Jeez. This lightweight religion kills me! Couldya at least quote Jesus? Not Snagglepuss:
And, speaking of Mark Sanford, after I'd said this...
[Link, replacing embedded video.]
... it really hurt yesterday to hear Rush Limbaugh say this:
The latest from the chicks in the State-Run Media is, hey, wait a minute, you know, this guy loved her. This is not like Clinton. This is not like the Breck Girl.... So you've got the Breck Girl, you've got Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, and they're all, "Yeah, I didn't love 'em. No way did I love them."....
But this chick, Jocelyn Noveck: "If you're a governor who's in the doghouse for marital infidelity, is it better to have loved and lost or never to have loved at all? Granted, South Carolina's Gov. Mark Sanford may be too busy to wonder... but to some one of the most fascinating aspects of our --" No. It's fascinating to the chicks in the Drive-Bys. "One of the most fascinating aspects of our nation's latest ritual public apology from a straying politician is that Sanford, unlike many straying politicians before him --" spit, spit, "-- seems to really be in love with the object of the straying. Stephanie Coontz, a professor of family studies at Evergreen State College in Washington state --" how did they find her? Evergreen what? Evergreen State College? She said, "Yup, he's got it bad. There's enough out there to make you realize he just has a head-over-heels crush on this woman.
"Could the 'love factor' ultimately play a role in helping get this governor the forgiveness he seeks? To family therapist Elana Katz, the fact that Sanford displays passion, be it true love or mere infatuation, doesn't make his behavior more excusable or forgivable. But it might make it more explainable. "'All those things they say about love being blind - well, it's true, love changes us chemically,' says Katz, who counsels couples and families at New York's Ackerman Institute. 'People get into complicated situations.'" The whole thing is about it's a good thing he loved the woman, he loved her. The chickification of the news. It's on display all over....
Do you understand what's happened to the news? The chickification of the news. This guy's a Republican. Normally he would be roasted at the spit by now. He'd be politically finished. You've got women in the news propping him up because he loves the babe. I find that incredible and quite telling and, frankly, I find it a little interesting at the same time.
Posts
102 comments:
Hey, I went to Evergreen State! It's one of the best liberal arts colleges in America -- always ranked as one of the top ten.
Stephanie Coontz is always asked for comments. You see her name everywhere in cases like these. She is a specialist in family stuff, and wrote a book about the history of marriage.
Governor Sanford was struck by the thunderbolt -- just like what's-his-name in The Godfather.
He didn't rent young women like Spitzer. He didn't shtup an aide's wife like Ensign. He didn't tap his toes in a toilet like Craig. He was swept away on a tide of passion.
Sounds like Limbaugh is channeling rhhardin...
That was Michael Corleone, while he was in Sicily.
That was fiction.
Sanford is an idiot who needs to go away. I think Snagglepuss will be a saint in the church of Michael Jackson.
If Rush’s experience in that department is any indication, I say he let a little bitterness slip out.
Rush should've let himself fall in love with Althouse back when he had a chance.
People need to open themselves to love more.
Unless they are already married.
In which case, certain restrictions apply.
BTW, does anybody have a picture of this woman?
I red she has a "cuerpazo".
Maguro said...
"Sounds like Limbaugh is channeling rhhardin..."
I'm pretty sure Althouse would like to give Rush a hug.
"Stephanie Coontz is always asked for comments. You see her name everywhere in cases like these. She is a specialist in family stuff, and wrote a book about the history of marriage."
I think what Rush was doing there was resisting a devilish urge to riff on her name and it just took him a little while.
Personally, I am glad Sanford is staying.
He is doing the right thing.
It is the way God would of wanted it.
Same with Vitter. God would of wanted it.
And as republicans we have a personal hotline to God.
I’m withholding judgment on the governor until I see the body of evidence ;)
I just spoke to God today and he told me NKVD wanted to sniff my pussy. But I told God only if NKVD licks my ass can he sniff my pussy.
I feel very sorry for the Professor from the Blue Angel. Not really thrilled with the idea of him being my governor.
