Stranger than fiction

[trinityvixen]

I watched the press conference with Governor Sanford yesterday. It was one of the worst attempts to defuse a situation as ever I saw. I understand that he's supposed to be "unconventional," and many of his constituents probably prize shooting from the hip over practiced, careful speechifying, but it was just embarrassing to watch.

It takes this article four paragraphs to get to the Gov's official declaration, which, believe me, is three times faster than Sanford managed. When one is caught in obvious shenanigans, the best thing to do is come forward and say, upfront, what's been going on. Instead, he meandered through all the plausible reasons why he might have disappeared for a week, apologized to friends, family, and voters, mentioned a reporter he'd had a run-in with at the Atlanta airport, and then copped to being out of the country on a booty call. He then went into embarrassing detail about how he'd met this person innocently at first, and how that had changed, and so on and so forth. Dude, you're here to tell people why you up and vanished without leaving your contact information, not trace your every thought process since your affair started. Great, you cheated on your wife; we do not need the play-by-play. (Unless it's going to lead to awkward questions like it did in Senator Ensign's case where he might have paid his mistress more, with GOP funds, while he was schtupping her and fired her when the affair was over.)

Of course, the real "news" here is that Sanford was a 2012 presidential hopeful and that looks like it won't be happening any more. I hope that such dashing of his chances happen for the right reason--for the fact that the executive leader of an entire state went AWOL and didn't think to make any provisions (like talking to the Lt. Gov!!!) to deal with state business while he was away. I don't give a shit who you boned unless your boning breaks the law (which, possibly, Ensign's firing of his mistress could have done--his paying her more while she had sex with him doesn't look great either). But you cannot just abandon your post as president. You want ass? Call up Hugh Hefner, go to Camp David, shag your weekend away, but for the love of the great noodly one, STAY IN TOUCH.

Comments

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I hope that such dashing of his chances happen for the right reason

I woud also hope that his political career would be ruined because he's apparently a gigantic dumbass, but we both know that this is news because he had an affair. If he'd run off with his golfing buddies for a week and not told anyone, it might have made a local paper or two, and everyone would have ignored it.

No one [in politics] gets fired for being incompetant any more. You only get fired for offending cetain very specific (read: sex-related) moral sensibilities.

Though I'd really love to be there the first time a politician gets caught with a mistress, and his wife says, "Yeah...and I was sleeping with my boyfriend at the time. We have an open relationship. Why is this a big deal, or any of your business?"

[ahab99.livejournal.com]

I think it is our business if the guy getting caught is one of the people vocally pushing "morality" as part of his political career. Have an open relationship, do whatever you want, but don't at the same time tell gay people they don't deserve to have access to the same institutions that you're abusing yourself.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

There is this un-funny double standard when it comes to politicians and their pecadillos. Basically, anyone who cheats is a scumbag (if that's the relationship he/she agreed to upon getting married). If that someone is a Democrat, the Republicans harangue him/her and bleat about how that person should recuse themselves, resign, or even, I dunno, commit seppuku. This is because the GOP is the party of Family! Values!

However, if a Republican cheats, it's a "private matter" and so on. It would seem to me that the party that doesn't pretend they have a monopoly on "family values" failing to live up to ideals would get cut more slack. Isn't hypocrisy worse than imperfection?

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Um...which Republicans have gotten a free pass for their cheating recently? It took forever for anyone to care about Edwards, Spitzer's scandal was different in kind, and Barney Frank still has his job...

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Vitter and Craig are still employed. So far, so are Ensign and Sanford.

Edwards would be a fair example except that he isn't currently serving in government.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

So...the only politicians who suffer more than huge credibility hits are the ones who commit sex felonies (like Spitzer). As it should be.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Craig was being prosecuted for a crime. I'm not sure that Vitter gets to skate on prostitution if Spitzer does not.

Bottom line, only those who commit crimes can be legally removed from office, sex or no sex. But the ones that stand their shrieking about family values while bending those values over a chair? Deserve very little patience or sympathy. I don't care if you cheat, but as bigscary points out above, if you make my private business your business, I'll return that favor in kind. And you'll totally deserve it.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Oh, agreed. Note that there's also another distinction; Spitzer and Sanford are both executives, while Craig and Vitter are legislators. For some incomprehensible reason, we have much higher standards for executives. Also note the significant number of Democratic financial criminals in Congress (Rangel, Jefferson), and felons on both sides in the New York Assembly.

I'm all for getting rid of Sanford for the crime of unbelievable stupidity, if nothing else. I'm just saying that it's not like Republicans are getting some special privilege to fool around.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

We agree on most points here. I don't get why being in one line versus another makes infidelities less/more problematic--if it's a problem, period, should it matter if you're an assemblyperson or president? Sanford is a particular brand of idiot whose inability to navigate the call-and-response script of an apology for being, gosh!, human is more troubling than any affair.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

This is why I take a similar stance on outing gay-bashing pols. Who you bone is your business, if you make who I bone your business, then who you bone becomes my business. Fair is fair.

Also because it's just plain funny.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It's also true that the people most intolerant of what they perceive as sins are among the most prone to sinning.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I don't know, this story got very big before the reveal that he'd been away with a mistress. The shocking thing from all the news I'd seen was that no one knew where the governor was. Rachel Maddow had the Lt. Gov. on her show, and he was like, "Uh, no I don't know where he is, but if anything should happen, I guess I'm in charge?"

But even if the sex isn't why the story got big, you're right to say that that would be the only reason he would get fired. Notably, he has not stepped down as governor. (He gave up being head of the Republican Governors Association.) I would think that this kind of egregious and rather hedonistic jaunting about, leaving his state in limbo would provoke the voters to want to kick him out even if he doesn't have the decency to resign.