The Republicans’ Week of Headaches: First Ensign and Now Sanford
As if they needed more bad news after last November, two of the men cited to be possible candidates for the Republican nomination for president in 2012, Senator John Ensign of Nevada, and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, have recently admitted extramarital affairs.
Both stories of the eventual fessing up about the affairs are filled with a bit of mystery.
In Ensign’s case, it has been suggested that an attempt to extort Ensign or an attempt to approach the media by the husband of the woman he was involved with prompted Ensign to make a move before the story came out otherwise. However, the exact details of why Ensign chose to admit his affair a year after it ended are not well known at the moment.
Sanford’s case is even stranger. The Governor went missing over Father’s Day weekend, apparently without his lieutenant governor André Bauer or his security detail having any wind of it. It was initially reported by his staff that he was hiking the Appalachian trail. However, later the story changed to one that had Sanford making a last minute decision to go to Argentina, supposedly looking for something more “exotic.” Today Sanford finally admitted that he has had an eight-year affair with an Argentinian woman. I’ve always thought that reactions to actions are sometimes worse than the actions themselves. His attempted cover up of the affair by lying about his whereabouts will haunt him for years to come.
I could really care less about the affairs themselves. It’s their business. However, it is absolutely amazing to me how many politicians will risk destroying their careers for one. John Edwards, John Ensign, and now Mark Sanford. All three of these men will never become president now because of their actions. Or how those actions are perceived by the American public. I think many South Carolinians will forgive Sanford for the affair, as such things are not such a big deal anymore (though things could be different in SC). However, the public will not forgive him for lying to them.
As for the Republicans, they have to be reeling right now. Two possible future political stars are now likely denied to them. I’m not sure whether or not this could affect the party as a whole. I think it would take more actions like this to have a widespread impact. I could be wrong, though. We shall see.
To be fair, Sanford claims that though he has known the woman for the past 8 years, the affair only actually began a year ago. I have no idea if there’s the slightest bit of truth to that, but as of today that’s the story.
Two things are actual issues here; the capacity to lead and hypocrisy. The hypocrisy thing is the most well known of course; politician A pontificates about “family values” and how certain people (read: Gays) shouldn’t be allowed to enter into marriage while showing to respect for their own marriage. It’s also an issue when politician A criticizes and demands the resignation of politician B for being unfaithful while doing the exact same thing (Gingrich on Clinton, Ensign on Craig).
The other issue is capacity to lead. Ensign appears to have used his influence to get his mistress paid more, and her husband and son jobs, as well as firing them when the mistress was no longer..ehm….”providing”. It’s too early to know whether any such thing is the case in Sanfords case, though you have to question the fitness for office of someone who thought he could just run off with his mistress to bloody ARGENTINA and no one would be the wiser. Same goes for Edwards and in fact same goes for ANY politician stupid enough to think they won’t be found out.
The actual issue of how it’s not nice to cheat on your spouse falls very much in the “it’s none of my business” category. I think that of recent prominent cases (Edwards, Spitzer, Craig, Ensign, Sanford) Edwards wins the “honor” of most morally reprehensible. He has young children, a wife with cancer AND he fathered a child while running as the empathetic, “I feel your pain” candidate.
Cheating on ones spouse is pathetic to start with.
The problem with advocating for a moral position which the GOP does in the poorly defined “family values” issue is that all men have sinned. Anyone who thinks the guy or gal they are electing and handing the reins of power to will be impeccable pillars of moral integrity given the millions stuffed in their pockets and the groupies that are willing to go to bed with man or woman with this much power and money…..is naive at best.
Power corrupts. Our politicians are the prime examples of do as I say, not as I do philosophy. When they fail….I shrug and say….yeah and? I am electing someone to advocate for family values…Im not electing a saint and Christ has already died for my sins. I am electing someone to advocate for my social and political values.
The left has done an outstanding job of painting politicians into something they are not. They are not pillars of moral integrity…none of them…they are men and women, left and right, who are tempted on a daily basis with the corrupting influence of absolute power….for that we need a MSM to be the watchdogs and not agenda driven pitbulls.
Can we please all ignore the sex lives of anyone we are not intimately involved with. I simply do not care (and don’t think the media should) who any given politician has sex with as long it is consensual. Job performance is what matters. If the politician funnels money or other political favors to a lover or that lover’s family that should be an issue; that he/she has a lover should not.
Claudia,
Want to challenge you on the hypocrisy approach. Now I agree that the hypocricy of advocating for “family values” while having an affair is at least distasteful and more likely disgusting.
What about the politician who opposed legislation to allow school vouchers and yet has his kids in private school. Or the war advocate who gets his son a draft deferment etc.
I worry that hypocrisy is primarily a concern when the other party does it.
Now having said all of that, Sanford was an idiot!
There is a very simple reason why disgraced politicians should immediately resign no matter what the offense, or the talent they may possess which could benefit society: in this partisan, acrimonious, political environment in which we currently live, and at this point in time in our nation’s evolution, any elected official needs as much support from his constituency which he or she can gather. After the offense, that support base will undoubtedly diminish, and render their service less effective.
As for resignation, you might check out this.