some!
ethan salto
@Laura W:
Cut the hysterics.
If Sanford was using a government email account, open records laws in most states (laws that proponents of transparent government hold dear) would dictate that those emails were public records and eventually disclosable. While I’m uncertain about South Carolina’s laws specifically, I’m unmoved by their disclosure.
If Sanford wasn’t using a government email account, his privacy was breached, and those responsible should be punished.
The real question is why the newspaper in question was holding the emails since December without a hint to their readers about what was going on. I think that’s unethical. You can wail about the humanity of it all, but this newspaper owes its first duty to the South Carolina public, especially with the possibility of misuse of public funds.
Also, let’s just note for the record that this sort of extreme, overemotional sympathy for these “human beings” only comes from lefties. Republicans would have filleted, cooked, and eaten Sanford by now if he was a Democrat, with the eager complicity of the cable nets and the mainstream media. See, e.g., Spitzer. Hell, there’s still disagreement about whether or not he should resign, which is amazing.
Et Tu Brutus?
Elie,
I don’t live in SC, Larry ‘wide stance’ Craig was the last pol I know of to spend any of my tax dollars seeking sex. But no, I think if Sanford used gov funds for any part of his junkets , he is and should be 100% screwed right out of office. Feel a little sorry for him because the guy sounds like he found the real thing, but couldn’t man up enuff to dump his career and family to make it work.
eric k
Mosquito,
I was very clear above, the only reason I say he should resign is the abandoning his job for a week issue. I could care less about the sex. I didn’t think Clinton should have been impeached, I didn’t think Livingstone should have resigned,or Spitzer, I don’t think Vitter or Ensign should either (unless there is some financial impropriety with all the jobs)
The $$ stuff should be investigated, it has been reported that he took at least 2 state funded junkets to Argentina, were those legit?
Elie
Ethan Salto”
“The real question is why the newspaper in question was holding the emails since December without a hint to their readers about what was going on. I think thatās unethical. You can wail about the humanity of it all, but this newspaper owes its first duty to the South Carolina public, especially with the possibility of misuse of public funds.”
Excellent question (about the paper). I think that there are a number of “excellent questions” that will need to be answered about this in relation to who knew what when and who was in a position to prevent some of this — particularly the ongoing miuse of vehicles, the ditching of his private security detail, missue of travel funds and who knows what else…Other than the Lt Governor and the SC legislator, Knox, more than a few people were less than stand up about this…
And the fun will just begin if any Federal funds were used in his shenanigans….nothing like having the “suits” show up in your office to take all your files…
John O
Look, if he did it on the taxpayer nut, illegally, that’s a different question.
But the deal is this: The man is (note tense) in love. Give him a break. Aside from the godd**n Jesus stuff, it was one of the best mea culpas I’ve ever seen, considering nobody should give a s**t in the first place.
John has it right.
Death By Mosquito Truck
@eric k: Look douchebag, my name is not mosquito. You can call me Jack if you can’t use my handle as it appears. And why the fuck are you asking me if his junkets to argentina are legit? I already told you I don’t know in response to me asking you how he’s used state funds improperly and you just throwing out some speculative bullshit.
I also don’t know if he’s guilty of job abandonment like some 7/hr call center employee. Can he also contest it in an unemployment hearing? Don’t know how the laws work in sc, don’t know if he was in touch with anyone, honestly don’t care.
harlana pepper
Empathize, sympathize all you want, Sanford’s political career is toast, and that makes me smile. Sorry.
eric k
Dude,
I’m just repsponding to your initial post calling people like me hypocrites because we didn’t hold Clinton to the same standard. I’ve been pointing out all the reasons it was different.
As for your name, shesh get over yourself, I’m not gonna type a long handle every time, I use my real name, you use some made up handle, so who give a rip. If I was tryign to insult you I’d be referrign to your mosquito sized brain.
As for your doucebag comment, fuck off asshole, I’ve been nothing but polite in this entire conversation until now. But since you can’t be civil I won’t bother anymore.
iluvsummr
@PeopleAreNoDamnGood: This.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
Really enjoying the whole thing, and the thread. I have nothing really to contribute to it, except to add my +1 to those above who say if this fuckstain stays in office, I want Elliott Spitzer reinstated in New York.
It’s pretty pathetic that I get all my political news from blogs like this one, but I completely gave up on the MSM after one news conference under President Clinton. Edvard Shevardnadze was in town, Georgia was going to hell in a handbasket, packs of wild dogs feeding on corpses in the streets of Tbilisi, and he had to stand there next to Clinton while every fucking question was about Monica Lewinski! I checked out permanently at that point.
