Thursday, June 25, 2009

Falling From the Throne

A married guy has a girlfriend, that's not a news story. A governor disappears for nearly a week to rendezvous with his mysterious lover in South America without telling anyone, there's a story. How about this: man runs for office, telling everyone he believes in family values and will uphold the dignity of marriage, and then after he's elected he runs off to South America to see his girlfriend. Yeah, that's a story.

When I saw Keith Olbermann reading those sappy emails last night, with that sappy music in the background, I almost felt sorry for Mark Sanford. I had a little dog once that could jump a six-foot fence when a certain smell was in the air, and if he could have written emails to the female in heat on the next block they would sound just like these that Sanford wrote to "Maria."

Don't get me wrong, I do not feel sorry for Mark Sanford. He thought he was better than everybody else, he thinks everybody will forgive him, everybody will understand that because he wrote goo-goo letters to "Maria" he is somehow a martyr for love. Naw, he's just another dog, just like everybody else. His story is no different from anybody else's, he's just got more money.

It was cute when my dog used to jump over the fence. It's not cute when an elected offical abandons his post and lies to his family and his constituents to jump over the fence and run down the block.

Republicans and Democrats are equally susceptible to the temptations of the flesh, straight people and gay, white and black, Christian, Jew, Arab, and atheist. This isn't about sex, it's about dereliction of duty and it's about thinking you're better than other people. It should be -- I'm not saying it will be -- a wake-up call to Republicans to back off the holier-than-thou angle in campaigning, maybe they should run on the basis of policies and not make statements about family and marriage that they can't live up to.

There. I got through it without using the word "hypocrisy." Alvin McEwen has a good summary of events at his site, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters. He lives in South Carolina, has lots of links here, I think he's captured the essence of it from the local point of view.

Oh, and one more thing. How come we aren't seeing any photographs of the lovely temptress who brought down this King of the Old South? Somebody knows who she is, I want to have a look at this one.

28 Comments:

Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

There was a discussion about Governor Sanford's press conference between Sean Hannity and Karl Rove on FOX News Wednesday night that Vigilance readers might find interesting.

Here's the set-up:

Hannity: All right so where in the world was governor Governor Mark Sanford? Now that is the question that news organizations across the country were asking this weekend after the governor mysteriously disappeared in a dark SUV. Now he made a dramatic re-emergence today when a reporter found him disembarking a plane from Argentina. That is our headline this Wednesday night: Lost and Found..

Now the governor's staff initially told reporters that he was hiking in the Appalachian Mountains to clear his head. Now in the governor's tell all press conference earlier today he rambled on and on and on about his great love for the outdoors.

START VIDEO CLIP

Sanford: "I used to organize hiking trips. Actually when I was in high school, I would get a soccer coach or a football coach to act as chaperone, and then I'd get folks to pay me sixty bucks each or whatever it was to take the trip and then off we'd go and have these great adventures on the Appalachian Trail."

END VIDEO CLIP

Hannity: But that was just a detour along the way to this very stunning admission.

START VIDEO CLIP

Sanford: The bottom line is this. I've been unfaithful to my wife and as a consequence I hurt her, I hurt you all, I hurt my wife, I hurt my boys, I hurt friends like Tom Davis. I hurt a lot of good folks.

END VIDEO CLIP

Hannity: Now Governor Sanford even admitted to misleading his staff regarding his whereabouts before he jetted off to spend Father's Day weekend with his mistress. Add him to the growing ranks of our elected leaders, Republicans and Democrats, who transgress the bonds of marriage. Now Governor Sanford apologized to South Carolina but his personal situation extends beyond that state into the GOP as a whole. Now it's no secret that the governor was a leading candidate for the party's nomination in 2012 and his resignation as head of the Republican Governors Association suggests that he is now out of the running.

June 26, 2009 8:56 AM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

And here's the discussion:

Hannity (continued): Joining me now with reaction is somebody, well he knows a thing or two about bringing success to the GOP. The architect Karl Rove is here. Karl, we just had him on before this disappearance. Were you as surprised as I am?

