GOP Gov Runs To Argentina

[crzyrazn]

I'm not a fan of Gov. Mark Sanford. All his years as governor of South Carolina he has done little to nothing for the state, except use it as a spring board for his small dramatics. Sanford has continually failed to improve the state or the lives of the people who live in South Carolina, which is the last in everything from economics to education. And after his toe to toe fight with the legislature and the White House to accept stimulus funds, his competency and politics was questioned even further in my mind. I'm not going to judge the man for his affair, but the circumstances surrounding it - running off to Argentina leaving the state leaderless for almost a week, the obvious cover up by his wife and staff, the lies told to the people of South Carolina - is evidence of his failure as governor, and his disregard for the people who voted for him and his state. I'm not calling for his resignation as governor yet, but at least this is the end of Mark Sanford.

On a side note, the speculation this might be a man is funny because the thought had crossed my mind as well.

 

[willie metcaffe]

The problem is really that he took off without informing anyone. Cell phone, Governor???

The Lieutenant Gov. sounded as though he wanted to smack the Gov. Well, he might get to do better than that.

I don't really care with whom he has affairs, except that the GOP offers all these pronouncements about being the moral party. Please.

Palin leaves another pretender in the dust!

 

[Apollo]

How was he elected? If you think you can just run off to Argentina while being governor and no one would notice...wow

 

[crzyrazn]

^How was he elected, you ask? Ask the people of South Carolina who keep kicking themselves in the ass.

 

[frankfrank]

An open message to the Republican Party:

STAND BY YOUR MAN!! Forgive him, please, and beg him not to resign - as y'all did with Larry Craig, etc.

And may the Repuke Party relegate itself to the rubbish bin of history in doing so.

 

[Sammie13]

Prominent Republicans John Ensign and Mark Sanford go up in flames just days apart.

Damn, why couldn't this have been an October surprise, right before an election?
The timing is all wrong.

These things somehow don't seem to bother Repubs....as I recall, Sen. Vitter of Louisiana still has his job after the sordid affair with a prostitute...and he is one of the MOST extreme right-wingers in the US Senate.

 

[SonOfSlobone]

​

 

[Red Storm]

I'm in South Carolina and I can assure you that Sanford is VERY much the Republican in Chief here. True he doesnt have many Republican friends and there's no Love-loss in the party. But don't be fooled, he's been supporting The Republican party on the Local,State and national level for the last 7yrs.

South Carolinians arent surprised by the news of an affair. We wrote him off as "odd" & "strange" years ago. He works the Governorship like a 9 to 5 job. He stays in the office, does not reach out to the public. He fights publicly with Jim Clyburn...The most we've ever seen him in the last 7yrs was after Obama's win...Months ago he made it his mission to be against the Obama administration and made sure the State new where he stood.


Other than the Stimulus & the affair he's been the "Invisible" Governor...Now he decides to come out of his shell in the worst way possible...And it's hard to believe he just turned 49..He looked really old today...

what has he said about gay marriage?

 

[cityboy-stl]

Don't ya just love republican family-values?

Just wait, you'll hear "Oh, he's only human"... blah, blah, blah.

Fucking hypocrites. Set themselves up as the moral arbiter of right and wrong for the country. Use "family values", "traditional marriage", "morals" to win elections and demonize everyone else. But when they get caught "they're only human".

Oh I know, some Jublican will bring up John Edwards or someone. He deserves what he got too. But he never used personal morality and values as a political tool like the entire fucking republican party does. Fucking immoral liars.

</rant>

 

[Sammie13]

I guess the question now is "did the governor use tax $'s to fly to Argentina on those several occassions?" I bet he did...I'm thinking he won't survive this scandal....especially since most of the SC GOP didn't like him anyway. Plus, it's going to be difficult to expect sympathy from the good people of the Palmetto State when he lacked sympathy for its down and out by turning down stimulus money (despite that South Carolina has consistently had the highest unemployment rate in the South during this recession). This could end up being a rare case where an actual GOP cheater has to step down just like the Democratic governors in New York and New Jersey in recent years. I just find it odd that the "moral" party allows their "sinner's" to slide, while the 'immoral' party gives the boot to its leaders who stray.

