S. Carolina Gov Takes Missing in Action to get some tail. Should he step down ?

S. Carolina Gov Mark Sanford admitted that he was missing in action for days because he was in South America visiting his mistress.
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/25/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5112596.shtml

(Here is my one sided rant on hypocrisy)

Sanford is yet another conservative Republican caught with his pants down and not practicing the morality that he and other conservative republicans preach for the rest of us.

Once again,it's "do as I say" for the conservatives, but they themselves don't seem to be able to lead the lifestyle and have the moral values that they seem to think our country as a whole should have.

From Palin preaching abstinence yet having an unwed pregnant teen daughter, to a slew of Governors, and Senators like Harry Reid getting caught in straight out lies ad hypocrisy and not having the moral fortitude to practice what they preach...all that "family first", "values" stuff is complete garbage. they are hypocrites. How can you trust anyone like that in office...there is no telling what else they are capable of if they can lie in the face of millions of people, and wag the finger at others, all the while hiding their secret lives ..which very well could include anything from espionage, to racketeering, to taking bribes and other criminal activity.

They know right from wrong, because they preach it, they just don't believe it applies to them.

I for am glad to see them repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot and destroying their sham of a platform after years of pointing the finger at others.
</end rant>

Never mind my feelings politically...fo the Gov.(Commander and Chief) of a U.S. State to take off to another country without telling anyone, and have no consideration for his office, his security, the security of the office is absurd.

Also judging from some of the emails where he communicated meetings with Washington Officials, and being on the short list for the VP slot, he is a National Security risk.

If he can leave his office and slip out to another continent to see some tail, what else is he capable of? Transporting documents ? Telling his mistress the Presidents travel schedule ?

I am sure his pillow talk must be pretty damaging as well.

He shows a very extreme lack of judgment and self control and cannot be trusted anymore.

I think he needs to step down, or be relived immediately.

 

What would concern me the most is whether he is using taxpayer money for his extra-marital affair, if so, get rid of him.

Not to hijack this thread with something unrelated, but I just saw something on the same page you used as a source, keep scrolling down to the immigration article and it says,

That actually concerns me more than worrying about who Sanford might be sleeping with.

 

Another "Family Values" Republican caught with this pants down! I love these guys! As Jon Stewart said just another politician with a "conservative mind and a liberal penis." What's most annoying about people like this (Gov. Sanford & Sen. Ensign) is that they called for Bill Clinton to resign because of the Lewinsky affair yet they don't resign themselves when they are caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The hypocrisy is just overwhelming.

Personally I don't believe that the personal lives of politicians should be any of our business. The only thing that gives me a kick about these sorts of stories is how these assholes campaign as "family values" politicians while they are doing stuff like this. It's the hypocrisy that kills me, not the personal troubles themselves.

Also in this case - I think what's really relevant is the fact that nobody knew where he was for days and he didn't bother to pass control over to his Lt. Gov --- I think that's what he should resign for, not the affair. He can get a divorce because of the affair, he should be resigning because he's clearly not up to the job of being a Governor.

***special note***

Two heterosexual GOP sex scandals in a row. You got to give it to them - that's pretty impressive. I was expecting this story to involve at least one tranny.

 

OMG you are a hoot !

That is just down right funny as hell !

I agree, their personal lives shouldn't be our business, but since they make it a point to wag the finger at others personal lives, they damn well should have their own house in order.

What if this woman is under someone else's payroll ? He left the country to see her with out letting anyone know.
He could have been kidnapped, held hostage, tortured, assassinated, bribed, or propped up on some Al Queada capture video.

Can you imagine if they got their hands on a U.S. Gov or Senator because he was chasing some tail half way around the world, traveling without security, or an itinerary registered with his office?

He is an idiot and a risk.

 

You make a very good point - this guy could have got himself into some real trouble in Argentina without his security detail and nobody knowing where he was. It's really hard to believe in a way. It seems like something from a movie.

 

Yes, he could have gotten himself in real trouble in Argentina without his security detail.

