I was thinking Sanford had become an aficionado of the Llama.

Yeah, you’d think if he really was going down there to break up, he could have confided in his closest staff members.

wait, he went to see his lover on Father’s Day!  WOW, class act guv…

Naw, he just *thought* that was a lady. That was why he spent five days crying.

I know Fox thinks their viewers are stupid (and on that they are right) but do they think they’re deaf too? The said he was resigning from his post as head of the REPUBLICAN governors association, or did they just have a quick sound drop on his mic at that point?

You know, I suppose mistakes are possible, and when Fox first applied the (D) level to a disgraced Republican caught in a sex scandal (Mark Foley), they could kind of play dumb, say “honest mistake”, and get away with it…

But seriously, Mark Sanford, who was made into a golden boy by that channel for trying to <strike>fuck his constituents over</strike> refuse stimulus money, magically becomes a Democrat once his political career is ruined by a sex scandal?

I fucking hate Fox.

Screen captures of Faux News R to D “mistakes,” from a commenter at at Daily Kos.  

I’d forgotten about the Stevens one.

Amanda,

I’m virtually positive there’s more to the story. If I were a betting man, I’d say that Gov. Sanford just paid for an Argentine abortion. Or something along those lines. There’s no way he just went off for a tryst and did it in this weird way, going AWOL. Either she called him threatening to reveal something, or called in a panic because she’d just discovered she’s pregnant, or something that precipitated his needing to go there, fast.

He soooo wanted to get caught!  More family values!  Wonder how this is going to turn out to be Obama’s fault?

And FauxNews wonders why they get no respect at the WH pressers?  It’s like a preschool for bobbleheads.

Just wow. The Ensign affair, the Davis inanity, McCain’s blatantly cynical posturing on the Iran situation, and now this…, all in just a week or so. It’s as if the Republicans can’t do enough, fast enough to bury themselves. It’s not unexpected, but it is beautiful.

I hope the state of South Carolina didn’t pay for this trip…

Aw, give the guy credit. At least he didn’t break up with her by phone or e-mail. How many other philanderers would completely tank their political career out of politeness?

This is, of course, great news for Republicans.

Republicans named Romney and Palin, anyway.  Their path to the 2012 booby prize has been made much clearer of late.

I think there is going to be more to this that comes out. It is just too weird to be over an “mere” extramarital affair.

But Christ, is ANYONE faithful anymore? How hard is it for someone to understand “if you want to keep dating, don’t get married”?

No more whips and latex for you, Marky boy.  Well, he did say “exotic” didn’t he?

Well, if you want a career in politics, Ben, you should probably have a wife.  Particularly if you’re a family values Republican.

Amanda, it still might be a guy. Don’t put it past any Republican to have a beard on every continent.

On the other hand, he does have a reputation of being ... a nut.

Also, Ben: cheating is about power within your relationship. I don’t think it has much to do with libido.

I bet he got he went to get her an abortion, that’s more likely than it being a guy.

I’m virtually positive there’s more to the story. If I were a betting man, I’d say that Gov. Sanford just paid for an Argentine abortion. Or something along those lines.

Yup.  The “dead girl or live boy” principle.

“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is Enemy Action.”—Ian Fleming

Fox has pulled this, “scandal-beset politician (D)” stunt more than 3 times. . .

Does anyone else think that John Ensign should send this guy a box of cuban cigars?

Talk about getting blown right off the front pages.  He’s gotta be like, wow, I really owe that fucking nut.

According to the news reports I’ve read, Sanford claimed to last be in Argentina about a year and a half ago.  So unless he’s either been shuttling his lover up here on the QT, or this is the first time he’s failed his “hiding in shadows” roll to sneak down to Buenos Aires, I’d tend to doubt the “secret abortion” hypothesis.

Yeah, my money is on an abortion.

If I were a betting man, I’d say that Gov. Sanford just paid for an Argentine abortion. Or something along those lines.

Ah, but abortion is illegal in Argentina (well, except for a health exception and a rape exception that only applies to mentally disabled women)—as it is in almost all of Latin America.  So I would say that that is very unlikely.

I think they’re throwing raw meat to the media to distract us.  We’ll all believe an (boring, straight) affair, one that won’t forever kill his political career (ex: Giuliani, McCain, etc.).  The truth is probably much more sordid, and probably totally above/beyond the law.  I’m still thinking along the lines of CIA Nazi ninja Moonies, cocaine and a suitcase full of old WWII bearer bonds.  But I have a creative mind, so nevermind me.

