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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sanford and son

Sanford and son

by | 111 Comments

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You’ll never watch alone:

Former South Carolina governor and congressional candidate Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday that he entered his ex-wife’s home in early February — an apparent violation of the terms of their divorce settlement — but said he did so so his son wouldn’t have to watch the Super Bowl alone.

The 1st Congressional District Republican candidate, running in a close race against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, responded with a lengthy statement to an Associated Press report Tuesday night that Jenny Sanford filed a court complaint accusing him of trespassing. The news is a serious setback to Sanford, coming less than three weeks before the May 7 special election and as he is trying to assuage voter concerns about his extramarital affair that derailed his political career four years ago.

I don’t know enough about the district to say if Colbert Busch has a chance now but…

National Republicans are pulling the plug on Mark Sanford’s suddenly besieged congressional campaign, POLITICO has learned — a potentially fatal blow to the former South Carolina governor’s dramatic comeback bid.

Also too: great tv theme song or greatest tv theme song?

Reader Interactions

111Comments

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Also too: great tv theme song or greatest tv theme song?

    Hah. I just flipped through a rerun yesterday afternoon and started humming the theme song. Didn’t watch any of the show.

    Mark Sanford’s suddenly besieged congressional campaign

    I’m kinda surprised, I read his football with my boy excuse and thought that would get him out of it, as Ed Kilgore said. To me the dealbreaker should be the Willardly casual reference to “the beach house”.

  7. 7.

    c u n d gulag

    In the words of that great American philospher, Bugs Bunny:
    What a dope!
    What a MAROON!!!

  9. 9.

    jibeaux

    I would love to believe that ECB could beat whoever the Republicans’ second choice to a lying lowlife job-deserter is, but who knows. It’s SC.

  10. 10.

    EconWatcher

    We’re going to get plenty more of this. Remember how weird he was in that press conference when he made his confession? It was like he was chatting with his frat brothers about the hottie he just met.

    This isn’t just a guy who stepped out on his wife. He’s a whackjob, and I don’t think he can hide it. The press now knows he’ll supply good copy.

    Also too, put me down for greatest theme song.

  15. 15.

    Mike in NC

    Sanford admitted Wednesday that he entered his ex-wife’s home in early February — an apparent violation of the terms of their divorce settlement — but said he did so so his son wouldn’t have to watch the Super Bowl alone.

    How lame is that excuse? But the 27%ers will give him a pass because IOKIYAR. No long-term harm to this scumbag’s campaign.

  21. 21.

    Kay

    I’m surprised, but then he isn’t a Tea Partier, so maybe they don’t have to stick with him.

    I hope this doesn’t mean they’ll cut off horrible Tea Party candidates early, before we get a chance to explore their ideas.

  22. 22.

    Mary G

    Guy has no boundaries and would at least provide good crazy talk to further damage the Republican brand.

  27. 27.

    ericblair

    @EconWatcher:

    This isn’t just a guy who stepped out on his wife. He’s a whackjob, and I don’t think he can hide it. The press now knows he’ll supply good copy.

    Is he the for-sure no-backsies gooper candidate at this point, or can they still send the coach out to the mound?

    Because if he’s the no-backsies candidate, this is awesome. He can’t simply act normal for the duration because he doesn’t seem to understand what this “normal” thing is. How’d this looney (more specifically, a looney of this particular type) get to be governor, anyway?

  29. 29.

    kc

    Specifically, the second half of the Super Bowl.

    Let’s be fair, libbats. The second half of the Super Bowl is a sacred American ritual that no young man should have to watch alone. It was mighty brave of Sanford to defy a court order and his wife’s wrath to sneak into her house and be there for his son.

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    Wow. This Mark Sanford fellow is more full of shit than I thought, and I thought he was completely full of shit.

  34. 34.

    patroclus

    I vote for Gilligan’s Island. This Sanford guy seems seriously weird – it kind of reminds me of Jack Ryan (who wanted to have kinky sex with 7 of 9 in front of people at a sex club) while running for the Senate which ultimately resulted in Alan Keyes being inflicted on the innocent citizens of Illinois. But it also shows why divorces used to be career killers (and still are sometimes) and why no one should fuck with Jenny Sanford.