And the hypocrisy isn't surprising - ho hum, aren't all politicians hypocrites?

My concern is drawn from my experience with corporate America. From my experience, I can see that he is a man in personal pain. When you are a private citizen, you can certainly up and take off. You can call in sick, you can take a sudden vacation.

But when you are a significant government official, or a corporate executive responsible for hundreds of people (yes, I've been there), you just can't take off. And the stress of a personal crisis can tear you apart.

I refer to Dave Chappelle as an obvious example.

I don't think the mistress in Argentina is the issue. IMO, I think there was some other stressor that caused him to run to his mistress, because his wife wouldn't provide the comfort he needed.

 

Maybe, but part of taking on the responsibility is having the fortitude to put the best interest of your position first. It wasn't like it was thrust on him, he asked for it, and ran an election to get it..so that argument falls on deaf ears to me.

His office should have been first. I am sure if he had taken a trip through proper channels, no one would be the wiser, but (if it was stress) he has just shown that there are some stresses that could cause him to make risky judgments for the office, therefore, he is not fit to hold one as big as Governor.

Everyone is not fit to be a soldier, and everyone is not fit to hold public office. It requires more sacrifice than just winning an election. It's a promise to hold the best interest of your unit and your mission, or the people first.

Of course you get personal time, as you should, but you don't go AWOL putting the office in jeopardy , and leaving your men out to dry covering for you.

When I saw the press conference, I had already assumed the possibility that he had probably used public funds in some way regarding this. That is a crime that he can be punished for , or made to pay back the money...the bigger picture is that he doesn't have the stomach, or the ethics for the job.

 

I have no problem with the dude taking personal time and I don't really care about what he does with his personal life (other than the hiprocrisy of him being a "family values" politician who called for Clinton to resign for his affair.)

It's just that he should have put someone else in charge (like the Lt. Gov) while he was away. Also it seems pretty irresponsible to be completely unreachable when you are the Governor and certainly he put himself at some risk by leaving his security detail on a trip to Argentina. And of course there's the issue of using tax payer funds for his personal jaunts to Argentina.

 

EVERYONE is susceptible to some stress that could cause them to make risky judgments.

In in my corporate experience, people undergo two type of crippling stress, one is obvious (they tell you), the other is private. They may have just experienced the death of someone very close, and if they tell you, you can deal with it. If they don't, well, a seasoned manager can tell something's wrong and you now have an employee that cannot make good decisions.

I would remove them from their regular duties and give them something routine to do, something of an assemblyline-type nature, usually documentation work. Other managers would deal with these employees by trying to give them something interesting and unique, but non-critical, to do.

I thought I was made of iron, but I suffered a crippling loss when I was a manager, and I took off without permission, similar to what the Governor did (I stayed home for 1.5 weeks, I had broken up with my GF 3 months before so I didn't have that outlet). But before I did that, I called a close friend at the company and told him what happened. I then said, "I don't want to talk to anyone about it. Please, please handle this for me." He saw to it that my projects were taken care of, and he combated any criticisms.

My empathy, which I feel made me a good manager, made me vulnerable in a time of personal crisis. This was an opportunity for the coldly selfish corporate sociopaths (zero empathy - think Hannibal Lector) when I suffered a loss. These people aren't susceptible to any type of personal loss. They will also have no guilt if they fire an entire department for the sole reason of financing their six-or seven-figure bonus, and smile while doing it, so you decide who you'd rather work for...

When I got back, I had lost a lot of my corporate clout because of the Darwinian nature of corporate politics (if you are completely out of touch, you are totally vulnerable to corporate sociopaths). I had my position, but in my absence the jackals (competing managers) had taken out chunks of my budget (but because of my loss, I didn't give a s**t).

The Gov. of SC didn't have the Friend I had to take care of things.

 

They all learned from the best!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewinsky_scandal

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiIP_KDQmXs

People tend the follow the lead of those at the top.

 

NO. The Lt. Governor is a drunk and stupid. Sanford may be a cheater but the Lt is much worse. As much as I do not like Sanford the 2nd choice is much worse.