Ann,
I don't think it should "hurt" to hear Rush say what he said. I don't think he was necessarily running down the female sympathy factor as much as he was pointing out a double standard in the media with regard to affairs.
What he was saying was that Edwards, Clinton, et al, got a pass completely, while a Republican would have been pilloried for the same behavior. But there's a curious phenemenon at work here where the double standard seems to be ameliorated by the sympathy factor.
Rush is quite right: it's an incredible phenemenon at work to see a crack in an otherwise knee-jerk, anti-Republican media facade because Sanford appears to have genuine feelings for his paramour.
This would have all turned out much better had he learned to focus his passion on model trains or Civil War memorabilia.
Not even sure I'd want to take a class from him.
The South will rise again!
And Mark Sanford will rise again too!
a devilish urge to riff on her name
Not to mention suspense novelists Dean Koontz and Stephen Coonts. C/Koonts/z have provided me hours of enjoyment.
Back to my high powered, very strategic, six figure career that requires thoughtful analysis and partnering with executives within my Fortune 100 oranization.
organization.
My dog's alive too.
Edwards, Clinton, et al, got a pass completely
Their sin was to leverage sex from a business relationship. Sanford and his girlfriend had no other relationship.
There's a whole Imus segment on upcoming Koontz the guest. real audio.
What exactly Ann do you mean by "lightweight religion"?
The news is chickified because women are the loyal audience, not out of a theoretical preference for their tastes.
It's not even most women. It's just enough of them to survive on.
The political question is answered by the judgment that a love smitten story beats an evil republican story with women.
It's not a puzzle, in other words. Follow the advertising dollars.
former law student said...
Edwards, Clinton, et al, got a pass completely
"Their sin was to leverage sex from a business relationship. Sanford and his girlfriend had no other relationship."
fls makes the most important point. Sanford betrayed his marriage. Clinton, et al betrayed the principle of equal opportunity in the workplace - a far greater secular sin.
"Governor Sanford was struck by the thunderbolt -- "
Maybe... but he went out to walk around in the rain and told himself that it was just *rain* after all.
You know, lay off this guy. The reason men run off for some strange is because someone isn't taking care of business on the home front. Why run out to Baker's Square when there is some fresh pie at home? Take the damn thing out of the freezer ok?
Look ladies, men stray when you stop paying attention to us and it always happens after the 'I dos'. You guys get a giant karat diamond and we get the world's smallest handcuff. Every mate I know whose gotten some takeout has been because cicadas get more action than they do.
Rush is adding a chickification story right at this instant.
And another thing, you lassies are a bunch of hypocrits too. When a lass goes out for sausage it's always justified cause the old man is married to his job, isn't interested anymore, blah, blah blah. Then they make romantic movies about it, write songs, ballads and epic poems and the next thing you know it's a Lifetime movie and every broad wants a Bridges of Madison County moment in their life.
Guy goes out for some tang and he's a no good dirty two-timing pig. It's all a conspiracy.
Thurber and White's Is Sex Necessary? has a chapter on how to tell love from passion. p.52
rhhardin and I couldn't be further apart politically, but we both love Thurber, and here, we both agree, I think. Why give this guy a pass? Jesus. He's a cheat, and a liar. He was irresponsible with his office, and he used taxpayer dollars (Conservatives, what's happened to you people????) to fund his booty calls.
But he looooooved her! Oh, I could vomit.
Dannyboy... don't EVER get married. Okay?
And dogs. rhhardin and I both love dogs.
There are lots of Kuntzes in New Orleans. It must be an old name here, as there's also a little turn of the century office building, the Kuntz Building.
Dannyboy... don't EVER get married. Okay?
Its not in my genetic makeup. I have too much passion in me for just one woman to enjoy. It just simply would not be fair to the rest. It can be a burden at times but I accepted the calling long ago.
Titus, you are the best commenter here, so we know that God speaks directly to you.
God and Althouse love you, so keep up the good work.
(Conservatives, what's happened to you people????)
If he does not resign, he should be impeached, IMO.
...so when did the Governor stop loving his wife (and shouldn't that bother us a little)?
