Does Mark Sanford realize that if his wife accepts him back and he doesn’t have to resign as governor then his sons will learn that there are no consequences for adultery?
I mean, he claims to want those two things.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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I hope Mrs. Sanford really, really, really puts the screws to him in the divorce. He’s awful.
Is this really a serious question Booman?
If so – in my experience, privileged white male assholes absolutely want to not only have no consequences for their bad actions, but also don’t really care about the lessons that they’re teaching their kids merely by existing.
OTOH – I really doubt that Sandford is going to get his wife to take him back. She seemed ready to throw him under a bus a few weeks ago. And I don’t mean that in the “overused political metaphor” sense of throw under a bus – I mean that in the “there’s a real physical bus approaching and she’s getting ready to ram him in front of it” sense of throw under a bus.
I thought he went to Argentina, not Egypt. But clearly he’s covered with De Nile.
I really, really hope Sanford’s wife has enough self-esteem to divorce this ass. I mean, when your spouse has declared in public that someone other than you is their soulmate, I think you’re relieved of the burden of “making it work,” ya’know.
I think that’s the wrong way to look at it. The reason we have laws with appropriate punishments for their violation is that the consequences of misbehavior fall mainly on the victims, not the perpetrators, of misdeeds. Jenny Sanford and her kids are already reaping the consequences of adultery whether Mark Sanford ever faces any consequences or not.
When the Sanford boys are grown and married, there will come a time when they will have the opportunity to emulate or reject their father’s behavior. Hopefully, they will reflect on the consequences of adultery they and their mother suffered, and will choose to place compassion ahead of their immediate personal gratification.
At the end of the day, all of the artificial, external punishments we can concoct for misdeeds are not enough to maintain civil society. Only compassion and personal honor can do that.
Among all the other things he’s weeped lately, I’d like Sanford to stand up and say, “You know, that whole thing about abstinence-only sex education? It only works if you’re abstinent. And the thing about hanging the Ten Commandments on the schoolhouse walls? I’ve got a Bible in my office and one at home and there was one in every hotel room I slept in. And I read them. That doesn’t mean I could obey them. Public policy should be based on reality, not on some imaginary perfection.”
Of course, he won’t say that. He’s a hypocrite who is selling morality and got caught with his pants down.
Do you seriously believe he gives a flying rat’s rear end?
Maybe. He’s all weepy.
He’s all weepy because his career is seriously compromised if not entirely over.
I must sadly say that I know a little bit about what it means to be cheated on.
Mr. Sanford is saying all the wrong things.
He’s in the toaster and pushing the button down on himself.
He is in need a good family lawyer.
Stat.
“Mr. Sanford is saying all the wrong things.“
Gee, ya THINK?! He’s really pretty lucky, you know. How many married men could go on network TV and say his – ummmmmmm – “sparking partner” is his soul mate, but he’s gonna try to tolerate – er, fall back in love with – his wife, and still be in one piece an hour later?
Waterboarding is too good for him.
Hurria,
You do know I always try & get along, & always read your comments, but don`t you think “waterboarding” is a little out of context here.
You have a point. It would be much more pleasurable – and appropriate – to implant electrodes you-know-where, and have a little button you can push any time you think about him and the things he did. What a great way to get out the anger and ease the pain.
“It would be much more pleasurable”
For who?
“What a great way to get out the anger and ease the pain.”
I really don`t have those kinds of problems, nor would I ever think it “pleasurable” to push buttons activating electrodes, implanted “you know where” on any living creature.
I don`t “think” about him, nor the “things” he did, in a vengeful way.
I think what he did was absolutely wrong to, first his wife, his children, his extended family, then on the political side, to all those who he was responsible for/to. His hypocrisy has ruined his marriage, his family & his future in politics, (I hope), & he will feel the pain & anger he brought about, but it should never be at the push of a button, by anyone.
I`m astonished at your position. In fact, I`m embarrassed (for you) by it. And I feel horrible saying that.
To be fair, I think Hurria was talking about Mrs. Sanford being able to zap her husband every time she thought about what he did to her.
