The Rasputin Award for Political Prognostication

Michael C. Moynihan | June 24, 2009

The always prescient Mark McKinnon (not to be confused with the rarely funny Mark McKinney), writing at The Daily Beast yesterday on the media persecution of South Carolina's Peronist Gov. Mark Sanford:

Mark Sanford unplugged. Literally. He decided to take a hike. And he told his security detail to take a hike as well.

Guy wanted some alone time in the woods to clear his head.

Here we have a guy in politics who actually likes to get OUT of the spotlight. How exceedingly normal.

But oh, no. Not normal at all. A man in his position has to be “troubled” or “hiding something” for taking a walk...

Well, apparently, Sanford has been out hiking the Appalachian Trail: A great place, according to the author and novice hiker Bill Bryson, for a walk in the woods. This is the sign of a healthy, sane individual. So, of course, when someone in politics does something normal, political partisans and the media elite think he’s crazy.

Mark Sanford literally likes to go his own way. Why do politicians have to be on a leash? Really, is South Carolina such a highly prized strategic asset that everyone has to freak out if the governor takes a hike for a few days? What’s the worst that could happen? The South Carolina libraries flood?

Of course there are “mysteries” to be solved, report the hyperventilating press. His cellphone was last picked up in Atlanta. I think the mystery will be solved when Sanford admits that he committed the crime of turning off his cellphone because he didn’t want to be bothered.

And it appears he has a very healthy marriage, because his wife said, “He was writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids.” Sounds like Dad got his Father’s Day wish. And he told his staff that he’d be difficult to reach for a few days and that he regularly goes off the tether without his security detail.

Comments

Jeff P|6.24.09 @ 4:31PM|#

Oh, you did NOT just dis Mark McKinney!
May Chicken Lady scar you, scar you for life.

|6.24.09 @ 4:33PM|#

I was just going to say...Mark McKinney invented Chicken Lady. That's worth something.

|6.24.09 @ 4:39PM|#

Well, apparently, Sanford has been out hiking the Appalachian Trail riding some Argentinian tail

Sorry. Too good to not steal.

Xeones|6.24.09 @ 4:40PM|#

Yeah, Moynihan, fuck you for hating on Mark McKinney. To McKinnON, i say: haw haw!

Jeff P|6.24.09 @ 4:40PM|#

Even as we speak, Mark McKinney is crushing your head...

Xeones|6.24.09 @ 4:46PM|#

I love how four of the first five posts are folks leaping to the defense of an insulted Kid in the Hall.

Libertarians: Irrelevant by choice, not by coercion!

Fluffy|6.24.09 @ 4:47PM|#

Actually, although the last paragraph seems to be false [but let me point out that what he says here is qualified by the word "appears"] I don't really see anything that wrong with the rest of the block quote.

Frankly, I can understand why the press was curious about Sanford's whereabouts, and I can certainly understand why they're excited about the salacious details revealed today - but I also agree that the sort of breathless, "What if there's an emergency? What if there's a terrorist attack?" nonsense punditry from the last couple of days was very tiresome. Unless someone needed a last minute reprieve on death row, there really isn't any need to freak out that the governor of a small state didn't answer his phone for a couple of days. Did any bill need signing? No.

We've been subjected to megalomaniacal douchebags of the state exaggerating their own importance for so long that we've neurotically begun to believe them. Any interruption of the 24 hour news cycle triggers vast insecurities that are really unbecoming to a free people. Other than the President, no one is that important [and the President is only that important in a limited set of circumstances that come up maybe once or twice a term]. For the first century of our republic most elected officials would be effectively out of contact for weeks while they traveled to and from Washington. We did OK.

|6.24.09 @ 4:48PM|#

Wow, he just killed his chance in 2012.

Fuck.

EJM|6.24.09 @ 4:59PM|#

It looks like he won't be speaking at the 2009 Values Voter Summit, after all.

|6.24.09 @ 5:08PM|#

And as long as Republicans continue to care, the Democrats will win.

Their mantra, that having standards means you're a hypocrite, has really taken hold in the conservative consciousness, hasn't it?

|6.24.09 @ 5:08PM|#

C'mon, give Sanford and Ensign a break. I mean after all, several months ago Iowa allowed same-sex marriage, so of course Ensign and Sanford's marriages were instantly at risk from the Iowa "gay threat" they faced down in South Carolina and Nevada. Lol.

Clearly these two need to spend even *more* time "protecting" marriage and beating on the bible.

ed|6.24.09 @ 5:22PM|#

"What if there's an emergency? What if there's a terrorist attack?"

I believe they (the cable news "press") also mentioned the possibility of a nuclear war, in which case the governor would not be there to...well, fry with the rest of us.

Mad Max|6.24.09 @ 5:33PM|#

'Sounds like Dad got his Father's Day wish.'

Next year, they should just get him a set of golf clubs.

|6.24.09 @ 5:51PM|#

Mark McKinney co-created the extremely funny "Slings & Arrows" on Canadian TV. I don't see why we had to bring him into this!

|6.24.09 @ 6:02PM|#

Listen, he could have sidestepped this whole thing by issuing a simple executive order:

"If any time I cannot be reached by phone or fax, please assume I am busy banging some Argentinian broad and let someone else handle the governor shit."

|6.24.09 @ 6:03PM|#

The ordeal proves that Sanford is planning to run for president. Why stop an affair with an Argentine if you weren't trying to get past it for political gain?