Rove: Well it's a sad, sad situation, and obviously convoluted and deeply personal. I do think that one of the interesting things is how quickly a lot of commentators have, particularly on the left, have come to say this is something that, a deadly blow to the Republican Party because he was such a strong candidate in 2012. With all due respect to governor Sanford I've never thought that he was a particularly strong candidate. If you looked just beneath the surface in South Carolina, for example, there were a lot of strong conservatives who were very upset with his performance in office and I suspect if he had run we would have seen a lot of South Carolinians popping up the camps of other candidates and that would have been very damaging to his candidacy. He would not have been able to say. "I'm the candidate from South Carolina who has unified support among party members in my home state."

Hannity: A lot of people think his days are numbered in South Carolina. Your thoughts.

Rove: Might be. Might be, I mean he did he didn't beat around the bush, he didn't mislead people in today's news conference. It was sort of a quirky and odd news conference but he was pretty straightforward in saying "I made a mistake and I take responsibility for it." And you know again it's a sign of a lack of popularity that he's got in his state that the immediate response of lot of the political leaders in his state was, "He's got to go and he's got to go right now."

Hannity: Karl, This is a tough question and -- Should it matter what people do in their private life? Should the public care? Does it reflect on their character in your mind?"

Rove: We'll look, people in public life are human beings and human beings make mistakes and so I hate to have sort of a blanket rule that needs to be applied each and every time. I think these need to be looked upon and judged as they are. This is certainly a lot different than say for example, Governor Spitzer who was using a prostitute. You know nobody went out and made big comments about, you know, "the Democrat party are liberals" when he did that. Obviously Barney Frank had his own issues with a with a prostitution ring being run out of his basement apartment and now he's the chairman of the all powerful committee in the House of Representatives that oversees our financial institutions so I mean there are different ways that these get handled. I think governor Sanford, to his credit owned up to it quickly. It explains, you know, the pressure that he's been under explains, it explains a little bit why he was probably as eccentric in his handling of this as he was today but I have to say I suspect the people of South Carolina appreciated him being straightforward and fessing up."


What a fine demonstration of GOP spin by The Architect himself. Rove made just few small omissions:

--no mention of Vitter's use of prostitutes

--no mention that Spitzer resigned his elected office while Vitter didn't

--no mention that GOP luminaries like Governor Jindal are helping Vitter raise 2010 re-election funds.

--no mention that Spitzer and Vitter both waited until the press revealed their use of prostitutes before making their public confessions.

June 26, 2009 8:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with Rove. Sanford was never all that appealing a candidate. Mainly, a creation of the media. They decide he looks good and has good poll numbers in his dtate. Then They anoint him a leading candidate and we're all supposed to believe this has big implications for the Republican party?

Classic straw man.

Not trying to justify anything but this guy fell in love with some other woman, told his wife and seperated. Not really unheard of in the 21st century.

He wasn't patronizing prostitutes (Spitzer-D), taking advantage of a young subordinate just out of college (Clinton-D), or cheating on a wife undergoing chemotherapy (Edwards-D). Note that the last two there were higher up the ladder than Sanford was ever likely to be.

and this:

"I do not feel sorry for Mark Sanford. He thought he was better than everybody else,"

When did this guy ever say he thought he was "better than everybody else"?

Let's see an example.

June 26, 2009 1:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Falling From the Throne"

Alvin, you know of any thrones in Columbia?

Maybe it's hidden in a closet in Spurrier's office or in a back room at Jillian's.

June 26, 2009 1:42 PM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

He wasn't patronizing prostitutes (Spitzer-D [or Senator Vitter-R]), taking advantage of a young subordinate just out of college (Clinton-D [or male high school Capitol Hill interns like Rep. Mark Foley-R]), or cheating on a wife undergoing chemotherapy (Edwards-D [or trying to get wife #1 (of three) to sign divorce papers while recuperating from uterine cancer surgery like Rep. Newt Gingrich-R]).

Come on, Anon, even Sean Hannity can admit the truth, which is that there are growing ranks of our elected leaders, Republicans and Democrats, who transgress the bonds of marriage. Try accepting the whole truth for a change.

