Has anyone seen my governor? (His Argentinian mistress has)

[Easy Mac]

FOUND HIM

I mean, he's really been missing for 7 years, but still:

Sanford, missing since Thursday, reportedly located
The whereabouts of Gov. Mark Sanford was unknown for nearly four days, and some state leaders question who was in charge of the executive office.
But Sanford’s office told the lieutenant governor’s office Monday afternoon that Sanford has been reached and he is fine, said Frank Adams, head of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s office on aging.
Neither the governor’s office nor the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for governors, had been able to reach Sanford after he left the mansion Thursday in a black SLED Suburban SUV, said Sen. Jake Knotts and three others familiar with the situation but declined to be identified.
Sanford’s last known whereabouts had been near Atlanta because a mobile telephone tower picked up a signal from his phone, authorities said. His office now knows where he is, Adams said.
First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press earlier Monday her husband has been gone for several days and she did not know where.
She said she was not concerned.
The governor’s state and personal phones had been turned off and he had not responded to phone or text messages since at least the weekend, a source familiar with the situation said.
Most mobile phones cannot be tracked if they are turned off.
Jenny Sanford said the governor said he needed time away from their children to write something.
The governor’s office issued a statement Monday afternoon: "Gov. Sanford is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session, and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside. We are not going to discuss the specifics of his travel arrangements or his security arrangements."
One official familiar with the situation said there was no indication that foul play might have been involved because Sanford occasionally makes trips without his security detail.
Knotts, a longtime Sanford critic, said he contacted SLED Chief Reggie Lloyd Saturday after he heard reports the governor could not be reached.
"Chief Lloyd confirmed that my information is legitimate," Knotts said. "He shared my concerns" about succession of power in Sanford’s absence, the Lexington Republican said. Lloyd could not be reached immediately on Monday.
"I was recently made aware that Governor Sanford has frequently been eluding SLED agents and disappearing at odd times," Knotts said. Previously, Sanford has not been out of all contact - including with his own office - for this long before, a source, who insisted on anonymity, said.
Knotts said the state’s chief executive should never be unreachable.
"As the head of our state, in the unfortunate event of a state of emergency or homeland security situation, Governor Sanford should be available at all times to the Chief of SLED," the senator said.
"If for any reason, including the unknown whereabouts of the Governor, he is unable to perform the duties of his office the Constitution provides that the lieutenant governor assumes the position of governor.
"I want to know immediately who is running the executive branch in the governor’s absence," Knotts said.
The question of succession came just after Sanford became governor in 2003.
He joined the Air Force Reserve and was sent to Alabama for two week’s training with his unit, the 315th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron based in Charleston. Sanford did not transfer power to Bauer at the time, saying he would be in regular contact with his office.
Sanford said then he would transfer authority in writing to the lieutenant governor only if he were called to active duty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Reach Clif LeBlanc at [email protected] and John O'Connor at [email protected]

I'm glad he needed time away from his kids on father's day

[miked]

Maybe he went to the corridor of shame to tell them personally he sees no need to accept money for their schools, everything in SC is fine.

[RomaGoth]

Sounds like a real douche. His wife didn't seem concerned either. Interesting.

[Comey]

That's because Jose the Gardener was plowing her.

[DaddyTorgo]

i'm sure he's either in the hospital for secret surgery or holed up with a hooker

[Logan]

Maybe he was banging a dude on a closed beach and he ended up breaking his leg during the trip.

Oh wait, that was my state's governor.

[Thomkal]

Well as a resident of south carolina, I'm thinking he's probably holed up writing a book on how to lose re-election in one easy step.

[Big Fo]

As a South Carolina resident I wouldn't mind if nobody ever found him.

[cubboyroy1826]

Maybe he was hanging out with my former Gov Blago.

[Autumn]

Maybe this is Armageddon and they're going to slowly sneak all the governors to the secret bunker so as to not cause a panic.