Either he’s seen this woman more recently than a year and a half ago, or this is the weirdest affair ever.  Sanford chucks his entire political career by going AWOL in Argentina for days in order to personally end an affair with someone he hadn’t physically seen in a year and a half?  So here’s my predictions:  (1) The other woman somehow made trips to the U.S. to see Sanford; (2) it was something other than a garden-variety affair with a woman (and Amanda was right all along) or (3) there was a blackmail threat.  Or Sanford is insane.

Really? An abortion? I’m just surprised there is so much interest in that story.

Why would HE go there for that? He must have some aide, friend, or operative available to him to dispatch for that shit. It can’t be an uncommon problem for Republicans.

Maybe something made him panic, but more likely than an abortion crisis, I think, would be the “he’s a dumbass who did something really, really stupid.”

Ya, I’m leaning towards the “had a really bad week professionally and instead of waiting for the next time the mistress is in the USofA, better to sneak down to see her… no one will know”.

He just timed it incredibly badly what with the added attention due to the aforementioned really bad week. Add to that it was Father’s Day and no one knew what he was up to, despite having four young children (and the wife TOTALLY must have known about the affair. She was blunt and terse and didn’t really cover up for him AT ALL…). And since he seems to have been getting a name for himself for secret trips… well there was blood in the water, and it was going to come out no matter how long he lay low…

Disgusting press conference… and worse, it may actually save his political ass here in America’s Dumbest State. Sanford is doing the old “forgive me for I have sinned” complete with puppy-dog eyes. Translation: Remember that I’m a Republican, rich, male, and white. That’s a free pass to do just about anything in South Carolina. He’s trying to play the privilege card.

Because, believe it, he were not male, not rich, not white, and not far-right - no matter how contrite he is, how penitent, how abjectly begging for Christian mercy, he’d all but be hanged immediately from the nearest tall stout tree here in Yokel-land.

(If anyone’s curious, that “ETV” logo in the corner stands for “SC Educational television”, which is what we call what everywhere else is known as PBS. NPR in SC has the absurd name “ETV Radio”. )

You know, I was just going to come in here and admit I was wrong for the rehab remarks…but seriously?  ANOTHER Fox R to D switch?

I think I accidentally heard Limbaugh today.  Our radio in the truck is broken—apparently you can’t jump a battery anymore, b/c it blows out the amplifier.  Instead of spending $500 to fix that, we have a small portable am/fm radio we cart around.  It was on am, I discovered, but not before I heard someone claiming “Sanford could have been our JFK.  Our JFK!”

The fuck?

Maybe Governor Sanford is trying to blaze a path towards a new career path….maybe a record deal for a musical of his saga and/or a stint on Broadway….

Hey….worked for Madonna….

he choked up as he ruminated with remarkable frankness on God’s law, moral absolutes and following one’s heart. His family did not attend.

Remarkable frankness?  Are you shitting me?

The death knell to his future?  His wife isn’t standing behind him.  Typical R apologetics include having a long-suffering wife stand behind you, willing to forgive you.

Looks like the First Lady has had it.  If she divorces him, his political career is OVER!

And it will all be HER fault, that uppity bitch.  She’s a Republican Wife!  If she’d just covered for him, he could have been PRESIDENT!  The next JFK!

Yeah, because JFK was a southern, baptist, and a conservative. Uh no.

“All I can do is apologize.”

Well, now, that just makes it all better.  You wife doesn’t hurt any more.  Your children aren’t humiliated any more.  Your career is intact.  Yes, Mark, you can do more.  You can explain WTF you were thinking and what all those like you were thinking.  I just gotta ask, does the oath you took to the people of South Carolina mean any more to you than the oath you took to your wife?

Sometimes the simplest explanations are best.

If his wife has known about the affair for 5 months, and she pubically says that she doesn’t know where her husband is last weekend, sending the press into a dizzy fit . .

I’d say it was the wife that sabotaged the Fine Governor.

And good for her if the cad had promised to do better.

Let’s imagine for a moment what the reaction would be like if Bill Clinton, circa 1999, had secretly traveled to South America on Fathers day, and was missing for six days, only to discover he was covertly having an affair.

Any takers on what would have happened?

“Sanford could have been our JFK.  Our JFK!”

Hey, he had the cheating part down pat.

The next *Republican* JFK, Caren.  Hey, the real deal made it with Marilyn Monroe (allegedly) and didn’t get caught.  So if Republican=hopeless fuckup then Sanford’s a-OK as the Republican JFK.

How clueless does a guy have to be to be the father of MULTIPLE kids and think he can just sneak out on Father’s Day weekend?  Never mind if you’re Governor of a state and a presumptive Presidential hopeful.

