Video: Congressman preemptively apologizes for extramarital affair
posted at 7:20 pm on June 24, 2009 by Allahpundit
To cleanse the palate, an oldie but goodie reposted by the Onion this afternoon in honor of Governor Happypants. Few people realize it yet but there’s a fascinating rift opening between those who think Sanford’s a pure scumbag for cheating and those who sympathize with a guy who pretty clearly has fallen in love. The boss is firmly in the first camp, and for once she has some lefties on her side: Witness this piece at Trueslant by Michael Roston, bowled over by the eloquence and dignity displayed this afternoon by Sanford’s wife Jenny. In the second camp: No one yet, but given some of the cooing I’m seeing over Sanford’s love letters to his mistress and the obvious depth of affection he has for her, it won’t be long before he has his qualified defenders too (e.g., “He shouldn’t have cheated, but…”). Which is more forgivable, a roll in the hay or an affair of the heart? The latter’s a graver threat to his marriage but it also suggests that he wouldn’t have hurt his wife unless he felt very, very deeply.
Exit question: So we’re all agreed that “hiking the Appalachian trail” is now officially sexual slang, yes?
Update: Here’s our first member of that second camp I mentioned. “I feel awful for Sanford’s wife and kids. But compared with all the cheaters who have gone before him, I don’t think less of him for genuinely loving the other woman or for admitting it. It beats the hell out of seducing somebody, kicking her to the curb, and pretending she was nothing to you—or really meaning it.”
Congressman Offers Preemptive Apology For Extramarital Affair
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I find a couple of things to be amazing in all this. One is that a person of such brilliance, to rise to the position of Governor of a state, the leader of the GOP Governors organization, and who earned that MBA, etc., could make such a profound error in judgment. In the world of modern politics, and our paparazzi culture, only a complete moron would think a sitting government could just disappear for a week or so and no one would notice. I suppose we all make mistakes, but that one defies imagination.
The second thing I find amazing is that we keep hearing about these stupid things from politicians of both sides of the aisle, as though they are not paying attention to the results of the mistake of the moron of the week or month before.
And then there is Bill Clinton, and I look at the reaction of the left on the President who’s name became synonymous with cheap thrills, and I wonder why anyone really cares what Sanford did.
MikeA on June 24, 2009 at 11:18 PM
Women are attracted to power. There’s no absence of enticements from women in these guy’s lives. The same will eventually be true for women, but right now, women have to work too long for real power. By the time they get it, they aren’t really interested in that game.
But, real equality will arrive. :)
AnninCA on June 24, 2009 at 11:21 PM
Real equality? Women already have about 75% of the money and 100% of the pu**y. How damned much more equal do they have to get?
MikeA on June 24, 2009 at 11:24 PM
No. “Hiking the Argentinian Appalachian trail”
juanito on June 25, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Just weakness, pure weakness. Not necessarily a character flaw like Bubba, but just weak. I have no pity and am greatly disappointed.
ultracon on June 25, 2009 at 1:06 AM
Dittos. No man gets to be governor, pitches himself as a leader among his people, without a high degree of self-confidence. When men like this fall it is from pride and lies not from a surfeit of romance and tenderness.
He’s a liar and a traitor to his children, his wife and his God.
I’m with Michelle 1000%. To hell with the f’g bastard.
rcl on June 25, 2009 at 1:29 AM
I laughed when I saw this.
Just remember, they get this when they are no longer able to enjoy it all.
:)
AnninCA on June 25, 2009 at 1:31 AM
I’m curious about your value system. Why is this different?
Oh wait, because he wrote those e-mails?
If Bill had just expressed emotion, eh?
AnninCA on June 25, 2009 at 1:33 AM
What is it with these so-called men? They act like a bunch of adolescents. Grow the hell up!
Jeff on June 25, 2009 at 2:01 AM
Well that or if he had left a woman to drown in his car while he met with his lawyers trying to figure out a way of getting someone else to take the blame.
Y’know I’m never going cease being amazed that that scumbag managed to stay in office and will probably die hailed as some kind of hero by the Dems and the MSM (but I repeat myself.)
I like to think of myself as a good person, but I’m afraid the only thing I want for Teddy is that in his last moments on Earth he goes through the same agony gasping for breath as his unfortunate victim, Mary Jo.
PackerBronco on June 25, 2009 at 3:06 AM
Rules of the road:
If you are a Republican, you are a POS, and are toast.
If you are a Democrat, you are given a pass, and you are appointed to powerful committee boards.
Period.
Cleveland Steamer on June 25, 2009 at 5:48 AM
How about “Hiking the Argentinian Tail”?
jimmy2shoes on June 25, 2009 at 6:43 AM
I feel like an ass for not having seen that coming.
raxx on June 25, 2009 at 6:59 AM
Anyone who would cheat on his wife will cheat on others.
I said that when Slick Willie was doing his thing is the Oval Office, and it’s still true.
davidk on June 25, 2009 at 7:21 AM
I think the point is that BC showed a psychological aberration in his general orientation to women evidenced by a sequence of improper interactions. He didn’t have to in an 8 yr development of the relationship. To him it was just pussy imo.
That said, I have no sympathy for the gov…just pity, and disappointment and anger at his stupidity and lack of perspective in relation to whats happening in this country right now. The timing could not have been worse.
Itchee Dryback on June 25, 2009 at 8:31 AM
In the words of the immortal Fred Durst and his headache inducing garage band, Limp Bizkit:
I came into this world as a reject
Look into these eyes
Then you’ll see the size of the flames (size of the flames)
Dwellin on my past (past)
It’s burnin on my brain (ah)
Everyone that burns has to learn from the pain
Hey, I think about the day (days)
My girlie ran away with my pay
When fellas came to play (play)
Now she’s stuck with my homies that she f*cked
And I’m just a sucker with a lump in my throat, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Should I be feelin’ bad? (no)
Should I be feelin’ good? (no)
It’s kinda sad I’m the laughing stock of the neighborhood
And you would think that I’d be movin’ on (move it)
But I’m a sucker like I said
F*cked up in the head, not!
And maybe she just made a mistake
And I should give her a break
But my heart will ache either way
Hey, what the hell, what you want me to say?
I won’t lie, that I can’t deny
I did it all for the nookie, c’mon
The nookie, c’mon
So you can take that cookie
And stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your
I did it all for the nookie, c’mon
The nookie, c’mon
So you can take that cookie
And stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your
Why did it take so long? (why)
Why, did I wait so long, huh?
To figure it out, but I did it
And I’m the only one
Underneath the sun who didn’t get it
I can’t believe that I could be deceived (but you were)
Not by my so-called girl, but in reality
Had a hidden agenda
She put my tender, heart in a blender
And still I surrendered, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
Like a chump, hey
I did it all for the nookie, c’mon
The nookie, c’mon
So you can take that cookie
And stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your
I did it all for the nookie, c’mon
The nookie, c’mon
So you can take that cookie
And stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your
I’m only human
It’s so easy for your friends to give you their advice
They’ll tell you, just let it go
It’s easier said than done
(I appreciate it) I appreciate it, I do, but
Just leave me alone (leave me alone)
Leave me alone
Just leave me alone
And nothing gonna change
You can go away
I’m just gonna stay here
And always be the same
And nothing gonna change
Cuz you can go away
And I’m just gonna stay here
And always be the same
(mixed part)
And nothing gonna change
Cuz you can go away
I’m just gonna stay here
And always be the same
I did it all for the nookie, c’mon
The nookie, c’mon
So you can take that cookie
And stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your
I did it all for the nookie, c’mon
The nookie, c’mon
So you can take that cookie
And stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your (yeah!)
Stick it up your
When dudes get baby batter on the brain, they do really stupid stuff. Really, really stupid.
Dukeboy01 on June 25, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Because we all need more sexual slang in our lives….
tom on June 25, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Once again, he was a very successful businessman before he entered politics and still is. Your denigration of other people’s education and success tells me that you have neither.
Blake on June 25, 2009 at 10:44 AM
I guess you can stick me in the second camp, to some degree. I do not condone cheating on any level, however, it seems to me that the marriage was effectively over a long time and only remained for political reasons (and ‘for the sake of the kids’). And its not always true that once a cheater, always a cheater. I am reminded of Johnny Cash. He met and fell deeply in love with June Carter while he was married to Vivian. You can not help who you love sometimes and the heart wants what the heart wants.
Wolftech on June 25, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Wolftech on June 25, 2009 at 11:41 AM
The heart may want what the heart wants, but get a divorce first.
TXMomof3 on June 25, 2009 at 12:03 PM
I’ve had more opportunity to nail some Poon on the side and my wife would have never known about it. But here’s the defining thing in all this I believe…. I know not just how, but why to keep it in my pants.
And the kicker is, IT AIN’T THAT TUFF to do either. (almost said hard… Insert Bevis and Butthead snickering here)
But, Sanford could redeem himself almost immediately in the eyes of his detractors. All he’d have to do is Switch Parties and become a Dem. They’re expected to be corrupted scumbags.
Prollem fixed.
44Magnum on June 25, 2009 at 12:59 PM
/shrug
Moralizing from leftists has about as much meaning as fire prevention tips from arsonists. Even less so when the sermon is chock full of hateful rhetoric like “snowbilly kin” and the like. The Trueslant piece is just so much calculation; this Roston has no more respect for Mrs. Sanford than he does a housefly. He would just as easily pillory her for some other imagined offense, on her part, her husband’s or her children’s, if she were in the way of his policy goals.
Every word that comes from a leftist’s mouth can be evaulated using a very simple metric: what do they believe will be the net effect of what they say? There is no essential “ought-ness” to their words, no “cry of the soul.” These are the people that decry any universal standard of conduct or moral code as discriminatory, narrow-minded or hateful, so there is very little point in trying to sync their words with any rational or consistent ethic. Such things are for “snowbillies” and rednecks.
That said, Sanford will be punished, as he should be.
spmat on June 25, 2009 at 1:01 PM
Bravo spmat. Bravo.
44Magnum on June 25, 2009 at 2:36 PM
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