Posted on 06/25/2009 6:58:12 AM PDT by steve-b
Mark Sanford's summer adventure to Argentina -- no, he was not hiking the Appalachian Trail, as his aides incorrectly told reporters -- is now a full-fledged personal and family embarrassment, a story of infidelity followed by a public confession of the kind that has become all too familiar from political leaders.
But Sanford's story is more than personal. For a Republican Party down on its luck, the governor's disappearance and subsequent rambling apology to his wife, his family, his close friends and all the people of South Carolina draw more unwelcome publicity to a party that needs but cannot seem to get any good news.
Coming a week after Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) admitted to an extramarital affair, the scandal will impact the Republicans in several ways. First, it further damages the GOP brand, potentially driving away more voters or at least making it more difficult to win back some of those who abandoned the party in the past two elections. Second, it could disillusion social and religious conservatives -- a critically important part of the Republican coalition -- who may now wonder whether those who share the Republican label truly share their values. Third, the Sanford saga removes one more new-generation GOP leader from the field of prospective 2012 candidates, adding to doubts about the strength of the party's bench....
Some political strategists question how Republicans can get traction when two pillars of their message -- family values and fiscal rectitude -- have been undermined by errant politicians' transgressions, and by the collective failure of GOP leaders to control spending when they held the White House and Congress.
"If Republicans talk about family values, people will roll their eyes," said Matthew Dowd, a onetime adviser to President George W. Bush....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
To all GOP leaders, if you want to cheat join the other side.
I agree 100%! If you are in office, then affairs are over. If you want to have an affair, RESIGN. I could care less what they do in their private lives but Sanford opened up the Republicans to snarky articles like this from the WP rag.
At least this guy came clean right away! Everyone, esp. the media, seems to forget the transgressions of Clinton.
Listening to Beck, the last caller had a great point: who gives a rip about his private life? This guy is a good legislator, but he’s a hypocrite. When it comes to politicians, who isn’t? Let the people kick him out at the ballot box. I wouldn’t care if he was my gov. There are worse transgressions!
” ... a story of infidelity followed by a public confession of the kind that has become all too familiar from political leaders. “
Please. There are no leaders in American politics. They are simply egotistical opportunists.
I may be cynical, but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
These were hits by the Dems. Sanford stood up to O and they outed him. Ensign is more popular than Hairy Reid and he got hit. This is how O and the Dems will stay in power. Stupid Repubs. We have gay RINOs or conservative who are skirt chasers. What a double standard.
Ugh. He needs to go. We can't stand by someone like this when we asked for (and got) Eliot Spitzer's political head.
Not exactly; he used his public office to "pursue" his personal infidelities.
But your point is taken. Nobody who goes effing around ought to be running any branch of gov't.
Discovering the occasional hypocrit who belongs to a party whose members cherish traditional values is better than belonging to a party whose core membership ridicules, despises, and tries to outlaw traditional values.
Why do we let Democrats pick our leaders?
Gov. Mark Sanford’s affair is between him and his family. His leaving the State House in South Carolina for a tryst in Argentina is between him and the people of his state. He has shown very poor judgement. He chose his private parts over his duty as governor.
I am certainly glad this came out now. I would have hated to see this come out after Sanford had been chosen as the republican standard bearer.
Bullcrap! If they were on the other side it would be called a private matter and no apologies, no resignations. He did something wrong but not a felony like many of the democrat criminals.
High-minded morality in non-criminal cases tears down those in the republican party. The democrat party and it’s media propagandists are all using this as usual to tar the party and all conservatives.
The tiny little brains in the public latch on to the sensationalized prattle of the left along with the whole-hearted support of the GOP and each time the GOP goes along with the dems it tears down the party and chances for conservatives even more.
The high moral ground means nothing to the democrats and means that with every flawed but non-criminal act that comes up for a conservative we are one step closer to total control by the party of traitors.
if the reports are right, he did not come clean “right away”...he had been doing it for 8 years.
Now...I think his politics of conservatism are right on.
He needs to heal his marriage, though.
If you lower standards, you will get low standard people. In a Republic you sink with the low life leaders. Look around you now. We are sinking fast.
I think along with all the lawyers we should kill all the politicians.
Better now than a few years from now when Sanford might be considered the GOP nominee. This story will be dead in a week.
So what’s a Dan Balz, and why should anyone care what it says?
Ensign’s and Sanford’s predicaments have nothing whatsoever to do with Obama and Harry Reid. Their behavior is their own making, the WH and DNC had nothing to do with it. With unemployment continuing to rise despite the WH’s promotion of “green shoots,” and the coming battles over public health care, cap and tax and Obambi’s massive tax increases, I believe these individuals’ actions will be quickly forgotten. Remember what James Carville said in 1992, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
THIS JUST IN:
“Heterosexual scandal engulfs leading GOP Governor.”
OMG. I mean series - it’s already old news, the way leftwingers are overplaying the story. He’s famous now.
This is, in today’s America, hardly a bump in the Governor’s presidential campaign. In fact, it’s publicity.
Now. Can we please call off the circular firing squad?
