South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford went missing over the weekend, and nobody seemed to have a good explanation for his whereabouts. First he went hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Then it was, “Oh, he’s just eccentric, sometimes he just disappears.” Neither of those really flew, considering the guy is the governor of a state and can’t just disappear without a trace anytime he wants. So today he fessed up:
Now Sanford knows what it’s like to be in the shoes of, say, Bill Clinton. As Sam Stein at the Huffington Post notes:
The standard Sanford has set for other politicians over the years has been fairly high. A member of the House of Representatives during the heyday of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, he was often a harsh critic of the president for his marital misconduct.
This is “very damaging stuff,” Sanford declared at one point, when details of Clinton’s conduct became known. “I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally (to resign)… I come from the business side,” he said. “If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, he’d be gone.”
Explaining his decision to back impeachment articles against Clinton, he added, “I think what he did in this matter was reprehensible… I feel very comfortable with my vote.”
If Sanford still feels the same way about men stepping out on their wives, he should resign immediately. He’s already learned from John Edwards’ mistake and come clean about the affair. (Although there’s been a little bit more press speculation this time around. Hmm…) Now he needs to show that he truly regrets it and understands the consequences of such a breach of trust.
Whoa! Heavy stuff. Sorry, folks. I’ll have some wiener jokes later, I promise.
Update: Sanford’s wife says she kicked him out two weeks ago. Maybe Oscar Madison needs a new roomie…
Related posts:
- Greatest Hits From LeAnn Rimes’s Marital Bliss Tour I don’t listen to country music and I wasn’t going...
- The Harpies on The View Screech About Tiger’s Infidelity Yesterday on The View, Joy Behar defended Tiger Woods’s betrayal...
- Jon & Kate Plus Eight Ways to Deny Your Husband’s Infidelity Kate Gosselin — the unsympathetic nag of a mom and...
- Family Values? Well, You Can’t Start a Family Without Some of This… Hey, did you ever see those old Weekend Update segments...
- What Happens to Vegas Doesn’t Necessarily Stay in Vegas Sorry to keep picking on you, President Obama, but you...
Being a South Carolinian myself (I live in Laurens County, SC), and being someone who generally likes Sanford and agrees with about 85% to 90% of his positions, I agree that he should resign.
If he’s going to hold others to a high standard, then he should be subject to that standard himself.
My first thought was, HAHAHAHAHAH, what an idot! Then I thought, I wonder what the Argentinian girl looks like?
Vince’s statement is right on the money and they guy should resign and let all of his family members kick him right in the nuts on TV.
Just another politician who thinks the rules for everyday folk don’t apply to him. He needs to resign now.
Another idiot. Argentina? Without telling anyone? These are the types of people running the country and then they want us to hand over health care and the free market.
Hee! When will politicians FINALLY discover that their voters are not as stupid as the pols think they are?
Let’s play a game! We should see if we can relate every post on deceiver.com somehow relate back to John Edwards.
Well, if we’re being technical, he may have said Clinton should resign, but the man never did. So if we’re gonna compare this to the Clinton scandal, then he should not only not resign, but he should bomb an Aspirin factory to regain some of his lost approval ratings.
Let’s do that’s what we should do.
It takes two to Tango! (recycled comment from a JE supporter almost a year ago. Much more approrpiate with an Argentinian mistress).
What is it with all these Carolina’s politicians not being able to keep it in their pants?
I smell a lovechild here too. Anyone else?
Scott makes a good point… he also didn’t pound his fist and deny, deny, deny. Sanford, not Scott
Not that I have much defense for him (I still personally think something else is going on… even if he was going down there to break it off, as has been alleged, you don’t disappear unnoticed), but he’s not the president like Clinton was. He also hasn’t lied under oath about it.
That said, I’m kind of in the middle about whether he should resign. Based on what he said, it is hypocritical, but I’m tired of Republicans being thrown under the bus because they have morals and the Democrats being given passes because they simply have no morals to go against. (obviously, generalizations)
I don’t know if Sanford was referring to Clinton’s affair or the lying about it under oath, but Sanford should probably resign for the way he handled his disappearance.
Does Obama resign because he’s addicted to cigarette smoking yet condemns cigarette smoking?
If all the moral politicians resign, only immoral politicians are left.
Whatever happened to William Jefferson, the Representative from Louisiana who was found with $100k of FBI bribe cash in his freezer? He served out his term and is almost silently being tried as we speak (http://www.wxvt.com/Global/story.asp?S=10590544&nav=menu1344_2)
Whatever happened to Roland Burris, Obama’s replacement who blatantly misled Congress and was appointed by a pay for play Governor? Oh that’s right, he’ll serve out his term.
What? Resign? Why in God’s name? Just up and running off to Argentina to bang some (presumably) hot chick and not telling anyone? Awesome. Hey and if his wife kicked him out two weeks ago she’s got nobody to blame but herself. Dude needed a place to stay and I hear Argentina is lovely this time of year.
Come on if the Kennedys can get away with stuff like rape, rampant infidelity and killing young women in canals why not a Republican governor?
