The Truth Could Have Set South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford Free
By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Before this last disastrous weekend's events, South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford needed a new communications director, or a P-R person whose advice he would have taken. There's no way his or any communications advisor could or would have presided over the massive mishandling of his personal travails which began late last week.
In all my years covering politics, I've never seen a star-bound politician's career fizzle with such catastrophic downward velocity. And it all could have been averted, if he had just been honest with the media from the start.
Here's what happened, as most of you already know. The governor took off late last week following a tough state legislative session. His staff told media that he went hiking on the Appalachian Trail to relieve the stress of that session. We learned today he in fact had an extramarital liaison with someone in Argentina.
If he'd just announced before leaving that he and his wife were separating and he was taking time off out of the country, he would not have had to lie his way back into the country. It's possible he could have retained at least a mite of credibility.
Instead, he was forced into admitting the truth after he was photographed yesterday at the Atlanta airport by a South Carolina newspaper reporter. He resigned his position as head of the Republican Governors Association. And he's no longer a potential Christian conservative candidate for the Republican nomination in 2012. In fact, he's botched things so badly on wonders whether he can hang onto his governorship.
Come to think of it, that's two down in two weeks. Last week Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign's rising star dulled considerably when he, too, admitted an extramarital affair and resigned his U.S. Senate leadership post.
Both major political parties have witnessed the downfall of party luminaries who were discovered to be cheating on spouses in recent years. But the Christian wing of the GOP has had more than its share of time in this sorry limelight.
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Tags: South Carolina | Mark Sanford
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Reader Comments
Suzi, the man is on the public payroll but first let's ...
listen to his own words:
“I think it would be much better for the country and for him [President Clinton] personally (to resign). I come from the business side. If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, he’d be gone.” [Sanford on Clinton, The Post and Courier, 9/12/98]
“The 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.” [Sanford on Clinton, CNN, 2/16/99]
He is in the trashcan with Guiliani, Gingrich, Spitzer, Vitter, Craig, Foley, Mahoney, Ensign...and others who puff out their chests and tell everyone else how to live a moral life. And this is not just a private matter. These folks voluntarily took the mantle of leadership and then threw it in the sewer.
He is also in the trashcan with Duke Cunningham, Jack Murtha, William Jefferson, and others who have used their positions to either directly (their pockets) or indirectly (their friends) benefited themselves either by insatiable ego or pocket fattening. Even the pols some of us like are beneath contempt and ought to be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. We need to take names of the living off every public facility immediately.
He wanted the position, the power, the fame---and then has the unmitigated gall to drag his wife into public and embarrass her again. If he had any decency he would resign and check himself into a fool farm.
Just what the elephants need: another sanctimonious pissant.
But the donkeys ought not gloat. While Sanford was out whoring they are avoiding the people's business by allowing Chris Dodd, Nancy Pee Mousemeat, Byrd, and others to run rampant.
No wonder the ratings fall and fall and fall.
There is, of course, another facet: Anderson Cooper, Keith Olbermann, Sean Hannity, Ruch Limbaugh, Randi Rhodes, and others make money off this garbage. So ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, NYT, Newscorp, Gannett, Cox, and the rest of the fourth estate continue to shirk their responsibilities to be a loyal opposition by preferring to engage in brown-nosing, asskissing, and pimping and whoring for the politicians.
No integrity.
Suzi-why vpters should care
Public officials at all levels of civil government affect our lives. All are expected to spend their working days in ways that don't distract them from the duty of wisely managing the public purse. Governors do it state level. Congressmen do it in the Capitol for all of us. Boys will be Boys does not work after the age of eight. A governor on the job can't be doing it right when he's weaving alibis so he can sneak off with someone who envies his wife. He's supposed to be trying to make life better in his state, not deciding on which negligee to buy. Some public officials cheat by taking advantage of the fact they can't help getting insider information they use to buy or sell stock. Others cheat by giving first allegiance to church laws, not the federal or state constitution. Resigning gives a weakling a chance to "serve again," but impeachment marks the person as unfit for public office. The best standard is idealistic, yes. That means not accepting less than the best from public servants.
GOP tangled up with Christian Far Right
Christianity preaches the harmful concept of "forgiveness." If you do something bad, you expect to beg victims to "forgive you." As a "forgiving Christian," you'll "mercifully forgive" because you're like "merciful" God. Where there's "mercy" there is no justice. Trillions of dollars have been paid to churches after a believer "confesses sinful guilt." The cleric performs voodoo gestures and words of the magic act called "forgiveness." The cleric explains that repentance must be demonstrated and a nice fast way is to pay for new vestments or a new organ, etc.ˇ The Democratic Party has its share of "forgivers" who expect to be "forgiven" for wrongly treating families or taxpayers and constituents. We meed more godless public officials. They never ask a God to guide them. For me, Obama's weak point is his vote-seeking theatricalizing of of his Christianity. As in "Look at me, I'm at an ecumenical prayer breakfast as a Christian." Or, "I start my day by asking God to tell me what to do." Will his girls have a chance to be anything except Christians? Bush from 2000, said he began his day with prayer and look at the mess God led him to make.
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