I’m also enjoying my schadenfreude knowing that there’s very little chance that it’ll backfire on me. My governor and both of my senators (and my state senator to boot) are all women, therefore (is this sexism?) much less likely to get in the same sort of situation. (Even though Maria Cantwell at least could have any man in the country she wanted, IMO.) I also can’t imagine Jim McDermott, or my state rep, Dow Constantine, pulling anything like this. And all five of them are Democrats, to add the icing on the cake.
So: [Nelson Muntz] Ha, Ha! [/Nelson Muntz]
Laura W
@ethan salto:
Thanks. I was holding my breath to see who would bring the womb word into this.
I can breathe again.
And you totally missed my point, which is not surprising.
Asshole.
Death By Mosquito Truck
@eric k: When my Republican acquaintances crowed about Clinton’s affair and the Starr report and all that het up nonsense, I simply told them that where I come from when a cat drags a mouse in the house, ya don’t blame the mouse.
Now yer dragging the mouse around and I don’t feel any different.
eric k
And for the umpteenth time you lack simple reading comprehension skills. Several of us have been clear that we could care less about the Sex and have laid out why this guys have proven himself incredible irresponsible not to mention his hypocrisy.
Whatever, keep feeling superior about yourself
Little Dreamer
@Pasquinade:
That might be prosecutable if these trysts were being carried out in South Carolina. I think you’ll have a hard time getting Sanford convicted of either of these two charges for sexual liaisons he had in South America.
someguy
All this bitterness about fine points. Who cares? Can’t we hold hands and sing and hoist tankards to celebrate the demise of yet another hypocritical evil Republican bastard? It really doesn’t matter how the Republicans go down, so long as they all go, every last one. Except enough token Republicans to remind us why even the worst Dem is better than the best Republican?
This is just as good as an election defeat, perhaps better, since we can hang it around their necks, the moralizing pricks, for the next 3 or 4 election cycles. How’s them family values workin’ out, adulters?
Wilson Heath
Color me disappointed. I was holding out for Naked Hiking Day on the Appalachian Trail, and not just for the novelty. We have plenty [ass]holier-than-thou ‘Publican politicians having extramarital activities, much of it a lot more interesting for that matter.
So consider what we could have had. An instant grin to laugh every time we discuss the G.O.P. electoral trajectory of becoming a white, rump, Appalachian party.
Larry Craig gave us so much more.
ethan salto
@Laura W:
I don’t understand what you’ve written, and you don’t seem to be making an argument, but I’m sorry that you’re so very angry.
When you calm down, perhaps you can explain what you mean. And it might be nice if you defended your original post, which I made some arguments against.
Maus
According to new news, he only came clean when his extended disappearance prompted The State to publish his ongoing emails, which they had been sitting on. There is no honor here.
Comrade Stuck
@ethan salto:
I think it was real clear what she was saying. That they shouldn’t have been released regardless of legalities, which you haven’t established yet. A position I also hold. And what if they were on govment computers, not exactly the crime of the century for someone to send out a personal email as weighed against destroying a family, if that’s all the newspaper had. My guess is they were investigating if actual improprieties of governance was occurring, and were holding them until then. Or, that they had been gathered illegally from a non government computer.
steve s
I have no big point to make, just a few little observations.
I’m not surprised that he cheated. If you give a guy money, fame, and power, and then are surprised when he cheats, you are really naive.
Outrage that he abused state resources by driving an SUV to the airport is partisan hackery. Nobody could honestly be outraged by defrauding the state $10 in gas. That’s the kind of thing Erick Erickson would do if the shoe was on the other foot.
His obligation to the office is more serious, and I wouldn’t object to censuring him or something for going AWOL like that.
Sanford has done real harm to real Americans by preventing gay families from getting the help and accommodations straight families get, and when someone like that is brought low, we all relish it, including me. On the other hand, again, don’t act like Erick Erickson. Afford the guy some small measure of sympathy and compassion because he’s a human being.
Finally, it would be nice to think it would matter if he was driven from office, but it won’t. South Carolina is the worst state in the union. The dumbest, poorest, and most racist. They’ll just elect another person like him, and nothing will be different.
harlana pepper
This shit has made my week. There is indeed, a god.
to steve s: yes we are and yes, we will
John O
Maus and steve s,
You’re both right, as am I. It’s a complicated world out there.
harlana pepper
I don’t understand why this point is lost on so many people who have been on this thread. For anyone who doesn’t get this, where have you been the last 15 years?