  35. 35.

    MattR

    Pretty typical Republican mindset. I know it was against the rules, but since I had a good reason so that makes it perfectly acceptable. Of course if it was one of “them”, no excuse in the world would be sufficient.

  37. 37.

    kc

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I dunno, I think it takes a real special kind of sleaze to use your 14 year old son like that. Putting the kid out there in a way that says “I will not hesitate to drag my kids into this if you all don’t shut up about this.”

    Then again, this is South Carolina, and he is a Republican, and God has forgiven him, so who knows. Maybe he’ll even pick up some extra votes.

  41. 41.

    Origuy

    This is why you run a candidate in every race. Even if you don’t have much chance, once in a while someone is going to die or shoot themselves in the foot.

  42. 42.

    EconWatcher

    @ericblair:

    How did he originally get elected, you ask? The answer is quite delicious: through heavy funding from his heiress wife, the long-suffering and humiliated Jenny.

    This will not end well for him. I think the final insult was when he recently (and publicly) asked if she’d be interested in running his campaign. Her response has not been made public. But can you imagine?

  43. 43.

    grape_crush

    Hell hath no fury/Mama bear protects the cubs

    Meanwhile, the Washington Post has learned that tensions within the family flared up as recently as April 2, at the celebration of Sanford’s runoff election victory when the former governor thrust two of his sons on-stage with the Argentine woman who was at the center of the spectacular sex scandal that broke up his marriage.

    For Sanford’s teenage son Bolton, that very public moment marked the first time he had ever been in the presence of Maria Belen Chapur.

    And, the Barney Miller theme.

  44. 44.

    kc

    @grape_crush:

    What a guy. I remember seeing the kid’s sad face from a couple of the pictures.

    I know it was just a couple of pictures, a moment in time, but still . . .

  45. 45.

    scav

    I mean, what GoD-fearing Electioneering Family-Values male would want to imply by example to his son that promises made to his mother/wife and oaths made to the law should be followed when inconvenient?

  46. 46.

    Gus

    Also too: great tv theme song or greatest tv theme song?

    Second greatest. Barney Miller is number one.

  48. 48.

    Persia

    @MattR: My ex isn’t a Republican but I can totally hear him coming out with this one.

    I wouldn’t vote for him either.

  50. 50.

    Wayne t

    That dude struck me as a total sociopath when he held that car wreck of a press conference announcing he was in love. Completely lacking in self awareness or conscience in regards to damage done to his family.
    The guy lives by his own rules. Jenny’s so much better off without him.

    It’s always me, me, me …. Like any true sociopath.

  52. 52.

    patroclus

    OT: Although it’s been virtually ignored by the media saturation of the Boston Marathon bombing, they’ve apparently caught the murderers of the Texas prosecutors. And it was (allegedly) a disgruntled ex-Justice of the Peace in Kaufman County and his wife – he (allegedly) stole some computer stuff, was prosecuted by the first murdered prosecutor and was disliked by the second murdered prosecutor. As a consequence, he lost his job, his health insurance (and his wife is (allegedly) in need of mental health care). So, not the Aryan Brotherhood or white supremacists.

  53. 53.

    pseudonymous in nc

    During the Appalachian Trailwreck, a lot of the local reporting on Jenny Sanford cast her as the true politician in that marriage, who’d put aside personal ambition because it was better for her to cough up the dough and act like the dutiful spouse in order to climb the ladder in Lower Carolina.

    I think we’re getting a sense of that now.

  55. 55.

    EconWatcher

    @Wayne t:

    True. Watching the press conference, I remember thinking, dude, don’t you know your kids are going to see this? And your kids’ friends?

    Even if you hate your wife and are low enough to want to humiliate her on TV, what about your kids?

  56. 56.

    Roxy

    Deep Space Nine both versions

    The original Hawaii Five-0, Big Valley, High Chapparel and other ones I can’t remember right now

  57. 57.

    Mary G

    I have always loved the song from Cheers. “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.”

  58. 58.

