Classic Rant #75 (August 27, 2009): Argentina Hanky Panky Puts Governor In Hot Seat

Two months after admitting to an affair with a woman from Argentina, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said "folks who were never fans" won't remove him from his elected office early--and this includes jabs from his lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer, who said the state cannot solve critical problems with Sanford at the helm.

Bauer called for Sanford to step down, while the impeachment process was being discussed by South Carolina lawmakers.

I guess the lessons learned by Ted Kennedy were not learned by Mark Sanford.

But then again, I am not so sure that Kennedy learned them either.

OK, we know that many marriages end in divorce. My first marriage did, and I rebounded, got married again, and all is well in my house.

Well, all is not well in the Sanford house. His marriage was breaking up, and he decided to have an affair with some hot tamale in Argentina, of all places. Couldn't he find a similar "shoulder to cry on" in his own state? That wouldn't have made it any better, but at least he wouldn't have to use government funds to get to his lover's place of destination like he supposedly did in traveling abroad.

No, Sanford can't perform his functions as state governor under these circumstance, and no, Kennedy could not perform his functions as a senator when he left the scene of his accident in Chappaquiddick decades ago. Kennedy got away with it, but that was 40 years ago, when the Kennedy name was akin to god (see my earlier rant, and yes, the lower case "g" was intended).

No, the Sanford name means nothing to anybody outside of his state, and in these times, when every move made by public people is micro-reported by the media, he can't--and rightfully won't--get away with this. He will have to step down, or he will be removed.

Times have changed a lot in the past 50 years. Do you think Ted's older brothers, John and Robert, would have been able to get away with all of the things that they reportedly did while serving our country if they did it today? I doubt it, and I doubt that Ted would walk away from his indiscretions virtually scott-free today, either.

Sanford is another one of these politicians who believe they are way above the law. In the past, they were. However, in today's open society, where news flows on the Internet in milliseconds, this just isn't so anymore. No, the days of the Strom Thurmonds of the political arena are over, and for that, we can be thankful.

Sanford is a goner, and everyone in his state, and around the country, should rejoice.

He is an idiot, and he got caught literally with his pants down.

He should put his pants back on, pack his bags with his other clothes, and get the heck out of the governor's living quarters, and do it fast, lest the media find out more about this dummy and his dalliances.