Gov. Mark Sanford Presser: Live Apology Coming for Argentine Trip…and Marital Infidelity
GOP Gov. of South Carolina Mark Sanford is apologizing live on TV for going to Argentina and for something else that he is stringing out in a press conference right now…
Continuous updates:…
… is now talking roundabout about sin and God's laws, but with no specifics yet…
…"the bottom line is that I've been unfaithful to my wife…"
…now asking for a zone of privacy…
…he will tender his resignation as head of the Republican Governors Association…
…will stay on as governor of South Carolina.
Now taking questions…
To the extent that this all destroys Sanford's awesome credibility on the need to cut spending and government intervention, it's a real loss for the limited-government side.
More updates/first reactions from around the Web:
From National Review's The Corner:
Romney by Elimination? [Rich Lowry]
First Ensign, then the "Crying in Argentina" press conference. If Republicans want a presidential candidate who lives clean and whose family hasn't been involved in tabloid scandals, it might soon be Mitt Romney by process of elimination.
Sanford [Mike Potemra]
This dramatic news conference was the first time I had ever watched him, and he came across as a very sincere, humble, and impressive person. If you come across this well on the worst day of your life, you must be doing something right. Is his political career "over"? I frankly don't care about that. I'm just glad to have seen somebody standing up and doing the right thing, being honest about sin and responsibility.
I still say it shouldn't be nearly as disqualifying as turning down badly needed stimulus money. An affair is wrong but understandable. Turning down the money is wrong and bats**t crazy.
—Noam Scheiber
Based on what we know right now, there is absolutely no reason that this situation needed to be a political disaster for Sanford. If he simply could have provided any kind of excuse or shown any of the forethought with which politicians usually plot their dalliances, he still would be a 2012 contender for the Republican nomination. Either he really is that clueless, or there's even more to the story that we don't know right now. (Joseph Lawler)
Andrew Sullivan:
Another far-right Republican confesses to an extra-marital affair. Not the most effective way to keep it under wraps: disappearing for days with no notice. But it's important to remember at these moments that we're all human. I just wish the GOP leadership would apply that lesson to everyone else.
Bastard
By Michelle Malkin • June 24, 2009 02:54 PM
It's the only fitting word for a man who abandons his wife and four sons on Father's Day weekend to indulge his "overdrive" on an Argentinian fling.
Mark Sanford: Bastard.