US Politics XI

[Inigima]

Picking up where we left off....

By the way, Fox News misidentified Sanford's party affiliation in their chyron. Yes, they put a (D) after his name.

I wish the Democrats could make slander charges stick. They seem to do this systematically, and I don't think they ever make "mistakes" like that outside of similar circumstances.

[DanteGabriel]

Damn it Ini, robbed me of my chance to start this topic with the "hiking the Appalachian Trail" subtitle. :P

In Sanford-related news, The State has published some of the emails between him and his Argentinian lover:

http://www.thestate.com/sanford/story/839350.html

It's a little excruciating, to be honest. I started to feel a twinge of pity for Sanford as I read these very intimate communications being aired to a salacious world.

Then again, he comes from the party that sponsored an investigation as to the general size and disposition of a sitting President's cock, so fuck them right in their hypocritical ears.

[DanteGabriel]

Haha. I was going to suggest "the ass-crack of Appalachia." Colbert "reported" from there once.

We would also have accepted "Don't cry for me Argentina". ;)

[Annelise]

Then again, he comes from the party that sponsored an investigation as to the general size and disposition of a sitting President's cock, so fuck them right in their hypocritical ears.

Perhaps karma is at work:

As a congressman, Sanford voted in favor of three of four articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, citing the need for "moral legitimacy."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sc_governor_where

Stay tuned.

ETA: I vote for the "Hiking the Appalachian Trial" subtitle. :P But I agree with DG that Don't Cry for Me Argentina (or Don't Cry for Me South Carolina) are also acceptable. :P

[DanteGabriel]

Perhaps karma is at work:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sc_governor_where

Stay tuned.

I'd remind the McJesusites running the GOP into the ground that "for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" -- but I'm starting to doubt any of them have actually read the fucking Bible.

[The Marquis de Leech]

To be fair, with the exception of Sanford's bizarre "Appalachian Trail" business, this seems surprisingly mundane by the standards of Republican* sex scandals. In terms of oddity, it isn't a patch on David Vitter (nappies), Larry Craig (foot-tapping, wide stance, and airport toilets), Mark Foley (paedophilia) or Vito Fossella (getting caught drunk driving on his way to visit his whole other family).

*Democratic ones (Clinton, Spitzer, and Edwards) for some reason lack the sheer inherent weirdness of Republican ones.

[TrackerNeil]

*Democratic ones (Clinton, Spitzer, and Edwards) for some reason lack the sheer inherent weirdness of Republican ones.

Well, you'll notice that the fish at the ocean's bottom, where the pressure is greatest, always look the strangest. ;)

However, I agree that this affair is not that remarkable...except that it could be reasonably argued that Sanford was derelict in his duties as governor in the pursuit of his tryst. I certainly don't think a sitting governor should simply vanish for five or six days without transferring his powers to the lt. guv or whoever is designated by law as the 2nd in command. I'm not saying it's an impeachable offense (I don't know), but I think a censure at the least is in order.

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

What grabbed me about the issue what how everyone FREAKED THE HELL OUT when the governor wasn't there. OMG what will we do?!? Who will cut the ribbon at the new Charleston Mall!?!!111 How will we function. It's good because it shows the uselessness of the position. Humbug.

[TrackerNeil]

What grabbed me about the issue what how everyone FREAKED THE HELL OUT when the governor wasn't there. OMG what will we do?!? Who will cut the ribbon at the new Charleston Mall!?!!111 How will we function. It's good because it shows the uselessness of the position. Humbug.

Uh-huh. When Jim McGreevey appointed his boyfriend to a post in New Jersey's version of the Department of Homeland Security, I remember the wails of outrage from the right: "In these dangerous times we cannot afford to put security in the hands of a patronage appointee!" Keep in mind that Golan Cipel was not in charge of said department; he was a flunkie. So you can understand my skepticism when conservatives say that a governor going AWOL is just no big deal.