June 26, 2009 3:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that's always been my view, Anon-B

it's you and your co-horts that act as if this is a Republican problem

of course, you say, that's because Repubs have supported "pro-family" causes

meaning, I suppose abortion, gay marriage, school choice for the disadvantaged

none of which are really relevant to whether some politician keeps his marital vows

it's just the Clever Co-horts trying to divert attention from their despicable positions attacking children

children are murdered in their mother's womb, kids are stuck with deviant parents, disdvantaged kids are trapped in dangerous and failing hell-holes

and if anyone is opposed to these societal sicknesses, they can't oppose these tragedies?

whether politicians are hypocritical or not is really not that important

those are private tragedies

more important is whether they support the right policies, protecting the innocent

June 26, 2009 3:57 PM  
Anonymous anti-Bea said...

"Come on, Anon, even Sean Hannity can admit the truth, which is that there are growing ranks of our elected leaders, Republicans and Democrats, who transgress the bonds of marriage."

Anon-B, we weren't talkind about Vitter, Foley or Gingrich. We were talking about Sanford. Personally, I think his trangressions are relatively minor, compared to the former Democratic President and former Democratic VP nominee.

And what's this "elected leaders" stuff?

Sanford's transgressions are fairly typical in our society as a whole.

June 26, 2009 4:03 PM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

we weren't talkind [sic] about Vitter, Foley or Gingrich. We were talking about Sanford.

Well, Sybil, we weren't talking about Spitzer, Clinton, or Edwards either. But someone who prefers to remain "Anonymous" (an acquaintance of yours perhaps?) brought up those Democrats. Rove brought up only Democrats -- Spitzer and Frank. I responded by agreeing with Mr. Hannity that elected officials from both political parties have had similar failings.

How many philandering politicians went AWOL and left the US for a week while the staff of their elected office, constituents, wife, and family had no idea where they'd gone?

And what's this "elected leaders" stuff?

Ask Hannity.

June 26, 2009 5:20 PM  
Anonymous Robert said...

Public chest-thumping about morality accompanied by private cheating and exploitation of women is a big reason why the american people hold the political class is such low esteem.

June 27, 2009 8:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andrea- not anon
I love how people want to justify these actions- I do not care if it R or D- " that it is fairly common". Yeah, it's common alright- in another sense of the word- low-down, trashy.
And I do think many politicians who cheat must think they are better and smarter- but actually are dumb as dirt. In this day and age- how do you expect not to get caught- cellphones with cameras are everywhere and money to be made by media in finding you out? The arrogance doesn't amaze me anymore. Further Sanford told his wife he would not see his mistress anymore(Jenny, get the lawyer, get the divorce done now- the man is a creep- a bad model for your boys) and did- plus he went AWOL from his job. And it is pretty clear if he wasn't caught at the Atlanta airport by a reporter- there would have been no confession. I'm not saying he is worse than any other people mentioned in this discussion- just another arrogant,dishonest cheating guy (also- who used state money to see his girlfriend).

Sanford is sending a huge bouquet to Michael Jackson's funeral.

June 27, 2009 9:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow..."Anti-Bea"...what a huge endorsement for the "sanctity of marriage" you and other Christocrats make over and over and over in your never-ending hue and cry about how GLBT marriages are going to ruin "traditional" marriage. Are you finally admitting to your own inconsistent hypocracies? (("Sanford's transgressions are fairly typical in our society as a whole.)"
Venus

June 27, 2009 10:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Venus

Do you know Athena?

"over and over and over in your never-ending hue and cry about how GLBT marriages are going to ruin "traditional" marriage. Are you finally admitting to your own inconsistent hypocracies? (("Sanford's transgressions are fairly typical in our society as a whole.)""

the American people, most of whom have not had an affair, believe in the definition of marriage

how is it relevant that some politician didn't follow his vows?

back when JFK and FDR had affairs in the Whote House, reporters didn't report on it because it was recognized to be irrelevant

Colbert I King in yesterday's Post:

"Isn't it time that we get our noses out of the private behavior of public officials who don't go around moralizing about other people's private conduct or messing around with the public purse, who are breaking no laws or laws that are rarely prosecuted?

If, as some biblical translations suggest, sin means "to miss the mark," a whole host of folks beyond the public arena must join the sinners' ranks, including large swaths of the media, preachers and special-interest groups devoted to passing judgment on other people's morality.

