Just got back from a spicy Mexican dinner and am heading to the dog park.
And no, neither “spicy Mexican dinner” nor “heading to the dog park” are code for “flying to another country to nail my mistress.”
Unfortunately.
Open Thread
This post is in: Open Threads
Maurs
Sanford had (has) it bad for his mistress. Just when you thought things couldn’t get more embarrassing. I really do feel for his wife and kids.
http://www.thestate.com/sanford/story/839350.html
SFAW
And no, neither “spicy Mexican dinner” nor “heading to the dog park” are code for “flying to another country to nail my mistress.”
See, you gotta go to the “Appalachian Trail”, not the dog park, for any mistress-nailing.
Everybody knows that.
jrg
If you were still a Republican, I’d have to assume it was code for “I’m going to fly to Mexico and nail a dog”.
robertdsc
Excellent. I’ve been there myself, Governor.
linda
@Maurs:
no shit… but i gotta give him props for his writing.
schrodinger's cat
Don’t you have to be married first to have a mistress? Jane Coale, what else are you hiding from us?
Lyle4
@Maurs: I feel positively famished just by reading those…
@linda: Even after his reference to a “world wind tour”…? I could have SWORN those things were “whirlwinds.”
Comrade Stuck
has it’s own pun potential.
edit – you had it covered
Comrade Dread
I think that’s really in bad taste to print their private emails.
I know some folks are still peeved with his idiocy regarding the stimulus money, but come on. The guy screwed up in a spectacular fashion, it came out, he’s done. We don’t need every detail.
anonevent
Maybe that’s the Republican’s secret plan to get back into power: Corner the market on euphemisms.
sab
Don’t give that dog a doggy bag if it has onions in the leftovers.
I’m from Ohio and our only source of solace is that we aren’t from W. Virginia. (All of my friends whose grandparents are from W. Virginia will disagree… and there are lots of them). However, it seems like you have more access to spicy Mexican food than we do. This is very sad, because Ohio is the first world and W. Virginia is the third world, but I can’t remember why we are better and looking at current statistics doesn’t clarify. Oh well. Our junior senator is better than yours.
Byrd is much older than Voinovich, but much more in tune with the 21st century.
MobiusKlein
@Comrade Dread: I hated the pantie-sniffing details from the Starr report, and this too.
Stop staring at the traffic accident too.
smiley
Damn you eat early. I grew up in a western PA family partially relocated to LA and we never had dinner (supper) before 7:00. I was surprised when I went to college in central PA and discovered that the cafeteria opened at 4:30 pm and closed at 6:30 pm. I quickly learned to get in line at 4:30 because the food at 6:00 or 6:30 was even grosser than that served at 4:30. Probably explained why there was no line at 6:30. Anyway, I’m more civilized again. I eat dinner (supper) between 7:00 – 7:30.
SFAW
Bless you, child!
Martin
The emails are dated July 8, 2008 for an affair that not 3 hours ago he said was 5 months old.
I think it’s really in bad taste to lie during your apology to the nation. Maybe if he would stop doing that, the media wouldn’t feel compelled to point out that he’s lying?
Martin
Oh, and I would like to see Barney Frank (because really, nobody else could pull this off so well) stand up at a presser with the list of people who voted for DOMA who have now violated their marriages and declare that DOMA has failed and should be repealed.
Xenos
Oy. What humiliation for him and his family to have the emails published.
But I actually like the guy better for having read them. I mean, he is a narrow-minded scold and ambitious sort who readily lets the poor suffer for his principles. But the guy is capable of following in love against his will, so there is hope for him.
jl
I actually like hiking portions of the Appalachian Trail. Being a westerner, it is nice to hike in old-timey woods. But, how am I going to explain this to people now? What do I say?
I like parts of the Pacific Crest Trail. Like the Ozarks too.
It will all sound fishy now, to go out hiking in the woods.
What is left? “Going on a three day bender?” -maybe that will not cause suspicions.
Cat Lady
@Comrade Dread:
Fuck Mark Sanford. If he didn’t want all this to come out, he shouldn’t have done all kinds of things he did, and done all kinds of things he didn’t do. This guy was promoted as a Republican presidential up and comer. Like John Edwards was as a Democrat.
Now I know why Republicans exist – not to win elections, but to be laughingstocks. Can someone please tell Dem congresscritters that instead of compromising, they should point and laugh? kthxbai.
John – if you like Mexican food, you’d love New Mexican food. Hatch NM green chiles will make you c**e.
linda
Lyle4
@linda: Even after his reference to a “world wind tour”…? I could have SWORN those things were “whirlwinds.”
yeah, caught that.. i wonder what embarrasses him more – the love note or the misspelling..lol
sucks for the (ex)wife & kids. but i caught part of hardball, and the overall tone was sympathetic (tweety didn’t want to discuss the ‘yucky stuff’) and commentary how the democrats will exploit it.
linda
I think it’s really in bad taste to lie during your apology to the nation.
actually, didn’t he just apologize to christians… ;-)
Notorious P.A.T.
People like Sanford think every detail of everyone’s private life should be weighed in on by everyone else (who we marry, what we do in the bedroom, what we buy from adult novelty stores, etc). It would be unfair to them to not dig through their dirt the way they dig through ours.
Comrade Dread
I’m weak when it comes to train wrecks.
I thought he said it was carried on for a little over a year, and his family found out about it 5 months ago.
I’m all for putting politicians who vote in favor of crap like the Patriot Act under the microscope (I’m looking at you, Harman.) But dragging out private communications over an affair is in poor taste and will probably do more to humiliate his wife and kids than it will him.
Third Eye Open
I am leaving tomorrow for my first trip to NYC, evah!
It’s going to be a belated Father’s Day with the little bro and I. We have tickets for MoMA and Ave. Q, and a planned trip to Grimaldi’s with a side-trip to Yellow Rat Bastard for the girlfriend. Anyone have any ideas for good spots that tourists don’t usually flock to?
Martin
Ah, yes, I stand corrected.
demkat620
This Sanford thing is going to get ugly especially if he used State money. He was on CSPAN one morning and a caller who claimed to be from SC begged him to take the stimulus money for unemployment and he basically told the guy the only thing he had to offer was prayers.
He has pissed alot of people off in SC and he is going to go down in flames. His own party is going to demand he resign. Bet on it.
JenJen
Meghan McCain tells the world she’s red-till-she’s-dead, y’all!
My, how times have changed! Would any high-profile Republican have employed such verbiage during the Reagan (best prez evuh!) Era, I wonder?
Seebach
I agree. We don’t want this. He does. If it were in my power to keep it secret, I would. But this is what the GOP wants.
JK
John Ensign, Mark Sanford, ???
Who’ll be the next Republican to get caught with his/her hand caught in the cookie jar? These scandals are a blast. It’s great to see these creeps getting hoisted by their own petards
I’d love to see that wretched, obnoxious asshole Sarah Palin get caught in a sex scandal or financial scandal to destroy her 2012 presidential bid. If not, hopefully her sheer dumbness will keep the nomination out of her reach.
Martin
What about publishing evidence of the destruction of a marriage for someone who voted for the Defense of Marriage Act?
