RAGGED THOTS

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Sanford & Sun

Okay, you know when a political story just seems odd, you know it is.

But who could have thought the story of the wandering South Carolina guv could have been this weird? The man said to be "missing" since last Thursday, who his wife didn't know where he was and his staff said was hiking the Appalachian Trail -- has revealed that actually he was on a cruise.

In Argentina!

Now, in fairness to Gov. Sanford's staff (ahem! his congressional staff), Appalachian Trail and Argentina do both begin with the letter "A."

A word to the wise to some conservatives: Just because the mainstream media -- and political opponents start asking questions -- it doesn't mean that a given story is "overhyped."

If something doesn't add up, the media had damn well better ask questions. And this story was strange from day one: The staff gave conflicting stories, for one. Most significantly, his wife had no idea where he was. And, the fact that a conservative Republican politician took off without his family for a week -- over Father's Day sends all sorts of red flags.

Conservatives should get over the knee-jerk need to "defend" a Republican just because he's a Republican. We don't need to. It is very clear (as it has from the start) that Sanford, AT BEST, lied to his staff which was then forced to lie to the public. I don't care if (as the case may be) he and his wife have "an agreement" where he gets to go and do his own thing. If so, then get the story straight with everyone.

But, beyond that, sorry, once you're elected to an executive office, you don't get to "disappear" for a week. Unlike being a senator or member of the House, chief executives have to be "on-call" 24/7. There are any sort of possible emergencies that could develop (hurricane season, anyone?) requiring the governor's immediate presence.

Sadly, as a NRO reader asserts, some on the right want to push against the argument that "government has to constantly be on call to tell the proles what to do or that the 'right' person in charge in a crisis can make everything better; enough with the political cult of personality."

Really? That's what conservatives should defend now?

Ultimately, Mark Sanford is being brought down by the same thing that brought down Eliot Spitzer. No, it's not the sex (bet your bottom dollar that that will come out before this is over); it's the arrogance. The idea that the rules don't apply to him.

Cross Gov. Sanford off the 2012 list.

UPDATE: I've been since reminded that it's actually late fall in Argentina, so the "Sanford & Sun" header doesn't completely work. Okay, you will have to forgive me my poetic license. Oh well. In the meantime, here are a few people's thoughts as to what Sanford was doing in Buenes Aires. The site is a liberal one, so there's lots of Republican bashing, but there are some objectively funny lines mixed in too.

UPDATE II: Sinking ship? Rats deserting there.

Labels: 2012 GOP nomination., Mark Sanford

# posted by Robert A. George @ 9:10 AM

Monday, June 22, 2009

Missing Their Mark

If South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford plans on running for president in 2012, he's already shown how he will distinguish himself from Barack Obama.

In contrast to Obama who is in danger of getting a wee bit overexposed with all sorts of television specials on NBC, ABC and CBS, Sanford is apparently in favor of taking the occasional "time out" where no one knows exactly where he is -- including his wife.

But she's not too worried. She knows he's off "writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids." On Father's Day weekend. Right.

Sanford did give his staff a heads-up to let them know where he was, but that he wouldn't be easily found. Oh, and his police detail wasn't with him.

Ooookay.

Now, it's usually a little bit difficult for elected officials to just step out for a few days -- away even from your family members. It opens up room for, shall we say, speculation that the politician is doing more than just, ahem, fishing.

That's especially true when another Republican looking at 2012 has recently been caught admitting to engaging in certain activities with a woman not his wife.

That's also especially true when you are the governor of a state with a former governor/senator well-known for having a wandering eye.

Let's be clear: No one is saying that Sanford is doing anything either morally or ethically wrong. It's just somewhat, well, unusual, for a politician to just up and disappear.

Furthermore, Sanford's former House colleague, Steve Largent (R-OK) might give some advice about not disappearing without letting staff know where to find you: Largent went hunting for a few days in September 2001. His staff couldn't locate him and he didn't learn about the 9/11 attacks until a couple of days later. Oops.

Oh, well, perhaps Sanford decided to take a page out of the book of this guy from Oregon:

A man reported missing by his wife last week was located Saturday. But he says he wasn't missing -- just following his wife's wishes to go away.

William Peterson told police he and his wife had an argument and she told him to get out. So, Peterson spent the week fishing and camping in Bend.

As things go, that's a slightly better explanation.

Not by much, but it is up there.

Labels: 2012 GOP nomination., Mark Sanford

# posted by Robert A. George @ 8:00 PM

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

2012!!

The Republican race begins! Possible cases for --

Mike Huckabee?

Sarah Palin?

Bobby Jindal?

My personal hunch is Huckabee. But, it's a little early for official predictions, dontcha think?

Labels: 2012 GOP nomination., Republicans

# posted by Robert A. George @ 10:50 AM