Mark Sanford’s Own Little Stimulus Package
How are you supposed to be blog something like the Mark Sanford saga? One more religious hypocrite caught, literally, with his pants down. Yawn.
What can one possibly add to such a sordid little drama? You can't make this stuff up?
Only two quck thoughts:
This joker ought ot be IMMEDIATELY tossed out on his butt. Not because he was fooling around in Argentina. But because he effectively abandoned his office, leaving his state and even his staff in the lurch. He was AWOL pure and simple. Out in the real world, when you don't show up for your job you get fired. He can weep and plead all he wants. Let him beg forgiveness from his good pal, Jesus. We mortals should just dispose of him.
Second, at least we know why he was a staunch opponent of the federal stimulus package. Didn't need it. The Governor had his own way to stimulate his package,
If he's not out of office by Friday, his state will join him as a laughing stock.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
“….his state will join him as a laughing stock.”
I think that ship has already sailed…
June 24th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
We can also say that once again Fox identifies one of their shitheads as a Democrat: http://images2.dailykos.com/images/user/3/fnc_20090624_sanford.jpg
June 24th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Marc, why so angry? The Marc I remember would have written something along the lines of “The Repub Governors’ Association better kick this guy out if they haven’t already lost all their marbles. Having said that, if South Carolinians want to keep this weasel in their governors mansion, whatever floats their boats.”
Anyhoo, in the meantime here’s a Republican ex-governor who manages to still make some sense sometimes IMHO:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/19/huckabee-jon-stewart-deba_n_217918.html
Credit where credit is due department: Jon Stewart does a really good job keeping the conversation (and challenges) going.
June 24th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
“Hiking the Appalachian Trail” is such a wonderful euphemism.
Here in the West, it would have to be … he’s off hiking the Pacific Coast Trail …
June 24th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
[empasis originl]
http://www.redstate.com/e_pluribus_unum/2009/06/24/to-majority-media-and-other-democrats-we-police-our-own-and-you-dont-get-to-judge/
I think this level of hypocrisy is a result of inbreeding. I don’t know any other way to explain it. the Republicans really ought to consider the hybrid vigor afforded by cross-breeding, or at least injecting a few out-crosses here and there. Even the Thoroughbred Association open their stud books at one point.
June 24th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Here’s something far more interesting than Sanford and his wandering weenie, as far as I’m concerned:
http://www.buzzhunt.co.uk/2009/06/22/green-and-blue/
June 24th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Listnener – Red State was telling us just a couple of days ago that this was all hype by Sanford’s enemies.
Personally, I could care less. If a majority of SC still wants this creep for Gov, there were better reasons than this to think they’re suckers.
I also sent a pleal to Josh Marshall asking him PLEEZE don’t go there with “Governor Sanford’s Emails” – I think that’s just lowlife journalism, even when folks I respect succumb to it. Let this die – Sanford’s toast as a 2012 GOPer, and frankly I thought he was the only guy they had who was much of a threat or had even a shred of credibility. Go Palin !!!!!
June 24th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
That’s “plea” not “pleal”
June 24th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
frankly I thought he was the only guy they had who was much of a threat or had even a shred of credibility.
How so Reg?
June 24th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
He doesn’t come off as a self-serving moron (Palin), as a say-anyting empty suit (MIttster) or as an affable fundamentalist nutbag (Huckster). Or – “worst of all” – a decent, moderate GOPer who the base would eat alive for lack of fidelity to the rules posted outside the insane asylum. He seemed like a serious, modestly articulate governor who had – knee-jerk ideological hackish as it might be – “fiscal conservative” cred that he wasn’t making up as he went along. Seemed like some sort of at least semi-serious true believer who wasn’t totally ignorant and had at least a bit of gravitas. Until he went “Crying in Argentina”….
I guess I’m a bad person, but I’m loving it. (But not the piling on…)
June 24th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
qdp – I Really Like Huckabee. I think he’d make a great principal of a junior high school in an affluent, mostly white, southern community. Or maybe an AA counselor. Definitely head and shoulders above Pat Robertson or John Hagee in the God Talks To Me community.
As a Fox News Show host ? At least he’s driven by convictions rather than obnoxious narcissism, sheer stupidity or total derangement.
June 24th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Marc’s buddy David Corn asks, re the Sanford/Ensign two-step hike after tail, “what’s next?”
“Newt Gingrich leaving his wife for another woman? Oh yeah, been there, done that. Twice.”
(I’m wondering if John Edwards – remember him ? – paid these guys…)
June 24th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Thanks goodness the woman wasn’t left to drown or that Sanford didn’t commit perjury in federal court to hide it. Oh, wait. It was all about sex. Why didn’t he lie so you guys could move on?
