Sanford E-Apologizes

[Are_grits_groceries]

S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford has formally apologized to the people of South Carolina - or at least the ones on his (PG) email list - for his conduct in carrying on an extramarital affair with a woman from Argentina.

Dear Friends,

I write to apologize and ask for your forgiveness.

Well beyond the personal consequences within my own family, I know that at so many different levels my actions have upset, offended and disappointed friends and supporters and for this I am most sorry. As I mentioned in last week’s press conference, I’ve always believed God’s laws were there to protect us from ourselves, and what has transpired over this last week vividly illustrates the damage that comes personally, and to those you love and respect, in doing otherwise.

So in the aftermath of this failure I want to not only apologize, but to commit to growing personally and spiritually. Immediately after all this unfolded last week I had thought I would resign - as I believe in the military model of leadership and when trust of any form is broken one lays down the sword. A long list of close friends have suggested otherwise - that for God to really work in my life I shouldn’t be getting off so lightly. While it would be personally easier to exit stage left, their point has been that my larger sin was the sin of pride. They contended that in many instances I may well have held the right position on limited government, spending or taxes - but that if my spirit wasn’t right in the presentation of those ideas to people in the General Assembly, or elsewhere, I could elicit the response that I had at many times indeed gotten from other state leaders.

Their belief was that if I walked in with a real spirit of humility then this last legislative term could well be our most productive one - and that outside this term, I would ultimately be a better person and of more service in whatever doors God opened next in life if I stuck around to learn lessons rather than running and hiding down at the farm.

They have also made the point that a good part of life is about scripts - that the idea of redemption isn’t something that Marshall, Landon, Bolton and Blake should just read about, it’s something they should see. Accordingly, they suggested that there was a very different life script that would be lived and learned by our boys, and thousands like them, if this story simply ended with scandal and then the end of office - versus a fall from grace and then renewal and rebuilding and growth in its aftermath.

I won’t belabor all these points, but I did want to write as expressed earlier to say that I’m sorry and that more than anything I personally ask for your prayers for me, Jenny, the boys and so many others who have been impacted by what I have done.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Take care.

(Signed)

Mark

http://www.fitsnews.com/2009/06/29/sanford-e-apologizes/

He needs to efly to the moon. He seems to think the office of governor is a place to play out the drama he started. He needs to go somewhere else to work out his problems.

And he should quit bringing up the effing Bible. He obviously has no idea what is really in it.

[Heidi]

1. Good Lord, this man wouldn't know "concise" if it smacked him on the ass.

Whether writing or talking, he just goes on and on and on.

[BridgeTheGap]

2. "I won’t belabor all these points" - Too late Sanford, you've already "belabored" the hell

of them. Can you spell "disingenuous?"

[Heidi]

5. No kiddin'.

He just keeps steppin' in it.

[BridgeTheGap]

12. Harry Scherer replayed part of Sanford's "apology" on Le Show's Apologies of the week.

After rambling on and on, Sanford says something like: "Words can't convey blah blah blah" - If words can't convey why is this asshole using so many words!?!

[Heidi]

15. I had to rewrite a sentence from his e-pology.

This guy just doesn't know how to save his own ass.

Well beyond the personal consequences within my own family, I know that at so many different levels my actions have upset, offended and disappointed friends and supporters were wrong and for this I am most sorry.

[malaise]

3. Tell Sanford forgiveness is the easy part

but there are consequences -resign.

