Just when I thought it would be some time before another politician involved sex scandal would surface, enter South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. When I saw this story unfolding I said to myself “you’ve got to be kidding me” Governor Sanford vanished for a week and he apparantly told staffers he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail, but he was actually thousands of miles away in Argentina for a secret rondevu with his Argentinian mistress. A South Carolina newspaper has obtained copies of steamy emails between the governor and his mistress which can be read here http://www.thestate.com/sanford/story/839350.html.
Has Governor Sanford lost his mind? Surely he knows his steamy emails can be obtained and made public and spread all over the internet. Surely he knows suspicions will arise when he flies to Argentina without his family? Surely he has seen many politicians in the past standing at a podium giving a “poor me” press conference after they got busted in some type of sex-scandal.
As governor, Sanford not only represents the people of South Carolina, but also the republican party. Sanford has tarnished the republican party at a time when they are trying to pull themselves off the mat after getting knocked out. The republicans cannot afford scandals of any sort for the next 4-years if they are intent on winning back independents and potentially unhappy democrats. Please tell me Michael Steele has sent out memos or conveyed to the republican politicians they must avoid negative publicity during the rebuilding phase?
These politicians continuing to get themselves into career altering or ending sex scandals is mind blowing to me. It is very similar to pro sports which seems to always provide sensational headlines about players being involved in some sort of scandal. Just as the pro sports athletes tarnish their team and sport, politicians tarnish their party and the government. I know some will say the sex scandals are a private matter that should not be made public but I disagree. As an elected official you are held to a higher standard and there is no room for error in your judement or your actions.
some notible political scandals
2008 – John Edwards affair with Rielle Hunter
2006 -Mark Foley is accused of sending sexually explicit instant messages to an underage male congressional pages
2007 – Larry Craig pled guilty to disorderly conduct in a Minneapolis airport men’s room in June.
1998 – President Bill Clinton & intern Monica Lewinsky scandal allegedly had oral sex with Clinton leading him to famously declare on TV on January 26, 1998 that “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
after reading the emails, i believe that this man was in love and had no option but to pursue it. perhaps through his relationship with Maria he might wake up to his own true emotions and cease to be the fake man he portrays in political circles. having said that, i think it is sad that the emails between these two have been exposed to the public. the woman was/is obviously in love and there is nothing at all wrong with that. hopefully Sanford will change his life and become the man Maria fell in love with IN ALL aspects of his life.
What is wrong NOT with this picture is that the Governor would have an affair. Under normal circumstances, that should be his private business to sort out with his wife.
What IS wrong with this is the governor was a complete hypocrite. He was a part of the moral panic in our society, in which people want to teach children that sex is wrong. He voted for abstinence education, and also to place the ten commandments in schools. He also voted to ban gay adoptions and gay marriage. What kind of supposed role model is that? Apparently consensual gay couples who want to start loving families is wrong, yet it is OK to pretend to be this conservative Christian while having secret mistresses on the side???
This whole conservative morality thing is totally useless, as proven by the fact that the biggest proponents of it can’t even live up to their own outdated and absurd standards. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying people should lie to their partners. What I am saying is that this should be a matter for their own personal relationship.
Also, there is nothing wrong with having more than one partner, if it is consensual. What is wrong is lying and imposing a different set of standards for other people than yourself.
Also, what ever happened to American values like Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? And what about the separation between church and state?