South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford Must Shut Up. Now.
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Unlike many, I found Gov. Mark Sanford's initial press conference refreshing because he came across as a struggling human being rather than a politician reading the contrition script. But the contrition script has one redeeming line—the one that goes, And with that, I'm not going to discuss this any more. It's between me, my wife, and our family. Eschewing that line, Sanford has started behaving like a reality-TV show contestant who has spent his life dreaming of being in front of a television camera.
He's part of a star-crossed love story. He's found his soul-mate but, bravely, will try to fall back in love with his wife. (Does that remind anyone else of gays who subject themselves to heterosexual reprogramming on the theory that if they try hard enough they can become straight?) He crossed lines with other, other women but never the "ultimate line." What lines is he talking about? I'm sure he'll go into great detail in his next interview. He's become like a bizarro version of Bill Clinton, with his legalistic definitions of what constituted sex. WashPo's Ruth Marcus smartly points out that the "ultimate line is the one between thinking and doing."
TNR's Michelle Cottle has a post on the Sanford love story that is worth reading in its entirety. She writes:
What set Sanford's situation apart initially wasn't that he had fallen in love, but that he couldn't keep his mouth shut about it. Between all those rambling, purple-prose emails that leaked out and the man's verbal incontinence in talking about his Rendezvous with Destiny, he presented us with the old-fashioned romantic ideal of a man smitten beyond reason. You could almost picture him sitting by candlelight furiously scribbling out love letters to some Jane Austen heroine. Falling in love with one's Soul Mate isn't unusual, even in politics. Babbling on about it like an addled teenager is.
Amen. Now, as Cottle goes on to say, what happens going forward should be between him and his family. And it still can be if, please guv, he shuts up.
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Reader Comments
Playing around
Mark Sanford is just playing around...I mean he never even thought once of not one but 4 of his sons when he was day-dreaming..leave alone his poor wife. He made his choices consciously, and he needs to be responsible for that...He cannot be definatly trusted any more and should not be tolerated at that level of responsibility as a Governor...he will easily fall off for another tanned beautiful Argentinian girl...then Ms. Chapur will cut a sorry figure.
Soul Mate--what is source of this alibi phrase?
Religion invented the (non-existent) "soul." Then script-writers created entertainment on TV, radio and stage, mentioning "soul mates." The governor's old enough to have seen countless dramas about "soul mates" and how "losing a soul mate" is an "unbearable tragedy." His declarations sound like the dialog spoken by characters playing roles of adolescents in soap operas. If his counselors are about his age, it seems they soaked up a lot of "soul mate" drama. Review Christian broadcasting and find this theme repeated. Adulterous husbands or wives have no souls. They have physical relations connecting reproductive organs. Scripture tells believers to let God guide their lives. If God's Plan for them is to break marriage vows, they drag out the "soul mate" alibi. He's a corrupt elected public servant. That's why investigative journalists are benefiting us by giving us facts.
Right on, Muser, about his counselors
The governor proved he was weakened by years of being counseled by fellow Christians who worked from the same Bible-tweaked viewpoint. They seem to be part of tax-funded "faith-based" organizations. Taking money means they're PROFESSIONAL counselors. By failing to change his amoral behavior, they proved they're not qualified to follow that profession. Does he have grounds for a malpractice suit against them? We need godless lawmakers who refuse to waste taxes on these quacks.
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