>>>What on Earth could the gov. of the State of South Carolina have any justifiable business reason to travel to Argentina?
If you get an answer to that . . . ask your Swami the same question about Nancy Pelosi taking a United States aircraft and her entire staff to Rome for an audience with The Pope.
If she was the recipient of any devine inspiration it's not readily apparent.
Politics gives meaning to the phrase "screw your brains out".
I'm old . . . . . , er "old fashioned". Yeah, that's it.
I think the difference may be that you're equating his infidelity with a booty call. Not necessarily always the same thing. He says he had a long term relationship with this woman that didn't start out as sexual. In my mind both types are equally bad but for different reasons. If we take his word for it, it was an actual relationship not just him getting laid.
I do agree that it is the publics business. I'm sorry, he's chosen a profession that supposedly requires character and good judgement. This speak directly to this. In my mind: Untrustworty in personal relationships = untrustworthy in all relationships.
The fact that he appears to recognize the magnitude and seems genuinely remorseful does carry weight with me but does not completely absolve him of guilt. How many politicians out there pretend like nothings wrong?
Ex: "Oh, the tax codes too complicated it was a mistake" -Bullshit. Cheated, got caught, feels righteous indignation that he's being persecuted.
"Depends on the definition of is" -Bullshit. Cheated, got caught, feels righteous indignation that he's being persecuted.
In my mind, Sanford seems honesty remorseful that the affair happened, not just that he got caught. That may be a bullshit act too. I've been fooled before.
Politicians travel overseas on business all the time. May not like it but it happens. I was also unaware of the public paying for his trips until just now.
How many male politicians leave their spouses for another woman (John McCain comes to mind), they divorce, re-marry... end of story. Sanford just mis-handled this one like a true dipstick.
Man, we are a nation obsessed by trivial issues, while the big issues pass by under our noses:
I have a bumper sticker that states the following:
Republican & Democrats: Same Shit, Different Piles.
My Brother-in Law just left a job that he had with a state Senator, basically he was her bitch. He has some great stories of some of the crap that she (and i believe ALL politicians) does, like having him drive her to Boston and wait for her while she attended a Tina Turner concert.
The really sad thing is that up to this point, Sanford wasn't just another politician.
He was one of the few (if not the only) congressman back in the 90's that stuck by his self-imposed two-term term limit. He slept on a cot in his office there rather than claim a deduction for a lavish condo in DC like most. As I said previously, he'd vote against federal projects even if they would have helped him win votes if he thought they were a waste of taxpayer money.
I have a friend that's pretty tied up with the high levels in SC Republican politics. I always took the fact that Sanford managed to piss him off as a good sign.
Well, I can see this post will not go well here today, but I am going forward anyway, it is a short life. Way too short, and if that is where the man's happiness lay, then he should go do that. Mind you I think you cut your ties beforehand to make sure you are honest and up front, but at the end of the day we have a finite number of years on the planet in these meat suits before we drift and die...and then what? Many have surmised but NONE KNOW, so if he feels like apologizing, do so, if he feels shame then be shamed, but I don't begrudge anyone from doing what they want to do. Obviously, a trip to south america was wanted, happened, and the consequences are following, and he has to deal with them. I just don't think his entire life is devoid of merit or he is no longer a good person because of things that truly are none of the public's business. So there ya go....
>>>Man, we are a nation obsessed by trivial issues, while the big issues pass by under our noses:
Boy . . . ain't that the truth. By next week California will be writing IOU's, Unemployment is on the rise and I'm on the verge of having to pay income tax on my health care benefits as we cut our missile defenses just in time for a bunch of yahoos to start zinging missiles about.
Well put.
Shame is that. . . . at least what I'd seen on the national news to date . . this Sanford had caught my eye for his no nonsense "keep your money and all the strings that come with it" response to the "income redistributors"
For me the concern is not so much what he or the other politicians do with there libido, but how they lie and steal from the people who entrusted them to there post. If they will sneak and lie about that, where do they draw the line and what other skeletons do they have?
I think it is the public's business, it speaks directly to the trustworthiness of a public official. A person who is entrusted with a great deal by those he represents. If he can't keep vows to his wife (assuming there were vows) can he be trusted to keep oaths to the public good?
I don't think its trivial at all. He has been the point man for fiscal responsibility in government. This man had a political future (possibly beyond Governor.) It may not be life-or-death but it's far from trivial. What Michele Obama wears on date night is trivial. This isn't.
Court, I don't see how this issue diminishes the importance of those you've raised. I haven't been watching TV lately so maybe I've missed how ferverently this has been reported.
Still can't condemn the man solely on this incident but can't dismiss it flippantly either.
Watched Jimmy Fallon last nite after work- he did a sketch, "Mark Sanford karaoke" with three audience members, who recited pieces of Sanford's emails to the hottie verbatim, with the Roots doing musical accompaniment.
I managed not to wake the GF up with my laughter. Fallon is easily my new late nite fave, but Conan's doing fine too.
There's the difference, over there it's poor judgement & bad morals & he must resign.
Here it would be silly bastard fancy getting caught. The real outrage in France would be at the fact that he travelled on the public purse.
can't be sure who said it, I have the feeling it was Mark Twain, but the saying is to the effect that, Anyone who would seek high office, should be automatically barred from ever doing so.
Terry Pratchett had the idea of putting all politicians in prison directly on election, to save time & expensive court cases later.