How about giving it a rest?

My idea, for what it's worth, is that when someone -- well- or little-known -- stumbles in marriage, the best thing the rest of us can do, media included, is to back off and give that couple a little space to work it out since they, most likely, are the only two people who know it all.

One thing's for sure -- we don't."

June 28, 2009 5:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Anonymous" - You said: "How about giving it a rest" My sentiment exactly!
Why don't you "give it a rest" and dismount your high "moral" dudgeon and stop your incessant carping and breast-beating about how recognizing GLBT marriage will destroy the "sanctity of marriage"?
There's little that GLBT legal marriage is going to do to contribute to the downward spiral of a heterosexual marriage institution that is in need of its own infusion of honesty.
Venus (a relative of Athena)

June 28, 2009 9:28 AM  
Anonymous svelte_brunette said...

It's amazing our government gets anything done at all, considering how infiltrated it is with promiscuous heterosexuals. When do these guys find time to do actual work? I mean between sneaking off with your mistress, hiding from your wife, and lying to your staff, do they really have time to investigate the pros and cons of critical litigation?

Have a nice day,

Cynthia

June 28, 2009 10:20 AM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

I notice you skipped this part of Colby King's column, Judgment Calls From Glass Houses:

...singling out hypocrites is fair game. A number of the politicians involved in extramarital affairs have been among the loudest champions of "family values" and the most vocal critics of men and women in monogamous same-sex relationships. Hypocrisy deserves no cover, be the hypocrite a politician, preacher or self-proclaimed protector of public morals.

But you liked the part about "giving it a rest." So tell us, Anon, should we "give it a rest" like the GOP "gave it a rest" when they decided to publish the salacious Starr Report and impeach Clinton?

FYI, here's what Mark Sanford, the hypocrite who voted in favor of impeaching Clinton, said at that time:

"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."

Explaining his decision to back impeachment articles against Clinton, he added, "I think what he did in this matter was reprehensible... I feel very comfortable with my vote."


Along with Sanford, Anon and his kind are hypocrites. They were all too gleeful to impeach Clinton for his little office fling and are now all sanctimonious about Sanford's tax-payer funded trip to visit his mistress in Argentina , hoping everybody will just "give it a rest."

Who were the right-wingers as magnanimous about Clinton as Colby King is being about Sanford?

It's fascinating watching the moralistic flame-throwers trip over their own words making excuses now that the flames are pointed at some of their own.

Glub glub glub

June 28, 2009 10:43 AM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

Excerpt from Maureen Dowd's editorial, "Genius in the Bottle" in today's NYTimes:

...Mark [Sanford] went back to work on Friday, giving his cabinet a lecture on personal responsibility and comparing himself to King David, who “fell mightily ... in very, very significant ways but then picked up the pieces and built from there.”

Actually, the one thing David didn’t do after his adulterous fall was build, because he was forbidden by God to construct his dream temple in Jerusalem.

Sanford should give his piety a rest. He told his cabinet that the Psalms taught him humility. (There’s a chance that a younger Argentine boyfriend of Maria’s also taught him humility, by jealously hacking into her e-mail account and leaking the governor’s missives.)

Sanford can be truly humble only if he stops dictating to others, who also have desires and weaknesses, how to behave in their private lives....

June 28, 2009 11:17 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"They were all too gleeful to impeach Clinton for his little office fling and are now all sanctimonious about Sanford's tax-payer funded trip to visit his mistress in Argentina , hoping everybody will just "give it a rest.""

If Clinton had an affair with an enticing older women and had not committed perjury before a grand jury, that would have lessened the severity of his misdeeds.

However, being the President raises things to a new level.

Clinton took advantage of a just-out-of-school, entry-level subordinate and lied under oath and viciously attacked those who found him out.

When Congress acquitted him, which would have never happened in a court of law, he tried to have a celebration party at the White House until Congressional bluntly warned him not to.

Sanford did none of this. He wronged his wife. She can take it to court and maybe they'll work things out.

Give it a rest, Anon-B.

"It's fascinating watching the moralistic flame-throwers trip over their own words making excuses now that the flames are pointed at some of their own."