It’s unfortunate that it’ll humiliate his wife and kids, but how many people are currently humiliated when they run up against a DOMA provision? You don’t think it’s humiliating when a spouse gets turned away for a hospital visit? Sorry, but this isn’t an isolated incident – it’s a pattern of behavior now that must be stopped, and being polite about it just isn’t getting the job done.
Cat Lady
@JK:
The National Enquirer already outed her during the campaign, but, as usual, IOKIYAR.
Nylund
When you said “going to the dog park” after revealing you ate a spicy Mexican meal, I figured it was indeed a euphemism, but one more on the order of having to take a really horrific number 2.
JL
Gov. Sanford did not think of his wife or children when discussing his mistress’s tan lines. The State sat on the emails until they had more proof of an affair. No wonder the governor was in tears. Since there are more and will appear in the print edition tomorrow, they are probably planning selling twice as many papers. Ain’t capitalism grand.
JGabriel
MobiusKlein:
I don’t stare at traffic accidents. Porn, on the other hand …
.
JK
@JenJen:
Meghan McCain is as breathtakingly dumb and repulsive as her father. Her Daily Beast columns are as devoid of substance and value as anything by Maureen Dowd and Ana Marie Cox. Thank God for Joan Walsh, Lindsay Beyerstein, Jeralyn Merritt, Taylor Marsh, and Laura Flanders.
Bubblegum Tate
@jl:
Marge: Homer, I do not want you to go and stalk Lenny and Carl.
Homer: Relax Marge, I’m just going outside for a while…to…stalk. Lenny…and Carl…. D’OH!
Joel
Coworker in proximity just launched a chemical gas attack on my area.
Not happy with this at all.
JGabriel
Third Eye Open:
If you can afford $50 – $100 per person, I recommend Artisanal (32nd St, btw Park & Madison) for dinner, some of the best wines and cheeses in the city. A little expensive, but most NYC restaurants charge a lot more for the wines and cheeses that Artisanal serves.
.
gbear
In MN, we have the Superior hiking trail. No riff-raff allowed.
fb2
Sorry if this was already covered, but WTF is up with the “donate” to SarahPac ad?!?!
chuck
While we were making musical references, who was it that chimed in with “How do you solve a problem like Mark Sanford”?
Turns out his lover’s name is … Maria
JGabriel
jl:
Suddenly wondering about all those “Gone Fishin'” signs and all the dark activities they might have portended.
.
gbear
OMFG!! Sanford is having an affair with the supreme court nominee??!!
ninerdave
@Cat Lady:
No, that’s fucked up.
The press has no reason to release these. What do they add to the story? Nothing. Just more embarrassment for his wife and kids.
The Grand Panjandrum
Is the GOP the modern day version of the Sadducees or Pharisees?
Joshua Norton
Do you think he’s discovered that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life?
Oh, I think he has.
Ash
@JenJen: re: Meghan McCain, is she seriously like BFFs with Tila Tequila? Oh Jesus, I hope you’re weeping.
The Grand Panjandrum
After all the whining Calderone did on his blog about Nico Putney being asked a question out of turn I found this headline on the front page of Politico:
Right below this headline:
Oh the things you will see on the internets …
ninerdave
@JK:
are you kidding me? Obama v Palin? I could only pray for something that completely awesome.
Ash
@The Grand Panjandrum: Don’t they have some sort of “Republican Comeback?” story EVERY DAMN DAY on GOPolitico?
Ramalamadingdong
I wonder who gave him up to the newspaper? Sounds like a true insider with access to his personal emails and knowledge of the Atlanta airport return.
Brian J
I don’t know if anybody mentioned it before, but via the No More Mister Nice Guy blog, I found out that earlier in the day, Eric Erickson of Red State was pushing the idea that what Sanford was doing was some manifestation of an anti-government attitude. Of course, it doesn’t matter as much since we have a specific reason for why he went to South America, but Erickson’s point is still pretty damn stupid. In related news, a dog bit a man today.
anonevent
@Martin: I believe that Sanford deserves to be raked over the coals for leaving the state leaderless. I do think that we do have an obligation to follow the golden rule. It’s OK to laugh and sneer at his hypocrisy, but we do have to consider how what wife and children are having to deal with.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Ash: I know someone else had one in this past week or so. This one has a rather unfortunate juxtaposition on the front page. I’ve got a screen cap that I’ll post on my blog later.
MikeJ
Red State is now whining that only Republicans have the right to make fun of Sanford.
Anne Laurie
Okay, I LOLed. But I felt dirty afterwards.
demkat620
@Ash: You know I could have sworn I read that very same story last month.
Or maybe it just seems like they run the same story every week.
It is weird though if you google Politico + Republican Comeback you get some weird dates but it keeps tracking back to this story.
Calouste
@ninerdave:
Someone thought that the appropriate thing to do for Stanford was to step down as governor at his press conference. When he didn’t do that, it was time for another nudge.
They say they will have more tomorrow, in other words, they give Sanford another 24 hours to resign.
jl
For those worried about Sanford’s wife, Talkingpointsmemo blog has a statement from her.
She knew about it and gently suggested they have a trial separation, two weeks before this sad sad dude bumbled his way through this last episode of his affair.
Says she wouldn’t have known where he was because that was the plan, at least for awhile
Being a political wife, she still hopes for a reconciliation (or at least says so).
Talkingpointsmemo also says that there is evidence that state money was used.
Thing I can’t figure is if he did not have to ditch his family on the sly, why did he bumble it up so bad?
Comrade Stuck
Being a republican tonight is about as popular as chronic clap/
Texas Dem
Yikes! I just read the Gov’s e-mails to his mistress, a/k/a “wise Latina woman,” who the newspaper is calling “Maria.” Cue the music: “Take a letter, Maria …… address it to my wife…..”
Unrelated question: Is it too much to imagine that some higher-ups in the GOP knew about this affair and decided to detonate the bomb now (someone gave the newspaper those e-mails and told that reporter when the Gov would be returning from his trip to Argentina) in order to swamp whatever press Obama might get from his health care town hall meeting tonight? Part of me still wants to look for some dastardly Rovian master plan, all evidence to the contrary.
jl
I have no desire to read his romantic e-mails, and I hope considerate commenters post warnings, so I can skip them (and I will do just that if the sample above is genuine).
But, if he went on the state $$, then I figure the good people of S Carolina were paying for the gig, and they should get to read the great literature that ensued.
shelley matheis
And here I thought all we had to worry about was the Blair Witch.
MazeDancer
Third Eye Open,
Walk around neighborhoods and people watch. (Be advised there is no uglier tourist mecca than Soho.) West Village. Upper West Side. Do not miss Central Park. (And the Imagine/John Lennon spot at 72nd St. is lovely.) Don’t worry about tourists. Just see what you want to see. Restaurant rec’s depend entirely on budget and how much of a foodie you are. But in a pinch, the restaurant sections at NYMetro.com and NYTimes.com critic’s picks are usually okay. You can cross reference reviews with menupages.com.
Bubblegum Tate
@Ash:
And which one of them should be more embarrassed about it?
J.
Maybe you’ll meet some hot babe at the dog park, John Cole. Chicks love a guy with a dog, especially a cute rescue dog like Lily. Though just to play it safe, make sure to wear your male enhancing compression undershirt and skivvies.