    Michael G

    This guy comes up with the wackiest excuses. Perhaps he should have gone with “they rerouted the Appalachian trail through the house”.

  59. 59.

    Comrade Dread

    Okay, I will try to have a modicum of empathy. Divorce sucks, and isn’t easy on kids, who want to see the absent parent and spend time with them.

    That said, presumably, he has his ex-wife’s phone number. How hard is it to grab your cell phone, call her and say, Johnny really wants to hang out with me and watch the Super Bowl together?

    If she says no, well, then you’ll gently have to explain to your kid that because daddy was chasing tail down in South America, a court order forbids dad from visiting without mom’s permission.

  61. 61.

    Amir Khalid

    My favourite TV themes include those from The Incredible Hulk, Cheers, The X-Files (of course), The Jeffersons, a and a British mini-series of the R.L. Stevenson novel Kidnapped. I also liked Suicide is Painless from MASH, but that’s from the movie so it doesn’t count.

  64. 64.

    Seanly

    I was thinking Sanford & Son is the greatest theme song, but #54 just mentioned Rockford Files… tough, tough decisions.

    And re: Mark Sanford, maybe he can find a rusty pitchfork to hoist himself on to. For a guy that nobody in SC liked, he seemed to do okay in the elections.

    I would say that any national election hopes he still has are probably getting another flogging in Hell.

  66. 66.

    grape_crush

    Laverne and Shirley, Magnum PI…Night Court, A-Team…

    Not that it’s the best, but the theme from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air has to be mentioned.

  67. 67.

    grandpa john

    @ericblair: He got to be governor because Jenny ran his campaign and supplied the big bucks. Thats where he really stepped on his dick, she was the one with the money not him.

  69. 69.

    Trentrunner

    And now it turns out that the first time Sanford’s kids met his Argentine mistress? At that heavily televised victory party…where the kids looked painfully uncomfortable. What a spectacularly distended asshole!

  70. 70.

    EconWatcher

    @Trentrunner:

    Jenny has money, political savvy, and a thirst for vengeance burning like the heat of a thousand suns.

    I’m very sorry for the kids, so I don’t want to relish their misfortune to have such a worthless piece of $#&T for a father, but if weren’t for that…. This is going to be epic.

  71. 71.

    Calouste

    @grape_crush:

    So…, Sanford remarried (right?) and didn’t see it fit to introduce his new wife to the kids from his previous marriage until a very public occasion? Sociopath doesn’t even cover it.

  72. 72.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @EconWatcher: Jenny has money, political savvy, and a thirst for vengeance burning like the heat of a thousand suns.

    Wish she were on our side, but from what I read she’s a hard core fundie, Sarah Palin with brains and old money.

  73. 73.

    kc

    @Comrade Dread:

    He does have her phone number. His official statement says he tried to call her to “discuss the situation that had arisen,” without saying what the “situation” was. Unless it was him trespassing in her house.

  74. 74.

    Amir Khalid

    @Calouste:
    No, they’re engaged but not married yet. In fact, I’m not entirely certain Sanford and his Argentinian sweetie will actually make it to a wedding date.

  77. 77.

    japa21

    Can’t believe nobody has mentioned the Adam’s Family. I always felt the Romney campaign should have adopted it

    “They’re creepy and they’re spooky…”

  80. 80.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    Great, but…Well, I’m not going out on a limb. Let’s just say it’s up there with a few other prime time themes: The Rockford Files, Barney Miller, Bonanza, Bewitched, That Girl and The Patty Duke Show.

    As for the Saturday morning themes, I’ll submit Hong Kong Fooey. Dreadful cartoon, great theme.

  81. 81.

    Another Halocene Human

    Nobody answered my query so I donated using Colbert Busch’s ActBlue page. Pretty good total so far.

  82. 82.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    FYFWP or not allowing an edit.

    The Mary Tyler Moore Show, also, too.

  84. 84.

    kerFuFFler

    I read that he had been skulking around using his cell as a flashlight; how does that square with the watching the Super Bowl story? Seems like he just made up a lie he figured would sound acceptable to his base, you know, being a family man by watching the big game with his son. What could be more wholesome and manly?