Sean Scallon|6.24.09 @ 6:14PM|#

Perhaps Mr. Moynihan would wish to rephrase...

|6.24.09 @ 6:30PM|#

Isn't Sanford against gay marriage? Something about us homos threatening the sanctity of the institution, etc. etc.

It really is unbelievable.

|6.24.09 @ 6:35PM|#

Isn't Sanford against gay marriage? Something about us homos threatening the sanctity of the institution, etc. etc.

Why do you think he had the affair? You homos made having an affair with a woman just too tempting. How can forthright heteros like me stand the same vagina night after night if we know you are living in wedded bliss with a same sex partner?

Hugh Akston|6.24.09 @ 7:00PM|#

I just got home from work. I had no idea this was going on.

So let me see if I got this straight...

Mark Sanford loudly refuses to request stimulus funds. Mark Sanford, out of nowhere, holds a press conference to publicly admit to infidelity.

Anyway, I'm sure its all a big coincidence.

MNG|6.24.09 @ 7:03PM|#

"Wow, he just killed his chance in 2012.

Fuck."

Nooge, brace yourself for a never-ending series of such let-downs if you are going to put your faith in conservative Southern politicians!

I bet you you actually shed tears when Thurmond's jungle fever broke!

MNG|6.24.09 @ 7:05PM|#

yeah Hugh, the evil conspiracy to force the stimulus down everyone's throats...

I hear a Presidential aide spoke out against it and was later found in a "suicide" in a Washington Park!

Franklin Harris|6.24.09 @ 7:08PM|#

Given what we knew at the time, McKinnon's statement...

Here we have a guy in politics who actually likes to get OUT of the spotlight. How exceedingly normal.

But oh, no. Not normal at all. A man in his position has to be "troubled" or "hiding something" for taking a walk...

... seems like a excellent response to the breathless media/pundit reporting and commentary preceding Sanford's admission.

What if Sanford had turned out to be just an introvert who needs to get away from it all to recharge? As an introvert, myself, I personally get quite fed up with people asking why I don't get out more, why I don't return phone calls immediately, why I sometimes let calls go straight to voice mail, etc. And people always assume there must be something wrong or something bothering me. No. I just need alone time.

Compare the initial reaction to Samford's apparent walkabout to the outpouring of sympathy President Obama received when it seemed he might lose his BlackBerry and his 24/7 access to everyone in his address book.

If you're addicted to social interaction, that's "normal," but if you need to be by yourself, you must be mentally ill, according to the Conventional Wisdom narrative.

I understand the (very valid) point McKinnon was trying to make, even if the facts we know now are far different.

|6.24.09 @ 7:08PM|#

We've been subjected to megalomaniacal douchebags of the state exaggerating their own importance for so long that we've neurotically begun to believe them.

Begun? It's been going on for a while, but remember that it's the media most of all who believe them, or don't recognize their parasitic dependence on them.

And I'm going to attempt to defend Moynihan's slag of McKinney by assuming he's referring to the SNL years. Because that shit ain't funny.

Eva Peron|6.24.09 @ 8:30PM|#

Don't cry for me, Argentina!

GILMORE|6.24.09 @ 11:37PM|#

Does this post need an update?

Hugh Akston|6.25.09 @ 12:18AM|#

Conspiracy or no, MNG, watching your knees jerk at the mere suggestion of an Obama misstep provides the sole distraction in an otherwise pale and unamusing season.

Well played.

Art-P.O.G.|6.25.09 @ 12:45AM|#

Does this post need an update?

Yes. From now on i) I'm assuming that any time a politician's whereabouts are unknown, there's a love affair goin' on and ii) Those who crow the loudest about the "gay threat" to marriage are either a) constantly on the verge of infidelity or b) religious fundamentalists c) huge homos (not an XOR).

Also, Mark McKinney was really good in The Saddest Music In The World.

Art-P.O.G.|6.25.09 @ 12:50AM|#

Also, the Republican Party should stop shooting itself in the foot and just shoot itself in the brain.

Art-P.O.G.|6.25.09 @ 12:52AM|#

DigDug | June 24, 2009, 5:08pm | #

You should do a Chris Crocker-like video of this.

|6.25.09 @ 12:56AM|#

OK, in some alternate universe, he went hiking on the AT. It's still irresponsible of him to do a solo trek without informing someone of where exactly on the trail he was, and when he would be back. This is basic wilderness safety stuff. If we had been bitten by a rattler or fallen off a cliff, we wouldn't know where to start looking or even if he was in trouble.

Art-P.O.G.|6.25.09 @ 1:31AM|#

It's still irresponsible of him to do a solo trek without informing someone of where exactly on the trail he was

True, but there's nothing quite like coming off the Appalachian trail weeks later with a huge beard, wild eyes and speaking of prophetic visions.

Xeones|6.25.09 @ 8:38AM|#

True, but there's nothing quite like coming off the Appalachian trail weeks later with a huge beard, wild eyes and speaking of prophetic visions.

That's how i do it, except i'm never up there for more than an afternoon. Peyote!

jt|6.25.09 @ 9:08AM|#

wow, this Mckinnon is totally full of crap.

I like how another post of his calls on Ensign to resign. Wonder if he'll call for Sanford's resignation.

jt|6.25.09 @ 9:11AM|#

actually, he did say that Sanford to resign http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-24/sanford-should-resign/

LarryA|6.25.09 @ 12:34PM|#

Nooge, brace yourself for a never-ending series of such let-downs if you are going to put your faith in conservative Southern politicians!

Nooge, brace yourself for a never-ending series of such let-downs if you are going to put your faith in conservative Southern politicians!