DeMint Not Ready to Force Sanford to Resign
By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Now that he's had a couple of days to review the impact of Gov. Mark Sanford's affair and reconciliation with his wife, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint isn't pushing to have his friend kicked out of office. However, he said strongly in an interview that he is disappointed in the "conservative icon" who had been on several 2012 Republican presidential short lists.
"I'm going to try to call him today. I understood he had a good day with his wife yesterday," the senator said during an interview to discuss his upcoming book, Saving Freedom. "We've got to decide what's best for our state first right now. And I'm just very disappointed because Mark was somewhat of a conservative icon," said DeMint, himself a conservative leader in Washington.
Asked if the governor should step aside, DeMint said he's not ready to tackle that directly. But he seemed to suggest that he was against it. "Let's see what the speaker of the [South Carolina] House wants to do. We're going to elect a new governor next year. And doing something that's disruptive when we're in dire economic straits in our state—we need to minimize the attention on what the government's doing and kind of focus on getting jobs cranked back up again. I'm not sure that would be a good thing for any of us," he said.
"It's disappointing, but it reminds me that that it's not the people that I'm here to support, it's the principles," he added.
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Reader Comments
South Carolostintime
Sometimes I think there's hope for places like South Carolina, and sometimes...
My goodness, Rachel. It's OK to pull people over for DWH (Driving While Hispanic) because some Hispanics are here illegally?
I'd love to see the shoe on the other foot -
"What's the problem, officer? I wasn't speeding or anything."
"Well, Miss 'Rachel', if that really is your name, you were going three miles an hour over the limit. Between you and me, though, we did some checking and 75% of crimes in our town are committed by white people, so we're pulling over every white person we don't recognize as a precaution. Now get out of the car, put your hands on the hood, and spread your feet while my partner pats you down. It's OK if I search your car and your purse, isn't it?"
Sound like fun?
DEMINT
Maybe you need to worry more about the people of this state and what they think, Demint, rather than you're ideaology. you can be canned too. Call a spade a spade, quit being a hypocrite, and holier than thou. Your buddy has done NOTHING in 8 yrs but make excuses, he's no leader, no uniter. people are sick of it!
He's embarrassed our state, has no economic plan, no vision for this state, only excuses, and time to run around for his won selfish reasons. It's all about him, and his "maverick" BS image and all the hyperbole and no substance.
The gop needs to quit protecting the flag of a defunct nation, raise the tobacco tax, care about public education and actually set foot in the schools (unlike your buddy), have an economic plan and get this state moving or you'll continue to lose support while you implode.
Mrs Sanford
Yes Mark Sanford was caught cheating. He is only human and like so many politicians, Democrats and Republicans thinks he can get away with anything. I have always been a supporter of Mark Sanford. What he was trying to do with the stimulus money to pay down our state debt made sense. I am unemployed by the way. How will we pay for all of these things when the stimulus money is gone? South Carolia has had Democratic govenors before and our education system has always been bad. Remember Dick Riley? And about the Hispanics being stopped by law enforcement, if they would buy insurance, get drivers license and pay taxes like the blacks and whites do, then they would not have a problem.
I did not like what Govenor Sanford did to his family. The people of SC our secondary to that. I think he can still govern. He only has a year left. Then he can fly off to Argentina.
Jenny Sanford is a remarkable woman. She has grace and dignity and did not lie about her husbands whearabouts. She did have a pretty good idea where he was. Thank goodness she did not stand by his side at the press conference. Good for her she is not concerned with his career! Maybe she should take over for as govenor of SC,
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