 

Yeah...Um we all were appalled at that one 13 years ago, where have you been ?
You can't keep using Clinton as a fall back for finger pointing every time one of your boys gets caught with his pants down.

Look how far you had to go back...3 Presidents ago....Funny how many of those who called for his resignation and pointed the finger at his lack of morality are the very same ones getting caught with their closet doors open and their dicks in the cookie jar these days...

Rush Limbaugh (Drugs),
Harry Reid (Mistress),
John Ensign (Mistress)
Newt Gingrich (Mistress),
Rudy Julianni (Mistresses),
Mark Sanford (Mistress and abandoning his post),
Mark Foley (Soliciting teen boys),
Ted Haggard (prostitutes) ,
Larry Craig (soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom),
Bob Allen (Offering an undercover cop $20 to allow Allen to blow him in a men’s room in a public park),
Glenn Murphy Jr.(Murphy got a fellow Young Republican drunk and then spent the night at his house. The other young man woke up in the middle of the night to find Murphy giving him mouth-to-penis resuscitation. After this incident, a 1998 sexual battery report came to light in which Murphy was alleged to have done the exact same thing.)
and there are more, I just got tired of typing them.

..and the best you can do is to go back 13 years to Clinton ? C'mon.

The conservative republicans seems to have a serious problem walking the walk.
Edited:

Where is my head, I almost forget my favorite:

Sara Palin: Preaching abstinence, no sex education in schools, and anti abortion, all the while hiding a pregnant teen daughter at home.

The big difference here is, Clinton, nor any Democrat doesn't run on a 1950's antiquated idea of "Family Values", or continuously tries to blur the lines of religious beliefs and morality with the law...At this point in American History The 2 should have nothing to do with each other.

That is a pretty high horse and a very judgmental platform to run on, especially when members of your own party continuously prove that it is an impossible standard to meet for everyone.

I always thought the Dems were push overs when it came to dirt and scandal, but at this rate, if they keep turning over rocks to see what's under them, there won't be anyone left to run against Obama in 4 years except Palin...and every comedienne in the country is hoping for that one cause the jokes just write themselves.

 

That's pretty much the Benchmark... Hurts a bit I guess...

 

Wow, hmansfield is really selective with his "facts".

For example, I totally don't get his Sarah Palin remark - seems like he is stretching to make a point. She walks the walk, and talks the talk! And some of hmansfield's list is just sadly naive. For Rush Limbaugh, it's common and legal for high profile people to protect their privacy by putting their prescriptions in their doctor's name. I could comment on the rest of hmansfield's list, but why bother - hmansfield has no use for the truth, does he?

hmansfield reminds me of Bill Clinton - another man who enjoyed flirting with the truth. He set the standard, didn't he? Bill Clinton is the man by whom all political scandals are now measured - perjury, corruption of witnesses, coercing his lawyer to lie for him, betraying national security secrets - Bill Clinton is the grand bull moose of all political corruption!

But, all that aside, isn't it hmansfield's position that we should expect hypocrisy and corruption and deceit from the Democrats? - that we expect less from them, so it's O.K. if Democrats lie and cheat and steal and are dishonest?

 

Let's get it out of the way, Bill Clinton was just as wrong..that way you can stop trying to use that 13 year old example as if I think it was OK. or not as bad. It wasn't O.K., and it was also a horrible hypocrisy.

This thread is not about Bill Clinton, but it is about the attitudes towards him at the time, and "My how the tides have turned" and the finger pointers are now caught dead to rights doing the exact same thing or worse.

Every time someone points out specific republican hypocrisy, Reps have to fall back on Bill Clinton like school yard children shouting , "But he did it too", instead of defending the specific issue at hand

They are all wrong.

Everyone I listed, along with their actions is the truth. Proven, Reported, Documented truth with witnesses and testimony against them, and they have either left their positions, or are in the process of hanging on as we speak because of it, Except for Rush Limbaugh, who just went to rehab. (Let me take you back to when he admitted it after he was caught and went to rehab)

Do you need to me to go to CNN, CBS, ABC, FOX, Reuters, and MSNBC and get all the story links ?