I won’t rest till we Republicans can do the same out in the open, out of the shadows.
Forget dumbocrats or republitarts, let us create a new par. Common Sense. Oh wait, that would just leave us deceiver readers….well some of us.
Stan and Vince got it absolutely right, as did Fortunate Son. But I’m sure John Edwards supporters will do whatever it takes to turn this into a vindication of his longstanding campaign to pull a Kennedy.
I am SO a Libertarian now.
He should resign for dereliction of duty, not for having an affair. When you’re governor of a state whose constitution doesn’t clearly allow the lieutenant governor to take over if the governor disappears, you can’t just disappear for a dirty weekend overseas. If a freak disaster had struck, what would he have done? What would anybody have done? Can’t deploy the national guard. Can’t request FEMA support from the President. Can’t ask for emergency powers. Can’t set someone up to coordinate state, county, and municipal agencies. Can’t do anything.
In fact, I would go so far as to say he’s probably not psychologically fit to govern. His wife found out about the affair (you can bet he didn’t admit to it up front) and threw him out two weeks ago. In a state of emotional confusion he drops what he’s doing, jumps on a plane and goes to the only woman he knows of that actually wants him. Instead of, you know, trying to reconcile with his wife and save his marriage. Clearly NOT the behavior of a man in his right mind.
Likewise, I doubt he came clean on his own initiative. His wife or one of her relatives was probably threatening to tell the public so they preempted the revelation as a form of damage control.
Throw the bum out.
Yea, Obama smoking while acknowledging it’s a bad habit is totally the equivalent of cheating on your wife and abandoning your office for a week. That’s GOP logic for you.
I am afraid that he’s saying it’s a girlfriend in order to hide a much more serious offense. Why should anyone care about a girlfriend? Going to Argentina is something that can’t be covered up. Perhaps he made up the girlfriend story to hide the fact that he is conspiring to smuggle North Korean nuclear weapons into the United States–or something equally threatening to the security of the country.
There’s a lot of voters who think using cocaine as Obama admits to in his book is much worse than sexual infidelity.
Every court in the United States agrees with them.
“I am SO a Libertarian now.”
Welcome!
I agree, Turgenev, and kind of meant to add earlier that the reason for his resignation should be mostly because of his disappearance. He could have gone to California for an In-N-Out Burger instead and it would still be a problem. Resigning to deal with the problems in his family would also be absolutely right.
Bill was in Argentina too.
NSFW
http://thesuperficial.com/2009/06/bill_clinton_paid_10000_for_th.php
I personally don’t care that Clinton was cheating on his wife since I’m sure she knew about it and he had been probably cheating on her for as long as they were married.
What annoyed me the most was NOW coming to his defense because he was pro-abortion despite the fact that he was having sex with the least powerful employee in the White House on company time in the company office. NOW usually thought that was a bad thing.
At least Sanford did it in another country to what I assume was not an intern. I hope no cigars were harmed either.
what a complete fool!!
Fortunate_Son…right on the money. Yeah he screwed up, but these clowns like Frank, Jefferson and Clinton stuck around. Finish out the term…and DON’T run for president. Gawd I wish these Repubs would stop boning chicks. You just kill the cause with that crap.
Fortunate Son, Obama was not in public office when he did cocaine. The same thing does NOT apply to Sanford with his bizarre disappearance and adultery. Also, Obama never used cocaine after finishing high school (he graduated in 1982); on the other hand, Sanford’s aforementioned controversies are contemporaneous. At least your mentioning of Obama’s smoking (as silly as that was in the context of a comparison to Sanford, as WTF pointed out) involved current behavior by him.
I was hoping he was taking part in the naked hiking on the Appalachian trail this past weekend. That would have been great. Instead he has hurt his family beyond repair. His marriage and career can likely not be salvaged. In light of his statements regarding others who have strayed… he should resign now.
I totally agree with Turgenev and Kristine. What Sanford did was not merely hypocritical; it was utterly irresponsible with regard not only to his own household, but his career and his state as well. Anyone who could or would do this needs to step down ASAP and shut up. He let the side down in a big way, and hanging on by his fingernails will only make it worse.
That said, we can surely look forward to a Mark Sanford Library and Gentlemen’s Club opening up somewhere in SC. I mean, you know, in the grand Clinton tradition. Or maybe Sanford has to rape/harass/kill a girl to really join the big leagues, to hang out with Clintons and Kennedys. It’s so cute when they do it.
And OF COURSE Clinton was pro-abortion. How do you think he expected to have the results of all his screwing around cleaned up, anyway? He and Hillary probably couldn’t have afforded to pimp out ALL his offspring on the campaign trail.
While I think infidelity is awful no matter the situation, I do see a slight difference in an affair with a common civilian and an affair with an intern, which could be seen as an abuse of power (although she did seem more than willing;she was a child in comparision who was most likely awe struck by the interest).
This is not about Bill Clinton, it’s about Mark Sanford, an egregious fool. As for his wife, her statement apparently came before the release of the steamy e-mails, so I wonder if she still thinks her wandering hubby has “earned” a reconciliation.