[SteveMax58]

Probably just working on new campaign shirts. Nothing to worry about really.

http://www.choiceshirts.com/images/PL/-0/PL-00141C-md.jpg

[JonInMiddleGA]

Seems like folks can breath easy on this little ado about virtually nothing.
Sanford, missing since Thursday, reportedly located - Local / Metro - The State (http://www.thestate.com/local/story/836552.html)

But Sanford’s office told the lieutenant governor’s office Monday afternoon that Sanford has been reached and he is fine, said Frank Adams, head of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s office on aging.

[flere-imsaho]

Well, there go his presidential ambitions.

[Easy Mac]

I don't particularly buy his "Appalachian Trail" excuse. I also like how this isn't his first time eluding his security detail.

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah. didn't his wife say he was holed up working on his book away from the kids?

they need to get their stories straight.

father's day also seems like a very strange time to pick for that. so much for the "family values" part of your plank.

[flere-imsaho]

This story is fascinating, given that the amount of ambiguity in the various statements and information means any sort of speculation is possibly true.

Given what we've read, Sanford could have been doing anything from:

With his wife's blessing/encouragement, after a draining session with the legislature, took a few days off to spend hiking and gathering some thoughts for his book. While his wife didn't know exactly where he was, she knew generally where he was, but didn't want to give the press that info. As for the security services and him eluding them, well, it's not like he's POTUS or something. And he has a 3rd cellphone/pager that no one knows about except for his wife so she could reach him in dire emergencies.

to:

Telling his wife he was tired and wanted some time alone, especially from his kids, all of whom are older, more sullen, and less fun now, Sanford went AWOL without thinking up a decent cover story to shack up with another woman/man/small penguin somewhere in Atlanta. His wife figures this comes with the territory and doesn't give a shit as long as he's out of her hair and his kids are used to having an absent father anyway. Oh, and the security services are dumber than rocks.

Good times.

[DaddyTorgo]

eh - but if he's the governor of the state then he is responsible (in a macro-sense) for the people of that state, and part of the responsibility that comes with that job is being available in case there are emergencies (major or minor). That means you have to stay in contact. You don't get to take time off and dissapear.

What if there was something that didn't qualify as an "emergency" that needed his immediate attention and couldn't wait several days? What if 3 more spotted woodpeckers died because he didn't sign the environmental act (hypothetical and also ridiculous because i'm sure he's pro-woodpecker genocide)? He's responsible for that. He doesn't get to choose to take vacations spur-of-the-moment and go "off-the-grid" WITHOUT DELAGATING AUTHORITY TO DO HIS DAY-TO-DAY JOB TO SOMEBODY ELSE.

(key clause of rant in caps. if he wants to go off and go hiking for 4-5 days and be unreachable by anyone but his wife that's fine, but he needs to turnover authority to run his state to somebody formally before he does. it's called being responsible. i hope the voters in SC throw him out on his ass for this stunt.)

[JonInMiddleGA]

If I had to put up with some of the idiots he has to deal with, the Applachian Trail would probably look pretty good to me to. Those who recall my previous comments about my hatred of being outdoors for any significant length of time will realize how dire a statement that is.

One of the more obvious things that I didn't see getting much play in the stories I read was whether he was truly out of contact with the entire world or whether his whereabouts were simply unknown to people who had no real need to know & weren't being revealed/acknowledged by people who did know. Notice that even the articles reference several examples from people described as his political enemies, of course they're going to be critical, that's the nature of the relationship.

[Mustang]

I wish Governor Doyle would go missing for 5 days. At least then I know my taxes wouldn't go up for almost a week.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I wish Governor Doyle would go missing for 5 days. At least then I know my taxes wouldn't go up for a week.

Could he take the Georgia general assembly & the Athens-Clarke County Commission with him please?

[Thomkal]

The Lt. Governor didn't know where he was-ya know the guy who is supposed to step in and run things if the governor can't be reached/something happens to him. I don't have a problem with him going off to "recharge his batteries"-it was probably quite a strain on him fighting the stimulus with all the extra media attention that gathered. But not telling anyone where he was going/having a way to contact him if things were dire is just irresponsible.

And I can already see the political ad from the Democrats-"He wasn't even at home to celebrate Father's Day with his kids." :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

The Lt. Governor didn't know where he was-ya know the guy who is supposed to step in and run things if the governor can't be reached/something happens to him.