It seems to me that at least two of you should appreciate the governor’s taste in women from South America.
June 24th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
didn’t commit perjury in federal court to hide it.
It wasn’t in federal court, but in a deposition. While one testifies under oath in a deposition, it is exceedingly rare to pursue perjury charges in a civil action for perjury in a deposition.
What depositions are valuable for in such an instance is speaking to the credibility of the deponent. I testified in federal court several times and was deposed several times while working for ASCAP.
The first time I testified we had deposed the defendant six months before the trial. During the trial the deposition was entered as evidence and my side’s attorney asked the defendant the same questions asked in the deposition. His answers under oath in court were in complete contradiction to his answers in the deposition. Our attorney asked him a direct question and then, after he answered, read his answer from the deposition. His answers in the courtroom were self-serving, but the deposition answers appeared to be more honest. All it did was make him look like a liar.
BTW, no action for perjury was started against him.
As for the woman being from Argentina, who gives a shit? I take my marriage vows a lot more seriously than Salamander Gingrich, Mark Sanford, David Vitter, Bob Livingston and John Ensign along with the others in the self-proclaimed “family values” crowd who don’t seem to value their own families very much.
June 24th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Speaking as an objective, aggressive enemy of American Left-wingers, I absolutely agree that Gov. Sanford is/ was/ in dereliction of duty and deserves the electoral death penalty.
Let’s keep mixing it up, you weenies!
June 24th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Randy, I didn’t know that you were a legal expert. If only you had been consulted before Judge Wright held Clinton in contempt of court for lying and denying a woman her rights under a law that Clinton himself signed and consulted before Clinton was disbarred by the Arkansas and U.S. Supreme Courts.
perjury
Pronunciation:\?p?r-j?-r?, ?p?rj-r?\
Date:14th century
the voluntary violation of an oath or vow either by swearing to what is untrue or by omission to do what has been promised under oath : false swearing
Give the Republicans credit for condemning Sanford, unlike the Democrats who covered for Clinton and shamelessly celebrated on the White House lawn after his impeachment.
At least Sanford doesn’t smoke.
Okay, now I have to go watch Bill O’Reilly, whose guest is that great Democratic moral leader Barney Frank.
June 24th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Don’t Cry for Mark Sanford, Argentina…
In my heart of hearts, I really care less about Mark Sanford’s private life, other than the fact that he should resign, because as Marc Cooper notes, he was AWOL. I also note that Marc beat me to mentioning this,……
June 24th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Woody,
As for the facts nothing, I said was wrong. It was during a deposition. I didn’t say he didn’t perjure himself. Contempt of court is not perjury.
June 24th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Give the Republicans credit for condemning Sanford, unlike the Democrats who covered for Clinton and shamelessly celebrated on the White House lawn after his impeachment.
And of course Newt Gingrich, a serial adulterer is now your party’s standard bearer.
You gotta love the hypocrisy from Woodrow.
June 24th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
How to keep a mistress from drowing
June 24th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
“as an objective, aggressive enemy of American Left-wingers”
And this is all you’ve got ?
Too fucking easy.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Fuck you “Reg,” you evil coward. Where does your money come from, you evil lying sack of shit?
June 24th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
I guess Sanford took hearing the epithet ‘fucking Republican’ literally.
June 25th, 2009 at 12:30 am
“Hiking the Appalachian Trail” is such a wonderful euphemism.
Or a garbled version of “spiking some Argentine tail”.
June 25th, 2009 at 12:33 am
I feel Biff’s pain — it must be rough to be too stupid to matter.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Dear Governor Sanford,
You fucked-up, literally. Then you proceeded to fuck-up again by going on and on, running your mouth instead of your pecker this time.
Jeezus god man. Do we need to know every single person you hurt, every single detail of how you fucked up, and how fucking sorrow you are just so’s you can try to keep your wife and job, but mostly your job.
How to hell an idiot like you ever got to the level you did in politics, especially as a Republican, says as much about politicians as it does you. Standing in front of that microphone for a very painful half hour whining and spilling your guts to the world try to save your sorrow ass, when a one liner would have sufficed, makes me believe you were a Democratic Mole.
In the responsible party, the Republican Party, you are expected to admit to your lies and irresponsibility and RESIGN. Please do the RIGHT thing. We don’t need no more stinkin’ guilty whining irresponsible Democrats in our government.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:24 am
In the responsible party, the Republican Party, you are expected to admit to your lies and irresponsibility and RESIGN. Please do the RIGHT thing
Just like David Vitter, John Ensign and Larry Craig did. Oh wait . . .
