So you may have heard that yet another prominent Republican politician, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, admitted to having an affair today.
** Insert snark about Republican leaders "defending" marriage here **
Then go read Shark-Fu's post on the subject. (It's actually about Nevada Sen. John Ensign, but the sentiment applies to Sanford, too.)
Sanford has been booted from the speakers line-up at the uberconservative Values Voter Summit this year. And speaking of values, I have to quote my colleague Tim Fernholz, who makes an important point:
It took an admittedly sensational story about Governor Mark Sanford's personal life to get the national press to converge on South Carolina and declare his political career "over" due to "values" issues. (Whatever, he wouldn't be the first southern governor to be a come back kid after marital infidelity). But when he attempted to deny much needed unemployment funding to people suffering under the recession while cutting school funding and the social safety net, in the name of an economically-baseless austerity policy that involved telling his weakest constituents to effectively drop dead, well, those decisions didn't threaten his political career or reflect on his values. That made him a "star" in the GOP. Priorities, priorities.
Word.
Finally, I was glad to see neither Ensign's nor Sanford's wife did the ol' "stand by your man" routine at the mea culpa press conferences. Hope this is a new trend of politicians standing on their own when they apologize for their personal indiscretions.
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His wife must feel humiliated. I wish that this wouldn't happen, and I wish that when it did happen, like it happened with John Edwards and Bill Clinton, that we didn't have to hear the blow-by-blow details.
And can we stop trashing such a wonderfully beautiful and poignant song. "Stand By Your Man" might not be the feminist anthem, but it is an absolutely wonderful song and sentiment sung by one of my heroes, Tammy Wynette.
I'll just get out of they way and let the tasteless trashing ensue. It always does.
I don't think that pointing out the song's relevance to a current political moment is really akin to "trashing it." I love Tammy Wynette, too.
I wasn't trying to say that you were trashing it. I meant can "we" as a community stop trashing it.
I'm sure you're aware of the song's sordid history in the feminist movement, which began when it was released, and was echoed in Hillary Clinton's interview in the '90's. It still echoes today. It seems to me that the song gets bandied about, and I guess I'd just rather enjoy it on a more personal level. I apologize for any misunderstanding.
Oh. And I also meant that the trashing that I expected to ensue would be along the lines of trashing politicians who cheat on their spouses. That said, I think the whole thing is despicable.
I can't comply with your request to not "trash" the song.
I finally listened to the whole song today, and was struck by this line:
"'Cause after all he's just a man"
Fantastic. So, he shouldn't be held accountable for his actions because after all he's just a man.
Well I smile when I hear that line. Pretty funny to me.
"He's just a man" line
not meant to excuse men, it's
double entendre
Well, when you run a political career and all your campaigns based on "values" instead of reasoned policy neutral of morality drawn from a theology, you're doomed to never live up to them.
Which is why Republicans are so sucky. And some Democrats too.
It's especially sad when the wives and children are the victims of these politicians' philandering. Having your marriage fall apart in the public eye due to lies and infidelity must be painful and humiliating.
However, I can't help but chuckle that the closest place this man could think of to cheat was Argentina. Couldn't he be a cheating philanderer in South Carolina?
Outsourcing.
I wasn't trying to say that you were trashing it. I meant can "we" as a community stop trashing it.
I'm sure you're aware of the song's sordid history in the feminist movement, which began when it was released, and was echoed in Hillary Clinton's interview in the '90's. It still echoes today. It seems to me that the song gets bandied about, and I guess I'd just rather enjoy it on a more personal level. I apologize for any misunderstanding.
Oops. ^^^^^ I meant that ^^^^^ as a response to Ann's comment above.
Whether or not he cheated is not really what matters to me (although there is the hypocrisy of family values). What I care about is that the most powerful man in South Carolina just disappeared for a WEEK without telling anyone! That is the worst kind of leadership I can think of! He should be impeached for abandoning his post without taking appropriate steps to make sure someone was in charge. And seriously, couldn't he come up with some kind of cover before he went? That's what other politicians do.
I agree with you. I'm not concerned with the fact that he cheated on his wife. That's none of my business. What is very upsetting is that he was missing (MISSING!!) and no one seemed to know where he was. How can that happen when you're governor? Don't you have to be around to, you know, do stuff?
Duh! That's what Twitter is for!
"Mark Sanford is cheating on his wife ..."
Actually, aren't state legislatures already out for the summer, and if not, pretty close to being out?
I agree. While cheating, regardless of one's gender, politics, or anything else, is bad - what I care about is this guy's politics, not his personal actions.
Just like John Edwards and Bill Clinton still have a lot to offer America despite having cheated on his wife, I believe this guy's ability to divide and destroy America should have nothing to do with his affair.