There is more going here than we know.  The threatened blackmail theory holds a lot of water.  It would explain the bizarre behavior.  Sanford’s star was rising which is a great time to blackmail someone if you have something on them.

I’d say it was the wife that sabotaged the Fine Governor.

I thought of that angle too, but why would the wife send him into the arms of his lover for a week?  I suppose it’s still possible, I just like the blackmail theory better. 

I bet there’s been a case or three like this on As The World Turns…

Wife’s statement: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/wife_speaks.php

Who is FOX trying to fool with that (D) trick?  Your more dedicated wingnuts are bound to know who’s a D and who’s an R.

I thought of that angle too, but why would the wife send him into the arms of his lover for a week?

Who said she did?  If the man checks out, doesn’t say a damn thing to his wife, wife knows he’s been sleeping around on her - if asked, what wife isn’t going to out her important husband?  He should just be glad that she just didn’t tell the reporter that, “He’s off in Argentina screwing when he promised he was going to stop.”, instead of “I don’t know here he is”.

From Sandford’s wife:

We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago.

This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage. During this short separation it was agreed that Mark would not contact us. I kept this separation quiet out of respect of his public office and reputation, and in hopes of keeping our children from just this type of public exposure.

Because of this separation, I did not know where he was in the past week.

Now that’s chess.  Do not play Grandmaster Jenny.

He probably couldn’t give the girl friend up. His wife gave him an ultimatum, and he went down to either break it off and go back to his family, or see if she could make him a better offer.

so.  In other words, Jenny handed him a shovel ... or a rope.  The rest was up to him.

How hard is it for someone to understand “if you want to keep dating, don’t get married”?

See also, Crist, Charlie.

“Your more dedicated wingnuts are bound to know who’s a D and who’s an R.”

Yes, but there’s that “All Genuine Republicans are good and honest conservative people of deep morality, and family values” thing.  If you’ve violated the wrong thing, you can’t be a Real Republican anymore.  Therefore, you must be a Democrat.  Faux is just trying to emphasis that wingnutty reality…

Laura - I await schooling.  I use that phrase a lot.  *ashamed*

I’m left wondering whom in the Governor’s staff or office is the mole for his Good, Fair and Disciplined Wife.

I’d say it was the wife that sabotaged the Fine Governor.

I was being sarcastic about blaming the wife.

liberalrob, the next Republican JFK would be the FIRST Republican JFK.

As for Jenny Sanford’s statement?  Holy shit, can she play the game!

Faux News is trying to fool the people who are stuck in break rooms and gyms where Fox plays, but with the sound off, constantly.

A foreign mistress seems like a bad idea for someone who wants to be POTUS one day.

I just wanted to pop in to say the rumor I’ve been hearing is that the mistress was the wife of a Repub. campaign donor who had a summer house (or whatever, extra residence) in Argentina. 

That presser made me want to puke.  He blew so many evangelical dog whistles every xtian in 5 counties started barking at once.  What a hypocritical, amoral, STUPID jerk.

Samantha, you’re right.  I hadn’t thought about that.  I lobbied to get my gym to switch from Fox and they finally did.

It seems to me if Republicans weren’t so obsessed with “securing the borders,” then Sanford wouldn’t need to fly to South America for some nookie.

If there was an abortion, he would have been flying her to Europe or some such, not going to Argentina himself.

I think we’re just looking at really bad judgment. Really, really, really bad judgment. I’m not sure it has to be more complicated than that. People flame out in really spectacular ways. Sometimes they’re politicians or celebrities, and we all get to find out about it.

idiosynchronic:

They left the “L” out of publicly.  And isn’t it a tizzy fit?

Now that’s chess.  Do not play Grandmaster Jenny.

Except she’s assiduously avoiding getting to Check Mate.

from a google news top story (washington post)

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) said this afternoon that he has been involved in an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina and “spent the last five days of my life crying” in that country, speaking at a rambling and ...

Don’t cry for him Argentina!

Thanks for the spit-take Ms. Kate!

  (strolls off singing “we never really liked you…oh Mark Sanford”)

p-u-b-l-i-c-a-l-l-y?  For some reason, most spell checkers don’t like this word.  And yes, I am that type of intellectual wimp.

I like dizzy better.  As in the pearl-clutching, couch-diving, vapors.  Because while the press does go into a tizzy, it’s the type of public outrage they rustle up that makes Europeans sneer at Puritanical American hypocritical values.

Except she’s assiduously avoiding getting to Check Mate.

Tantric Chess.

I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ...

Vogon poetry.

Except she’s assiduously avoiding getting to Check Mate.