By the way, as a once ignorant John Edwards supporter in '04, I say he very much did use his family as a political tool...he most definitely paraded his family, the death of their son, and later his wife's cancer to evoke sympathy to garner votes. Edwards was a sleaze.

 

[frankfrank]

It will be interesting to see what Steve Colbert's analysis of this will be later tonight. He's a South Carolinian.

And a master at satire...

 

[Apollo]

The emails he was sending

http://gawker.com/5302286/mark-sanfords-hilarious-emails-of-seduction

 

[cityboy-stl]

...

Man you gotta stop getting your talking points from the muffingtonpost.

Oh...come on. Of course there's nothing wrong with advocating morals. What's wrong is being moralistic for the manipulative purpose of pandering to gain votes without having any real morals and being a hypocrite about it. Which has been, and still is the republican party as a whole save a few exceptions.

And John Edwards never used moralism to demonize the opposition with a "We're better than you" attitude like the republicans do. He used it as an inclusive tool to bring people together...even if he did turn out to be a creep.

 

[Jack Springer]

After reading some of the excepts from his emails to the woman -- it appears the man has some problems related to his self-worth and life. I would place him under a suicide watch.

I would also expect him to resign during the next week. I see him going back to his roots and away from the public eye. Almost sounds like self destruction.

 

[Jack Springer]

Sanctimonious Republicans don't resign.
Pay attention.

I refuse to pay your game of Republicans vs. Democrats. Politicians on both sides have screwed up a lot. We need to hold all of them accountable. Vote character -- not party.

 

[chatolandia]

But I see all the Politicians that have come forward with admissions of affairs lately lose their political positions


on both sides of the aisle, I mean, our governor quit over his expensive whore


and John Edwards' career is over (thank GOD!)


so what double standard are you talking about?


Bill Clinton? he is not an elected official anymore, and having GWB to follow his administration is really what helped him the most

 

[JayHawk]

The republican party needs to change their strategy. they are not becoming one of the guys and getting sympathy votes....

I mean really it must be the national platform.

 

[PabloZed]

These republican hypocrites reflect the moral decay of their supporters. The reason these men (and it seems to always be men) are able to rise to and stay in power is because the republican base is itself corrupt. If they actually cared about morality or values their leaders would reflect those values. When you consider that Ensign, Gingrich, Sanford and Palin are or were considered 2012 contenders and each one is morally bankrupt it is little wonder the party is shrinking. Of course the GOP standardbearer last time was also an adulterer.

 

[MisterMajestic]

Thanks for the heads up.

I'm guessing Sanford will now be no one's friend, especially the Republicans.

Well the Local Radio & News stations are blowing-up here in Columbia..Majority of the citizens want Sanford to resign. I guess lawmakers state-wide are half & half...

If it is true that the affair occurred after his 1st term as Gov. then I'm going to bite my Tongue and say he should NOT resign. I mean, if he broke any laws by using tax payer dollars to pay for the "pussy-trips" then I guess that's another story...

I'm very cautious about joining a Lynch-mob. I think he's been a "Do-nothing" Governor since he's been in office. He should have never been re-elected. I certainly did not vote for him and several of my Republican friends did not vote for him the 2nd time around.. But based on what we know he's broken his marriage vows and the trust that he had with his kids. I can easily say Sanford has issues with taking care of "home" and he's NEVER done anything worth-while for South Carolinians...

BUT....Somewhere along the way he lost his way in his marriage. I can't say I believe a man that breaks his marital vows while serving in office should resign or be impeached. I'm one of those voters that can give a "sitting" politician a chance to redeem himself by working on his marriage and rebuilding his family. As liberal as I am I'd be willing to give Sanford the chance to prove himself. But know this, if it is proven that Sanford visited that woman by using Tax payer dollars everything changes...

It just would not sit well with me knowing that we paid for his trips out of the country because he needed to see his woman...For his sake that better not be the case...

 

[grantt]

Has become all to commonplace. Just once i wish it was a congresswoman.