John Cole
I’m trying to lose some weight and get back into shape. I put on a lot of weight the last eight years, and I’m trying to shed it. One of the things I have found is that I eat less if I eat earlier. If I eat at 5- 5:30, I can have a decent meal, let it digest, then go walk and enjoy the night for a few hours, and have a nice snack (a scoop of frozen yogurt with fruit, an Edy’s fruit bar, a peach or frozen banana, etc.) when I get back.
On the other hand, if I wait until 7:00 or 7:30, then I am just absolutely starving, eat way too damned much, and find myself slothing on the damned couch. Plus, there is no time to burn any of it off before I am ready for bed.
John Cole
@J.: To get the amount of compression needed to make my stomach look thin amd ripped, I would need a hydraulic truss.
JL
@John Cole: How’s the pup? Does she greet you at the door when you come in?
LD50
Somehow I think this will be another case where people disregard Erik.
Texas Dem
From the e-mails: “I love your tan lines.”
If I read a cheesy line like that in a romance novel, I’d toss it on my BBQ grill.
tim serbo
Third Eye Open, if you’re still around, welcome to the greatest city in the world. I urge you to buy a subway day pass and take the A train to Washington Heights, way up at the northern tip of Manhattan, north of the George Washington Bridge, even. Get off at the 190th St. stop, take the elevator up to the street, and to your right is Fort Tryon Park. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, it’s one of the city’s most beautiful parks, with a splendid garden and some fantastic views of the Hudson, the bridge and the unspoiled bluffs on the Jersey side of the river (it was Rockefeller land, donated to the state on condition that it never be developed.)
The park is also home to The Cloisters, a monastery shipped over from Italy and reconstructed, with a great collection of medieval art.
When you’re done taking it all in, head to the New Leaf Cafe, which is in a WPA-built stone house in the park. Bette Midler put up the dough to restore and convert the site. Very pretty room, good kitchen. Excellent sauteed skate.
I’m off to New Hampshire tomorrow–right near the Appalachian Trail, actually–otherwise I’d join you for lunch. Have a great time.
demkat620
@John Cole: I quit smoking about 2 years ago. Gained a ton of weight. I started dieting in the fall and found the same thing. If I ate ariound 5: 00 I wasn’t looking for food later. But if I ate later, I was wanting to eat more at bedtime.
Weird.
Rosali
I read Mrs. Sanford’s statement and it seemed like she was willing to stay and work on the relationship. But after reading the private emails between the Gov and Maria, I would think that it’s difficult to carry on especially since he just went to BA to spend a week with his mistress.
The question I have not seen addressed is: what if they separate- who will stay in the Gov’s mansion? Will Sanford do like Giuliani and ask her to leave with the 4 kids? (NV Gov Gibbons did this too.) I know that the house comes with his job, but it’s a little unseemly to kick out the wife and 4 kids because he couldn’t keep it in his pants. This is how the whole thing gets messy and complicated and maybe he’s better off resigning.
Her statement says that she asked him to leave 2 weeks ago. Where was he staying before he went to BA? How can he concentrate and lead the state effectively if he has major drama going on and is living out of a suitcase?
AhabTRuler
If Tila Tequila isn’t already embarrassed about being Tila Tequila, then she has to be pretty much unembarrassible.
Either way, M&M is way out of her league when it comes to being a trainwreck.
MikeJ
She’s at their beach house.
Wile E. Quixote
@John Cole
John, you’re so boring that for you “flying to another country to nail my mistress” is actually a secret code for “using the Furminator on Tunch while listening to Little Feat”.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to head out to a wild night of sexual gymnastics and utter debauchery, which is actually code for “going to the gym and then coming home and doing laundry”.
demimondian
@chuck: I’m afraid that I’m guilty of that particular literary reference.
Now, though, I’ve moved on. I’m hearing “I just met a girl named Maria”, not to mention “They call the wind Maria”, in my head.
Texas Dem
Keith is having a field day with this. Right now he’s reading from the e-mails.
Dr. Loveless
@schrodinger’s cat:
His name is Pedro. That’s what “spicy Mexican dinner” really means.
Comrade Stuck
@Rosali:
New York isn’t South Carolina and the fact she didn’t appear with him holds a lot more weight than in blue America. Add that with the emails and he’s toast, plus he already is despised in a bipartisan way with the legislature. And the leaving the state with no one in charge, plus any possible misuse of state funds will get him impeached, if he doesn’t quit. And he doesn’t seem like the Blago Bulldog type to me.
He’ll last a week, maybe IMHO.
Linkmeister
Susie Madrak at Suburban Guerilla got some correspondence from a friend:
Read the rest at the link. The correspondent has a point. Sex will be the primary topic on all the cable nets, not the rejection of stimulus funds for unemployment insurance.
Nicole
@Third Eye Open: Have an excellent visit! There are tourists everywhere, so I would say see what you want to see. Hmm.. without knowing your interests, here are some suggestions:
The Central Park Zoo- now with snow leopards!
Tom’s Restaurant- it was the diner used for the exteriors of the restaurant in Seinfeld- it’s in the Columbia area (Broadway and W 113th St… ish. Northeast corner of whatever corner it’s on). The Columbia area in general is nice to walk around, especially now that most of the college kids are gone. Nearby Cathedral Park is really pretty.
The Flatiron building at 23rd St and 5th Ave- birthplace of “23 Skiddoo”
Restaurant-wise, I like Crispo, Gascogne, and Community Food and Juice. John’s Pizzeria makes delicious pizza and the one on West 44th St, while jammed full of tourists, is in what used to be a church so the interior is kind of neat.
But if you want to go up the Empire State Building, do it. It’s NYC- you’ll have fun no matter what you do and there’s something interesting to see in every part of the city. Except the Upper East Side. ;) And take some time after Ave Q (which is really fun) to enjoy looking at Times Square at night. (And let me know if Ave Q has changed the George Bush line, would you?)
Martin
@anonevent:
Tough shit. Seriously, Sanford didn’t care about them and he’s supported policies that show he doesn’t care about my wife and kids either.
Maybe kicking these guys in the teeth now and then and imposing some of the hurt on them that they want to put on other people will get them to take a different tack. Probably not, but the old rules ain’t working.
JGabriel
@ninerdave:
It does sound like the kind of contest that would make Johnson v. Goldwater or Reagan v. Mondale look like close matches.
.
jl
@Linkmeister: People here are mentioning the hypocrisy of his public morality police state positions and his newly revealed hobby. And there is some interest in finding out how much state dough he used for his little intercontinental tango, while he was stiffing the people of his state. I guess, in the press, not so much.
I do not know why people did not jump on Sanford’s and other governor’s hypocrisy. If I were Obama, I would have held a press conference during Sanford’s stupid free market act and said “Well, I really really want to do what Governor Sanford thinks is best for his state, and if he thinks zero is what his state needs, that is what it gets. So the stimulus package for South Carolina is now nada. Period. Next governor who has a beef with the stimulus? Step up.”
JL
Hopefully this is my last comment on Sanford. He lied, he did not fulfill his duties as Governor of the State, he caused harm to his family and he did it because of love. I think he will save his family from further grief by resigning.