The only thing selective is my opinion, but that's OK, because it's my opinion.

If what is good for the Goose is good for the gander and if these people were all so definite that others, who just happen to be Democrats should have stepped down, then they too should be made to step down. They should follow their own rhetoric, and not just preach it.
Plain and Simple.

Edited:

Former Evangelical Leader, and Conservative Republican Ted Haggard was on Oprah discussing the sordid details of his dirty little secret with hiring gay hookers and drugs...all the while calling for the damnation and resignation of others (like Clinton).and supposedly leading his own "moral majority".
Maybe you should watch it and get a a few facts of your own.
Here is a link for you

 

Dont confuse a neocon with a conservative. There are many differences there and we have been through them.
Usually the ones who judge the most that are the worst.

 

But, Bill Clinton is the most important example.

All modern politics begins with Bill Clinton. What he did differently - actually, what James Carville coached him to do - was that he bypassed politics and developed personal and close relationships with the heads of the media.

This was a revolutionary tactic in politics, because journalists don't t like to criticize people they like and will even enjoy participating in a cover-up! After the journalists developed a completely unethical relationships with Democrats, the media began to overlook things like Clinton's illegal transfer of high technology to China, or openly accepting bribes on camera.

It took the Internet to finally out Clinton on his dealings with China, the Monica Lewinsky affair and the related abuse of power. The internet brought to light his alleged rape of an Arkansas state employee.

NO, you are wrong. None of these Repubs committed the horrible crimes Bill Clinton committed.

President Bill Clinton could have come out and admitted the affairs. If he had, it would have been like the other affairs you claim - it would have stayed in the news cycle for a couple of months, and then gone away.

Bill Clinton was impeached because he lied about the affair, perjurered himself, attempted to bribe and coerce testimony while violating national security. In the Repub affairs you list, none of these people betrayed thier country by committing the crimes Bill Clinton did - not even Democrat John Edwards (who, instead, betrayed his party).

And, may i remind you that an affair in and of itself is not illegal. And it's up to the individual to decide if it is immoral. But the affair snowballs into danger when it involves an abuse of power.

You are all wrong, Bill Clinton wasn't impeached for having an affair. He was impeached for abuse of power, bribing witnesses, coercing his lawyer to lie, and violating his oath in illegally trying to cover it up.

No, you are wrong. None of these affairs violated the law. You are wrong. None of these affairs involved abuse of power.

Bill Clinton was impeached for breaking the law by abusing the power of the Presidency. Liberals like to wine that it's because he had an affair, but that's because no liberal has ever bothered to read Clinton's Articles of Impeachment. And the media pathetic slant of "it's about the affair", which ignored the bribes and coercion, is the official line of head-in-the-sand liberals because they, too, are afraid of reading Clinton's Articles of Impeachment. They'd rather believe the B.S.

The analogy is appropriate because no marital affair in politics since Clinton has come even close to the sheer magnitude of the crimes of the abuse of the power of the presidency. Any Repub affair you can point to fades into insignificance.

BTW, I'm a Moderate Extremist I believe there is no real difference in party leaders. I believe that, in both Repubs and Dems, there are individual politicians that strive to do the right thing. But the Republocrats, as I call them, their leadership is all corrupt.

 

He should definitely resign if he doesn't practice what he preaches. I'm all for these guys having a private life - but once they start commenting on how everyone else should lead their lives, they must be squeeky clean themselves.

 

Holy Crap. Are you seriously blaming Bill Clinton for Mark Sanford's actions? Unbelievable.

The hypocrisy is overwhelming. For as much as those of you on the right tried to destroy Bill Clinton, the Republicans have had many more sex scandals. And the amazing thing is that many of the GOP idiots caught with their pants down called on Clinton to resign (including Ensign & Sanford.)

 

Why? What did he do that is illegal?

What damage was caused to South Carolina?

If every politician that didn't practice what he/she preaches resigned, then Washington DC would be almost empty, including today's White House.