Why give this guy a pass? Jesus. He's a cheat, and a liar. He was irresponsible with his office, and he used taxpayer dollars (Conservatives, what's happened to you people????) to fund his booty calls.
What do you mean 'you people'? I don't see many conservatives standing up for the guy. Then again its not like he was trying to sell a senate seat or something like that.
The guy selling a senate seat isn't governor still, is he?
"For God to really work in my life I shouldn’t be getting off so lightly."
DINGO: [sigh] Oh, wicked, wicked Sanford. Oh, he is a naughty person, and he must pay the penalty. And here in South Carolina, we have but one punishment for hiking the Appalachian trail. You must tie him down on a bed and spank him.
GIRLS: A spanking! A spanking!
DINGO: You must spank him well. And after you have spanked him, you may deal with him as you like. And then, spank me.
AMAZING: And spank me.
STUNNER: And me.
LOVELY: And me.
DINGO: Yes, yes, you must give us all a good spanking!
GIRLS: A spanking! A spanking! There is going to be a spanking tonight!
You were right, Althouse, up to a point. Sanford went off the rails not with the affair but with the back tracking and the slobbering apology. If love is so compelling, why grovel when it has consequences. Love always has consequences, many of them not positive, whether you are cheating or available. Man up, Gov.
As to Rush, it's hard to tell what he's saying (which is not usually the case with Rush.) I detect a twinge of envy.
There's been allusions to it but is there any proof he spent any taxpayer dollars on this?
The allegation keeps getting repeated but what money and how much?
Oh yeah, he's stricken. She must have some powerful pheremones for them to work from 5000 miles away.
Sanford needs to dump his wife, marry the Argentinian girlfriend, and then run for President.
Lars, he said himself he spent tax money. He's pledged to repay it - now that it came to light, of course.
The guy selling a senate seat isn't governor still, is he?
No, but the guy who was buying is still U.S. Senator from Illinois, committed perjury about whether he'd had "conversations" with anyone from the Blago camp,and STILL got a "pass" (ain't this country great, if you've just got the right skin color and the right friends?).
Did somebody say Clinton and Edwards got a pass? Clinton, the bastard, got us W, and I don't expect to see Edwards any time soon.
Anyway, on Sanford, I'll go with Phil Nugent. "The detached, self-celebratory quality of the speech matched up all too well with last week's press conference, where what looked to some like a man stumbling through a heartfelt, soul-searching moment looked to the rest of us like a goofball trying to get us to share in how thrilling it was to cast himself in an episode of Fantasy Island."
The guy selling a senate seat isn't governor still, is he?
No he't not Beth but I think in the grand scheme of things, banging some Argentinian babe behind your wife's back isn't quite the same as Blago. One is abusing your marital vows and the other is abusing the power of the governor's office.
Until I see that he actually broke any laws, he's just another in a list of politicians who enjoy the rock star status of getting some on the side. As if this is something new.
I think Beth has pretty well nailed it--he was paid to govern the state, not fly down south looking for the argentian tail--oops, I meant appalachian trail.
When the little head takes over the throught process, the man's IQ approaches that of a rutabaga.
And what is it with these political wives? Clinton, Vitter, Craig, Sanford, Spitzer, Edwards---they can't bring themselves to kick the bums out? Is there some kind of pathological condition?
Beth,
Just because I'm lazy, er, I mean, busy at work (!), can you post a link or two about the "using state funds" aspect?
Sanford went AWOL--from his responsibilities as Governor of South Carolina AND as father of four young males AND as a husband.
The "but I was in love" excuse is not even acceptable when used by a hormone crazed adolescent male. I applaud Jenny Sanford's actions during this family crisis. Grow up, Mark Sanford!
And what is it with these political wives? Clinton, Vitter, Craig, Sanford, Spitzer, Edwards---they can't bring themselves to kick the bums out?
They have asked themselves the quintessential Ann Landers question, "Ask yourself, would your life be better with him or without him?"
And they've decided they're better off with him.
I guess I'm simply desenstized over the whole extramarital affair in politics thing. I blame Clinton since he proved you can still govern well while getting blowjobs.