Brachiator
@Laura W:
Actually, I was just responding to the quote, and as you note, he agreed with the sentiments. But fair attribution is fair attribution.
As I noted, I feel a little sorry for Sanford, but only because he has been such a complete doofus in handling the revelations about his affair.
But note that he is a public figure. He likely used a public resource to compose and send his emails. And he opened himself up to ridicule by the increasingly farcical nature of his attempt to first hide and then confess his sins.
He is doubly asking for public mockery by his previous invocation of moral superiority with respect to voting to impeach Bill Clinton. Now, he is asking for all the respect for privacy, understanding and sensitivity which he was unwilling to grant to Clinton.
So, tough cookies to Sanford.
I’m not sure that this is true. His transgressions were fairly minor, aside from the impact on his family. He did, however, show a huge lack of judgment in playing hide and seek, especially given his aspirations for higher office.
Yep.
True, but I don’t think it applies in the same way to Sanford.
However, I note your point and the degree to which the email readings bothered you.
someguy
I’m not willing to concede that after he attempted to screw over the citizens of SC by denying them much needed federal aid. He’s physically human but there’s parts of his soul that seem to be missing.
And as for the newspaper sitting on the emails – I don’t care if they were blackmailing the crap out of him. He deserves it for the way he screwed over his state. Getting upset about Sanford’s and the newspaper’s ethics is like getting upset because a couple vipers bit each other. You’re expecting too much if you are looking for honor from a Republican or a wannabe villager reporter.
Brachiator
@PattyK:
According to the great oracle Wikipedia:
This may explain some of Sanford’s groveling.
passerby
@Laura W:
I’m with you 100% sister. On one of the open threads (above this one) someone was actually posting a portion of one. As soon as I realized what it was, I felt horrified that something that intimate would be so casually posted on a public blog.
It crossed a very distinct line with me. For me it was devoid of any sense of decency. I didn’t know that I had it in me to feel that appalled, sick, as you put it. And now you say you saw it on CNN? I’m speechless.
I can’t help but think that perhaps my reaction was a sort of “get off my lawn”. The notion of personal boundaries has kind of gone out of style with the advent of omnipresent cameras and a MSM that uses tabloid shock pieces to boost ratings, but I suspect those close to my age would have a similar reaction.
patrick
@Elie:
Elie,
I don’t really care if he resigns or doesn’t, get runoft or doesn’t. That is for the people of South Carolina to resolve, and I don’t live in South Carolina.
And I agree with you, his infidelity is between himself, his family, the other woman and whatever Higher Power they claim.
But when people like him – basically a Fundamentalist Theocrat who would happily impose his theology on me by rule of law – get caught doing the exact things they moralize to others about, I’m going to have a bit of satisfaction at his expense.
He would happily outlaw gay people, outlaw abortion, etc., etc. He would basically outlaw anything and everything that he thinks disagrees with his fucked up theology.
A theology he can’t live up to hisowndamnedself.
It is the fact that he is such a fucking hypocrite that makes this whole thing worth talking about.
Little Dreamer
@steve s:
Infidelity has nothing to do with money fame, or power. Many poor people find themselves in this situation too; although I will admit money, fame, and power makes it easier to cheat with style (such as trips to Buenos Aires).
Chuck Butcher
I really really hope Sanford doesn’t resign, same as Ensign every time the American Taliban sticks up its head with its Holier Than Thou crap I want to be able to ask if this isn’t just another Ensign/Sanford/Craig/Foley/ad nauseum.
I don’t care about love letters, I don’t need to know who was on top or…; what I want is an end to these pricks setting themselves up as moral arbiters for the nation and denying people equal treatment. That moral hypocracy isn’t complete without the Sex, in this case any more than “free-market morality” hypocracy is complete without the Dollars.
They provided the damn club (moral arbitering) and the head (hypocracy) and I propose to swing it at it and see about putting it in the stands. I don’t propose that infidelity is a bar to public service, I propose that being a moral arbiter is inconsistent with infidelity. How is it inconsistent – Sex???
ethan salto
@passerby:
Wow. The world must seem like a harsh place indeed if an adulterer’s exposure affects you so.
Comrade Darkness
@Et Tu Brutus?: The man is not in love, he’s in love with the notion of escape, of pretending to be someone else. The fact that any permanent arrangement is impossible is what he is in love with. You can forgive someone 100% of their crazy annoying shit when that’s the case.
