Sex, Lies, and E-Mails

Governor Mark Sanford, the potential hope for the GOP in 2012 had disappeared as we heard over the last few days. The Lt. Governor, his wife, his four sons, and most of his staff were not aware of his whereabouts for six days. Stories circulated that he may be working on a book, then he was hiking in the Appalachian, but then...as a few expected, it was revealed that he was with his Argentinian Mistress in Buenos Aries. In 2002, a campaign commercial was saturated with the usual Republican "Family Values" rhetoric we have come know. It has since been removed. This bizarre and intriguing story gets better. The Governor of South Carolina and head of the Republican Governor Leadership (which he now has resigned from), and was a possible vice President nominee for Senator John McCain, had been engaging in this trist for over a year.

The State Newspaper recovered e-mails that he and Maria exchanged in that time. Governor...this not what the President meant by a "stimulus package" and learning the inner workings of "Foreign Affairs" does not include cheating on your wife.Here is some excerpts:

"You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ..."

"you have pearls of wisdom on how we figure all this out please let me know... In the meantime please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.”"
If his political career has derailed, it is certain he could write some romance novels.

Now I am not one who really cares who a politician is screwing in private, I want to know who they are screwing in public. That said, what we see out of the Republicans, is the repeated nonsense of "Family Values". They are hypocrites! Their new campaign slogan ought to be "Do as I say, not as screw!". Yes, infidelity occurs in many relationships, and politicians are not exceptions, Democrats and Republicans. However, it is Republicans who routinely preach to us about values, and honor all the while hiding their own indiscretions. In 1998, when President Clinton was facing down his wife, the press, and Congress for his fling with Monica Lewinsky, then Congressman Sanford had a number of things to say following his vote to impeach.

"The bottom line, though, is he still lied. He lied under a different oath, and that is the oath to his wife. So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.” [Sanford on Livingston, CNN, 12/18/98]

“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]

Governor Sanford opposes same sex marriage, and spoke with the Post Courier and said this,
“As Jenny and I are the parents of four little boys, we’ve always taught our kids that marriage was something between a man and a woman.” [The Post and Courier, 2/11/04]

It is a given that politicians are difficult to trust, but the GOP is clearly making easy to distrust their members. Do I think this personnel situation is cause for the Governor to resign? No. Do I think his prior words and votes protesting someone else's actions are reason to resign? Yes! The most amusing part of all of this, is the Conservative bloggers and Media. Fox News reported Mark Sanford as a Democrat, you can view that here. The bloggers at Gateway Pundit are bringing up Senator Kennedy's accident 40 years ago, and clinging to John Edwards affair, and Elliot Spitzer's affair without facing up to the fact that in the series of these affairs it is an issue the Republicans are winning. We see how well the last couple elections worked out, so stick to what your good at guys!