June 25th, 2009 at 6:39 am
“Just like David Vitter, John Ensign and Larry Craig did.”
Oh….never mind.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:43 am
But I did qualify my statement with ‘expected to resign’ Randy.
If this excuse don’t work, let me know so I can try again to save my sorry ass.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Why are right-wingers objectively degenerate and depraved?
http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Republican_Sex_Scandals
June 25th, 2009 at 6:59 am
“…makes me believe you were a Democratic Mole.”
Hmm, I wonder if Jim R. might not have something there. Why would any beautiful woman want to sleep with a Republican?
June 25th, 2009 at 7:01 am
“Where does your money come from”
Satan
June 25th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Isn’t it interesting that, despite national crises with Iran, North Korea, terrorism, the economy, and , some say, health care, you lefties can shut them and Presidential inaction out and have found something more important to discuss – bashing a state governor. So, that’s what it’s like when left to your own devices.
If Sanford was hiking the Appalachian Trail, then Bill Clinton was scaling Mt. Everest.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:59 am
What class for a U.S. Senator, and before he knew where Sanford had been: John Kerry on Sanford: Too bad Palin didn’t go missing too
Is it too bad that Kerry didn’t really take a shrapnel hit to the brain…or, did he?
June 25th, 2009 at 8:12 am
Gosh, is it just me, or do right-wingers sound increasingly pathetic these days?
June 25th, 2009 at 8:16 am
By the way, I can understand fully why Kerry’s joke doesn’t seem funny to the right, as Sarah Palin is looking pretty much like the only candidate left to run against Obama in 2012–and we all know how that one will turn out.
June 25th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Michael,
Bear in mind that last comment from Mr. McNair is from the same guy who calls African-Americans “darkies” and disabled veterans “Stumpy.”
Accordingly, that should impact the credibility of anyone engaging in a disquisition on “class” or the lack of same in others.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Randy,
It doesn’t surprise me that Woody has his snout deep in the racist gutter. I had to delete a comment of his on my blog for racism just yesterday.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:37 am
lefties can shut them and Presidential inaction out and have found something more important to discuss Jesus, there really is no end to your hypocrisy. Do you recall that little Lewinsky episode? I keep convincing myself that you’re 80% send up because it is simply not possible to be that partisan if you have an ounce of fairness or perspective.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Excuse me, Randy. Make those “singular,” as the references were to specific individuals, one of whom constantly referred to me as a cracker and the other who consistently lied about people questioning his patriotism.
Since you keep bringing it up, aren’t there some verses that you need to learn about throwing the first stone, not judging lest you be judged, removing the plank from your own eye, and being a hypocrite?
June 25th, 2009 at 9:45 am
DanO, my positions with Sanford and Clinton are exactly the same. I expected both to have been up front, honest, and sincere. One was. The other one wasn’t, and broke the law and his oath of office in the process.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:58 am
OK, fine, but who exactly are you lambasting about spending too much time on this? You think they’re running around the White House in a twist about this, or do you think they’re actually working on their policy agendas (whether you agree with those or not)?
You’re kind of tilting at windmills here. Who cares if the blogosphere is all abuzz with this? You’re creating this phantom zero-sum game where any attention paid to this by anyone is an affront to the more pressing concerns of the world. I suppose, then, I should ask if you watched any TV last night.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Old Woody. That latent Homosexuality can’t help but come out!!!
Your defense is clearly a projection for you WANT to have a sexual affair with the Gov. That is why you have to resort to moral equivalency, anything to defend your desired lover.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Since you keep bringing it up, aren’t there some verses that you need to learn about throwing the first stone, not judging lest you be judged, removing the plank from your own eye, and being a hypocrite?
If I was acting holier than you as you always do, you might have a point. Fortunately, I’m not.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Best Defense of Sanford yet, from the Fearless Leader of Lower Wingnuttia, Big Fat Addict Rush:
“This is almost like, ‘I don’t give a damn, the country’s going to Hell in a handbasket, I just want out of here,’” said Limbaugh. “He had just tried to fight the stimulus money coming to South Carolina. He didn’t want any part of it. He lost the battle. He said, ‘What the Hell. I mean, I’m — the federal government’s taking over — what the Hell, I want to enjoy life.’”
“The point is there are a lot of people whose spirit is just — they’re fed up, saying to Hell with it, I don’t even want to fight this anymore, I just want to get away from it.” (end clip)
Obama made Mark do it ! Guess that also explains some of Rushbo’s escapades…
June 25th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Another distraction for bored old fossils.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:36 am
No media bias?