Regardless if the legislature is out though, being the governor you can't just vanish for a week, not tell anyone where you're going and leave no one in charge. That's never acceptable.
So this guy has the "ability to divide and destroy America."? Wow. Perhaps we should throw him in some Magneto-style prison to protect us from his apparent superpowers.
That didn't work out very well, if you haven't seen X-Men 2. (Don't see X-Men 3).
"Duh! That's what Twitter is for!
"'Mark Sanford is cheating on his wife ...'"
Or how about
"Seen recently on Twitter:
"'The Appalachian Trail...according to the Sanford Map, goes from Maine to Tierra del Fuego now...'"
(posted by darkstar at 3:46 PM on June 24)
Bill Bryson is going to be pissed.
"What I care about is that the most powerful man in South Carolina just disappeared for a WEEK without telling anyone! That is the worst kind of leadership I can think of!"
Check out the MetaFilter post Runaway Gov and its comments, from after Sanford vanished and before he spoke up about his affair.
Actually, to Sanford's credit, he flew all the way to Argentina just to get some. Folks, this isn't just your normal high-classed prostitute or in-the-airport-bathroom booty call. It's love!
"The bottom line, though, is he still lied. He lied under a different oath, and that is the oath to his wife. So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.”
“I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally (to resign). I come from the business side. If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, he’d be gone.”
-SC Governor Mark Sanford, speaking in 1998 of Bill Clinton.
Oh my. Here we go again. At least he wasn't soliciting in a public restroom like Senator Craig. I still worry when my young sons use a public bathroom.
Seriously, why don't these high profile politicians just jerk off to some kinky porn when they are feeling randy instead of using live people...porn is less risky.
Once again, Republicans are doing our job for us as far as discrediting any cause for defending the sanctity of marriage. Governor Sanford and Michael Steele should officially team up and take down the whole damn party.
I wish that - just once or so - the wife of a disgraced politician would opt for divorce. Not because I want their children to go through hell or because I somehow delight in seeing families fall apart, but because I absolutely cannot stand to watch Elizabeth Edwards-esque routines of shouldering so much of the burden/aftermath of their husbands' actions.
His infidelity is one thing but the callous way he treated those who are without in his economically devastated state was the real crime. Now the infidelity radiates to me if the involved is one of those morally hypocritic persons like gay senators voting anti-gay or Jesse Jackson taking his pregnant mistress with him to counsel Bill Clinton on his indiscretion.
I have to add that hypocrisy is one thing but when you deny others rights based on "morals" you claim but do not hold is a whole other level.
I don't think that being a Republican has anything to do with policians' tendency to cheat. Take John Edwards, for instance. I just don't think it's right to blame a whole political party for something. We're never going to change the system and how we regard it if that keeps up.
Very true. But when the people who presume to legislate based on "Biblical" morality and "family values" get caught with their pants down, it raises questions about their hypocrisy. And those people - at least in recent memory - have been in one party rather than the other.
I don't think that being a Republican has anything to do with politicians' tendency to cheat. Take John Edwards, for instance. I just don't think it's right to blame a whole political party for something. We're never going to change the system and how we regard it if that keeps up.
This is true, but Republicans are more likely to cast themselves a guardians of morality and family.
As they say around here, "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword." ...or perhaps in his case, so to speak...
I don't think that being a Republican has anything to do with politicians' tendency to cheat. Take John Edwards, for instance. I just don't think it's right to blame a whole political party for something. We're never going to change the system and how we regard it if that keeps up.
whoops, I was trying to correct my typo in the first post and ended up with multiples. Sorry!
I am sorry, but I have to comment again - this story is just way too funny, especially with the love emails that have been revealed. It is laugh out loud funny! If I ever talked like that to a woman, no matter how much I love her, please slap me.
Oh, and what's with this "family friend" thing? I don't know about ya'll, but I sure as hell don't go around fucking family friends.
That's kind of the point to pretending Maria is a family friend.
Here's another random thought, from the Something Positive webcomic, a bingo card for these situations:
http://somethingpositive.net/sp06242009.shtml
Spitzer, Coleman, Sanford . . . would-be first Jewish presidents are dropping like flies. That's okay, we can wait for a better mensch.
Hey moron, Sanford is a Christian. You're thinking of Eric Cantor, stupid.
I think Republicans are held to a higher standard when it comes to infidelity. The reason being is they campaign on "family values" and marriage much more than other parties.
This kind of PR is much more damning to the GOP because it shows the hypocrisy of the party.
Frankly, I couldn't care less about his affair. Everyone nowadays cheats. As long as he didn't take taxpayer money to do it. At least he came out when he was caught and didn't lie about it like Clinton.
I am a little worried about him just "up and leaving" for a few days though. Doesn't seem to be a good leadership trait.
In the end, this is all personal stuff and the citizens of SC should decide his fate.