I don't know what moralistic flame-throwers you refer to.

The problem is you conflate common sense, opposition to changing the definition of marriage, with "moralistic flame-throwing".

Bizarre, Anon-B.

"Sanford should give his piety a rest. He told his cabinet that the Psalms taught him humility.

Sanford can be truly humble only if he stops dictating to others, who also have desires and weaknesses, how to behave in their private lives...."

Any recent examples of Sanford "dictating to others, who also have desires and weaknesses, how to behave in their private lives"?

This is classic Anon-Beaism.

"Glub glub glub"

Freud would have a field day with Anon-B's exhibitionist impulse concerning her alcohol obsession.

Why don't you go guzzle a bottle of absinthe?

June 28, 2009 5:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Anonymous"....I've got an asp I would be glad to let you pet!

June 28, 2009 6:13 PM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

Now now, AnonSybil, you know very well what "glub glub glub" refers to when I say it, but go ahead and play dumb if you prefer. GOP supporters who play dumb, especially those who ignore or deny facts, only speed your party's descent down the drain. Besides, you're the one who self medicates, not me.

Sanford did none of this. He wronged his wife.

Is that all he did, wronged his wife? Then why did a subsidiary of the ever fair and balanced Fox News, FoxCarolina, publish this report:

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said he will reimburse the state for the cost of a business trip to Argentina last year.

Sanford said that he attended a trade mission with the Department of Commerce in June 2008. He said that the majority of the trip was spent meeting with government and private business officials in both Brazil and Argentina.

The Republican governor said that during the trip he met up with his mistress while he was in Argentina.

“That has raised some very legitimate concerns and questions,” Sanford said in a statement on Thursday. “As such, I am going to reimburse the state for the full cost of the Argentina leg of this trip.”


The Governor not only violated his oath to his wife, but he also "created a fiction" for his staff and constituents, all this after he had knowingly used tax-payer money to fund a trip to Argentina to commit adultery with his married mistress.

Give it a rest, Anon-B.

Sure, no problem. I'll give it a rest exactly like you've given Clinton's office fling a rest.

When are you going to tell these folks to give it a rest?

Glenn McCall, a local representative to the Republican National Committee, said the GOP “can recover from this if we hold him accountable and the governor does the right thing and resigns for the sake of the party.’’

...Sanford donor Al Hill of Dallas-based AG Hill Partners, an investment firm, was having a letter drafted yesterday requesting that money given to the governor’s campaign be immediately returned. The company gave $3,500 for Sanford’s 2006 race.

“And now we are asking that it be sent back,’’ said Joy Waller, an assistant to Hill. “Do you even have to ask why?’’

Former senator Fred Thompson, who waged a failed GOP presidential bid last year, took Sanford to task on his website.

“I don’t have any sympathy in a situation where you’ve got a wife and four fairly young kids . . . don’t play it out in public,’’ Thompson said of Sanford, who had been seen as a potential candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential ticket.


Be sure to let us know when you tell the editorial departments of the Orangeburg Times and Democrat and Spartanburg Herald-Journal to "give it a rest."

This is classic Anon-Beaism.

Thanks for the compliment but I did not write Maureen Dowd's Sunday NYTimes editorial.

June 29, 2009 8:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said he will reimburse the state for the cost of a business trip to Argentina last year.

Sanford said that he attended a trade mission with the Department of Commerce in June 2008. He said that the majority of the trip was spent meeting with government and private business officials in both Brazil and Argentina.

The Republican governor said that during the trip he met up with his mistress while he was in Argentina.

“That has raised some very legitimate concerns and questions,” Sanford said in a statement on Thursday. “As such, I am going to reimburse the state for the full cost of the Argentina leg of this trip.”

The Governor not only violated his oath to his wife, but he also "created a fiction" for his staff and constituents, all this after he had knowingly used tax-payer money to fund a trip to Argentina to commit adultery with his married mistress."

anon-B get ahead of the bottle a little here

he went to Argentina on a business trip and mixed in some pleasure

doesn't everyone do that?

unless there is some proof he didn't conduct business, don't see the problem

give it a rest, anon-B

June 29, 2009 9:48 AM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

Sure, just like you have given Clinton's office fling a rest. Are you afraid of discovering all the facts? The truth shall set you free, or don't you believe that?