Krista
And if you go to Bow Bridge in Central Park, give it an affectionate pat for me. That’s where my husband and I got married. :)
As far as Sanford goes, the whole thing is really just a clusterfuck of epic proportions, isn’t it? I do have to confess to enjoying that excerpt that robertdsc posted, though.
jl
@Martin: His wife had given Sanford temporary walking papers (trial separation) two weeks ago. She knew before anyone. I think she said, in effect, how the heck should I know where he was? We were separated, sometime today -maybe in her statement.
I feel sorry for her. But also think she has done a standup job in not being his pathetic long suffering good wifey crutch in this mess.
demimondian
@Martin: I don’t actually agree. What evidence there is — and it’s scant — suggests that he did try to protect them, but that he didn’t see the full spectrum of the consequences of his acts. He tried to slip away unnoticed and untracked so that nobody would know he had gone to Argentina, apparently to say goodbye to the mistress. He didn’t count on the fact that a political rival would make a public issue of it, and, in so doing, suddenly expose the whole story unexpectedly.
As to the hooting and hollering about “he left the state in the lurch” — really, folks, we don’t know that. We know that there were a bunch of people who should have known where he was and who said they didn’t, but we honestly don’t know who is telling the truth. It’s entirely possible that some of them did know, but weren’t telling.
MikeJ
Also Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z66rDVkaK4w
or the remix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avCeJnw9WbQ
jl
I have asked before and will ask again. If he was in a trial separation with his wife, then he did not have to slip away from her on the sly. So, why did he mess this up so bad? A heel, hypocrite, and bumbling incompetent at illicit kanoodling.
MikeJ
Sanford admits he “misled” his staff. They couldn’t get in touch with him. So yes, we do know that he left the state in the lurch, and we do know who was telling the truth while he was gone. It wasn’t his staff.
JK
@Linkmeister: Suburban Guerilla is a great blog. Thanks for promoting it on this thread.
AhabTRuler
@Third Eye Open: If you can get off the frickin island of Manhattan (trust me, its overrated), you should really check out the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
Now, I’m kind of an arboretum/aquarium/garden kinda guy (much better than those bloody boring art museums!), but I highly recommend both it and other boroughs!
geg6
I’d kill for some decent Mexican food. How the hell does WestbygoddamVirginia have good Mexican and the Pittsburgh metro area has nothing but fucking chain restaurant Mexican (with only one single and quite expensive exception)? Seriously, WTF? As for Gov. Sanford, I believe I may have been the first here to call it as it was. Not sure, but Little Dreamer might be able to confirm. And as someone who pretty much thinks marriage is a silly institution, thus the reason I have refused to subject myself to it, I can only point and laugh as another marriage fetishist demonstrates his hypocrisy for all the world to see. And I don’t find his lying apology admirable nor do I believe that someone who has such contempt for his professional responsibilities and does not apologize for THAT is in any way sincere. And a guy who wants to deprive poor children of safe and structurally intact schools and the unemployed benefits to live while he jets off on what is increasingly looking like the public dime should be publicly humiliated as often and loudly as possible. His wife, however, is a class act and his poor sons should not have read his disgusting emails.
KG
@85: I’m actually hoping for Obama v Huckabee. Last time around, my die-hard, donation making, Cuban Republican mom said that if Huckabee got the nomination she’d vote for Obama. I’m not sure my folks have ever voted for any Democratic presidential nominee (granted, they’re in their mid-50s so they would have started voting in ’72 or ’76), but it’d make family dinners much more interesting… assuming she doesn’t go with the “a pox on both your houses” position.
Comrade Stuck
I didn’t know Canadians could get married in Central Park. Obama should just do away with that northern border anyways and make a new one along the Mason Dixon Line/
John Cole
I’m actually kind of disgusted by some of the glee here in regards to Sanford. To be honest, it looks to me to be very much like the same sort of glee that many on the right would have when something bad happens to a Democrat. It is just partisan bullshit, and it bothers me.
I really don’t care for Sanford’s positions, and I agree that his type of governance has hurt people, as has his values bullshit and attitude towards gays. The “values” he cheerleaded stigmatizes, damaged, and deep down hurt people- we shouldn’t forget that.
At the same time, Mark Sanford is a person, and while he may have things to answer in regards to his professional duties and whether or not taxpayers paid for his trysts, and no, it isn’t OKIYAR, but it kind of disgusts me to watch the same people who recognize the value of empathy in a Supreme Court Justice acting in a manner completely and totally devoid of sympathy and empathy.
He is obviously confused, he and his wife have been in therapy, he knows his political future is over, his marriage is over, his kids will never forgive him, and he will be humiliated for weeks, and rather than backing off and saying “You know what, I hate the man for what he stood for, but I feel bad for him as a person and I feel bad for his family,” you’re all taking al ot of pleasure in this. You should know better. The reason we on the left (and I’m speaking for the left now, tyvm) are supposed to not catcall this shit is because we understand that people are people, and they fuck up. That is why we find the values positions so reprehensible- they are not grounded in reality. They may not realize it, or may realize it and don’t care and spew that bullshit for cheap election reasons, but we should be better than them. I hope none of you ever fuck up, because now we know how you expect to be treated.
Some of you all are displaying Malkinesque levels of hate and have pretty fucking dark souls. Grow the fuck up.
And I’m done talking about Sanford. You all can keep on doing your happy dance all you want, but I’m out. I’m getting too old to take pleasure from people who are hurting, even in they are jerks.
demimondian
@MikeJ: Maybe I’m overparsing, but I don’t see anywhere that he said he was impossible to reach — only that he’d misled his staff about where he was. That’s a rather different kettle of bouillabaisse.
(By the way, we’re getting your rain now. Thanks so *very* much.)
Ked
I wasn’t going to complain again, but it’s been a fracking month already. Can we PLEASE jettison the not-really-worksafe Pamela Anderson advertisement before it’s permanently engraved on my retinas?
JGabriel
AhabTRuler:
NO, IT IS FUCKING NOT! (said the Manhattanite)
Oh. Yes, good point. The Botanical Gardens are very nice. Also, TEB, if you do make it out to Brooklyn, you might want to check out Brooklyn Heights, in particular the view from the Promenade.
.
jibeaux
I wonder if she pronounces her last name in an un-American way, such as with the accent on the last syllable. Sub-Escandolo!
John Cole
And Keith Olbermann can grow the fuck up, too.
John Cole
@Ked: It is gone in 5 days.
AhabTRuler
I think that’s a tad hyperbolic. There have been a range of responses, but there has also been a legitimate discussion about precisely what is appropriate.
I think there are legitimate conversations to be had about the political and governmental implication of his disappearing act; his politics are, of course, fair game. I’m not very interested in the unseemly details of the story, and some are, but I think your reaction, while quite noble (as usual, you are a mensch), is somewhat overblown. Respectfully.
demimondian
@John Cole:
What the man said.
JL
What about some Lily and Tunch pics.
Don’t forget Obama is going to be on TV at ten est.
PaulW
spicy Mexican dinner = 23-year-old clone of Salma Hayek
heading to the dog park = performing an elaborate juggling act with Gov. Charlie Crist
wait, what?