[RhaegarTar]

Sigh. Sanford had such good credentials for 2012. He would have actually gone to Washington and, you know, closed some departments, fired a few hundred thousand employees and sponsored some restrictive amendments (or *GASP* enforced the constitution. Now that would be a kick in the balls to the one-party establishment). Back to the drawing board.

[TrackerNeil]

Sigh. Sanford had such good credentials for 2012. He would have actually gone to Washington and, you know, closed some departments, fired a few hundred thousand employees and sponsored some restrictive amendments (or *GASP* enforced the constitution. Now that would be a kick in the balls to the one-party establishment). Back to the drawing board.

You mean he'd close the departments - Education, Energy, Interior, the IRS, the NEA - that Republican presidential candidates always promise to close and never do?

[Mack Kilimaro]

You mean he'd close the departments - Education, Energy, Interior, the IRS, the NEA - that Republican presidential candidates always promise to close and never do?

Well, Republicans need some punching bags, you know. So they can get elected, mess up those departments, and then talk about how the no-good federal departments should leave it up to the states. :P

[RhaegarTar]

You mean he'd close the departments - Education, Energy, Interior, the IRS, the NEA - that Republican presidential candidates always promise to close and never do?

Another reason why he would have been a vast improvement on say, Huckabee or Palin, who are really just GWB clones with slightly different resumes. If all we can win with is big-government conservatives, then the two party system is dead.

[DanteGabriel]

Well, you'll notice that the fish at the ocean's bottom, where the pressure is greatest, always look the strangest. ;)

:lmao:

Very well put.

[Meili]

I like Alec Baldwin's editorial in Huff Post this week. "Deal with it". When this type of thing happens one side turns on the other side with accusations of hypocrisy and fake righteous indignation. People are people. Personal fuckups abound regardless of the political affiliation. When the Repubs sent special councils and investigations on Clinton it was sickening. Ditto now. Next month it'll be a Dem who cheats or another Dem Governor with No. 9. Who cares. Theres so much going on now it really is moot. Yes, they're liars and yes, I wouldn't vote for em again, but let them deal with it and resign and lets move on and stop feeling so gleeful someone affiliated with a party you despise has fucked up, literally. It makes you no better than Hannity and the Limbaugh of the 90's.

[fitheach]

I knew when it was mentioned yesterday that he was seen at an airport that he flew somewhere. I knew it!

I didn't buy the Appalachian trail, or the getting away to write excuse. What are these politicians thinking? They really believe they can get away with the crap they do, and then we have to hear the excuses and public apologies. I say, don't bother! We (the public) expect you to screw up...

This is where we are now in this country. Sad, we are governed by idiots.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

To be fair, Mcgreevey's affair was kind of weird*, and what Vitter and Spitzer did were pretty similar. While I get the general impression that conservatives tend to be more deviant in their philandering, I'd personally rather judge them for their hypocrisy rather than their kinkiness.

*while there's nothing inherently weird about homosexuality, he was a married man with children who appointed a gay lover to a position in state government and was then sued for sexual harassment by said gay lover.

[DanteGabriel]

and what Vitter and Spitzer did were pretty similar.

True, but one resigned in disgrace and the other kept his seat.

[Crazydog7]

What grabbed me about the issue what how everyone FREAKED THE HELL OUT when the governor wasn't there. OMG what will we do?!? Who will cut the ribbon at the new Charleston Mall!?!!111 How will we function. It's good because it shows the uselessness of the position. Humbug.

Totally unrelated but this is so true people were wailing and screaming I tried to tell people that a bureaucracy doesn't need a figurehead to function but no such luck. Also having lived in Charleston for 14 years I can tell you the malls' suck.

[CloudFlare]

*Democratic ones (Clinton, Spitzer, and Edwards) for some reason lack the sheer inherent weirdness of Republican ones.

Mmm, the cigars were sleazy if nothing else.

Spitzer(is he a D?) seemed to have some kinky undertones to his trysts. We never got the full story on him.

Edwards came across as a true creep cheating on his wife.

I think important public officials should be held to a higher standard. Clinton, Spitzer and the NJ governor all put themselves into a position where they could be blackmailed. Same for this SC clown.