2 weeks after he moved to argentina and started working a day job where they expected him at 9am everyday, he’d be out of “love” in a heartbeat.
cschack
Thanks to this newborn euphemism, I will never be able to read Bill Bryson’s A Walk In The Woods in quite the same way again.
Jason
@Laura W:
Abject horror? Really? I’ve read the emails, they’re fucking hilarious. Beloved back to you! You are a glorious person. Also, it is a glorious day. Furthermore, these socks I’m wearing? Glorious.
I’ve left a lot of dumb shit on the internets. Please feel free to dig those up and mock me relentlessly, you wouldn’t be the first. ;) I read that Passive-Aggressive Notes dot com, that Overheard in NY/The Office dot com, and look at pictures people take of their cats and gerbils. Web-based privacy, as a communicative imperative, strikes me as an ill-considered concept.
What he should’ve done was written letters. Those can be burned. Also, much more charming, and less likely to contain prominent passages about airport email. “I hope that you will get this, because if you don’t, you won’t know how much I hoped you would get this.” What a dumbass.
Mr Furious
@JenJen: JenJen, I don’t know what your (sic) talking about. Those emails are glorious…
[gag]
It does lend a little credence to Mosquito’s tongue-in-cheek comment about him falling in loveāorāSanford is the cheesiset, slimiest Casanova-wannabe on the planet.
Sebastian Dangerfield
DBMT @ 342
Um, first off, it’s pretty much universal that appropriating state resources for private use violates the law. We don’t need to hop on Westlaw for that. (Also bear in mind that the state vehicle that he used was missing, so he failed even to properly report his use of the vehicle.) It appears there was another state vehicle at the Atlanta airport as well, in which case, I infer that he had a state-paid lackey drive a second state-owned vehicle to Atlanta so he could have one waiting for him after he switched planes in a failed effort to avoid the reporter who was dogging him. Lots of laws broken here without a doubt. Frequently you find that folks who do such little cheats also cheat on bigger things. We’ll see how extensive the lawbreaking on the state resources front is, but even from what we know, he broke some fa sho.
Plus, the Governor of the State, at a minimum, has a constitutional duty “to take care that the laws are fithfully executed.” Leaving your job without a word and proper arrangements for your duties to be performed in your absence violates that obligation. It also makes you generally unfit to hold that office. Wouldn’t give a shit about his personal life if it weren’t interfering with his duties and showing him to be generally a mid-life meltdown nutcase who lacks elementary judgment.
As an initial matter, wrong as per the above. Moreover, be damned if if you don’t stubbornly avoid the principal issue here. Because of his messy personal life, he abandoned his duties as governor for almost a week, leaving no one in charge. That is a serious dereliction of duty, leaving aside the lawbreaking. I have a far less important job, and I don’t get to disappear for six days becaus I have girl trouble (and believe me I gets me some girl troubles). Nor do the poor schlubs who pay his salary. And don’t give me this “dude, it’s South Carolina” crap. Being the governor of even a piss-ant state is a serious responsibility. Stuff that cannot be done without the governor’s approval — in the absence of a proper delegation, which he failed to make — will not get done. Oh, applications for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds for instance. Requests for stays of execution (i.e., people might die who wouldn’t die, all as a result of an affair). Hurricaines, I’m told, hit places like South Carolina. Nor does being a piss-ant state immunize it from floods and other calamities that can require gubernatorial action (like requesting federal assistance). As for the commenter who said that the state would be able to “deal” and find workarounds: maybe yes, maybe no. But they shouldn’t have to simply because this narcissicistic halfwit decided to spend 6 days in Buenos Aires to “break off” the affair (a bullshit story if I’ve ever heard of, unless he stutters an awful lot; more likely he was pleading with her (a) not to sell her story, and or (b) to continue spreading for him). And morevoer, what if the workarounds don’t work — or cause delays that result in irreparable harm? You are the effing governor. You don’t get to disappear for a week. It’s very simple.
Ken J.
As an aside —
In the early days of e-mail — for me that was 1986-1991 or so — the techies had a saying: “Never put something in e-mail if you aren’t willing to see it on the front page of the New York Times.”
Or, apparently, “The State” newspaper of South Carolina.
From a technical point of view, I am very curious about how the emails were obtained. There’s almost certainly an illegal act there.
Ken J.
Ah. Answering my own question about how “The State” got the e-mails: I found a Yahoo/AP story in which The State says the emails were forwarded from the Governor’s own e-mail account. So, either bad security through password mismanagement on the Governor’s part, or somebody got him with a keylogger — those would be the most likely choices, I would speculate.