Blue Raven
@John Cole:
Hoekstra levels of allegory achieved. John, go pet the dog.
mey
John, I find it easier to show compassion to those who themselves show compassion to others. We’re not talking about a regular joe-schmo here. This dipshit who’s all about moral values is full of shit; we’ve known it all along, and here’s proof yet again that these “Moral Leaders” are full of it. And yet, we still have people saying this is somehow a failing of the reality-based “left”. When people we support fail, we have to take all the shit thrown at us, but when those shit-throwers fail we’re not supposed to point out the utter hypocrisy of their actions/beliefs/whatever, but we’re supposed to show them the compassion they would never show us? Bull. We’ve tried that. It doesn’t work. It lets the hypocrites off the hook, while still requiring us to live up to their standards. No, he deserves the absolute drubbing he’s getting here and everywhere. Save your compassion for someone who really needs it, preferably a joe-schmo, not an elected public official.
Linkmeister
@JK: I read it every day. (‘Course, I read nearly every blog on my blogroll every day or they wouldn’t be there, right?)
Nellcote
ThirdEyeBlind
Since it’s your first visit, don’t desparage the “tourist” stuff. Most of it is pretty fun if not spectacular, it is NYC after all ;) A couple of suggestions, get some food at Zabar’s deli and have a picnic in Central Park. Must see the Natural History Museum & The Met. Have dim sum in Chinatown. Pick up a Village Voice or similar local rag to find choices for evening entertainment, there’s always someone you want to go hear playing in NYC!
And if you’re on limited funds just plant your ass in Washington Square and people watch.
MikeJ
Presumably if he were reachable his staff would have tried to reach him when all the questions started. And if he had been telling the truth about being on the AT, he wouldn’t have been reachable, and he didn’t leave anybody in charge.
jl
@John Cole: I feel no conscious glee on my part, but I thought Sanford’s behavior as governor was irresponsible and weird even before this. But, maybe some unconscious Malkin-like glee is leaking up from the depths.
I think hypocritical GOP bigwigs have gotten a pass for decades. So, glee in this is bad. But he needs to be held account for not following procedures when he left (and I am honestly puzzled why he was so clumsy about it, since he was temporarily separated from his wife anyway), and want to know if he used state money.
As for his purely personal life, whatever. I wish him luck. He probably needs it.
mey
Oh yeah. And Bill Clinton’s BJ. Also.
Mike
I think part of the problem with these guys is the conservative mind set they
grow up with (and I’m including guys like Edwards and Spitzer as well).
They are religious, encouraged to be chaste until marriage, get married,
have kids, live the virtuous life in order to attain success in a puritanical society,
and then one day they are confronted by some little hottie who pushes all the
right buttons on their repressed sexuality. They literally cannot handle the
overwhelming flood of sensory experience, leading them to astonishing errors
in judgment. Sanford’s Emails are a great illustration of this phenomenon, in my opinion.
demimondian
@AhabTRuler:
Here are my problems with the whole discussion.
First, we really don’t know all the facts – in fact, we know hardly any of them. Perhaps Mrs. Sanford had effectively withdrawn from the marriage years ago, and is now taking this opportunity to play for public sympathy. Perhaps she’s had affairs, and we don’t know that. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps — at this point, any speculation is nothing more than the foulest kind of gossip, and should simply stop.
Second, and equally important, we don’t know what arrangements had been made. If Gov. Sanford really did disappear without leaving any arrangements behind, then, yes, that’s a problem. I understand his desire to avoid embarrassing his mistress and his wife and kids — all of whom have a right to privacy, even if he does not — but, honestly, there was no way to both do his job and protect the people he loves, whoever they are. Unfortunately, he was in a no win situation, and wound up picking a particularly bad route out. I think a bit of sympathy might be called for.
AhabTRuler
Of course, Daylight Savings Time is a Tri-lateral commission plot worked out in concert with the Illuminati and the Freemasons to control the world with reverse-vampires, but it is in effect.
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
I agree with pointing out the hypocrisy, but not quite for the same reason a lot of other people seem to. I’m also not sure how you make the issue I want to in a way that gets media attention, but here it is.
Contra Erick the Red, we should be mocking the Upright Marriage Brigade for this. Not because Mark Sanford is a hypocrite, but because he, along with Ensign, and Craig, and Vitter, and everyone else, point out the utter futility of their arguments.
I feel confident in saying that Republicans engage in adultery in roughly the same numbers as Democrats. Forget their moral crusades being able to persuade others. Their moral crusades can’t persuade each other any more effectively than other arguments.
It’s not that I don’t think that stable marriages and fidelity and honor and all sorts of other traditional virtues aren’t important, though I define some of them differently than most people. It’s that their methods aren’t even effective at producing the behavior they want. It’s tough to be more offensive than the intolerance they show, but their complete uselessness might do it.
PaulW
Dear John Cole:
Schadenfreude is a natural response mechanism for people watching other people flame out like this. Sanford may be hurting, true, but do note he brought this on himself by 1) positioning himself as a paragon of virtue throughout his political career and then going out of his way to have an adulterous affair, and 2) going out of his way to pull off a haphazardly and poorly-planned jaunt to a foreign country to do it.
There are people hurting tonight, and it’s Sanford’s (currently, although that may change) wife and his sons. If anyone here is cracking jokes about them, they deserve to get yelled at because the wife and kids are truly victims and had nothing to do with Sanford’s decision to be a scumbucket. But Sanford himself deserves a heaping plate of scorn right now, and I don’t blame anyone for going after him on it.
How much schadenfreude, by the by, did *you* invest on the likes of Blago, Spitzer, Vitter, Craig, Foley, et al.
Another thing to consider, Mr. Cole, is that you started off feeling sympathy for Sanford, saw a lot of negative responses on the board, and saw some of it directed at you, and now you find yourself, perhaps unjustly, under scrutiny. Some of your anger right now, from how I’m reading it, is from some perception on your part that we’re aiming at you for your earlier defense of Sanford. Please do not take this the wrong way. At least, not from me. My anger is solely directed at the scumbucket in SC.
Rosali
Ok, this is about McCain. Sanford is writing to his mistress in ’08 and mentions the possibility of being McCain’s VP pick. I’m sure that tonight, McCain is thinking, “Man I really dodged that bullet. Imagine if I had picked Sanford. It’s a good thing that I picked Palin to run as my VP.”
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
You’re right. It is easier to show compassion to those who themselves show compassion to others. That’s why it’s important to show it even to those who aren’t. What you want is easy virtue. Sorry, the world doesn’t work that way.
mey
@JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN’s Official Stalker: That doesn’t even make any sense.
Third Eye Open
Wow, Thanks to everyone for chiming in about NYC.
I have taken good notes and I hope to hit some of these places. Since the parental unit is on leave, I imagine he will be cranky that I am trying to drag him out for some culture, but I am certainly going to get a metro-pass and explore the city.
I will get some pics of various things for show and tell next week.
Thanks again, y’all rock.
John Cole
I’m not sure I had any schadenfreude for Blago- just absolute disgust at the way the Senate handled Burris.
Spitzer to me was a different case. He viciously and brutally applied the law to prosecute people for the very thing he was engaging in.
Vitter remains an unapologetic values warrior asshole and can seriously just go die in a fire, Craig is just completely in denial but I believe if you check the archives you will find that I was not sure he should have ever been arrested, and I don’t remember how I reacted to Foley, but I think having an affair and trying to fuck underage pages are two different animals.
