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Mark Sanford Is Missing
Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC), a champion of both economic and social conservatism, has gone missing, and has not been seen since this past Thursday.
From The State:
First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press today her husband has been gone for several days and she doesn't know where he is.
The governor's personal and state phones have been turned off and he has not responded to phone and text message since Thursday, a source said.
Jenny Sanford said she was not concerned.
She said the governor said he needed time away from their children to write something.
The governor's office issued a statement Monday afternoon: "Gov. Sanford is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session, and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside.
Late Update: As a quick reminder to readers, Sanford has been a mainstay of conservative opposition to the stimulus bill and other Obama initiatives. So he's been at the center of some attention for quite a while.
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Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
Is that really possible that a head of state can just choose to not be in touch for four days?? And he got away from his children over Father's Day? What would happen in the case of a state or family emergency? This doesn't seem plausible to me.
June 22, 2009 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Put me in with the crowd that finds it just flooring that a sitting Governor of a state can simply up and leave for 4 days without putting his Lt. Gov in charge, or telling anyone of his whereabouts. I'm stunned this isn't illegal, or at the least a violation of his oath of office.
June 22, 2009 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
iokiyar.
June 22, 2009 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps he's gone fishing with some of his right wing buddies?
Beer and bluegill probably looks like a lot more fun than playing point for the conservative Republicans in their assault against Obama.
June 22, 2009 6:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
One of our millionaires is missing?
June 22, 2009 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I feel a McGreevey coming on.
June 22, 2009 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh my. Wouldn't that be something?
June 22, 2009 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly what I thought. This has "affair with male aide" written all over it.
June 22, 2009 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Given how ineffective he appears to be as governor, how can you tell he's missing?
More seriously, is it reasonable to think he'd take Father's Day weekend to work on projects that have "fallen by the wayside"?
What about family values, and all that?
June 22, 2009 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Allegations that the Governor abandoned his children on Fathers Day are partially incorrect, as he spent the day with his second family in Georgia."
June 22, 2009 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's probably off with having a grand ol' time with Rush who's been away from the Golden EIB microphone since Friday of last week.
June 22, 2009 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ummmm, this is really odd. It would be one thing to simply say that the Governor needed some time away, but for his wife to say that she "doesn't know where he is"? That is pretty bizarre.
My best guess: he had a breakdown.
June 22, 2009 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Mark Sanford and Doc Nebula are the same person!
June 22, 2009 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kate, I think you just insulted Doc! (heh heh).
June 22, 2009 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oops. Didn't think of that. It's just coincidental that Doc reported in on his whereabouts today....
June 22, 2009 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's probably in the HAMPTONS!
June 22, 2009 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
He is setting up his alternative government with Rick Perry of Texas and Palin of Alaska!
June 22, 2009 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmm. Not to be crude here BUT he's a conservative republican ergo :
- he might be hiding with his diaper mistress, or
- he might be hiding with his secret gay lover, or
- he might be in rehab for [insert pathology here], or
- he took his conservative creed to its logical, Hobbesian conclusion and decided to make an exemple, show the way and dissolve his elective office
June 22, 2009 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have it on good authority that he's actually going Galt.
June 22, 2009 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
A governor ditched his security team and his family over Father's Day weekend and was unreachable by his office.
Yep, no possible wholesome explanation for that.
June 22, 2009 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've come to believe there is never a 'sensible' much less 'wholesome' explanation for anything Sanford does or says........
But, this over the top. (Maybe he's having more plastic surgery?)
June 22, 2009 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
*more* plastic surgery?
June 22, 2009 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess this means he won't be running for President in 2012.
Either he's irresponsible enough to go AWOL for half-a-week and counting; or being Governor of South Carolina is such a nothing job that it doesn't make any difference if he's around or not.
June 22, 2009 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just like Governor of Texas!
June 22, 2009 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
According to the accompanying picture, one place he surely wasn't was the dentist. Holy large white chicklets in that grill of his. About as white as the state he reps, too.
June 22, 2009 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Has he been on the phone with Ensign? Might there be a similar situation? No idea obviously but it's odd coming right at the same time the Ensign presser took place.
Second far out possibility: taking a female in private to a PP clinic out of state.
Anyone know of this ever happening before with a sitting Gov in modern era (last 40+ years?)? When was the last time this happened? Can not think of a sitting Gov from either party who has gone missing for 5 days or more (without there being a regrettable aspect to the event).