Rush is saying watch out for this. I, too, have said Ann takes the wrong position on these kinds of issues:
Sanford has a wife and kids - and she feels sympathy for Sanford?
Talk about you misplaced priorities,....
Meade - Dude - what are you doing?
Kirk, I'm confused. You can post on Althouse at work, but can't google?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/us/26sanford.html
Roger, I think Sanford's wife did kick him out. And she didn't do the perp walk with him up to the podium to confess his sins. She's playing hardball, as far as I can see - not at all an Elizabeth Edwards or Spitzer wife.
btw, sanford admits to additional hook ups with the other woman.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_on_re_us/us_sc_governor
So far it is only one woman, though.
And Ann, I will defend you. Its kind of better and worse to have a love affair.
I mean Bill Clinton just used those women. They were just places to stick his thing into. So at least Sanford seemed to have some respect for his lover. I wouldn't be shocked if he ends up marrying her down the road.
But on the other hand, there are more than a few women who would say that cheating for just sex is less painful than finding out that he actually loved her.
Either way, he is scum, though.
"I have too much passion in me for just one woman to enjoy."
Yes, of course... which is why you insist that a man who strays from his one woman does so only because she won't give him any.
My advice not to get married is not because you're a man-slut. It's because you insist on blaming man-slut-ness on women.
Wait - I just figured it out:
Meade IS Mark Sanford!!!
He has to be! There is no way a guy can hear a woman defend adultery and think "I'ma marry her!" otherwise - unless he's thinking he'll get a pass when he pulls that shit. (And would Ann blog that? I did Hell, I wouldn't be blogging without it. Something tells me, artist or no, Ann ain't that brave or honest,...)
You guys inhabit a very bizarre world that I will never be able to come to terms with,...
Beth, that's the "lazy" part.
Thanks for the link. I'm a bit confused by this part: “While the purpose of this trip was an entirely professional and appropriate business development trip”, but I suppose that's just standard CYA boiler-plate. Otherwise, if the trip really was legitimate, why not take the Clintonian approach?
He looooved her? Seems to me he claimed to have looooved Mrs Sanford first. Enough that she took his bleeping name. I wish people would just admit they're insane and cruel, instead of trying to cover it up with this dreck:
Sometimes a girl
Will come and go
You reach for love
But life wont let ya know
That in the end
Youll still be lovin her
But then shes gone
Youre all alone
Sign of pain
Is on my face, well
My hearbeat stops
But I wont take the blame, no no
I gave her all the love I had within
My love was strong
Somethin went wrong, no! no!
It takes a fool to learn
Yes sir
That love don't love nobody
Love love love love love love
It takes a fool to learn
Yes it does, girl
That love don't love no one
That love don't love no one
It takes a fool to learn
Stop to think about it, well
That love don't love nobody
Oh! Oh no!
It takes a fool to learn
When youre down and out, shout about it
That love don't love no more
Tell the world, oooh babe
No more...
Ohhhhhh, babe
It takes a fool to learn
Gotta be more careful about myself
That love don't love nobody
It takes a fool to learn
Woah baby, took me a long time to learn, to learn, well
That love don't love no one
It takes a fool to learn
I was a fool, you were a fool
That love don't love nobody
Now we got love, we need love
It takes a fool to learn
"Love Don't Love Nobody" by The Spinners
I listen to this crap all day, at work, and it drives me insane to think people accept it as the best we can offer one another. It's merely bad art, bad advice, and a bad life.
There is no way a guy can hear a woman defend adultery and think "I'ma marry her!" otherwise - unless he's thinking he'll get a pass when he pulls that shit.
Wrong.
For women, the general rule is one lover at a time. Adultery is strictly verboten -- unless, the love has gone away, and the relationship is in name only. And then of course, in a sense it is not adultery.
Now, meade and althouse are experiencing passionate love at midlife, just as sanford and the argentinian lady are (did). Therefore, Sanford and his girlfriend are kindred spirits.
I also automatically assume that when the guy is caught stepping out, the trouble is that he's not able to get any at home.
The girl probably laughed at his jokes; in general showed she was satisfied with him, which is what the wife long ago stopped doing.
That made her magical instead of his wife.