You mean the guy who has already exhibited a tendency to be overanxious to assume control in the past? He seems to be SC's answer to Alexander Haig, so desperately wanting to be in charge.

[Thomkal]

You mean the guy who has already exhibited a tendency to be overanxious to assume control in the past? He seems to be SC's answer to Alexander Haig, so desperately wanting to be in charge.

well I wasn't saying I wanted him in control of the state govt :D but he needed to know at least the governor wasn't likely going to be reachable if something should happen.

[CU Tiger]

meh....thee guy took a break.
it's SC for God's sake...nothing major has happened here since the first shots from the Confederacy....BTW i strongly support Sanford and wish Washington had a few more like him....

[RainMaker]

Seems his story might not be adding up. I don't really give a shit about what he was doing, but seems weird you'd lie about a vacation.

Sources Question Governor's Story - Greenville News Story - WYFF Greenville (http://www.wyff4.com/news/19837234/detail.html)

[JPhillips]

Sounds similar to what brought Kirk Fordyce's political career to an end in MS.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I find it amazing that in South Carolina they even noticed he was missing.

I was looking for a create a milk carton "missing person" thingy to make a lame-ass attempt at humor, when I found this:

http://www.uploderx.net/dphrag/balloonmilk458.jpg

Pumpy, Jr.?

[JeeberD]

I think that's supposed to be the guy from this semi-(internet)famous pic...

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/6715/waterballoondemotivatio.jpg

[albionmoonlight]

It's not a big deal. But he and his family made it a much bigger deal than it needed to be by not getting their stories straight and/or not delegating authority to the right people and/or not just telling the truth or giving a no-comment when asked.

[flere-imsaho]

i strongly support Sanford and wish Washington had a few more like him....

They do. Washington's full of rich former businessmen with potential infidelity issues.

[Easy Mac]

Found him. He was in Argentina, "driving the coast", "clearing his head."

Here's what I want to know. Per the timeline, he went missing. The media asked his staff where he was. His staff tracked him down, then told the media he was on the Appalachian trail. Media says huh? He returns from Argentina.

So either he lied to his staff, his staff lied to the media, or he and his staff are complete idiots.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

The third option is a given, and I would bet the first two are true as well.

[chesapeake]

This story is pretty bizarre.

I never begrudge anyone a reasonable amount of time off, and 5 or 6 days is clearly within that threshold. I don't even begrudge him his privacy. If he wants to keep where he is going a secret, I don't care. But he needed to be a big boy and let folks know he is taking some time off so there was someone able to make decisions while he is away.

[ISiddiqui]

Found him. He was in Argentina, "driving the coast", "clearing his head."

Here's what I want to know. Per the timeline, he went missing. The media asked his staff where he was. His staff tracked him down, then told the media he was on the Appalachian trail. Media says huh? He returns from Argentina.

So either he lied to his staff, his staff lied to the media, or he and his staff are complete idiots.

Wait a second... what?! *reads NY Times article*

Argentina?! Ok, now that's really freaking weird. Really hurts Sanford, not because he left, but because his staff seems to be a bunch of idiots.

[DaddyTorgo]

Argentina? this just gets more and more weird

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Is it possible that this is just a story he's given everyone, and he was actually kidnapped by a drug lord named Tuco?

[PackerFanatic]

I wish Governor Doyle would go missing for 5 days. At least then I know my taxes wouldn't go up for almost a week.

+1

[JPhillips]

I'm waiting patiently for the outrage over the money spent so he could go on a trip. Isn't there anywhere in SC this elitist could go?

[ISiddiqui]

Since his staff didn't know where he was, I'm guessing Sanford spent his own money on this ;)

[sterlingice]

Found him. He was in Argentina, "driving the coast", "clearing his head."

Here's what I want to know. Per the timeline, he went missing. The media asked his staff where he was. His staff tracked him down, then told the media he was on the Appalachian trail. Media says huh? He returns from Argentina.

Appalachia. Argentina. It's easy to confuse the two ;)

SI

[Samdari]

i'm sure he's .... holed up with a hooker

You just left out the "in Argentina" part.