Also wondering why the SC newspaper sat on the e-mails since December. In this day and age, it doesn’t take 6 months to “authenticate” e-mails.
Wouldn’t it be something if Sanford’s mistress was also Bill Clinton’s stripper?
Double standards. Typical. Barney Frank can have a gay lover selling drugs and running a prostitution service out of his apartment and still retain not only his seat but continue to get eleceted to governement offices like overseeing Fanie Ma and Freddie Mac.
Damn, there needs to be an edit button to correct my spelling.
“This is not about Bill Clinton”
In many ways it is. What this scandal says to me is “double standard”.
Democrats who screw interns like bunnies get away with it because the media are down on their knees fellating them.
Republicans are scum for __________________ (fill in the blank).
Yeah, who was the tramp who said she’d happily blow Bill Clinton just for keeping abortions legal? Pretty typical. I think the double standard here is that when a Democrat does this, all we ever hear from the media is what a non-event it is, how his private life is none of our business and doesn’t affect his public “service”. If a Republican does something similar, he’s Chief Bootlicking Rentboy to the Hairy Host of Hell Itself. Either it reflects serious flaws in judgment and character for both Dems and Republicans, or it doesn’t matter one way or another for either one of them. Quit trying to have it both ways.
I’m right along with Bruce on all his posts here. I think the frustrating thing is the double standard in consequences, depending on the (R) or (D) after the name. Personally, I think anyone who cheats or steals is a bum, regardless of party, and should resign immediately; and that means you, Sanford! Unfortunately, most of the time only Republicans seem to have the decency to step down after scandals, while Democrats just keep on going about their business as if nothing happened.
What an idiot. Wouldn’t it have been easier to fly HER in? How did this retard become a governor? Did he think no one would notice him missing? Maybe for a couple of hours, but a week?
I thought he did resign as the head of the GOP Governor’s? I think he should resign as Governor, but only because that is what Republicans do. They resign. Democrats are kept in office yet yell at Republicans to resign even though they were once caught stepping out on their wives. Same double standard as everything else. Do as I say, not as I do.
And yes, Clinton bombed Afghanistan to get the media off of his back. Problem was, it was the wrong target.
meh. It’s obvious he couldn’t care less about his family, his career, or, anything.
And the guy is 49? I thought he was 63!
Um, let’s be a bit more honest about Barney Frank. I’ve been to the house Barney Frank’s ex-lover lived in (it’s in my neighborhood and it went up for sale a few years back so I toured the open house). Specifically, it’s a typical Capitol Hill row house, in that it has a separate apartment in the basement. It is totally separate from the main house, doesn’t share entrances, common space, or such. That’s where Frank’s ex boy-toy was turning tricks. And it was AFTER he and Frank had broken up. No one has ever been able to reasonably prove that Frank knew anything about it. And it was not ‘in Frank’s house’. It was in a separate apartment.
My point is that it’s not like Frank returned home from the Hill and had to push aside his former boy-toy and his tricks in order to make himself a little dinner or whatnot. It’s entirely conceivable that Frank knew absolutely nothing about it.
I’m not excusing it. I’m just saying let’s be factually honest here.
Kinda gives “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” a different feel to it now, unfortunately.
Actually, the reason Sanford probably went to Argentina is because in South Caroling it’s against the law to commit adultery:
SECTION 16-15-60. Adultery or fornication.
Any man or woman who shall be guilty of the crime of adultery or
fornication shall be liable to indictment and, on conviction, shall be
severally punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor
more than five hundred dollars or imprisonment for not less than six
months nor more than one year or by both fine and imprisonment, at the
discretion of the court.
SECTION 16-15-70. “Adultery” defined.
“Adultery” is the living together and carnal intercourse with each
other or habitual carnal intercourse with each other without living
together of a man and woman when either is lawfully married to some
other person.
Wow Notsosure. What was the address of that house, since you’ve been there?
I believe Barney Frank koew perfectly well one of his boyfriends was working for Fannie Mae at the same time Barney was on the House Banking Committee and working hard to get Fannie Mae to loan money to people who couldn’t pay it back.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432501,00.html
I think Barney new his other former boyfriend was a prostitute because that is how they met.
“Although Frank and Gobie differ in some details of their relationship, they agree on the story line. They met on April Fool’s Day 1985. The representative answered a classified ad in the Washington Blade, the local gay weekly. “Exceptionally good-looking, personable, muscular athlete is available. Hot bottom plus large endowment equals a good time.”
Then in his third term, the 45-year-old representative had not yet stated his homosexuality publicly. He paid Gobie $80 in cash for sex.
Gobie, then 28, was one of many young men “freelancing” in male prostitution”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/tours/scandal/gobie2.htm
I don’t believe Gov. Sanford committed perjury like Bill Clinton.
So, Marilyn…any guess as to when those laws were last enforced anywhere, much less South Carolina? (Islamic fundie “republics” don’t count, BTW.)
Sanford is now saying he ‘crossed the line’ with many women. Is he hell bent on destroying his family as well as his career. Glad to see he is finally being honest but her really needs to resign and get his house in order.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_on_re_us/us_sc_governor