And even if I was completely schadenfreuderric, that doesn’t mean I am wrong now.
JL
@Rosali: lol
AhabTRuler
@demimondian: I disagree with your conclusions, but not the underlying point about sympathy. I think the whole family (and indeed the mistress as well) should receive the sympathy due any group of people going through emotional turmoil. What Sanford, and by extension, his wife and family are not entitled to, is total privacy; what constitutes a “legitimate discussion,” and what should be considered private, however, varies from commenter to commenter.
Plus, it’s Balloon Juice, home of “skullfuck a kitten,” so ya’ll can put away the fainting couch.
ETA: I mean, everyone is entitled to there own boundaries, but if you want to see a “Malkinesque” comment thread, go look up the thread that was deleted, oh wait, it was bad enough to delete. This thread is at worst, mildly tawdry and unseemly. Not hardly worth getting one’s back up over.
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
I don’t know that I’ve felt schadenfreude, per se, but I have found the whole thing pretty funny, after acknowledging the harm that he’s done. Note, though, that Blago not only hasn’t shown any remorse, he has gone out of his way to flaunt his opinion that he hasn’t done anything wrong. Different situation.
Zero.
Not much, really. Then again, it’s hard to experience schadenfreude over someone who doesn’t seem to be suffering in any way. Outrage, sure, but not schadenfreude.
Zero. I feel really sorry for Larry Craig. The closet sucks.
I’m not even sure which Foley you’re talking about.
Look, folks, being mean assholes doesn’t say anything about the target, just about you.
mey
Will this experience change Mark Sanford into becoming a more understanding, compassionate person? If so, then yes, he has my sympathy and compassion. If this is a standard Republican “Come to Jesus” double-down moment about how important “Family Values” are and fuck teh gheys, etc, then not so much.
Linkmeister
@Third Eye Open: If the parental unit is like me, he never goes to the tourist things in his town until he has to go around with visitors.
I live two miles north of Pearl Harbor, but I’d been here 25 years before I actually visited the Arizona Memorial.
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
@mey: Really? How so? Do you not understand the concept that showing compassion only to those to whom it is easy to show compassion isn’t much of a virtue?
MazeDancer
Third Eye Blind, Nellcote’s post is right on. It’s your first visit.
demimondian
You know who I am pointing and laughing at in all this? Erick Erickson and his Orwellian doublespeak.
No, Erick, I’m not laughing or sneering at Mark Sanford. You, on the other hand, are a pompous, self-righteous political poodle. A political *tea-cup* poodle, at that.
Rosali
Talk of stalking is very creepy and not at all funny.
mey
@JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN’s Official Stalker: Last I checked I didn’t fly to another country to visit my mistress, so my “virtue”-worthiness isn’t up for debate. And it’s not about only showing compassion to those whom it is easy to show compassion to. It’s about The Golden Rule.
Martin
@demimondian:
That’s not protecting the family, that’s protecting himself. You know how to protect the family? DON’T HAVE A FUCKING AFFAIR! That way you don’t need to slip away unnoticed and untracked to say goodbye to the mistress.
Getting caught wasn’t the bad act here, having the affair was.
@John Cole:
I’m taking no pleasure in this. I’m pissed. How about a resignation and an apology for those positions of his? How about a “I’ve repeatedly moved to legislate stronger marriages and yet I’ve been as much of a threat to marriage as any of the people I’ve supported legislating out of marriage, and legislation can’t fix this.” He got caught and he’s ashamed in front of South Carolina’s religious right (look at the individuals he talks about in the presser) but there is no evidence that this incident is having any effect on how he thinks others should be treated. He wants his forgiveness but he still wants to treat others with the same failings as criminals. He wants to keep his job, but fuck everyone else who he’s called on to lose theirs over similar situations. And his political career is far from over. We’ve still got Rudy out there who went after his wife in a goddamn presser himself. And Gingrich on his 3rd marriage. And McCain cheating on his first wife. Fuck, you’d almost have to think that this was a necessary gauntlet to pass to even run for President from the GOP. Spitzer did it at least reasonably right – he walked out of politics voluntarily and is now trying to work back in, but he’s coming in from the outside. I’m not convinced he deserves to come back in, but at least he’s not doing it as an incumbent, with the free media that political office grants you.
Look, when I fuck up, I say I fucked up and I recount all the things related to that which need to change, including my attitudes. I sure as hell don’t walk around and beg forgiveness without any demonstration of why I deserve it, of how I’ll change, and of how my attitudes toward others in my situation would change. I need to see something real behind the words, and he’s offering none of it. It’s just more bullshit.
And lest I be accused as partisan, I thought Clinton should have resigned as well.
John Cole
Maybe I’m just a sucker and a fool, but when I watched Sanford talk, I saw a person who was confused and hurting.
When I saw Ensign talk last week, I saw an automaton and a sociopath.
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
@mey: I don’t think you understand compassion. I have lots of it for Sanford, while also managing to be outraged by his behavior. Compassion means understanding human frailty.
I don’t know about you, but I do a lot of shitty things in my life. I try to remember that when I’m watching someone else do shitty things.
AhabTRuler
@demimondian: For a moment I thought that you were calling him a “pot noodle“.
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
@mey: Okay, so you’re perfect. I guess you are entitled to behave like a jackass.
Death By Mosquito Truck
@John Cole: I told ya Sanford fell in love. And if ya read his emails, which I’d never do because I’m way bigger than that, you’ll see I’m right.
Hell, if Sanford becomes a Democrat he can have his cake and eat it too. And if he’s lucky his cake will go down on his cookie while he watches.
I don’t know what that means either. Sigh.
Texas Dem
Maybe I’m just bitter, but when I watched Sanford’s train wreck press conference I thought of all the monogamous gay people whose happiness he’s tried to destroy.
mey
@JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN’s Official Stalker: I do not think you understand that you can have compassion AND be a jackass. And that you don’t have to show compassion to a jackass if said jackass has not shown any compassion towards you.
AhabTRuler
@John Cole: If he is hurting that badly, all he need do is resign. No one would disparage him for that (well, the Republicans calling him a pu55y for wimping out probably would, but the point remains). There is nothing that says that he has to remain in office, and I have this nagging feeling that the LT. Gov. would be all to happy to take over from him.
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
Maybe I’m just a bitter sucker and a fool, but I saw both.
Left Coast Tom
An open thread with a topic…?
Anyway, I don’t think the publishing of Sanford’s emails, coming as it did after his press conference today, adds anything to the discussion. Unlike the case of Detroit’s Kwame Kilpatrick, Sanford’s not denying anything revealed in, at least, the excerpts published so far. Publishing Kilpatrick’s texts was required to establish the charge of perjury, what I’ve seen so far establishes nothing I didn’t already know.
As for the hypocrisy charge, Sanford’s name doesn’t generally come up in what I’ve read of religious right wackiness, even if others in his state often come up. _Red State_ and the South Carolina GOP deserve to have their collective noses rubbed in this mess, but that’s a different matter.
