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Going To Buenos Aires In His Mind...
Check out this line from Gov. Mark Sanford's (R-SC) second inaugural address in 2007, paying tribute to the march of technological progress and South Carolina's part in it:
Think for one second about the rate of change in the world around us.
The Pan Am Clipper Class used to be the envy of airline travel. One of their planes would fly 32 passengers at 150 miles per hour from point A to point B. The Miami to Buenos Aires flight took 6 days with numerous crew stops along the way.
The new Boeing 787, being in large part produced here in South Carolina, will soon take 300 passengers at 560 miles an hour on a 9 hour trip straight from Miami to Buenos Aires.
Apparently he's been thinking about traveling to Buenos Aires for quite a while.
Also, Stephen Colbert last night flashed back to an interview he did a year ago with Sanford, asking the governor to tell him about the Mark Sanford nobody knows about. "Well, I guess it would be the degree to which I love solitude," said Sanford. "I love to be out in the woods with my boys."
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Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
I love this story so much.
June 24, 2009 10:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Chief Blue Meanie: It's no longer a blue world, Max. Where could we go?
Max: Argentina?
Yellow Submarine
1968
June 24, 2009 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
I went to the movies once w/o telling parents so that's pretty much the same think as going to Argentina and not telling your wife or staff.
June 24, 2009 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is so much better than even Octomom!
June 24, 2009 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Another hole in the story:
"Sanford said he was alone on the trip. He declined to give any additional details about what he did other than to say he drove along the coastline."
As someone who has lived in Buenos Aires I can tell you that it would take all of 10 minutes to drive along the coastline of the "City." And it's on a river, not an ocean. No sandy beaches, cabanas, nada.
Maybe he's confusing it with Rio de Janeiro, like 95% of all other Americans?
June 24, 2009 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's easy to get the two mixed up when you're drunk, stoned, and fondling a 13 year old boy as you drive along the "coastline".
June 24, 2009 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
If Sanford was a Democrat, Sean Hannity would already be calling for his resignation.
June 24, 2009 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Regarding his presidential ambitions; I think being incommunicado in Argentina counts as failing the 3AM test.
June 24, 2009 10:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yup, yup, yup.
June 24, 2009 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is there some kind of Republican sport I'm not aware of where politicians put themselves forward as "rising stars" or "Presidential aspirants" and then race to try to disqualify themselves as quickly as possible? Because between Norm Coleman, John Ensign, Bobby Jindal and now Mark Sanford, I'm starting to wonder if maybe there's a fraternity hazing ritual in the party or something.
June 24, 2009 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was thinking this too.
Someone comes up to you and says, "you'd be a good choice to run against Obama in 2012". If you had half a brain, what would you do? Do something to disqualify yourself, and leave the race to the less-than-half-brain yahoos like Huckabible and Palin.
I'm guessing Ensign didn't even have the affair, he just thought admitting one would be easier than running for pres in 2012.
June 24, 2009 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
There better be a whole TEAM of reporters calling down to Argentina to find out every detail, before the trail goes cold.
As most people do, whenever I go on a trip by myself or with my wife, we make sure that someone knows our travel info so that in case of emergency, we can be tracked down.
This man is a GOVERNOR who apparently told neither his wife, his four children or anyone else he was flying 5,000 miles away to drive along a non-existent coast.
This thing smells so bad that I hope someone with connections in South America is currently tracking down every sordid little detail.
My money is on sex tourism.
June 24, 2009 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
What are the chances that Sanford DIDN'T have some kind of kinky extramarital sex in Argentina?
It's WSDS - Wingnut Sexual Disorder Syndrome. Sex is sin - sin is sexy - the more dangerous it is, the kinkier it is, the more chance of getting caught it is, the worse it will look if you get caught - the more people you hide it from - the hoops you jump through to make it happen and conceal it -- every time you up the ante it gets that much more exciting.
June 24, 2009 10:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Times Square at noon with a male tiger?
June 24, 2009 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Been there, done that.
Oh wait, Bengal or Siberian?
June 24, 2009 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Detroit. heh, heh
June 24, 2009 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
On Father's Day weekend, leave the kids and wife behind, go to Buenos Aires without telling anyone, not even your wife, have your staff tell people you're hiking in the Appalachians, apparently thinking that nobody is going to find out the truth?
Gee, a Republican who tells great big whopping lies. How unusual.
June 24, 2009 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's 50 degrees in Buenos Aires, close to freezing at night.
He packed for a hiking trip in the 90 degree weather but decides to go to winter climate at the last minute. Yeah. OK.
June 24, 2009 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, that was the thing -- one reason the "hiking the Appalachian Trail" claim was weird was that there was never any evidence that he had packed for a hiking trip, much less a multi-day one. He just grabbed a security vehicle (not even his own car) and took off after the legislative session ended on Thursday.
June 24, 2009 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do that all the time. I'm on my way to the mountains for vacation and then it hits me: Why not go somewhere exotic and I go to the closest airport and go . I rarely pack. Just buy the clothes where I arrive.
June 24, 2009 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
A governor doesn't go to Argentina unannounced without talking to his staff or his family unless it's really interesting.
My top guesses:
1) Paying mistress' ransom after she was abducted by Argentine gangsters who told him he better keep quiet about it.
2) Somehow putting to rest some ugly, ugly secret before 2012 Presidential run. It also probably involves a mistress.
If you have any guesses, take a stab at it!
June 24, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I actually was worried for his safety for a moment yesterday....now I'm just back to enjoying the show.
June 24, 2009 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's not only the democrats who dislike Sanford; republicans especially in his home state don't like this man. He certainly can't count on a primary victory in SC, how embarrassing.
This little flap will be something that will be brought up by gop candidates if he decides to run...that is run for president.
June 24, 2009 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sanford enjoys "being alone in the woods with my boys".
Did he really have to go all the way to Argentina to play with his balls?
June 24, 2009 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fellow South Carolinian Stephen Colbert FTW describing Sanford as "Henry David Thoreau-ing his career away."
June 24, 2009 3:21 PM | Reply | Permalink