"The bottom line, though, is he still lied. He lied under a different oath, and that is the oath to his wife. So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.”
“I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally (to resign). I come from the business side. If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, he’d be gone.”
-SC Governor Mark Sanford, speaking in 1998 of Bill Clinton.
"I've been unfaithful to my wife."
-Mark Sanford today, after his office originally said he was absent from the state while hiking the Appalachian Trail.
"I'm not sure that marriage can stand up to more Republican defense. Thank Jebus they stopped defending democracy".
-Christopher Moore
By the way, before anyone starts yelping about John Edwards, would they be kind enough to supply a quote by Edwards that's anything like the first two provided above? Thanks.
8 comments:
Yes, politicians on both sides cheat on their spouses. But Republicans are especially good at moralizing on the subject. It's the old "Do as I say, not as I do" saw.
And to set the record straight, I'm a reformed Republican.
Well now, as I understand it, even Fox News at one point called Sanford a Democrat. Reckon it was because he cheated with a woman, not a man?
And has anyone determined how many of his love-visits were funded by The People?
I’m not sure if this qualifies. I think Edwards implies the same when he states (during his campaign): the single most important characteristic of the next president is … honesty. One test for whether a candidate will be honest as President is will they be honest during the campaign … when bad things are happening, they’ll be truthful about it.
But I’m confused as to what your point is, Dusty. Sanford is a hypocrite and should suffer the same fate as Elliot Spitzer (not Bill Clinton, because as you know, Bubba didn’t resign and although he was persecuted for what amounts to a dumb affair, he only admitted to it when there was DNA evidence that would bring him down). Still, he survived the scandal. I guess I’m confused about why you chose to compare him to Edwards. Are you concerned about the fact he’s a lying sack of shit (like Edwards) or because he’s a hypocrite? I think both are both (lying sacks of shit and hypocrites).
As far as Sanford espousing “family values” … well, he gets what he deserved. Hopefully he’ll resign, tuck his tail between his legs and find a new occupation. Frankly, I have more of a problem with all those Senators tied to health industry campaign contributions backing off the President’s noble attempt to get something done; the same Democratic Senators who were so anxious to tout the campaign promises of their party. Their hypocrisy hurts the country a lot more than anyone’s infidelity.
Charlie: I brought Edwards up becuase I fully expected some wingnut to troll by with "well what about Edwards? Huh?" or something like that. Because, as we all know, wingnut logic dictates that anything a Republican does is okay so long as some Democrat somewhere has done it. It's still not okay for the Democrat to have done it, however.
I'm not trying to justify Edwards; I'm still mightily pissed at him, because I supported him during the early days of the primaries. First off, cheating on your spouse when she's dying of cancer is really fucking tacky. But in the bigger picture, the son of a bitch, had he gotten elected, could have ended up pulling a Clinton. He'd have gutted any chance he had of creating some real reform because he'd spend every waking moment dealing with the scandal,and it probably would have paved the way for another disastrous Bush presidency (Jeb). Fortunately we dodged that bullet.
And over at Scalzi's blog, someone did actually provide an Edwards quote about Clinton, during the impeachment hearings:
"“I think this President has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen.”
So whatever vestigial respect I had for Edwards is gone with that.
But the point is, the Republicans have positioned themselves as the "Family values and marriage party" and it looks like their ratio of sex scandals is running about 4 to 1 vis a vis the party that doesn't set itself up as the moral guardians of the nation.
Fran: excellent point. It remains to be seen whether the people who went absolutely apeshit with indignation over the money spent when Obama took his wife out to dinner and a play react the same way to Sanford using the taxpayers' money to fly to Argentina for poontang.
Good for you (seriously) for posting the Edwards quote from elsewhere.
It is just that the crusaders most responsible for denying gay marriage (for whatever indefensible reason) are caught with their pants down. I did feel "gleeful" over Spitzer's legal self righteousness coming back to bite him in the ass and I guess I feel even better that moral majority crusaders are forced to deal with their own frailties of the flesh.
Defenders of the "sanctity of marriage" who oppose gay marriage need not get caught cheating on their sanctity to see the absurdity of their argument (vs. equal rights for all), but it sure is funny when it happens.
I think this leaves the Reps with two choices for 2012 now. The slick Mr. Romney (who won't win his own state vs. Obama) and the hot geographically & politically challenged broad who might win her state and maybe three others with less than a million voters in them.
One day I think the Reps are dead (and this Sanford thing certainly helps) and the next the Dems go and do something dumb (like lean to the right when they clearly don't have to) in the Senate/Congress and I think they can still ruin it for themselves.
I'm with you on Edwards, Dusty, and as much as I like his wife, I'm pissed at her, too.
She knew about the affair and still let John run, putting us in jeopardy, as you pointed out.
I supported him early on, too. The fucking weasel.
A bum is a bum, regardless if he is a Rep or Dem. I say "toss him out" - but I guess that is really for the people of SC to decide.
And I totally agree that the Republicans should be held to a higher standard because of their stance on upholding "family values". They should get no second chances, one screw up and you're out! If they know that going in, we might not get these bums running for public office.
Fran, the Oxymoronic Channel seems to have a habit of "accidentally" referring to Rs they're currently critical of as Democrats.
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