The choice for the man then is how stoical he can be; it almost decouples from virtue at that point.
The evil piggish man narrative is aimed at a specific audience.
Men are really pussies, and the women have the power.
Kirk, there's more on that out there. I'm not a news aggregator, though, so if you want to follow the story, you should do so.
Oh dear. Synova I was speaking for myself and not for mankind in general.
I’m just standing up for the guy because we live in a society in which everything is the man’s fault. If he strays it is because he’s an unfaithful pig and not perhaps, possibly, even maybe because the woman of the house decided to give their sex life a sabbatical and he’s supposed to sit back like a clipped gelding and accept it. Well phooey to that.
But fear not, my first true love cured me of any silly notion of matrimony. After three glorious years I was unceremoniously dumped after giving my devotion to one special lass. After a couple of months of drunken stupor and feeling sorry for myself I counted my blessings that I still had my house, car, bank account and goldfish. So since then I decided not to put myself in a situation where I will either have to suffer the double whammy of a broken heart and spousal support or decide that I have to order takeout because she decides to retire the candy store. Now like the Ghost of Christmas present, I spread my love and passion to all that are in need. Well all females anyway. You guys have that Titus character if you need some.
The chickification of the news - and of life - is really NewAge emotionalism corrupting reality. The ability to explain away the most heinous shit imaginable because of how you "feel".
Ann doesn't show sympathy for Mrs. Sanford, or her kids, or his millions of constituents, or his political party - that was considering getting behind him for president - or anybody but the guy who stiffed them all for a blowjob. Incredible.
Sorry, Ann, but I've been through this:
After my ex-wife killed her mother and ran away (in looooove) with the quack, people like you refused to believe me when I told them what she'd done. You're just too macho to deal with the fact she fell in in love" they said. (I posted one of her friends missives from that period with it's teacly "love of your life" bullshit - after I was with the woman for 20 years.)
But what did all those geniuses say once she and the quack got busted for killing two more people? Nada. Zip. They were worthless human beings before and even more worthless after. How many lives were literally destroyed because none of them could understand and/or respect the concept of marriage - and defend that, above and beyond this foolishness you're spouting?
People like you are dangerous in ways you hardly understand - and don't want to know. You want people like me to suffer. That's what everyone with no respect for the simple concept of right and wrong are all about: flipping this world on it's head to make you feel comfortable for what you and you alone want - damn anyone just trying to get through this.
I'm hardly racial but it even bugs me that you would write about racism (like with Sotomeyer) when you've got a black man, almost every day, saying, in one way or another, stop hurting us - and you blithely refuse. You're going to get married for the second time? Fine - I'm going to get 6 black girls pregnant and not be a father to any of them - because that's what I want. Sounds like a fair trade, oh compassionate one, right?
For a law professor, you make no sense.
The Crack Emcee:
You seem to be in some kind of personal pain.
Not sure what it has to do with me, but if you want to drop your pseudonym and have a private conversation with me, you can email me at meadelaurence(at)gmail(dot)com
It's just nuts that Senator "Huckleberry" Graham said on Sunday that Sanford can probably keep his office if he reconciles with this wife?
WTF? His relationship with his wife is not at issue. That's a private matter.
The public matter is the abuse of public funds and abdication of duties when he went AWOL to see his sweetie.
And right there is a gulf in views between left and right.
It's just nuts that Senator "Huckleberry" Graham said on Sunday that Sanford can probably keep his office if he reconciles with this wife?
I agree that that shouldn't have anything to do with anything. Did the man abuse his position (ie, using government funds for his personal life). According to Beth, yes. Did he run away without telling anyone? Sounds like it.
I think that if he was abusing his power in a way the people of SC feel is impeachable, then they should do it. If not, then the people have a chance to vote him out at the next election, if they decide that his personal issues are relevant.
I think the reason his schmoopyness is so fascinating is because it's unusual, not because people condone his affair. And without any evidence, I don't think you can say whether he or his wife are responsible for the love lost between them. He is responsible for his actions, which were wrong.
They gotta rehabilitate Sanford so he can run in 2012. Unlike Pawlenty, Palin, and Romney, Sanford polls well with Hispanic women.
