Don't Cry For Your Party, Republicans
Mark Sanford Affair Scandal: Don't Cry For Your Party, Republicans
Submitted by Rebecca on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 2:52pm. Analysis
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Rebecca Freitag
"All I can say is that I apologize."
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford announced Wednesday at a press conference that while he was in Argentina, he was unfaithful to his wife, and as if that announcement weren't big enough, he said he would resign as the chairman of the Republican Governors Association.
Sanford choked up as he spoke to reporters, apologizing to his wife, children, staff, friends, and constituents for letting them down.
An affair that started with casual e-mails turned into something more with a woman he has known for a little over eight years. It started approximately a year ago when he was trying to get her to go back to her husband for the sake of her two boys, citing "God's Law" requiring marriages to stay together. How ironic -- and touching. How will you explain that to the Republicans who had your back after every snafu in your career?
He explained, on the verge of tears, that he's committed to trying to get his heart right and he was very selfish. It's unclear at this point whether the governor and his wife would remain married, but he said they are working through it together. "What I did was wrong," Sanford said. "Period. End of story."
The man who stirred up the country this week with his disappearing act mysteriously returned to an Atlanta airport Wednesday morning. However, he wasn't returning from the Appalachian Trail trip everyone was led to believe he was on, but rather from a world apart after a brief stay in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When he said early this morning that he cruised the coast, he really "spent the last five days crying," he said.
For all the strange things he has done, this tops them all. For those who were oblivious to the stimulus battles, this is the first time that people have seen a lot of him, and this was not the first impression a hopeful candidate for president should make. Professionally and personally, given these actions, this potential candidate will have a hard time getting support.
This latest in a rash of Republican affairs and scandals paints a dismal picture for the GOP to have even a fighting chance for any sort of comeback anytime soon. Two of their presidential hopefuls, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and now Sanford, have admitted to having affairs in the last few days.
The government bubble he claimed to be in was just getting to be too much for him, so Thursday he left on vacation. However, he didn't contact anyone for four days and turned off his personal and private cell phones. The last signal the cell phones received, authorities said, was in Atlanta near the airport on Thursday. So when fellow South Carolina politicians started to panic that there was an absence of leadership in South Carolina, a spokesperson for Sanford released a statement Monday saying that although they had no contact with him, he mentioned the possibility of going on an Appalachian Trail hike earlier in the week. The Appalachian Trail is one of Sanford's favorite places, a spot he visited frequently when in high school.
The federal stimulus money he didn't want the government to spend gave a lot of money to the area.
When confronted at the Atlanta airport about the trip by a reporter, Sanford said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session. "I wanted to do something exotic," Sanford said. "It's a great city." He said he was alone on the trip and declined to give the reporter any further details. Had he gone to the Appalachian Trail like he said, there was still the possibility of hilarious headlines coinciding with the annual Naked Hiking Day that took place on the Appalachian Trail Sunday.
The responsibility inherent in public governance is non-negotiable. To just pick up and leave the country without telling anyone, or contacting your office for what was at least four days, is a strong message of irresponsibility, even if it's not a recreational trip, and a family matter. That's not a quality most people would want in a candidate. Not only from a government official standpoint, but from a family standpoint, as well, because he left his wife and four kids waiting for him to come home on Father's Day weekend at their beach house. I don't know many Republicans who would stand by that.
Although he seems to do this frequently, say some reports, isn't it a little peculiar that his wife Jenny didn't seem to mind? He said at the press conference that Jenny's parents were with her then, and most, if not all of the week.
So the question remains what will his family do, and will he stay with his wife? Did he go to Argentina to spend time with the woman, or did he go for a specific reason, like to break it off? If he breaks it off, and stays with his wife, will the Republican Party still support him in the case of a candidacy?
If he doesn't run for president in 2012, and his term-limited tenure as governor expires, Sanford will have a lot of time to take long walks in the woods, and drive endless miles on the Argentinian coast.
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
signalman comment: Why did he blow his political career? Blame it on the Bossa Nova!