[kcchief19]

i'm sure he's either in the hospital for secret surgery or holed up with a hooker
I think we can set our watches by the time the word "prostitute" enters the story.

[sterlingice]

Colbert badly needs to update us on better knowing your governor ;)

SI

[EagleFan]

I wish our gov would go MIA, permanently.

[miked]

If our governor went MIA, I'm sure we'd have a prayer on the capital steps to find him. I'm not really exactly sure what he does though, other than pray for rain and make shady land deals. I guess his approval rating is high, but then again we are in the bottom 5 for education.

[larrymcg421]

I do have to give Sonny credit for vetoing the capital gains bills.

[miked]

Yeah, it was tacked on to a bill to give companies a tax break for hiring unemployed workers. Though even that bill seemed a bit odd.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I guess his approval rating is high

Umm, with whom?

The people who didn't vote for him still don't like him & the people voted for him are disappointed by what we got from him.

If he wasn't term limited, I'm not sure he could win a primary battle in his own car much less the state.

[Thomkal]

This just gets stranger and stupider by the moment. Good thing he is having a press conference at 2 pm to explain it all. So who will the Republicans turn to now for 2012? :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

And yet somehow the state survived the guy going on vacation.

Will wonders never cease?

[flere-imsaho]

He's late to his own press conference.

Also, I love the potential double meanings of "wanting to do something exotic". :D

[ISiddiqui]

I'm just waiting to hear more details now. It's going to turn out he was hunting Nazis in Argentina ;).

[ISiddiqui]

Apparently its an affair with an Argentine woman.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Wow. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[albionmoonlight]

just amazingly dumb.

Have the affair if you want, but think about having a cover story in case someone notices you falling off the face of the earth for a week and decides to look into it.

[ISiddiqui]

Apparently this has been quite the press conference, according to the Twitterati. Very brutally honest is what I'm reading.

[albionmoonlight]

Oh, and he should have learned a lesson from Clinton. There is no reason that you even have to leave your office, let alone the country, in order to have an affair.

[Ben E Lou]

On the one hand, you have the opportunity to perhaps become President Of The United States, The Most Powerful Man On The Planet.

And on the other, you have the chance to get some Argentinian poon-tang.

Easy choice, I guess.

*shurg*

[JonInMiddleGA]

Apparently this has been quite the press conference, according to the Twitterati. Very brutally honest is what I'm reading.

That's kind of the sense I'm getting from the little blurbs. The full transcript might be an interesting read.

What I can't tell is whether he clearly intended to fess up from the beginning of the press conference or if he just sort of got rolling and ended up doing so.

Either way, almost seems like he just kind of said "fuck it, I'd rather be doing this (or her) than what I'm doing".

[flere-imsaho]

Also, I love the potential double meanings of "wanting to do something exotic". :D

Called it, bitches! :D

[flere-imsaho]

Not a good couple of weeks for the party of "family values". If this kind of news comes in threes I'd expect to hear that Sarah Palin's been banging another man real soon.

[JonInMiddleGA]

What I can't tell is whether he clearly intended to fess up from the beginning of the press conference or if he just sort of got rolling and ended up doing so

Longer versions & a couple of blogs and I guess that was his intention all along.
But it would have been more entertaining if it wasn't.

[Thomkal]

bye bye presidential aspirations Governor. man what an embarassment

[DaddyTorgo]

hahaha

awesome

i was so right

[DaddyTorgo]

did his wife know about it? or did she honestly think he was hiking in the woods?

[cartman]

If this kind of news comes in threes I'd expect to hear that Sarah Palin's been banging another man real soon.

It's probably Letterman.

:D

[Ben E Lou]

did his wife know about it? or did she honestly think he was hiking in the woods?His wife has known about it for months, apparently. I don't understand how a woman could live like that.

LEAVE HIM!

Period.

[DaddyTorgo]

that's messed up. a lot of the time i think these politician's wives are more ambitious and power-hungry than the men themselves.

[cartman]

So I guess he decided to give a stimulus package, instead of receiving.