Credit where credit is due:
LAT Muzzled Edwards Scandal Last Summer, Yet Revels in Sanford Affair
- – -
Name that party:
NBC, CBS, And ABC Highlight Sanford’s GOP Label, Downplayed Label For Disgraced Dem
- – -
Rather than blaming Gov. Sanford, shouldn’t we blame global warming?
June 25th, 2009 at 11:52 am
I keep convincing myself that you’re 80% send up because it is simply not possible to be that partisan if you have an ounce of fairness or perspective.
But since he doesn’t, it is possible. Woody’s position on any issue is 99% predictable, which makes reading or responding to him — other than for the pure joy of slapping him down — a waste of time.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Wasn’t Lower Wingnuttia the country Chaplin ruled in `The Great Dictator’?
June 25th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
So if NBC, CBS and ABC characterize Sanford as a Republican, I guess it was Fox News’s duty, as the self-appointed “fairness balancer” to designate him a Democrat.
June 25th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Woody – the local SC paper sat on the Sanford emails for months…
Once again, you’re full of it.
June 25th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
reg, only an idiot would liken a small South Carolina paper to the LAT, and you proved it.
However, unlike the NYT & LAT, the SC paper didn’t release smears that it couldn’t prove.
June 25th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
OT, but fun. More Bachmann wingnuttiness: http://bit.ly/15J41Y
June 25th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
“We didn’t know that they were true?” Now that is the statement of a relentless journalist. Of course, the question might arise, “what did you do to determine whether they were true or not?” Some journalists might, for example, send an email to the address on the message, asking about the contents. Or call the governor?
Instead, that paper chose to print the “Appalachian Trail” statements without, apparently, without questioning anyone, publicly or privately, about the possible connection between the emails and the governor’s extended absence from the scene.
Who was it on this blog who was betting on “male prostitute?” Erotic Argentinian woman is pretty close.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
That paper – and what they suppressed – was more important in the context of the Sanford story than the LA Times was in the context of the Edwards story, which was breaking nationally. The LA Times was exercising “judgement” – maybe it was wrong, but it did less to impact the Edwards news because they weren’t sitting on hard evidence that they failed to follow-up on.
Once again, you’re the idiot.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Woody – how come every time you try to make some tendentious rightwing talking point, it always turns into an epic fail ? Have you ever stopped to think about that for a minute ? The constant humiliation ? Were you the kid who enjoyed getting beat up ? Is this some compulsion ? I hope we’re not robbing some deserving dominatrix – or rough trade pro – of a potential source of income.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
I get the sense that, as a child of the nineteen eighties, I’m one of the younger commentators here. My very first cassette tape was “Thriller” and for me and my friends Michael Jackson was the biggest thing in the entire world. I was surprised at how emotional I became upon hearing of his passing and tonight I’m staying home and blasting out the hits. RIP
June 25th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Ahmed – I still think it’s weird that Josh Marshall has a big headline about Jackson. He was never a big deal for me – but insofar as I regcognized his pop genius and MTV performing chops, IMHO Jackson’s been gone a long time… I can’t remember the last time I didn’t get the creeps whenever his name or some random reference came up.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Like I said it’s in part generational. The eighties were not exactly a high point in terms of social and cultural movements broadly effecting society at large. For many of us Michael was what we had, we loved him, memorized the dance steps, and he was huge.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
I hate to be mean at a time like this, but he was “dead to me” when he went in for that “race-change” shit. A pretty pathetic man…
June 25th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Perhaps you mean tragic instead of pathetic, that seems more accurate… and why the constant need to be so damn grumpy. Btw, I started writing up a defense of my friend Max’s video ( the kids were all wealthy upper middle class Americans, who felt an immense sense of entitlement over Israeli policy, hint, hint…and this is, my friend is what Obama is up against) but the issue seems wildly off topic
June 25th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I’m with you, Ahmed. Although I’m considerably older than you are, hearing of Michael Jackson’s death made me sad, too. Michael might not have been iconic when I was in college, but the Jackson Five were well known. I think Andrew Sullivan summed it up best.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/thinking-about-michael.html
He may have outlived his talent… or, it could be his tortured self could no longer project it. Either way, he surely was an extraordinary performer. One of a kind.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Ahmed – I guess it really is generational and impossible to tranlate beyond that. I saw this from “rikyrah” – who’s a very sharp sister – over at Ta Nehisi Coate’s blog: “McMahon, Fawcett and Michael Jackson…this is my childhood.” And I’m thinking, “I’m damned glad I’m not struggling with the loss…”
June 25th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I loved Phil Spector’s stuff when I was a kid – he was at least as “revolutionary” a pop magician as Jackson…and I hope the sonofabitch rots in jail. I guess that makes me terribly grumpy.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Or maybe I’m just reacting to Ahmed trying to sic Sergio on me…
As I said the other day, “a cold bastard.”