The serious, and continuing, issue to me is the fact that he left without informing the Lt. Governor that he’d be out of contact, and the Lt. Gov. was in charge. It seems the two don’t like each other, but that does nothing to excuse the behavior. If he were governor of my state I’d say “1) please leave more often, and 2) he’s totally unqualified to be governor, and 3) should the state constitution specify something to deal with this issue”. The story isn’t going to end for some time, but the biggest issue to be resolved seems to be with the people of South Carolina. His Presidential prospects, dim as they were (I have to think anyone mentioned as a prospect in 2012 is a sacrificial lamb and not really a prospect), are gone now. That’s good enough for me.
AhabTRuler
@John Cole: If he is hurting that badly, all he need do is resign. No one would disparage him for that (well, the Republicans calling him a puƨƨy for wimping out probably would, but the point remains). There is nothing that says that he has to remain in office, and I have this nagging feeling that the LT. Gov. would be all to happy to take over from him.
ETA: duplicated fer talking about kitty-kats purposes. Cool backwards ‘esses,’ eh?
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
@mey: Sure, you don’t *have* to show compassion to anyone.
John Cole
Red State is in full meltdown mode, so I have to admit to a bit of schadenfreude.
So I, too, am not perfect.
Brick Oven Bill
More respect for John Cole. Every one of us is a victim of our flesh, and all that comes with it.
AhabTRuler
@Left Coast Tom: DOMA and Lewinsky (h/t Begala).
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
@AhabTRuler: No one would disparage him *for resigning*, but I suspect most of those taking glee in this wouldn’t let that stop him.
demimondian
@AhabTRuler: Damn. I wish I’d thought of that.
“
BangkokBombay Bad Boy” sounds more like Rush Limbaugh, though…Comrade Stuck
This is true, well not the sucker part, probably. Some have made it personal to twist the knife into a broken man and that is wrong. Being from SC he is broken into pieces. politically and personally, but the political/culture side of the debate needs to go on, imo/
Though damn those to hell who released the emails and read them on the air.
As for Ensign, he doesn’t really need to be remorseful, in the only state with legal prostitution.
mey
@JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN’s Official Stalker:
??? Giant leaps to nowhere abound. Your definition of what constitutes showing compassion is not the definitive definition of compassion, so feel free to move onto another subject other than me.
AhabTRuler
@JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN’s Official Stalker: Not all, but most. Besides, remember that this thread is “malkinesque,” and that woman is bugfuck, not merely imprudently gleeful at the private goings-on of others.
I mean, isn’t being a politician the original form of Reality TeeVee?
The Moar You Know
@John Cole: I couldn’t agree more. Having been involved as the “other man” in an adulterous relationship, I’ve got a bit of a perspective as to what this is putting Sanford’s wife and Maria through, and I gotta say this…a lot of you people posting here tonight disgust me. You’re cheering over the still-twitching remains of the lives of seven human beings, six of whom did absolutely nothing to deserve what you folks are dishing out.
The situation is not as cut and dried as you think it is, the blame is not as easy to place as you think it is, the people involved are not the monsters that you think they are, and the only solace that I take away from the non-stop bashing of Sanford and his family that you all have been posting all day is that the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of most of you getting to experience what he, or his wife, or his mistress went through.
Is Sanford a piece of shit? Yes. He’s a piece of shit for ruining poor people’s lives, refusing needed money for his state, and opposing the rights of homosexuals to live the same lives most of the rest of us take for granted.
But he’s not a piece of shit for having an affair.
Nicole
@Third Eye Open: Oh- a few museums are suggested donation ones, like the Met. So if you’re on a budget, don’t let them make you feel bad when you say you’re just paying a dollar, instead of whatever the “suggested” donation is. Art should be affordable to everyone.
The Museum of Sex is not a suggested donation museum. Sorry.
jl
Well, how do you tell what is going on with a person? If they seem contrite, is it an act?
I got hornswaggled on the CA GOP Congress crook who got nailed for bribery defense contracts. The guy with the boat and the CIA connections.
He cried at his confessional presser. I thought “Gee, maybe he is sorry…” Friends watching it with me said “Dude, you believe his crying act is real? I feel sorry for you, if you’re that simple. Let’s play high stakes poker.”
They were right and I was wrong. It turned out later the dude tried to hide $30K as he was driving to his presser.
hal
I have to say, this is about the funniest summary of this whole sad affair I’ve read today:
http://www.dlisted.com/node/32676
As many of you hos already know, Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina held a press conference today where he admitted that he lied to his staff and wife after he disappeared for 5 days. Gov. Marky said he was hiking along the Appalachian Trail for 5 days, when in fact he was hiking all over his Argentinean mistress’ coochie in Buenos Aires!!! Yeah, yeah, same old story. All politicians are sluts. There’s plenty of willing peen in politics! Wait…. Maybe I’m in the wrong field…
AhabTRuler
@Nicole: It’s just not the same if you aren’t in Amsterdam!
Where, incidentally, I learned of this song, and then the album, &c.
JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN's Official Stalker
@John Cole: Oh, I have an *immense* amount of schadenfreude over watching the Red State Strike Farce try to deal with this. None of this would have been nearly as spectacular without them running their mouths last night.
Left Coast Tom
@AhabTRuler:
I thought Tom Campbell’s (R-CA) impeachment vote was outrageous, and I thought his excuse (I no longer trust Clinton so that’s a high crime and misdemeanor) was pathetic. I don’t believe Campbell is a panty-sniffer, even if he acted like it in that particular instance.
Clinton _signed_ DOMA. He may be a panty-sniffer, but not in the sense of being a scold…
To sustain a hypocrisy charge I’d want more active pursuit of such crap (for example, Newtie “defending marriage”). Palin gets no pass from me…the “abstinence” thing is particularly laughable, and if Bachmann is similarly caught she’d get no pass.
Where such evidence is available I have no problem with rubbing the miscreant’s nose in their crap, in fact as I mentioned a few days ago in response to a DougJ post I think it’s necessary because the “nice” approach has really been a failure.
JK
I second The Cloisters and Central Park (especially Sheep Meadow)
Also agree that you should try to visit the outer boroughs, such as the New York Botanical Garden and Queens Museum of Art where you can check out the panorama of NYC http://www.queensmuseum.org/panorama/about.htm
Try to check out the garden of Church of St. Luke in the Fields
http://stlukeinthefields.org/web
I also recommend strolls through Union Square Park and Washington Square Park.
I don’t consider Manhattan overrated, though I hate the fact that so many amazing independent bookstores, independent record stores, art movie houses, and other cool, unique places have gone out of business during my lifetime. In spite of these losses, I still agree with John Perry Barlow’s assertion that “New York is the capital of experiences.”
I would try to soak in as much of Greenwich Village, Soho, and Tribeca as possible.
Bottom line, I still love New York. Have a blast here.
Favorite scene of New York on film – Opening Scene from Manhattan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o6QKpNK9Cc
Favorite New York songs
I Happen To Like New York – Judy Garland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0WvsREmzZA
New York, New York – Frank Sinatra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqlJl1LfDP4&feature=related
Talkin’ New York – Bob Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0GGcLrI3F4
New York City – John Lennon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3XCz3kfKVI
jl
Randy “Duke” Cunningham. He is the guy who cried himself a river during his confessional. He tried to hide another $30K on his way to the presser.
So, I do not know what is going on with Sanford, or whether he is on the level from how he acts at a press conference. I don’t feel any glee, but don’t care that much. Most of this is his own business. But what is public business, I want all that out in the open.