[Are_grits_groceries]

8. Here is a look at our lovely Lt. Governor:

Andre "in the closet" Bauer

Sanford should stay in office, keep field level for 2010 race
<snip>
Nor is it responsible to overlook what we know about Mr. Bauer as a person. Mr. Sanford acted in a grossly irresponsible way for one week. Mr. Bauer’s fits of irresponsibility and self-dealing have been a hallmark of his tenure: He intimidated the Transportation Department into paying him more than double its original offer for a sliver of land to widen a highway, and then “forgot” to report that sale as required by law. He barreled down Columbia's Assembly Street at speeds up to 60 mph, running two red lights and so startling a police officer that he felt the need to pull a gun on Mr. Bauer. He used a police radio to try to call off troopers when he was driving 101 mph on his way home from a political event in a state car and, when that failed, escaped without even a warning by making the trooper think he was a high-ranking law enforcement officer. Even before he was elected, he sent out campaign flyers designed to make it look like all the GOP gubernatorial candidates had endorsed him (they had not), and then bragged about his trickery.

Mr. Sanford, who never wanted a security team, was convinced to accept one in order to protect him from the public. Mr. Bauer has always craved his own security detail, and lawmakers gave in and provided him one after it became clear that he needed to be protected from himself — and, frankly, that the public needed protection from him.

http://www.thestate.com/opinion/story/846650.html

Someone should appoint a grownup to hold the position until 2010. Former Senator Fritz Hollings would work. Failing that, appoint the chief custodian at the Capitol. He would be used to cleaning up a mess and would have more common sense than the whole lot that is "governing" now.

[spanone]

4. another republicon who is sorry he got caught...nothing more, nothing less

[Canuckistanian]

6. He should E-resign

He really said nothing about going AWOL from his duties for a week. Instead he gives a meandering, unfocused whine that sounds like a combination of an AA confession and a bad screenplay.

[berni_mccoy]

7. Well, I suppose it's better than a text-message break-up! LOL

[pinto]

9. Ah geez. The office of governor as some sort of personal, spiritual journey?

He ought to get over hisself. *And* go away.

[lpbk2713]

10. A carefully prepared statement

... from the same handlers who said he had gone hiking.

[Riley18]

11. His first sentence suggests that the hurt he inflicted on his "friends" goes well beyond

the hurt he inflicted on his own family. He is such a hypocrite when he says that to resign would be to get off lightly. So many good people in this country are living day to day in poverty while scum like him live in the lap of luxury. Can just imagine Sanford and his good buddy Cubby coming up with this sappy bullshit. It constantly amazes me that there are actually people who will fall for that crap.

[moggie]

13. I counted only three mentions of God

He's not trying hard enough! There's a whole paragraph there which doesn't mention God or prayer!

This whole "it's not for me, it's for the kids" line is pretty sickening. Don't use them as pawns, you slimeball. And it's so unconvincing: the lesson he's really sending his kids is that you should try to bullshit your way out of trouble.

[KharmaTrain]

14. Keep Talking, Keep Digging...

This dude is really pathetic...trying to hang on to a career that he destroyed the moment he hopped on the plane to Buenos Aires. But his ego won't have any of it...this dude is not only in denial, he honestly believes that what he did was no big deal.

It still amazes me that after his affair was discovered, he had the cajones to ask his wife if he could "keep her"...meaning keeping the affair going. Then he thinks he can wave the bible and claim he's been forgiven and it's time for all us to "move on". He still hasn't addressed the serious question of his derliction of duty by running off without a trace. It's a shame people in South Carolina aren't on the state capitol steps with torches and pitchforks.

But the silver lining is this guy is political gold for Democrats. A walking, talking example of the hypocrisy and contradictions of "family values" and the rushpublican's inability to keep their wickets dry. If this dude had any sense of decency for not only his family but for himself, he'd resign. But since he's a rushpublican, he'll "stick it out"...now wasn't that what got him in trouble in the first place?

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. Did he send it from Buenos Aires?

[MADem]

17. I wonder how Maria is taking this....seeing as they were kissing and cuddling last week in a bar. NT

[rurallib]

18. This in from God: "Quit bothering me after you fuck up

Follow the rules that I sent down with the kid. If you don't, you're screwed. BTW I don't see many good works here, like helping the poor here.
And what kind of parent would name a kid after a crazy man? Bolton indeed!
Don't call me, I'll call you."