[miked]

So I guess he decided to give a stimulus package, instead of receiving.

Winnar!

[RomaGoth]

So I guess he decided to give a stimulus package, instead of receiving.

To be fair, he could have given and received some stimulus, just on different trips...

[Samdari]

To be fair, he could have given and received some stimulus, just on different trips...

He was there like four days. Even a man of his age could manage both during a trip that long.

At least we now know why his wife was so unconcerned about his absence.

[I. J. Reilly]

All joking aside, I think the only mature response at this point is to reserve judgment until pictures surface. Only then can we comment intelligently.

[Honolulu_Blue]

This guy's already resigned? Weak sauce.

Kawme Kilpatrick was found to have had an affair with his chief of staff, paid a $9 million settlement for wrongfully terminating two police officers who knew about this affair with city money, lied under oath about all of this, was charged with something like 15 different criminal offenses and he STILL refused to resign as mayor of Detroit for like 10 months.

Having an affair with an Argentinian mistress? That's nothing.

[sterlingice]

hahaha

awesome

i was so right

Well, really, did anyone in the thread guess anything other than affair? I think we all had it in the "Where in the World was Mark Sanford" pool. I saw that headline when I came back from lunch and said "yup".

SI

[sterlingice]

I'm just waiting to hear more details now. It's going to turn out he was hunting Nazis in Argentina ;).

This whole thread is comic gold. This is just one of my favorites :D

SI

[sterlingice]

This guy's already resigned? Weak sauce.

Kawme Kilpatrick was found to have had an affair with his chief of staff, paid a $9 million settlement for wrongfully terminating two police officers who knew about this affair with city money, lied under oath about all of this, was charged with something like 15 different criminal offenses and he STILL refused to resign as mayor of Detroit for like 10 months.

Having an affair with an Argentinian mistress? That's nothing.

Hell, in France, they just go to press conferences with the mistress ;)

SI

[SirFozzie]

This guy's already resigned? Weak sauce.

Kawme Kilpatrick was found to have had an affair with his chief of staff, paid a $9 million settlement for wrongfully terminating two police officers who knew about this affair with city money, lied under oath about all of this, was charged with something like 15 different criminal offenses and he STILL refused to resign as mayor of Detroit for like 10 months.

Having an affair with an Argentinian mistress? That's nothing.

Resigned as the leader of the Republican Governor's Association, not as governor itself, unless there's new news I've missed

[Honolulu_Blue]

Resigned as the leader of the Republican Governor's Association, not as governor itself, unless there's new news I've missed

Ah. Good.

[Crapshoot]

So I guess he decided to give a stimulus package, instead of receiving.

Cartman, FOFC is worth it for your one-liners alone. :D

[Tekneek]

Sanctity of marriage crowd takes another hit.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/images/item/fnc-20090624-sanford.jpg

[albionmoonlight]

http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/images/item/fnc-20090624-sanford.jpg

Assuming that isn't a photoshop, I honestly think that FoxNews just does stuff like that on purpose now--not because they think it will fool anyone, but because they know that it will piss the liberals off.

[DaddyTorgo]

Assuming that isn't a photoshop, I honestly think that FoxNews just does stuff like that on purpose now--not because they think it will fool anyone, but because they know that it will piss the liberals off.

or because they're just that incompetent

[Big Fo]

Sanctity of marriage crowd takes another hit.

Another strike against the party of moral superiority :(

[path12]

Fred Sanford says: You big dummy!

[RomaGoth]

I'm just waiting to hear more details now. It's going to turn out he was hunting Nazis in Argentina ;).

An Argentinian Nazi perhaps? Meh, she is probably a double agent.

[RainMaker]

Assuming that isn't a photoshop, I honestly think that FoxNews just does stuff like that on purpose now--not because they think it will fool anyone, but because they know that it will piss the liberals off.
Maybe. I think they've done it so many times now that it's hard to believe it's an accident.

[larrymcg421]

This whole thread is comic gold. This is just one of my favorites :D

SI

Or in NYC, they just move in.

[JPhillips]

His wife has known about it for months, apparently. I don't understand how a woman could live like that.