  85. 85.

    Mike E

    @Seanly: Lurved Rockford Files, but peeps here confuse an earworm with a really great TV themesong…tho, Quincy Jones FTW on Sanford & Son, esp that bass harmonica!

  88. 88.

    fuckwit

    Barney. Fucking. Miller.

    Sorry, no contest. Funky as shit.

    Yeah “football with son” sounds a hell of a lot like “hiking Appalachian trail”. Dude is a serial fucking liar. Every word comign out of his mouth is probably a lie.

  90. 90.

    GxB

    Whelp, you all seem to hit the classics in my mind

    Barney Miller
    Pink Panther
    Simon and Simon
    Hawaii 5-0

    I’ll respectfully add Ren and Stimpy if it isn’t already up there.

  91. 91.

    Groucho48

    Early westerns had the greatest theme songs. Have Gun Will Travel, Maverick, Cheyenne, Tombstone Territory. The list goes on.

  92. 92.

    Shortstop

    @Amir Khalid: How many years has it been? Miss Buenos Aires, who, it will be remembered, was involved with two other guys besides Sanford at the time of his “love of my midlife crisis-filled life”‘ speech, is just not that into him, it seems.

  97. 97.

    SFAW

    Either I’m confused, or I’ve overlooked/misunderstood a key bit of information.

    Didn’t he attempt to explain his “visit” by saying Jenny was “out of town,” and so the math fatherhood demanded that he be there for his son during the Super Bowl? And yet, didn’t the complaint (or whatever) state that she saw him leaving (or walking away from) the house?

    I realize we’re living in days of miracle and wonder, but I wasn’t aware that she could instantaneously transport (or Apparate) from “out of town” to her front yard.

    So what am I missing or getting wrong?

  98. 98.

    JustRuss

    For everyone who picked Gilligan’s Island: Season 1 or, ahem, the rest? Fun fact: Although they sound almost identical, they were performed by different bands.

    Funner fact: I have a friend who’s husband’s best friend during his childhood was the son of the guy who wrote the song, along with a lot of other jingles and whatnot. She met him a few years ago,says he’s a kick.

  100. 100.

    mai naem

    Can’t believe almost 100 posts and nobody mentions Miami Vice. I never watched the show but I loved the theme song. Also, I always liked LA Law, Bonanza, Big Valley, and Scooby Doo. Dallas was pretty memorable too.

  101. 101.

    mai naem

    I forgot thirtysomething. thirtysomething was appointment watching for me only for the theme song. Didn’t watch the series.

  104. 104.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Futurama (only theme song with a thermian) and Lex (the Brunen Gi
    song).

  106. 106.

    hamletta

    When my parents split up for the last time, they had a really ugly custody battle, replete with my dad’s girlfriend and my mom having a full-on hair-pulling cat fight in front of my school. Lucky for me, my mom won, so I got to change schools.

    So I know that of what I speak: The mere fact that he got engaged to this woman without introducing her to his kids is horrible and wrong. That he shoehorned her in to a happy-family tableau on election night before they’d even met her is just…I have no words.

    The man’s a horrible father and a sociopath. I wouldn’t vote for him if his politics were to the left of Raul Grijalva.

  109. 109.

    Redshirt

    Probably dead thread, but what a great one. Man, the 70’s/80’s had some great TV music.

    I unironically love Sanford and Son, now. Back in the day it wasn’t for me. But now, 1. It’s hilarious. 2. What a different age of TV! It’s like a play they just happened to film.

    Love the clothes, the slang, the humor, all of it. Great show.

    Anyone remember “Chico and the Man”?

  110. 110.

    Death Panel Truck

    The Wild, Wild West had a great theme, but Mannix tops them all. Composed by Lalo Schifrin, it’s the only private dick show with a fuckin’ waltz for a theme.

  111. 111.

    Aussiesmurf

    I only just joined, but Sanford is just painful.

    Re theme songs :

    Catchiest :

    Batman
    Greatest American Hero
    Family Ties

    Best sum up the show :

    Sopranos
    Murder One
    Veronica Mars
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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