Mark Sanford mistress photo not yet available
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is back from Argentina with some big news. He was definitely there to recharge his batteries after all of his struggles with the state legislature. But as all of America now knows, he wasn’t there just to cruise the coastline. He was cruising for Maria Belen Shapur. And based upon Gina Smith’s detective work for South Carolina’s The State newspaper, it appears that Sanford was going to continue to lie about it.
However, Smith greeted the governor at the airport with news that they had copies of surreptitious E-mails he had exchanged with his mistress, and that if he didn’t come forward and confess, they were going to print the messages.
Now he cries contrition, lets people know he’s in Bible study (note to Sanford: I’ve read “Jack and the Beanstalk,” works just as well), etc, etc. We’ve heard it all before. Another Republican spits up on his shirt for all to see. If this man still thinks he’ll be able to run for president in 2012, he’ll need a boatload of payday loans in Long Beach and fast cash, because he won’t be receiving contributions any other way.
Loses presidency, wins booby prize
Tommy Tomlinson of the Charlotte Observer wonders if this man really wants his job. Sanford lied to his staff about his whereabouts, committed one of those acts that tend to bar you from the presidency if you aren’t already in office and tried to be slick about it. Now he’s slipped in his own puddle of 10-40.
Clearly he doesn’t want to be a husband or father, either. His wife has been betrayed, and his kids were left without a dad on Father’s Day. No, former Governor Mark Sanford went for two things in Buenos Aires that are apparently more important to him. According to one of his E-mails, that would be the two things Maria holds between her arms.
He hasn’t resigned
He has removed himself from his post as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. However, indications so far are that he doesn’t intend to step down from the South Carolina governorship. He may be OK with that, but the citizens of South Carolina shouldn’t be.
Mark Sanford should have known going in what life is like as a politician. As Tomlinson puts it:
When you’re a politician on the national stage, you take a lifetime seat in the dunk tank. You sign up for a daily dose of criticism from political opponents, activists, bloggers, radio and TV yappers, newspaper writers, and the guy at the next table in the restaurant. You probably get death threats, and because of that you get the joy of a security detail that waits outside the door when you go to the bathroom. You can go on vacation, but you can never get away, not completely, not even for a day.
The trade-off here is that you become famous and can use that fame to accomplish good things, should you so choose.
This isn’t good
The E-mails dating back to July 2008 which The State have in their possession describe where his mind has been: “gentle kisses, the curve of her hips, the two magnificent parts of yourself” held “in the faded glow of the light.” Not that there’s anything wrong with being human and desiring something, but Sanford made commitments – and he turned his back on them.
Not a Mark Sanford mistress photo
But Tomlinson brings up an interesting question. In that same E-mail, he leads off with talk of a weekend in Aspen with John McCain, who we all know is sensually delicious. That visit “kicked up the whole VP talk all over again in the press back home,” he writes. Tomlinson wonders why, in a secret note written to a secret love, he starts off by talking about his job.
“Could be that the only thing that truly turns him on is his own power?” asks Tomlinson.
Power turns him on
Clearly. We know the man is staggeringly sanctimonious, as he was one of the most vocal critics of President Clinton during his affairs. I think that the paths of our private lives and professional lives generally shouldn’t cross, but when you’re a politician on this level, you have more people to answer to. And because Sanford lied to many and abandoned his state’s government, he should lose his political career. Because he’s had an affair, you’d think he’d lose his marriage, but indications are that his wife has “Stand-by-Your-Man”-itus. Admirable at times, makes you look like a fool other times.
Mr. Sanford, you’re welcome to apply for payday loans in Long Beach and fast cash when you need help making your support payment. With direct deposit, you can even receive funds while you’re in Argentina.
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