LEAVE HIM!

Period.

I wouldn't fault a woman for that decision, but if they genuinely want to save their marriage I don't fault that either. The parents of my daughter's best friend went through adultery and spent quite a while working on their marriage. In the end they stayed together and now do a lot of marriage counseling for other couples in trouble. I don't think they'd choose to go through it if they could go back in time, but they've stayed together and turned a potential tragedy into a hell of a lot of good.

[sterlingice]

Fred Sanford says: You big dummy!

Nicely done :)

SI

[RainMaker]

So the affair went on for 8 years?

[Easy Mac]

Well, really, did anyone in the thread guess anything other than affair? I think we all had it in the "Where in the World was Mark Sanford" pool. I saw that headline when I came back from lunch and said "yup".

SI
honestly, I thought he was going to say he was gay, and/or he was having sex with Lindsay Graham. Straight adulterous sex was the last thing I expected.

[illinifan999]

http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/images/item/fnc-20090624-sanford.jpg

it's probably going to be really obvious, but what am i missing here?

[Easy Mac]

D

[DaddyTorgo]

took me a minute too - Sanford is a (R) not a (D)

no pics of the mistress yet?

[Autumn]

I'm just waiting to hear more details now. It's going to turn out he was hunting Nazis in Argentina ;).

Maybe hunting Nazis in an Argentinan.

[SirFozzie]

Apparently he's very lucky that the South Carolina legislature is out for several months. The rules state that when the governor leaves the country, he MUST turn over power while he's outside the US to the Lt Gov. I guess it's an impeachable offense..

[Tekneek]

“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.” [Sanford on Clinton, The Post and Courier, 9/12/98]

“The issue of lying is probably the biggest harm, if you will, to the system of Democratic government, representatives government, because it undermines trust. And if you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.” [Sanford on Clinton, CNN, 2/16/99]

[JediKooter]

took me a minute too - Sanford is a (R) not a (D)

no pics of the mistress yet?

Here she is...

[sterlingice]

I think rather than Dirk's girl, I'd have preferred...

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y268/sterlingice/random/fstallone.jpg

You guessed it, Frank Stallone!

SI

[Autumn]

She fled to Argentina I guess to avoid a conviction.

[Young Drachma]

That was an awful press conference. Why do these people employ advisors if they're just gonna fall down the stairs like that?

[RainMaker]

“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.” [Sanford on Clinton, The Post and Courier, 9/12/98]

“The issue of lying is probably the biggest harm, if you will, to the system of Democratic government, representatives government, because it undermines trust. And if you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.” [Sanford on Clinton, CNN, 2/16/99]

Do as I say, not as I do.

[Dutch]

Agreed. If a public figure cheats on their spouse, they'll cheat on their constituents.

So...See ya!

(Don't worry about the people of South Carolina, they'll make more politicians.)

[sterlingice]

That was an awful press conference. Why do these people employ advisors if they're just gonna fall down the stairs like that?

To be fair, there's not much an advisor can do for a scandal like this. To borrow from the vernacular that everyone was feigning offense to as it was apparently just invented last year, there's no putting lipstick on this pig.

SI

[RainMaker]

I don't follow South Carolina politics or necessarily care who their Governor is. But I don't think he should resign if the people like him and they feel he's doing a good job still. We elect Governors to do a job and that's what they should be judged on. The not telling people where he was going should be the real issue, not who he was fucking.

In any event, the happiest man on the planet has to be Romney who is being handed the nomination in 2012.

[cartman]

Evidently the pics have surfaced.

The News Bizarre: MarÃ*a Belén Chapur Photo Mark Stanford Lover Named (http://newsbizarre.com/2009/06/maria-belen-chapur-photo-mark-stanford.html)

[Easy Mac]

I think republicans killed Michael Jackson to knock this off the front page.

[Dutch]

I think republicans killed Michael Jackson to knock this off the front page.

Careful, democrats believe stuff like this.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Evidently the pics have surfaced.

The News Bizarre: MarÃ*a Belén Chapur Photo Mark Stanford Lover Named (http://newsbizarre.com/2009/06/maria-belen-chapur-photo-mark-stanford.html)

Is it just me or she does she look a LOT like his wife?