Shanna, I agree. It's up to the voters in his state right now, or to their elected representatives if there's evidence of some sort of impeachable offense. If he wants to step onto the national stage, then we're all in the game.
Of course, McCain was considering him last year and, like Edwards, he let that go forward. Both of them had to know that their affairs would doom their campaigns. Selfishness is a big part of the whole cheating thing.
1. Another case of GOP hypocrisy with regard to "Family values"
2. Abuse of public funds and going AWOL for a week.
Either way the guy is toast, ha aha ha let the cackling Kos Kidz cackle.
Good grief, it was just some sex lies. Can't we all just moveon.org?
Pogo:
If he does not resign, he should be impeached, IMO.
Why?
It's just about sex, and everybody lies about sex.
His sex life is none of our business.
/double standard
fwiw, I don't think Pogo is pushing a double standard in his call for Sanford to resign.
This fella' is just chock full of interesting quotes....I am particularly drawn to:
"when trust of any form is broken one lays down the sword,” Sanford wrote in the message"
Ahhh the problem appears to be that the good Governor failed to 'lay down the sword' and got confused and use the sword for a lay. I gather he failed to lay down the sword and now has taken up the cause of the southern male idiot...hey..i confessed...i'm absolved...
“While it would be personally easier to exit stage left, their point has been that my larger sin was the sin of pride.”
having lived shortly in the south and visiting my parents there often, this appears to be just another good ol' boy logic run amuck....NO YOU ASSHOLE. your larger sin was the sin of not keeping your zipper zipped and cheating on your wife and family. you might have a lot of pride in "god knows what and he ain't telln'" but you oaf, its misplaced and entirely mislabeled.
get a good erection and stick it up your hypothetical ass.
There are lots of Kuntzes in New Orleans
My boss's s-i-l was a Klutz. I thought he was joking at first, but she still uses it as her middle name on checks.
ALL ARE APPROPRIATE;
John 8
1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
KRISTOFFERSON
Comin' close together with a feelin' that I've never known before, in my time.
She ain't ashamed to be a woman, or afraid to be a friend.
I don't know the answer to the easy way she opened every door in my mind.
But dreamin' was as easy as believin' it was never gonna end.
And lovin' her was easier than anything I'll ever do again.
THE ZOMBIES
Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
The way she'd act and the colour of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool
Her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there
Now he says 7 trips to Argentina not3 trips and he crossed the line with a handful of other women.
I like this guy.
In busted, veritas.
Jenny is his beard.
Evita is his "soul mate".
Enough said.
How many is a handful of other women? He sounds kind of slutty.
When watching Sanford's lack of fear, it is necessary to remember that he is a lifelong Episcopalian. That means that he is assured of forgiveness and acceptance from God and his community. The anger at him comes from the natural feeling that God should enforce his rules with a little more punishment than Sanford is experiencing. Grace is an offense to the keepers of the law that came thru Moses. I believe it says that "Grace and truth came thru Jesus". Sanford seems comfortable in revealing truth now and recieving grace of restoration thru the sacrifice on the Cross. What a frustrating thing for a God to do! Of course Mrs Sanford is not thru with him yet.
Someone here inferred that Clinton and Edwards got off easy. Ummm, no they didn't. Clinton's presidency was completely derailed toward the end and Edwards went down hard.
Meanwhile Sanford chugs along. This is a man who went out of his way to condemn Clinton and now he walks in the same shoes. But will he step down? No way. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
I just hope his wife leaves him. She's shown good sense so far.
I wouldn't mind watching Jenny and Maria do it.
Are you with me mens?
Edwards went down hard
And he apparently wasn't big enough to cushion his landing.
He did manage to run for president during his affair, while courting the sympathy vote for his ill wife.
Edwards went down hard
She didn't complain until he came up for air.
(Sorry, was channeling Titus for second.)
You know Miss Argentina has a full Brazillan.
Jenny probably doesn't and that's how she lost her man.
A sad tale but should remind everyone to keep their bush trimmed.