Looks like she wants him hemmed in and sincerely recommitted to their marriage if he wants to stay alive to me.  I’d call that checkmated.

Don’t cry for him Argentina!

How soon before Broadway musical writers arrange for Sanford’s Broadway debut as the modern day singing Eva Peron/Madonna…....

Would any of you actually pay money to see this?

Exholt, I’ll leave it to YouTube to take care of it.

Does Fox recruit directly from middle schools?  That kind of bullcrap is something only an 11 year old could love.

p-u-b-l-i-c-a-l-l-y?

It’s publicly.

It’s seems like it should be publically, but it’s publicly.

As for pubically, I once called someone - in an article that was published in the newspaper - a pubic relations consultant. I’d like to see that euphemism move into the public discourse. Or the pubic discourse. Whichever.

Maybe the D stands for “disgraced.”

At least, that’s the excuse I would try if I were Fox News. It’s gotta be better than that tired old “whoops, honest mistake” crap.

he took a five day trip to end a relationship? that is a lot of break-up sex

>>Ah, but abortion is illegal in Argentina (well, except for a health exception and a rape >>exception that only applies to mentally disabled women)—as it is in almost all of Latin >>America.  So I would say that that is very unlikely.

Are you f’ing kidding me?  Well, who knew…if you outlaw abortions, they don’t happen?  Particularly if you have a wealthy boyfriend?  Amazing.

*tangent off*

I live about 5-10 minutes’ drive from the Sanford house on Sullivan’s Island. (Sullivan’s island is a posh beach community on a sea island not far from downtown Charleston). Local rumor has it that a reporter spotted Sanford at the airport in Atlanta. Sanford was just going down for a regular visit until that happened.

Rumor also has it that he took a state car to the airport.

Waiting for verification on all of this. I may have to buy a copy of the Charleston Post & Courier (a heinous far-right Christofascist rag, I cancelled my subscription long ago because I just couldn’t stand it).

Hopefully the media circus won’t too much of an obstacle on my way to my favorite bar on Sullivan’s Island (Dunleavy’s - don’t waste your time with its neighbors, if you ever come here on vacation, which of course you should).

Seebach owes me a new keyboard.

Vogon poetry indeed.  Sanford fhtagn!

>>Are you f’ing kidding me?  Well, who knew…if you outlaw abortions, they don’t happen?
>> Particularly if you have a wealthy boyfriend?  Amazing.

I think the point is that if you’re going to be doing international travel to get an abortion, there’s enough countries where abortion is legal to chose from.  it simply wouldn’t make sense to go to a country where its illegal when you can just as easily travel to one where you can walk into a clinic and easily get a legal one.

Not that any of this whole mess makes any sense.  It seems he destroyed his political career because he was too impatient to tell his staff that he was going to take a few days off and when he’d be back.

*sigh*

I’ve been at work (yay, work!) so I’ve skimmed through the comments, forgive me if I repeat too much.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) said this afternoon that he has been involved in an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina and “spent the last five days of my life crying” in that country, speaking at a rambling and ...

This. Blew. My. Mind.

So, he flew down to Argentina, didn’t tell ANYBODY where he was going for FIVE FUCKING DAYS, and he expects anyone to believe he was there… crying the entire time? As a “christian” man he missed father’s day with his SONS, to cry. Over breaking up with his mistress. A breaking up that supposedly took five days.  O_o My gawd man, take a moment to actually THINK of a better excuse.

He didn’t even have to go down to Argentina, cause he’s fucked himself pretty good.

There’s nothing funner than seeing yet another Republican hypocrite getting caught with his pants down. I’ve been wallowing in schadenfreude all night.

The AP is mentioning that Sanford cited concerns for “moral legitimacy” when he was a Congressman voting for Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

Which, of course, just makes this even funnier.

From he conclusion to Mrs Sanford’s statement:

I believe Mark has earned a chance to resurrect our marriage.

Er, how? By spending five days ‘breaking up’ with his mistress in Argentina, not very subtly?

There’s more to all this. This does not pass the sniff test at all.

Everyone is now, clearly as planned, dissecting the wisdom or necessity of going to Argentina for a breakup. Saying “well, I doubt he was -nudge nudge- crying.” Not WHETHER it is true, but why someone would be so stupid. Looks like the story worked just as planned.

Tell a big enough lie and you get away with it.

This is a story that, if bought, allows the guy to keep his career, especially with the Christian sorts (“I have sinned!”), but I still suspect this is the best cover they could come up with, and/or it was in place in advance (“if something breaks, run with this story”) to cover whatever really happened.

I’m still waiting for at least one more shoe to drop.