Sanford Makes Ensign Look Smart In Comparison

Filed in National by on June 23, 2009

South Carolina governor Mark Sanford’s disappearing act just keeps getting stranger and stranger. Let’s count the evolving stories:

1) Sanford is missing and not even his wife knows where he is, but she’s not worried because he’s writing
2) Sanford’s cell phone is last located in Atlanta
3) Sanford’s aides say they talked to him, but then walked it back because they hadn’t actually
4) Sanford’s spokesman says Sanford is hiking on the Appalachian trail and that he’s been doing that all along. People note that although the Appalachian trail begins in NW Georgia, it’s not the most logical place to begin for a person who lives in South Carolina.
5) today – Sanford’s spokesman says that they’ve spoken to him and he’s surprised by the interest of the media

Well, here’s the latest. Criticism of the governor keeps building. The state’s lt. govenor (also a Republican) notes that he was not informed of Sanford’s plans and that there could be situations when they need to get a quick decision (a prison riot, for example, is mentioned). Other critics also weigh in about the governor’s habit of disappearing. Reporters also note that Stanford, who is married with 4 young sons, went incognito over Father’s Day weekend and his wife states that she still hasn’t talked to him. Now even the Appalachian trail story is falling apart – a federal agents says that Sanford’s state vehicle was at the Atlanta airport and Sanford was spotted there as well.

On Tuesday, sources told News 4’s Nigel Robertson that a state vehicle is missing and was tracked down, not to the Appalachian Trail, but to the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta.

Sources told Robertson that a federal agent spotted Sanford in the airport boarding a plane. Robertson was told that the governor was not accompanied by security detail.

Oh what a tangled web we weave…

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Comments (23)

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  1. pandora says:

    I am completely fascinated by this story. On the news tonight a Republican talking head almost threw up his hands trying to spin this mess.

    Unless they have an ace up their sleeve, I’m thinking Sanford’s political career is toast.

  2. June says:

    Imagine Carla Markell not being concerned if Jack disappeared for four days. And Sanford wonders why it has become such a story!!

    When I saw the Lt. Gov. on TV, I couldn’t help thinking of what Matt Denn would do. Would he be worried? Darn right he would be.

    This is too wierd.

  3. Yes, June and Pandora I agree. The whole thing is really strange. A man is missing for 4 days without calling his wife? over Father’s Day weekend? They either have a marriage of convenience or she knows very well where he is. That’s why I’m thinking he’s at rehab or something.

    I definitely think his 2012 prospects are dim unless he has a very good explanation. If it weren’t for the cover-up, I would believe that Sanford met foul play, but I don’t think the governor’s office would cover that up.

  4. anonone says:

    “Ow my heart. I think I’m having a heart attack. You hear that Elizabeth I’m coming to join you honey.”

    Other famous Sanford quotes:

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068128/quotes

  5. ‘Bulo has heard from a reliable source, well, Amy Winehouse, what happened, or didn’t happen:

    “They tried to make him go to rehab, but he said no, no, no.”

    BTW, can anyone write a more typical “Dog Bites Man” hed than “Winehouse Husband Held on Drug Charges”? Actually, ‘bulo CAN: “Aniston Snuggles With New Lover”.

    Try & top those, suckers.

  6. cassandra_m says:

    I’m thinking Sanford’s political career is toast.

    C’mon! The crazy is the qualification! Its like leveling up a one of those characters in the multiplayer games….

  7. I think it’s all a plot to make Palin look good in comparison.

  8. anonone says:

    Sarah Palin + Appalachian Trail + Naked Hiking Day = ?

    Yeah, she’d look good in comparison.

  9. pandora says:

    Okay, Cassandra, you have a point. Actually, if he tells the 21%ers that Jesus told him to walk the Appalachian trail he’ll be the 2012 Republican nominee.

  10. Delaware Dem says:

    I must say, Jenny Sanford’s comments are VERY revealing: “I am being a mom today. I have not heard from my husband. I am taking care of my children.”

    WOW. I need to hear those comments instead of reading them, but I am imaging a these comments being said bitterly, and if not bitterly, can anyone not see the subtle “bastard”-slap delivered by a wife towards her husband. She may not know where her husband is, but she does know why he left, and is angry about it.

    Otherwise, she would have covered for him, instead of twice saying she has not heard from him and doesn’t know where he is.

    When the truth comes out, and yes, we have not heard the truth yet, it will end his career.

  11. Unstable Isotope says:

    Yes DD, I think she’s not quite with the program by emphasizing that she hasn’t heard from him.

  12. More and more, ‘bulo’s guessing sex scandal. Say-y-y-y, can anyone account for Lindsay Graham’s whereabouts during the same time frame?

  13. cassandra_m says:

    I’m betting on a sex change consult.

    Think I can get an Intrade contract on that?

  14. It is a non story. It is about as serious of one as the fly swat on CNBC. He told everyone that he was leaving to get away. He had no obligation to say where as long as his family was cool with it and his chief of staff had a number. The one apology he should offer is not putting his Lt. in charge. I fault him serious for that. ” Do not quit your post until properly relieved”. That should be the question asked of him and only that.

  15. Geezer says:

    Nobody cares what you think, Republiscum.

  16. Unstable Isotope says:

    Is there any Republican wrong-doer that David won’t apologize for?

  17. a. price says:

    Sanford was in hawaii destroying his kenyan birth certificate!

  18. jason330 says:

    Or was he in Kenya destroying his Hawaiian birth certificate?

  19. nemski says:

    Is there any Republican wrong-doer that David won’t apologize for?

    Joseph McCarthy?

  20. a. price says:

    hey man, he was protecting us from the Reds, just like Jr. did from terrorism!

  21. Were did Governor Kaine Go? He won’t tell even though he took a taxpayer state security force with him. He is threatening to stonewall FIOA requests on state security grounds. If he tells the people were he was (not where he is going), that could endanger his life they say. How will disclosing past trips endanger him? Is he a big fan of Terminator: the Sarah Conner Chronicles? Will time traveling assassins come and get him if he tells the taxpayers?

    Governor Kaine is the Chairman of the DNC. He promised that his night job would not interfere with his day job. I guess we will have to take his word on it or time traveling cyborgs will come and wreck havoc. Thank you governor for saving us from such a fate.

  22. nemski says:

    Good god David, you put the idiot in Republican every day.

  23. I think Kaine does a good enough job for the Democrats. Why the fake concern over Sanford who did not take state employees with him, but went on an announced personal regrouping time? Why do you try to dismiss the fact that Kaine does this regularly with tax payer paid staff? You guys are so up Daily Kos’s Kos that you are entertainment.