Thanks so much. :)
Good point, Rosalyn Carter said Reagan made people feel good about their prejudices; Clinton made people feel fine with their lusts.
I get that, and I am not defending his behavior. I'm more frazzled that the MSM is making this into a center-ring show. I despise the MSM and this administration. How quick they are to forget about all of the Democrap transgressions, but they're the first ones to point out malfeasance on the side of the Pubbies. DC could drift off the contintenal shelf for all I care.
They will put the spot light on us. Our job is to keep it off. They will then make up lies about us. That will be their downfall not ours.
...These were hits by the Dems...
Excuse me. Ensign and Sanford are the adulterers. The Dems took political advantage of it. No adultery, no political hit on adultery. Don’t give your political opponents any additional excuse to whack you on family values!
Clinton lied under ‘oath’ and tried to get others to do so.
This is right out of Moscow playbook! And who better to use Moscow tactics than mccain’s good friends on the other side of the aisle? Consider the women just showed up (from Argentina of all places) and enticed an up and coming conservative into some very stupid situations and finally getting Sanford to do political hary-cary by running after the lover in Argentina, followed by “inside evidence mysteriously showing up (personal emails)” to insure the coup de gras. Classic communist political destruction method.
Not excusing Sanford one bit, but who among us would not have some susceptibility to similar situation?
When you are a Democrat, which is to say someone held to no standard of behavior and judged only by your promises, anything goes: bribe money stuffed in the fridge, brothels run out of your condo, mysterious meetings with mob figures, dead blondes in Oldsmobiles, live boys in Bangkok.
Uh-uh. Doesn't matter, even if the news media deign to report it, which they will do their level best not to, except to cry how Republicans are trying to "politicize" an issue that they never quite get around to explaining, except perhaps somewhere on page C45, directly beneath the classifieds and the incontinence advertisements.
Soon we will be hearing from Meghan about our right wing evil in passing judgement on adulters in the GOP.
The Rinos are mad and hate conservatives because they hold GOPers to a standard higher than the humanist ideal of service to self. They want a free ride like Clinton...
Yea, the GOP is pretty much tossing whatever moral authority it once had into the garbage. They’re now Democrap Lite v2.0
>This story will be dead in a week.<
Just in time to provide the Democrats very effective cover to get the Cap and Trade voted in. Then, they’ll use this as cover to advance their plans for nationalized health care.
Remind me about the Bangkok thing.
The GOP leadership has lost its mind. The second biggest mistake was hiring the MSM as its shrink (the biggest mistake was abandoning academia, the media, and other cultural bodies to the totalitarians).
First, its shrink persuaded it to mimic the shrink’s star patient. When the GOP was later found naked, belligerent, drunk, and deep in debt, the shrink blamed these issues on the GOP straying from prescription. “Be more like Charlie Crist, Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain,” said the shrink. “These fine specimens win elections the way my star patient wins elections.”
Nevermind that the GOP nominated its most “moderate” candidate in history (John McCain) and was entirely eviscerated - across a score of erstwhile ‘safe’ states to boot (all while the media linked McCain rightfully to Bush, but then in its post analysis painted Bush as the arch-conservative far-right GOP poster boy for why the GOP is failing - apparently recalling nothing of the last 8 years, and only the campaign promises all but entirely abandoned after being made in 1999-2000).
Nevermind also that the various GOP party heads (Steele et al) are so moderate milquetoast that Arnold Schwarzenegger looks right-wing by comparison
Our reward for following Doctor’s orders? Party ID for the GOP has plummeted to record lows while those identifying as independents (myself included) have reached a historical high water mark. Neglect further that 60%+ of the US voting population considers itself “conservative”. Pay heed only to the linguistic drift afforded by our retreat from intellectual cultural bodies, which spoon feeds to us the fiction that “independent” is synonymous with “moderate”.
Nope, the shrink says the GOP would be doing MUCH better if it excised those pesky right-wing elements from the visible “support apparatus” - that the GOP brand is suffering only because Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, etc. refuse to tow the line that the currently fashionable big-government fascism is OK because there aren’t any large ovens being built. Scary religious voters are to blame for pushing against gay marriage and abortion (I’m not much for fighting the former front, but admit that majorities of the country are against both).
The good doctor tells us not to confuse ourselves with inconvenient numbers. Going the “evidence based” route apparently means reacting to the fictional representation of GOP characters on SNL, the supposed analysis of glorified sit-down yuk-yuk routines hosted by Comedy Central, and anecdotal sound-bytes from Dr. MSM colleagues all but in the full employ of Star Patient.
The shrink’s service offered to the GOP is not therapy. It is assisted suicide.
Yup. He fell into a honey trap. Sanford was refusing TARP money and standing up - fool should have known they would set him up.
We will probably see more Repubs go down. The Dems found a home run with that stupid gay Congressman texting pages. They grabbed Congress because of that clown.
Heal his marriage and he has been at it for 8 years? A trip to the divorce court will be the only way to heal that marriage.
It is frustrating how many of our wounds are self-inflicted.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.