[Easy Mac]

Careful, democrats believe stuff like this.

I don't know, I mean I head Mr. burns and the count were seen in la earlier today

[Autumn]

I don't know, I mean I head Mr. burns

We don't need to know this.

[DaddyTorgo]

Interesting tidbit:

Meanwhile, questions grew about a trip to Argentina he took last summer. While Sanford has agreed to reimburse the state for part of a more-than $8,000 tab that enabled him to see the mistress, state officials indicated they never intended a South American economic development trip to hold meetings in Argentina. That was only done at the governor's behest, said Kara Borie, a spokeswoman for the state Commerce Department.

I dunno - I sort of feel like state taxpayers ought to sue him for the full amount of the trip then.

[miked]

I think I was reading that the trip was for Brazil, and he asked to add a stop in Argentina. Notice the quote above said they never intended meetings in Argentina. I believe (remembering from an old article) that they spent a week in Brazil for the meetings and that's why he's not reimbursing the whole trip.

[JPhillips]

I felt somewhat sorry for him last week, but not anymore.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says he "crossed lines" with a handful of women other than his mistress -- but never had sex with them.

The governor says he "never crossed the ultimate line" with anyone but Maria Belen Chapur, the Argentine at the center of a scandal that has derailed Sanford's once-promising political career.

During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

[RainMaker]

Odd that the Republicans aren't bitching about this. I mean Obama went to New York for an evening and the world was blowing up.

[miked]

Odd that the Republicans aren't bitching about this. I mean Obama went to New York for an evening and the world was blowing up.

They are, his own party is investigating his trips since he admitted to making quite a few more than the original. Of course, they aren't investigating because they care about ethics, they just want his job.

[Samdari]

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says he "crossed lines" with a handful of women other than his mistress -- but never had sex with them.

"I've hit on lots of women, but could only close the deal with someone who did not speak English and understand my incoherent ramblings."

[sterlingice]

See I just figured it was like most kids talking about high school experiences (or Bill Clinton- what the definition of "is" is). She only did _blank_ and _blank_ but we were worried about her getting pregnant so we didn't "go all the way".

Then again, the more and more I see of "real life", the more I think it's a lot like high school.

SI

[Tekneek]

Then again, the more and more I see of "real life", the more I think it's a lot like high school.

More like some people never matured beyond high school.

[sterlingice]

More like some people never matured beyond high school.

I think the vast majority of people get their social structure understanding from high school and thus carry that on to the rest of their lives

SI

[RainMaker]

I understand that Sanford is a dirtball but not sure why his affairs matter to the public. I can see the Argentina woman coming up because it may have been on the State's dime but my theory is that a politician can fuck who he wants as long as he does a good job.

[JPhillips]

I understand that Sanford is a dirtball but not sure why his affairs matter to the public. I can see the Argentina woman coming up because it may have been on the State's dime but my theory is that a politician can fuck who he wants as long as he does a good job.

Agreed if he had been quiet about marriage previously. When you go all out against Clinton and defend the sanctity of marriage from gays, you deserve whatever beating you get from having an affair IMO.

[RainMaker]

Here are some of the e-mails from the press and responses. Fox News showing their "journalistic integrity" as always.

http://media.thestate.com/smedia/2009/07/14/19/StaffEmailsFinalTue2.source.prod_affiliate.74.pdf

[Dutch]

Here are some of the e-mails from the press and responses. Fox News showing their "journalistic integrity" as always.

http://media.thestate.com/smedia/2009/07/14/19/StaffEmailsFinalTue2.source.prod_affiliate.74.pdf

I love how big liberals are into "journalistic integrity" when it's clear they have no concept of it at all.

[RainMaker]

I love how big liberals are into "journalistic integrity" when it's clear they have no concept of it at all.
I'm not a liberal, just found it funny how a reporter for a major news network is not trying to get information but spin something for a guy. Or that a major newspapers asks for an interview by stating it's "friendly ground".