Odds are this will not turn out to be a positive development for the GOP.
June 22, 2009 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seems incredibly irresponsible to just "disappear" and your staff, security detail and wife don't know where you are...and you are a Governor??? Something is rotten in Denmark, er, I mean South Carolina.
June 22, 2009 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe the RAPTURE occurred.
Rest of y'all are goin to hell.
June 22, 2009 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
nice
June 22, 2009 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
This will make a really good campaign commercial if he runs for President. Will President Sanford disappear when we really need him?
June 22, 2009 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
yes, interesting point. It basically takes him out of the running for a VP spot unless he can explain this totally and he turns out to be some sort of superhero. Otherwise, any other explanation even if it's acceptable or understandable to his staff/supporters makes him impossible for the GOP to consider.
June 22, 2009 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
This will make a great ad if he runs for President? Will we know where President Sanford is?
June 22, 2009 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh for heaven's sake, everyone! He probably went to a retreat at a Trappist Monastery.
June 22, 2009 6:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's on an island with his transgendered gay psychopath lover. (Sorry--was channeling a Henning Mankell Kurt Wallender novel there.) But given the fact that he is a conservative I think it's fairly likely. Do we know where Mark Foley is at this very moment in time? Or I vote for some yacht with Rushbo, several hookers, lots of viagra (I mean LOTS), porn, cocaine, and lots of greasy fattening food (he is a Southerner). He will make a speech when he returns similar to the one the Wizard of Oz makes right before he skeedaddled. (You know--"confer, hobnob," etc.) and his dopey constituency will believe him. Then O'Reilly will say "yes but if he were a Dem they would not hound him."
June 22, 2009 6:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Uhmm. Politically, Mark Sanford is an embarrassment.
But, as a person, he is actually devoted to his family, loyal to his friends, blah, blah,blah.
And so, if you can care about him as a human being at all --even though he is one who may have risen to his level of incompetence -- consider the possibility that he is one who is aware enough to recognize and feel that, maybe, just maybe, he's made an Asshat of himself. Because, whatever else, Sanford is a sincere, though hopelessly naive, majority-pleasing person.
Bottom line: whether one's persuasion is right wing or left, we might evidence some concern about this aberrant behavior in one who has dedicated his life to doing "the right thing".....even though that statement has ironic layers of meaning to those of us who see things completely differently than he does.
In other words, Mark Sanford is not a man who would miss father's day with his boys, unless he is completely, if temporarily deranged or depressed.
Let's empathy up, eh?
June 22, 2009 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
So you're suggesting he's really depressed and gone off alone? Because if he'd checked in to a center of some kind, they would have the cover story all ready. And if he really has gone off by himself, then shouldn't the wife be worried? It's just not adding up here.
The lack of a cohesive statement from his office seems to indicate they really do not know where he is. How hard would it be to say, for example, he's camping in the woods and wants to be alone?? And his whole family is on vacation and he goes somewhere else?
June 22, 2009 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
The governor's wife doesn't know where he is, but she is not concerned.
Huh?
June 22, 2009 6:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think his wife, Jenny (like her husband, the most consistently people pleasing driven person on record) has done something extraordinary in saying that she does not, or did not, know where he was, or is. She is way, way too savvy to say that unless it is actually true and she is under acute duress.
So if it turns out that Mark is off boondoggling with an aide of whatever persuasion, then shame on him, as his wife has gone the extra mile, for years, as she preferred a private life.
June 22, 2009 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
If he is really a dedicated of a family man, and a do the right thing kind of guy And if his wife is concerned enough to say publicly that she doesn't know where he is and he missed fathers day, then maybe we should be concerned about his safety and mental condition.
I'm one of the first to think he is nutty as a snickers bar politically, but I certainly don't want anything bad to happen to him. So I hope he does show up soon, that he is alright and that his wife and kids can breathe a sigh of relief. Then she can tell him what a jerk he is to put them all through this kind of thing and we can all move on.
June 22, 2009 8:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
He took one of the security detail's SUV's. I'm quite certain they're equipped with OnStar or other GPS locating system. They knew where he was.
June 22, 2009 9:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unless at some point he ditched the SUV.
June 22, 2009 11:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Never mind, I hadn't seen the Hiking on the Appalachian Trail article.
June 22, 2009 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink