Pressure Mounts On Sanford To Resign
One day after Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) held a press conference in which he admitted to having an affair with a woman from Argentina, 50% of registered voters in South Carolina said they wanted him to resign.
Now, nearly one week and many more affair confessions later, the calls for his resignation from elected officials are piling up. Today, 14 of the 27 state GOP senators are asking him to step down. That number has already grown from last night, when six senators took the step of signing a letter calling for Sanford's resignation. This group includes Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler and "five of [Sanford's] dozen closest allies," according to local Columbia TV station WLTX.
State Senator Jake Knotts, who initially called the State Law Enforcement Division two days after Sanford left for Argentina to find out his whereabouts, has also called for the governor to leave office.
See other sources of pressure calling for Sanford's resignation after the jump:
*Karen Floyd, South Carolina Republican Party Chairwoman
*Glenn McCall, a county party chairman and one of two representatives from South Carolina to the Republican National Committee
*Vincent Sheheen, State Sen. from Camden and Democratic candidate for governor in 2010
*The Greenville News, one of the state's largest newspapers, ran an editorial yesterday saying Sanford has "acted like a heart-sick school boy, and he's revealed facts that clearly demonstrate he is capable of exceptional deception, arrogance and narcissism." (The State, the largest SC paper and the one that has doggedly followed his affair and published intimate emails between Sanford and his Argentine mistress, has said that he should remain in office.)
Interestingly enough, the man who would replace Sanford, Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, has thus far not urged the governor to resign.
The U.S. Senators for South Carolina, Republicans Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, have also not openly supported this movement. DeMint, appearing this morning on Fox and Friends, said Sanford has "dropped the flag" and "a lot of us are talking to him behind the scenes in hopes that he'll make the right decision about what needs to be done."
Graham, reportedly godfather to Sanford's children, said on Meet the Press on Sunday that "if Mark can reconcile with Jenny...then he can finish his last 18 months (as governor). I do believe that if he can reconcile with his family, if he's willing to try, that the people of South Carolina would be willing to give him a second chance."
Whether or not Jenny Sanford feels the same way remains to be seen, especially in light of the governor's new revelations: "I will be able to die knowing that I had met my soul mate." (TPM Managing Editor David Kurtz: He's not talking about his wife.)
Late Update: Jonathan Martin of Politico reports that Sens. DeMint and Graham, as well as Republican Rep. Gresham Barrett, called Sanford today to have "frank conversations about the governor's ability to carry out his job." While some Republican sources who spoke to Sanford were "hesitant" to say whether the calls discussed resignation, another source said "his support has collapsed."
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
Has anyone noticed that the wife and the mistress look alike?
July 1, 2009 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I did, yes.
July 1, 2009 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
YUP
July 2, 2009 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
A song for the ladies in Mark Sanford's life:
Denise Lasalle - Your Husband's Been Cheatin' On Us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpYvAP3GEX4&feature=related
July 1, 2009 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
While I'm not usually one to support Republicans, I think Jenny Sanford should dump his ass and run for governor herself. I suspect she was always the brains behind that operation.
July 1, 2009 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
She apparently tired of politics some time ago and has been ratcheting down her involvement.
I just can't imagine what she and their children must be thinking at this point.
July 1, 2009 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is scary as hell. Even worse than a fillandering husband is a scorned woman who was so hell bent on power that she pushed her weak husband into power for her own benefit. I'm freaked out about that and the fact that you believe that revenge would be a good quality in a Governor.
July 2, 2009 2:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Clearly he is lying. Republicans can't have soul mates as they have no souls.
July 1, 2009 5:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Josh nailed it--the guy's just ass over tea kettle in love and subconscious is driving him to do whatever it takes to destroy the marriage and career that his conscious mind insists are the most important things in his life. There's a reason that we spend about half our pop culture dollars to works that rehash the observation that love that is that hard is not readily distinguishable from clinical insanity.
Josh's empathy and compassion speak well of him. Most of us--if we're either very lucky or very unlucky--have known moments when, in our own way, we've been driven just as thoroughly out of our minds by love as Sanford has. I can even go so far as to hope the feeling's reciprocated. To be that out of your head in love and throw away your life like he is, only to find out that she really likes you a lot but she needs some space but still wants to be friends would be too devestating for me to wish on anyone. (Well, okay, maybe on a few.)
But, honestly, I'd be a lot more inclined to give the guy some sympathy myself if, at some point during one of his stream-of-consciousness confessionals he had expressed some repetenance for his own self-rightousness during, say, the Clinton impeachment. Until then, he's just a narcissitic asshole who hasn't grown a millimeter from this experience.
July 1, 2009 6:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with you. I think he's trying to get kicked out of his office and his marriage.
He's so hopelessly and completly and unabashedly in love. Never thought I'd say this about a Republican and mean it but . . . Good Luck With That!
July 1, 2009 7:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if before this is over there will be enough turned up that he will be thinking more about who his cell mate will be than who his soul mate was.
July 1, 2009 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why can't he just STFU and go away? His urge to bare his soul (or at least run his mouth) is like a nasty little rash in an embarrassing location that just refuses to clear up.
July 1, 2009 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republicans keep proving that sexual repression has consequences. Unfaithful politicians speak out against unfaithfulness. Gay politicians speak out against gays. Pedophiles speak out against pedophilia. Can you say "reaction formation."
It's getting to the point where any Republican who speaks out against anything is going to raise questions about himself.
July 1, 2009 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sanford is setting up this "Storybook Love Affair" meme so that he CAN run for office in 2012, quite probably with his new wife.
July 1, 2009 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hang on Sanford!!!!
July 1, 2009 8:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is always amusing to listen to men justify their infidelity. I know it is probably not fair to generalize but really, what's love got to do with it? The guy has that problem that so many guys have which simply put, he has trouble keeping his pecker in his pocket. Now, I'm not saying women don't have the same problem, but I would like to see some stats on the two genders, political party not withstanding.
July 1, 2009 8:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Sanford keeps digging deeper because he wants his wife to file for divorce, putting himself in a position to both:
1.) be with his "soul-mate"
2.) deflect the blame for the break-up of their marriage on her.
What's so striking about his actions is his apparent lack of consideration for his kids. Most kids have a hard time with divorce, of any kind. But, having your dad trash your mom as a media event spanning all available outlets...
I just hope their heath-care covers counseling.
July 1, 2009 11:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
EXACTLY sinner, Sanford is setting himself up to be the victim in his own mind and possibly the public. In fact, I think he is so intent on becoming the victim here he cannot hear what he is saying.
So not only is he
1. Scofflaw for going AWOL on his job
2. An asshat for ditching his kids on fathers day
3. A jerk for using his family for political gain (he campaigned 24/7 with his family)
4. A creep for running out on his wife
He is the worst f'ing name you can think of for setting up to blame his wife for the divorce.
For those that talk about how in love he is and maybe he should get slack for that I say all over the world married people fall in love with someone else everyday. Most of them go ahead and get divorced without a lot of public brouhaha and public comparing of wife and soul mate. Divorce is ugly and hurtful to all concerned, his children don't need video tapes of their dad rhapsodizing about his soul mate while still married to their mother.
July 2, 2009 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does a day ever go by when you don't hear something idiotic from a prominent GOP member?
Between Palin and Sanford alone, you have nonstop quote machines.
And no, I don't believe he found a "soul mate."
July 2, 2009 2:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
And then there is Michelle and Nawmeee. And Rush. and .... The list like the beat goes on.
July 2, 2009 8:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, more than the wife resembling the mistress, I was struck by how much Mrs. Sanford resembles - Mark Sanford!
July 2, 2009 8:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Call me a fool, but I think what is going through Mark Sanford's mind right now has less to do with the potential loss of the governorship and the very real loss of his relationship with his Maria.
It is one thing for a man to take a podium with his wife standing dutifully next to him and issue an apology and claim that he will focus on his family and serving the people of the great State of [X]. It's a scene so familiar any one of us could act it out.
But Sanford's marriage is all over but the crying, and Sanford himself said he could die knowing he knows his soul mate, and that he was in love with Maria.
Consider it! He said that publicly, this tremendous admission of love and desire. It was stunningly refreshing (and, dare I say, atypically poetic in this day and age). It shows that there is more to this in the way of life and love than the smallness of politics.
I keep thinking of, and can't help keep thinking of Edward VII, and his decision to abdicate the throne of England for the love of a foreign woman. He gave up being King to spend his days with a woman he loved.
The Governorship of South Carolina is a small thing to give up for a soul mate.
Call me a fool. But Sanford should follow his heart on this one.
And I wouldn't blame him one bit.
July 2, 2009 10:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maria will never marry Mark.
He was just someone to fool around with and she has done this before. As molama, below says, Maria would also endanger her payments from her ex-spouse if she even moved in with Sanford. She was just looking for a guy to have a good time with, not a husband.
July 2, 2009 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I keep thinking of, and can't help keep thinking of Edward VII, and his decision to abdicate the throne of England for the love of a foreign woman. He gave up being King to spend his days with a woman he loved.
Those days included palling around with the Nazis, who in turn planned on restoring him to the throne.
July 2, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
It wouldn't last six months.
July 2, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes but - unless Maria is loaded, how is Sanford going to support her in style after his wife cleans his clock financially in the divorce?
July 2, 2009 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with Molama. I didn't know about Maria's husband, but Jenny is related to the founders of Skilcraft Power tools. According to her Wikipedia entry, right out of undergrad, she got a job as a vice president of the Lazar Freres investment bank. I think it is mostly her money. tks rich
July 2, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
There's a basic lesson in this for other men who may stray: "Don't kiss and tell". It worked in High School and it works for grown ups too. Its hard to believe Sanford never learned it.
He's is behaving like a heart-sick school boy, not a man who has found true love. Even though his lack of responsibility to the State of South Carolina, not his wife, is the issue, what is the only thing he's talking about? His feelings for the lover!
Unfortunately, he's torturing us as well as the two women involved. Its time for him to get off the stage, and Republicans across the country can't get him out the door fast enough. He's still not "present" in the Governor's role any more than he's "present" in his marriage.
As for the Lieutenant Governor? He obviously can't call for a resignation or impeachment lest he be accused of self interest; there will be an election next year and he'll be a candidate for Governor either way.
July 2, 2009 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Virginia forgets the biggest thing that these two lovebirds have in common -- they are each living off their wealthy spouse's money! Maria separated from but never divorced her agribusiness tycoon billionaire husband and is raising their two sons in a luxurious apartment near the US Embassy,despite not having worked these past eight years. Until Jenny kicked him out last month, Mark divided his time between a vast farm and a magnificent beach home on posh Sullivan Island, all financed, along with his three campaigns, out of his wife's $100 million family fortune. So Mark and Maria truly are soul mates.
July 2, 2009 10:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry. I meant to place my comment right under yours! r
July 2, 2009 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
As a Democrat and die hard liberal, I hope and pray (even though I am an atheist) that Sanford serves out his term, and then runs for President as a Republican in 2012.
Palin/Sanford 2012!
July 2, 2009 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
This dumbass, immature, hypocritical cracker from South Carolina can eat shit and die for all I care. Serves him right for being such a self-righteous, sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, "my faith and family values are rock solid" piece of garbage.
Everytime one of these cheesedicks runs out the family values ticket, you have to wonder just how many little boys they're buttfucking on the side.
True Love? Soul mate? Don't make me retch. How about personal responsibility, accountability, leadership, and maturity?
I hope he goes down. Goes down quickly. And so damn hard he never even gets a faint whiff of what it smells like to be up; ever.
July 2, 2009 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
This theory of getting kicked out of office and his marriage is weak at best. He is an public adulterer, so he is going to lose a shellacking in divorce court and after that be jobless ?
Unless his soul mate is independently wealthy, he's gonna need a job and I suspect Maria isn't hell bent on moving her family here and dealing with the press. So for them to be joined he would need to move there and I doubt there are many openings for a disgraced Bush-bot in South America.
Even conservatives are going to shy away from if he is thrown out of office for cheating on his wife and basically professing his love for the mistress.
July 2, 2009 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Could Sanford's actions, which clearly are intended to humiliate his current wife, be designed to force her to file for divorce, thereby activating a clause in a pre-nuptial agreement they might have entered into which denies her a settelement? That's the only thing which makes any sense out of Sanford's actions, which seem to be willful and deliberate in their tone. Too willful and deliberate for someone just gushing out of "love."
July 2, 2009 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink