Following up on my earlier post about the strange disappearance of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, more breaking news this evening of where he was and what he did. Think of this as Sanfordgate 101.
First, let's recap the story:
2. He goes MIA for nearly a week, to the point where authorities began to search for him
3. His staff continues to claim he is somewhere on the Appalachian Trail and unable to be reached
4. He returns today from Argentina and claims he went driving around the coast of Buenos Aires (which has no coastline)
5. I conclude that he is having an affair and/or went to rehab
6. Several hours later Sanford holds a news conference and confirms my suspicions about an affair.
Now for the latest (and even bizarre):
TPM has uncovered a strange Christian cult-like group connecting the Sanford affair to the Ensign affair. You can read more about The Family here. This of course has me thinking that since this group, The Family, is counseling all of these cheating politicians, imagine the power they have should they ever want to blackmail anyone. Kind of like Scientology and their auditing method, during which high profile members reveal their inner most secrets.
The State, a South Carolina publication obtained emails between Sanford and his mistress, Maria. The emails are typical love letters, including references to sexual encounters and declarations of undying love. This does not interest me much. In fact, it is embarrassing to read really because I feel like I am intruding into someone's most private thoughts - and I am. We all are. The scandal in this part of the Sanford affair, for me anyway, is the fact that The State had the emails since December of 08. Why did they sit on this story?
(more after the flip)
I should also note that during his presser, Sanford seemed rather forthcoming and honest. He admitted having an affair. He had apparently already told his wife about it and they were in counseling. His wife asked for a trial separation, he said, which is when he left for Argentina. Although his wife did not know where he was, she did confirm these details. So he did not wait to be caught before he told his wife. He told her on his own.
I am not going to sit in judgment of someone on an issue that has nothing to do with me or anyone other than the two people involved in this drama. I said so during the Clinton affair. I said so during the Edwards affair. I have said so on every affair where the person (s) involved did not preach family-values.
I have no right to demand answers of public figures regarding something as personal as their sex life. That said, when a politician or public figure uses their power and/or influence to judge others for the same conduct and deny civil rights to others based on "values" they themselves do not live up to, then they should be exposed and shamed.
The reasons this particular affair has become a scandal for me, and everyone else, is that as Gov. of South Carolina, Sanford had no right to disappear for a week. Anything could have happened during that time. Try leaving your job for a week and not telling anyone where you went. Now imagine you are a CEO of a company and imagine skipping work for a week without letting anyone know where you went and being entirely unreachable. That is negligent at best, is it not?
In addition, it has now come out that Sanford used tax-payer funds to travel to Argentina on several other occasions. Now we are well beyond the personal and political and into fraud territory. Yet another reason this is for me now a scandal of interest.
Finally and in keeping with the political-glass-house-family-values-syndrome, which I noted above, Sanford attacked others for the same conduct and opposed marriage rights for same sex couples based on values he himself cannot uphold. In other words, he is a hypocrite.
Here is what Sanford said of Clinton during the Monicagate scandal (h/t Think Progress):
So Sanford is a hypocrite, a liar, possibly a fraudster, and obviously done politically.
