Happy Appalachian Trails to you!

On Friday, Fox News confirmed that they had hired former Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) as a paid contributor. The move that could make things slightly awkward at the network. During their coverage of the affair that tarnished Sanford's political future, Fox News hosts and contributors labeled their new coworker (among other things) a "serial liar," a "laughingstock," and an "early brain donor."

During the June 24, 2009, broadcast of On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Van Susteren bristled at her guest referring to Sanford as having "misled" people, clarifying that "it's lying. I mean, misled is a nice word, but the guy lied. He lied to his constituents. He lied to his staff. He lied to his wife, not on just one occasion. It's multiple - I mean, he's a serial liar." (And now he can lie to Fox viewers.)

This is going to be fun to cover. Maybe the only thing I'm looking forward to when I tune in to Fox when you don't have to. Fox will not be able to bring up Lewinsky, Spitzer, Edwards, etc...because? They just hired themselves a serial lying, early brain donoring, laughing stock....

On Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume wasn't sure if Sanford would be able "to ride this out." The "problem" for Sanford, according to his new coworker, was that "he's a laughingstock."

DOWNLOADS: (1579)

PLAYS: (3460)

Embed

Lindsey Graham admitted that he was godfather to two children disgraced Gov. Mark Sanford in South Carolina. How does NBC expect Graham to be objective in any sense of the word? He should not be on TV talking about this situation.

Graham and Romney and the rest of the Republicans are hypocritical windbags for defending Sanford now when they all tried to get Bill Clinton impeached. Sanford left his state completely without leadership for almost a full week and if an emergency had occurred in South Carolina there was nobody with the authority to help his constituents. That is the firing offense for Sanford. He was derelict in his duty. All he had to do was give the word and the Lt. Governor could have taken over, but he was in love so it's just alright if you listen to the Peggy Noonans of the conservative movement.

MTP:

MR. GREGORY: ...of South Carolina. Governor Mark Sanford disappeared for five days then announced that, in fact, he'd had a mistress, he was visiting a mistress in Argentina. He misled his staff, he misled the voters. Should he resign?

SEN. GRAHAM: Well, the first thing, I'm the godfather of Mark and Jenny's youngest child, so I'm just going to put that on the table. My main focus right now is can this marriage be saved? Can these kids have a mom and dad to guide them through life? That is my main focus. I think if Mark can reconcile with Jenny, and that's not going to be easy, that he can finish his last 18 months. He's had a good reform agenda. And I do believe that if, if he can reconcile with his family and if he's willing to try, that the people of South Carolina would be willing to give him a second chance. But he's also got to reconcile the legislature. If he can get his family back together, I think he can continue out his term and maybe do some good things next year.

Suddenly the party of moral values is the party of sinners.

SEN. GRAHAM: Yeah. I think we're a party of sinners, just like every other group in America, but we're also a party that openly talks about good things. It is good for Mark and Jenny to get back together, if that's possible, because it's good for families to have a mom and dad. And it's OK to talk about those things. And part of life is failing. So from Mark's point of view, if he can get his family back together, people are pretty fair in this country. Bill Clinton had his problems. People looked at his job performance, they looked at his personal failings and they said, "You know what, we're going to put one over here and the other over there." That's no justification for what Mark did, but I think the people of South Carolina appreciate what Mark tried to do as governor to change their state.

Sanford's presser was crazy. The people of South Carolina should be asking, "Was Sanford in his right mind dealing with the stimulus package?" He was refusing the money to a state in deep unemployment and obviously battling being in love with another woman. Well we knew that, but if you think Americans will be easily duped by the claim Sanford was acting in their best interests, think again.

And Graham's remarks underscore the fact that the witch hunt that Republicans and the media perpetrated on Bill Clinton was disgusting and should never be forgiven. The same behavior now is OK in their books, of course, if it involves a Republican.

SEN. GRAHAM: And they're very disappointed in what he did as Mark the individual and his malfeasance at, at times, but they can reconcile the two only if, if Jenny and Mark can get back together. I think the people of South Carolina will give him a second chance.

MR. GREGORY: Do you think you had that kind of compassion during the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton?

SEN. GRAHAM: Well, I can tell you this. I'm the only Republican that voted against the article that dealt with lying about Monica Lewinsky, because I think lying about a consensual affair when you're blindsided is not a high crime or misdemeanor. The reason I vote for impeachment is because it was a lawsuit about nonconsensual behavior where President Clinton was accused of doing some very crude things; he manipulated witnesses, he undermined the integrity of the legal system like Richard Nixon undermined the integrity of the political system. That's what I focused on, not the fact that he lied about a consensual event.

Riiight, and Sanford didn't fly to Argentina on the state's dime and didn't lie about it and didn't leave his state without leadership and none of the charges he raised against Clinton were proved true.

Continue reading »

You needed to escape FROM the bubble, Governor? Clearly, the bubble that Sanford escaped TO is the one that got him in trouble. An average cheating spouse can use a cell phone and email account to cover his/her affair, anywhere in the world. Sanford did more than travel and cheat. He consciously disappeared. That is a form of hate toward anyone who cared about him or depended upon him, at work or at home.

There is something psychotically narcissistic about a need to disappear from the world in which you have real-life obligations.

Open thread below....

DOWNLOADS: (2377)

PLAYS: (6554)

Embed

Boy, somehow you could just see this coming when people started asking where Gov. Mark Sanford had disappeared to:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - During a Wednesday news conference at his office in Columbia, Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having an extramarital affair — information that surfaced after his recent, secret trip to Argentina.

The married father of four emotionally apologized to his wife and staff, saying, "I've let down a lot of people."

Sanford said he met the woman almost eight years ago, but "about a year ago, it sparked into something more than that."

The governor said his wife and family have known about it for the past five months.

He also announced that he was resigning as chairman of the Republican Governors' Association.

Earlier, the South Carolina governor told a newspaper he was in South America, not hiking the Appalachian Trail as his staff had told the public to explain his sudden absence. He said he "wanted to do something exotic" to unwind after losing a fight over federal stimulus money.

Well, that scratches Sanford from the ranks of GOP possibles for 2012. That leaves Newt Gingrich and Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin, who've self-inflicted similar but perhaps less egregious wounds, and Mitt Romney, who is looking increasingly like the winner by default.