I’ve been cheated on serially by my estranged husband, and I can see her point. Though of course she was kidding. Like saying “I could kill him!” when you really don’t mean it literally.
Yes, of course I was speaking from the point of view of his wife, not myself. I can’t say I have exactly enjoyed his little soap opera, though it has been amusing in a gruesome kind of way to see how he digs himself in deeper and deeper every time he speaks, but it certainly hasn’t touched me personally at all.
And yes, of course, I was speaking tongue in cheek.
I wonder how Mrs. Sanford reacted to her husband saying he had found his soul mate but would now try to fall in love with his wife again. I’ll bet she wasn’t that impressed. 🙂
That’s the point at which I started thinking about waterboards and electrodes and things. :o}
Dear Knucklehead, please do not take me too seriously here. I personally am more grimly amused than angry at that jackass, and besides I am not a vengeful person, nor do I enjoy seeing anyone suffer, let alone causing them to suffer. I was just having a little fun imagining what might go through a wife’s mind under those circumstances. Sorry that was not clear.
Hurria,
Thank you ever so much for clearing that up.
I can be a little dense at times.
I did not mean to hurt anyone.
SN, Thank you for jumping in also.
No problems. Your good intentions are always clear. And things like humour, irony, and sarcasm do not generally read well in this medium.
Hurria,
Thank you for recognizing my good intentions.
I think that in face to face conversations, these incidents/miscommunications would not occur.
he keeps this up he won’t need a lawyer, he’ll need a priest.
any bets on how long he keeps his job?
l’d venture that he’ll be gone before months’ end…maybe as soon as next week after the holiday.
buh bye, mark.
Southern voters seem to tolerate this sort of thing.
Hey really, if the guy were good at his job and hadn’t run for office as a “Family Values” candidate, I probably wouldn’t care much about it either.
OTOH, Sanford has been a shitty governor, clearly doesn’t care about doing his job, has probably been wasting government money to visit his mistress by arranging “trade missions” to Argentina on the taxpayer’s dime and has just been outed as a giant hypocrite when it comes to “Family Values”. There’s absolutely nothing left to his career at this point and he’d really be better off just ending it quickly.
And while the Southern voters don’t actually care much about the sexual hypocrisy in the end, I suspect that they WILL care that their governor who was standing oh-so-strong against taking Federal dollars was wasting taxpayer money on “trade missions” to sleep with his mistress.
the voters are the least of his worries…he’s term limited in 2010, and his political future’s already swirling down the drain.
his real enemies are his fellow ratpublicans, who are no doubt scheming to get a leg up on the gov race, and his wife’, and quite possibly his mistresses’, attorneys. she can’t be all that pleased with the way things are going.
If he has any smarts .. he’ll resign sometime later Friday
Sanford should just divorce the wife, run off to Argentina and be happy.
That was my thought too.
Meh.
She’s already got a boyfriend. That’s who sent the emails to the South Carolina paper.
You’re saying she can only have one man at a time?
Very closed minded of you.
well, if he wants to share his soul-mate, that’s on him. My eight-ball says ‘Outlook not so good.’
Who is to say what a true relationship with a soul mate should be? Other than the people involved.
Everyone’s soul is different.
I liked the Eat,Pray Love discussion about soul mates:
Or maybe they don’t have to leave, they just don’t have to revolve their life around one person.
Who are we to judge?
so, maybe her work is already done.
and by the way, anybody who would leak private e-mails to a newspaper is no friend. boy or otherwise.
you have a point there.
Maybe the soulmate’s boyfriend was friends with Mr. Hampton who told him not to leak to Fox.
Well, you know, all’s fair in love and war. Seriously, Sanford is a moral cripple and twenty-four carat hypocrite. I think he would make an excellent candidate for the republican party since his lack of integrity is matched only by his ability to rationalize his disgraceful actions.
True.
What bothers me is not the moral standards he breaks so much as the incorporation of those moral standards into public policy.
Mark Sanford is a typical republican, whatever he does or whatever he chooses to do-is just fine. He’s above reproach and beyond it all. Why even ask?