Rosali
I’m not gleeful about Sanford’s problems and I especially empathize with his wife and kids. I know what it’s like.
However, I am getting a big kick out of the implosion of the GOP. It seems like they have a very weak vetting committee for their candidates. Every candidate that they talk about for higher office seems to go down in flames. I remember when George Allen was the next big thing. One ‘macaca’ later and he’s gone from the national arena. Palin and Jindal give a couple of speeches and show that they are not ready for prime time. Michael Steele becomes head of the RNC and is a gaffe machine. Sanford and Ensign are now out. Who’s next?
Third Eye Open
@Nicole:
You’re being a great help, along with everyone else up-thread.
Do you have any suggestions for good Cuban/Puerto Rican food? How about a good karaoke bar? I am sure I will have a night or two to sneak off while everyone else soaks up local TV.
JK
I have sympathy for Jenny Sanford and her children, but I’m thrilled and tickled pink for Chris Matthews.
Matthews is the embodiment of a junk food cable news host and this Sanford story is premium grade junk food. I haven’t seen Hardball today, but I’d bet that Chris Matthews is on Cloud Nine right now and is happier than a pig rolling around in its own shit.
Rosali
@Third Eye Open:
Do you have any suggestions for good Cuban/Puerto Rican food?
Havana NY in the heart of Manhattan at 27 West 38th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues is pretty good and authentic.
gwangung
Sanford’s personal problems can be taken care of outside of the public eye.
Any mocking of his family values position (at least on my part) should be more of the “ahem!” mode. But if he makes any FUTURE statement about family values, I reserve the right to mock him unmercifully.
His dereliction of responsibility should be condemned and should be brought up every single time he even THINKS of running for national office.
AhabTRuler
Yeah, he signed a bad law that was passed with a veto-proof majority while running for reëlection. It’s called politics, and, like many of the most entertaining sexual acts, oftentimes one feels dirty whilst and after engaging it.
Redhand
Another one bites the dust. Idiot!
Left Coast Tom
@AhabTRuler:
…which was my point in bring it up (happily, the context included this nonsense as well as his impeachment).
There’s those who actively fight to fix what’s wrong with prevailing attitudes, some of whom have fortunate constituencies. There’s those who actively pine for the medieval age. There’s those in-between. On DOMA Clinton was clearly in-between. I figure those in-between are, at best persuadable, and at worst less dangerous because they aren’t initiating bad action. I’d rather focus on those who initiate bad action.
(I have to confess…I’m still unsure how to explain Campbell’s Lewinsky “vote”…he gives little evidence of being a scold, but in acting like one in that instance he opposed his own voters.)
Third Eye Open
@Rosali: Thank you very much, its so very rare I get back to Miami. I am jonesin’ for some Ropa, like nobodies business.
Jeffro
First: I am embarrassed at the glee I feel over yet another “family values” guy coming out, as it were, as having something less than actual, y’know, family values. But somehow, I will live with it…
Second: I think the poor guy actually wants/needs “Maria” in his life, and is about 10 seconds away from jetting back to Argentina.
Third: So many songs come to mind!
“My Maria”
“I Ran So Far Away” (that’s the name of the song, right? By Flock of Seagulls or something?)
“Torn Between Two Lovers”
“Gonna Run To You”
And something tells me that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s about to make a (mercifully brief) comeback…
Cat Lady
@John Cole:
Seeing as I resemble your remark, I’ll say on my own behalf that in the meta sense you’re right. However, this isn’t personal, it’s business. Since Republicans insist on making the personal political, and Republicans still get to make the rules, this is not personal, its political business. This is an opportunity to beat them over the head with their own hypocrisy, and they need to see that families and loved ones are gonna get hurt. They need to understand that, because unless it happens to them, they don’t get it. There has to be one set of rules, or else we will always have to resort to saying IOKIYAR, and then shrug and console ourselves that we’re better than that. We are, but we have to beat them at their own game, or this bullshit game will never be over.
MazeDancer
@Third Eye Open,
Apologies for the screen name blip. Though while you’re in NYC, unless you’re a serious grand master enlightened one, having your third eye open could be challenging. But sorry slipping the TEB.
But to add to your visit, chowhound.com is a place people often ask “what’s the best” whatever kind of restaurant. (Turkish, or place to take a parent, or Chinese on a budget, etc.) Click on the NY listings, for the borough you’d like.
Emma
See, I have a problem here. On the one hand, I feel for him as a human being. On the other hand I have a suspicion that he will have learned NOTHING FROM IT. The god-botherers seldom do. John wants us to be kind to him in his suffering, but… how kind has he been to others, especially those he’s supposed to take care of as governor? More to the point, will he change in the future? The odds are against it.
asiangrrlMN
I am late to the thread, but I just wanted to add that Rachel said something interesting about the emails. She had Gina Smith, the reporter who ‘broke’ the story (as it were) on her show. This morning, Smith met Sanford at the airport and got an interview with her. He said he’d been alone.
Sometime later in the day, Smith let it be known that they had the emails and that they were going to print them. I think if she hadn’t, Sanford would have tried to brazen his way out of admitting anything. So, while I’m not a big fan of having the emails read aloud on TV, I do think they might have been the impetus to get Sanford to admit what he’d done.
When I say the presser, I thought he looked tormented and in pain. I felt sorry for him as a person, but I felt more sorry for his family. In addition, the way he kept spouting off about “God’s Law” really pissed me off.
In short, I am one of those heinous people who doesn’t care that he had an affair save for the rank hypocrisy of it. I do care that he left the state for four days without telling anyone (and who knows if he would have returned at all if he hadn’t been flagged as missing?). His lieutenant governor didn’t know where he was. I think that’s a remission of his duty.
In addition, I don’t think he’s going to resign. I don’t think the Republican Party is going to make him resign. His own legislature may try because apparently, they don’t like him, either, but I am not convince that his political career is over.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that my reaction has been all over the place. Compassion, anger (at having been duped into thinking something horrible might have happened), annoyance, and more. I am with Emma in that I doubt he will learn from this to be a more compassionate person. He’s done a great deal of harm to his constituents and is a leading opponent of gay marriage. I bet even this debacle will not change his mind.
passerby
@asiangrrlMN:
Welcome to the party asianrrlMN. Better late than never.
I agree. But for me it raises an important point: If the emails were indeed the impetus for his public confession, why then go ahead and publicize them anyway?
In my opinion, the media are using them as titillation in order to increase ratings and circulation. This kind of material appeals to the Voyeur. They’ll make a killing.
Ecks
@fb2: I click on it sometimes just to cost her money.
geg6
@The Moar You Know:
Having been in a relationship in which I was the one who was victimized by a SO of 18 years having affair on the sly, I cannot say how much I disagree with this sentiment.
He most certainly is a piece of shit. As is anyone who breaks the trust of someone to whom they have claimed to be committed. Doesn’t mean that such people cannot change or redeem themselves (for instance, I have forgiven and since become friendly with the asshole), but to do such a thing is the definition of “piece of shit.”
Angela
Unless this woman is made public, I’m betting that he went to S.A. to get banged by a transgendered person. I’ve seen enough porn to know that South America has the corner on that market.