Meet the Hypocrites: Governor Mark Sanford

For the better part of the last thirty years the Republican Party has claimed the mantle of family values, as being a party morally superior to others.

And once again that image has taken a hit, as Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) has followed the same path of Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston, Rudy Giuliani, John Ensign, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Mark Foley and others by admitting to having an affair with a woman from Argentina. The State, South Carolina's most widely read newspaper, has uncovered a steamy e-mail exchange between the two, saying it will release the full exchange for tomorrow's print edition.

Sanford, who voted for the impeachment of President Clinton when he was a member of Congress, reacted angrily when confronted with the news that Speaker-designate Bob Livingston had cheated on his wife in 1998.

Indeed, then-Rep Mark Sanford was pretty clear about his views of President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and that of Mr. Livingston.

While serving as a U.S. congressman, Sanford was incredibly critical of his colleagues’ marital misdeeds, including the affairs of former congressman Bob Livingston and President Bill Clinton:

“The bottom line, though, is I am sure there will be a lot of legalistic explanations pointing out that the president lied under oath. His situation was not under oath. The bottom line, though, is he still lied. He lied under a different oath, and that is the oath to his wife. So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.” [Sanford on Livingston, CNN, 12/18/98]

“We ought to ask questions…rather than circle the wagons for one of our tribe.” [Sanford on how the GOP reacts to affairs, New York Post, 12/20/98]

“I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally (to resign). I come from the business side. If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, he’d be gone.” [Sanford on Clinton, The Post and Courier, 9/12/98]

“The issue of lying is probably the biggest harm, if you will, to the system of Democratic government, representatives government, because it undermines trust. And if you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.” [Sanford on Clinton, CNN, 2/16/99]

Perhaps my favorite quote by the hypocritical Governor Sanford, is one where he parrots the Republican party's family-values mantra, is this:

Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., said he would be "struggling" during Christmas over whether to support Livingston, even though the speaker-designate had not broken the law. "We as a party want to hold ourselves to high standards, period," Sanford said.

Way to uphold those high standards, Governor Sanford. Leaving your wife and sons on Father's Day to fly to Argentina to spend several days with your lover shows just how much stock you put in your "family values."

And with today's revelation, Governor Sanford has admitted to committing a crime (not just against the laws of his God, but against the laws of his state).

SECTION 16-15-60 Adultery or fornication. Any man or woman who shall be guilty of the crime of adultery or fornication shall be liable to indictment and, on conviction, shall be severally punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than one year or by both fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.

SECTION 16-15-70 "Adultery" defined. "Adultery" is the living together and carnal intercourse with each other or habitual carnal intercourse with each other without living together of a man and woman when either is lawfully married to some other person.

It will be interesting to see how this situation unfolds as talk of impeachment and resignation has already started. But that's one less pretender that President Obama will have to deal with in 2012.