June 25th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Pitch perfect post by Sullivan. Thanks Listener
June 25th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Gotta respect another’s taste in music, or pop culture, but for this child of the ’80′s, Jackson was never my cup of tea. As soon as I heard Eddie Van Halen do the guitar parts on “Beat On” I instantly thought, “Well, the Vegas lounge circuit can’t be far away for either of them.”
I think the Sullivan piece Listener linked was pretty fair. In thinking how Jackson was so crassly used for money from childhood, perhaps one can begin to think of how he perverted this body. In an odd way, the celebrity contortions that demonized Jackson, I think makes him very tragic and similar to Kurt Cobain.
Because I can’t resist –I had the poster:
http://wanderingblonde.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/farrah_fawcett_poster.jpg
June 25th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Okay I want to give Woody an entry point into the conversation
http://www.solarnavigator.net/music/music_images/Michael_Jackson_Ronald_and_Nancy_Reagan.jpg
June 25th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Even I wouldn’t have gone that far…
June 25th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Now we know that when Republicans say they favor off-shore drilling they’re not talking about energy policy…
June 25th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Cable news now All Jackson All The Time. No Ed, no Keith, no Rachel, no Iran, no health care debate – nuthin’ except morons yammering about Michael Jackson. “Close friend” Kenny Rogers made the genius point that it’s a shame that MJ’s death is keeping more ruminations on Farrah Fawcett’s demise off our TeeVees.
Trying to hold down my dinner…
June 25th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
When sour old reg drops dead (soon) , it will be no loss.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
You’re already as good as dead, judging from your contributions here. Sour doesn’t even begin to describe your worthless nattering…
June 26th, 2009 at 1:35 am
Sergio I just finished complimenting you as I genuinely have a soft spot for you as a commentator. I even get a kick out of your short, quick and sharp jabs at reg. But saying he should drop dead is creepy and uncalled for. Gringo, fossil, reptile, compulsive this is fine but not drop dead. Cool?
June 26th, 2009 at 3:41 am
It’s called a “theme”, Ahmed. Variations on, etc. etc. You’re grasping at straws if you expect anything more subtle or interesting from this particular commenter. He doesn’t even have Woody’s chops…
June 26th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
While I think Sanford ought to have the balls to resign, and in this, I think Cooper is right, I’m also wondering how many of you castigating this slime ball were busy supporting Clinton? Does “It’s only about sex,” ring a bell?
June 26th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Have you ever stopped to think about that for a minute
Thinking gets in the way of spouting talking points, reg.
June 27th, 2009 at 1:16 am
fuck michael jackson
here’s some beautiful poetry coming to me from iran…
I remember
your hair flowing like the strokes
from some expiring painter
brushing his last master piece,
all in darks and blacks,
his old fingers: the nails dirty,
the tips stained from tracing
over the movements of his skies
and bodies of water, trying to find
in them the revolt against the dying,
a declaration beyond ‘ to suffice’
i had broken myself against that for years-
that need-
til i was raw like bruised fruit, half
consumed.
by chance I had met you
in a café.
i remember in the distance, the clouds
swelled pregnant with rain as you
quoted the poets to me;
of their unrepentant hymns, their tales
of love and wine soaked lips spitting
out heresies that gnawed themselves
in me.
I dismissed myself from the table
and from you but all I wanted as
I walked the streets was to
curl my fingers around the words
you spoke.
I found a place to sleep
at the end of some avenue
the woman there promised
only an old bed
for the sickness she saw in me
I dreamt you that night in a fever-
tasting your lips like an ancient cup-
on a landscape that was foreign to me.
the Elborz to the north.
you wanted to show me
what was holy about your need.
i watched around you
foul flowers begging like unused lovers
to bloom around your feet
we danced, and we danced
through plagues
and exodus and curse like husband and wife
drunk in our return to eden,
visitors to this myth of the eternal.
I felt the shift into now;
the animal that wants to mirror god
no matter how primal, to know why god
collapses broken
licking at the feet of these mortals that he
himself made
his bitter lack of what it is to know
the wild joy
and sweat between your hips
i felt their inviting.
the moans that flowed
along the waves
of them
like the arch of a broken
winged dove
hushing this dying in me and
my foul grunts of
indifference. giving me the
beauty of stillness,
a calm in my transience.
You spoke the holy blasphemy
of a love that crawls for
the sake of its own crawling;
forming itself
in the image of this dance
whatever this dance might mean