Beth, I don't think Sanford promising to pay back the state can automatically be read as an admission that he used state money to conduct the affair. He was on state business at the time and simply took advantage of the situation. But, yeah, it does look an awful lot like a convenient pretext. If he really wasn't on legitimate business at the time, I think he ought to be kicked out by the SC legislature. Otherwise, he's scum, but it should be his call whether he leaves prematurely or not.
Kylos said..."Beth, I don't think Sanford promising to pay back the state can automatically be read as an admission that he used state money to conduct the affair."
When was the last time you ever heard of a politician paying back anything he or she didn't know they had to?
You think he's just offering up his own dough...because he's such an honorable guy?
Sure...
Rush Limbaugh - "He could have been our JFK..."
Suddenly Rush is a JFK fan?
Hypocrisy.
I don't know why, but I keep hitting the link when a new story crops up on this guy Sanford. Now he's admitting to other affairs that stopped short of sex - is that Clintonian/Gringrichian sex? If so, pffffft. Putting your penis in someone's mouth until you orgasm is sex.
And he won't shut up! Now he's saying the Argentinian woman is his soulmate but he's "trying to fall in love" again with his wife.
I hope his wife doesn't fall for that. He's humiliating her and generally pissing all over their vows in public every time he opens his yap.
See, Beth, why should I go look when you are here to do the work for me. And nasty work it is too--I surely owe you something or other for wading through that.
And Jeremy,
"When was the last time you ever heard of a politician paying back anything he or she didn't know they had to?"
Exactly, that's why I said what I said about--it's just CYA boiler-plate. He can say it was a legitimate business trip, and hope that statement gets reported far and wide, then pay the reimbursement and never have that claim subject to actual scrutiny.
Sanford can play this any way he wants to. He can ditch the wife and kids and Gov's office and marry the Argentina Latina and make her into Wallis Simpson.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_Simpson
Or he can ditch the wife and kids and marry the Argentina Latina and remain Gov, all while in office, the Sarkozy strategy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarkozy
The longer he tries to love his wife the worse it is for him, if it doesn't work out eventually...unless the celebrity death binge continues ad infinitum.
Liz...The Sullivan's Island Sanfords are more like the rich characters in The Great Gatsby than they are like you and me. Charleston's elites live there. In Charleston their traditions still tend to the aristocratic English. It's like Ontario with a southern accent. The question is how they will keep the upstate vote, but frankly my dear they don't give a damn.
Jeremy, I have very little regard for Sanford's behavior in all this. But since I don't enjoy the life of a sneering skeptic, I'll leave that up to you. Instead, I find that not jumping to conclusions can help one arrive at more accurate conclusions when all the facts have come in.
Beth, yeah, he needs to shut up. What he's saying isn't helping him any.
It's ok for Sanford to be delusional about his love life, but he is also delusional about his political viability. His career is over.....It's a fine melodrama and, as these things go, not especially tawdry. Nonetheless, he's cooked....During the Profuomo scandal of the sixties, there was a British minister who resigned in disgrace and spent the rest of his life doing work at a settlement house as a form of penance. Stanford has confessed (partially probably) but he has not yet done his penance. He started out looking human but he looks more and more like a politician.....Teddy Kennedy and Bill Clinton paid for their scandals in counterfeit money and at a steep discount. They are the reason guys like Sanford and Spitzer think they can get away with their crap.
Paying for the trips makes sense. After all, when is *any* politician's trip anything but voluntary? There may be legitimate business involved but it's always optional business. All those Senators and Congresspersons flying to Iraq? Any idea what that cost taxpayers? (Also counting all the soldiers pulled from duty in connection to it.) It might have been useful for them, but there is a difference between useful, even *defensible*, and necessary.
Even if Sanford (usually) found some way to justify the trips and do some business... but he should still pay because the alternative is dragging over each trip and trying to show that *enough* business was done to make it necessary... and it just never is.
(Not defending him... but really, the pledge to pay makes a whole lot of political sense.)
No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with...
-- Kristen, age 10
via Theo Spark.
Wow--what did I say last night about the "legitimate business purpose" not being a legitimate defense in this case?
Sanford backs out of promise to release records, says the AP.
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