Try these truths:

Sanford's trade mission to Argentina contradicted U.S. policy
Kevin G. Hall - McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — When South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford added a stop in Argentina to his trade mission to Brazil last June, the side trip should've raised eyebrows because he was undertaking a trade mission that the U.S. government was unwilling to make.

Although Sanford described the visit in a statement Thursday as "an entirely professional and appropriate business development trip," Argentina has been a financial pariah since it defaulted on its international debt after its decade-long effort to peg its currency to the U.S. dollar collapsed in late 2001. Argentina effectively told its creditors it was their fault that they'd lent to the nation and declined to pay or restructure much of its foreign debt.

Sanford said Thursday that he'd repay South Carolina taxpayers for the $8,000 cost of his trip to Argentina.

The Commerce Department halted high-level trade missions to Argentina after Argentina reneged on its debts. A Commerce Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly, confirmed that Sanford's visit contradicted federal policy.

While he was in Argentina, Sanford met a former Argentine vice president whose administration had a falling out with Bush administration and had drawn close to Venezuela, a Cuba ally and a U.S. foe...

June 29, 2009 11:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

irrelevant and desperate, anon-B

June 29, 2009 11:56 AM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

Since when is the truth "irrelevant and desperate?"

Did you find all the salacious details in the Starr Report to be "irrelevant and desperate?"

I don't recall you saying so.

June 29, 2009 12:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

don't know that I've ever discussed the Starr report with you

I personally found it unnecessarily lurid although I talked to Starr once and he told me that was necessary because of the hair-splitting Clinton was trying to engage in

you may remember the discussion about the term "is"

Sanford had an affair of the heart

not excusing it but I don't remember any motive other than lust from the Clinton-Spitzer-Edwards crew

same with Vitter-Craig-Foley

since you too seem so interested in hair-splitting, Edwards and Craig don't seem to have done anything illegal if you ask me

other than Foley, Clinton is really the worst of the bunch

a President is a person who is entrusted with so much

to abuse that trust to take advantage of a young, entry-level subordinate and ruin that person's life is pretty despicable

and he doesn't really seem to think he did anything wrong

June 29, 2009 12:19 PM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

Only you, after hearing Clinton say "In fact, it was wrong." would spin such a remark as "and he doesn't really seem to think he did anything wrong".

Must be all that hanging out you do with Kenny-boy Starr.

June 29, 2009 4:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

only me?

nah, most people think that

speaking to someone once doesn't constitue "all that hanging out"

June 29, 2009 4:28 PM  
Anonymous Aunt Bea said...

Politico reports

Gov. Mark Sanford’s long and emotional interview with The Associated Press Tuesday appears to have been the final straw for South Carolina’s Republican establishment, much of which is now actively seeking his resignation.

While Sanford seemed to have weathered the storm in the brutal days immediately following his admission of an affair with an Argentine woman, his support has cratered in the wake of the AP interview in which he talked of his “tragic” and “forbidden” love for his “soul mate” and admitted to having “crossed lines” with a handful of other women.

Fourteen GOP state senators — more than half the Senate Republican caucus — have already called for Sanford’s resignation, joining a list that, as of Wednesday afternoon, included 11 Republican members of the state House and six of the state's biggest newspapers.

And three leading South Carolina Republican officeholders, including the state’s two U.S. senators, called Sanford today for what sources close to the lawmakers described as frank conversations about the governor’s ability to carry out his job.

Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, as well as Rep. Gresham Barrett, talked to Sanford Wednesday, according to three top South Carolina GOP sources who confirmed the calls, but were hesitant to say whether the lawmakers had directly urged Sanford to resign.

But Wednesday night, Barrett told the Associated Press that he had in fact asked Sanford to step down during their conversation. Two Barrett advisers subsequently confirmed the resignation request. In doing so, Barrett becomes the first member of the South Carolina congressional delegation to publicly say he thinks the governor should quit...

July 02, 2009 7:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Because love means never having to say you're resigning.

July 04, 2009 9:08 AM  

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