I know many media outlets are biased in one way or another, but they shouldn't make it that pathetically obvious.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I know many media outlets are biased in one way or another, but they shouldn't make it that pathetically obvious.

I'm not sure that's actually true, at least in a general sense ('cause I didn't follow the path of this specific one in the past few posts).

Here's what I'm thinking about on this: The most popular TV news sites have definite leanings, and the stronger those leanings are displayed generally the better people respond to them. Newspapers have an even longer history of having a clear bias, look at the career of William Randolph Hearst, certainly not much pretense about being unbiased there.

It's not even outside my lifetime that two then-competing Atlanta newspapers were generally known as the liberal one & the conservative one & you subscribed in part accordingly (as well as your morning or afternoon preference). That distinction is still referenced fairly regularly today, nearly 30 years after they merged, it's still pretty well ingrained on anyone who was around at the time.

Truth is, I'm not at all sure there's not actually more false pretense of being unbiased attempted today than there's ever been in the American media.

[RainMaker]

I'm not sure that's actually true, at least in a general sense ('cause I didn't follow the path of this specific one in the past few posts).

Here's what I'm thinking about on this: The most popular TV news sites have definite leanings, and the stronger those leanings are displayed generally the better people respond to them. Newspapers have an even longer history of having a clear bias, look at the career of William Randolph Hearst, certainly not much pretense about being unbiased there.

It's not even outside my lifetime that two then-competing Atlanta newspapers were generally known as the liberal one & the conservative one & you subscribed in part accordingly (as well as your morning or afternoon preference). That distinction is still referenced fairly regularly today, nearly 30 years after they merged, it's still pretty well ingrained on anyone who was around at the time.

Truth is, I'm not at all sure there's not actually more false pretense of being unbiased attempted today than there's ever been in the American media.

I agree, but I think it's changed this decade. While there were biases, the media wasn't an extension of the party or movement. They didn't go out of their way to spin stories as much or essentially disguise press releases as journalism. There was a bias in the stories that were reported, how prominent they were placed, and what the slant of the editorial board was.

But this just comes across worse. It's not just a Fox News or Washington Times thing, it's with all the networks that have strong leanings. The guys had no interest in reporting news or finding out what was going on. Their entire pitch was to help a guy spin a story the right way to the public. I think that veers more down the path of entertainment than news.

Maybe it's always been that way though. I guess it's just depressing to me that during a time when we need great investigative journalists going after everyone in power, we have hacks like that running around spinning things and calling it news.

[flere-imsaho]

It used to be that bias was limited to the editorial pages (or "commentary" programs on TV), though. Now bias is strewn throughout supposedly objective articles/programs. I think that's to what we're objecting.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It used to be that bias was limited to the editorial pages (or "commentary" programs on TV), though. Now bias is strewn throughout supposedly objective articles/programs. I think that's to what we're objecting.

I guess the difference is that I've never operated under much illusion that those articles/programs were objective. And I've probably underestimated how many people ever thought they were.

I wrote my first news copy back in, let's see, 1983 or so. I think I figured out how you put your p.o.v. in there in about ... 1983 or so. Was even tutored on how to do it effectively to some extent, and that was on minor stuff in micro markets.

[Young Drachma]

Jenny Sanford to Divorce Governor: Savvy Career Move? - TIME (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1947305,00.html)

Sanford's wife files for divorce.

[Thomkal]

Well at least Sanford has the remaining time in his governorship left to console himself with.

[molson]

I hope she ends up with a nice chunk of change (though given her credentials, she may not need it)

[JPhillips]

His wife is talking now.

Jenny Sanford, the estranged wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, told Barbara Walters in an ABC interview that her husband insisted they take the fidelity clause out of their marriage vows.

"It bothered me to some extent, but ... we were very young, we were in love," she said. "I questioned it, but I got past it ... along with other doubts that I had."

Don't think I could have slipped that past my wife.

[sterlingice]

Wait? The vows or the pre-nuptual?

"And do you, Mark Sanford, promise to, uh, never mind- it looks like this one was scratched out"

SI

[Young Drachma]

She's already got a clothing line, a book deal and a possible Senate run in the works. She's gonna do juuuust fine for herself.