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Sanford for President
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The South Carolina governor isn’t an irresponsible lunatic for wandering off the reservation—he just made himself a better bet for president in 2012.
Mark Sanford unplugged. Literally. He decided to take a hike. And he told his security detail to take a hike as well.
Guy wanted some alone time in the woods to clear his head.
Here we have a guy in politics who actually likes to get OUT of the spotlight. How exceedingly normal.
But oh, no. Not normal at all. A man in his position has to be “troubled” or “hiding something” for taking a walk.
Judging from the thunderous sound of the reaction and squealing coverage you would think that Sanford went for a walk in Anbar Province, Iraq, and left the nuclear football in a mall somewhere in Pakistan.
Declare a state of emergency. Lock your doors. Hide your children. Find Al Haig and put him charge. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has let it be known that he cannot take this situation “lightly.”
Bauer called Sanford’s office and demanded an “immediate phone conversation with the governor,” and was shocked, shocked, to discover his chief of staff didn’t know where he was.
Well, apparently, Sanford has been out hiking the Appalachian Trail: A great place, according to the author and novice hiker Bill Bryson, for a walk in the woods. This is the sign of a healthy, sane individual. So, of course, when someone in politics does something normal, political partisans and the media elite think he’s crazy.
Mark Sanford literally likes to go his own way. Why do politicians have to be on a leash? Really, is South Carolina such a highly prized strategic asset that everyone has to freak out if the governor takes a hike for a few days? What’s the worst that could happen? The South Carolina libraries flood?
Of course there are “mysteries” to be solved, report the hyperventilating press. His cellphone was last picked up in Atlanta. I think the mystery will be solved when Sanford admits that he committed the crime of turning off his cellphone because he didn’t want to be bothered.
And it appears he has a very healthy marriage, because his wife said, “He was writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids.” Sounds like Dad got his Father’s Day wish. And he told his staff that he’d be difficult to reach for a few days and that he regularly goes off the tether without his security detail.
For this act alone, we’re going to move Sanford up at least a notch on our Top 10 GOP contenders for 2012.
Everyone’s gone hysterical over this “incident” and calling him crazy. We say, yeah, crazy like a fox.
Or, we could be completely wrong. Maybe the panic was in order. Perhaps we’ll discover he was having a Mazola party with a band of midget gypsies in a cave somewhere on the Appalachian Trail. And after tying up the governor, they extracted all the secrets of the South Carolina National Guard.
Revised Top 10 List: The Next Republican President
1. Mitt Romney
2. Tim Pawlenty
3. John Thune
4. Mark Sanford (up a notch after his “disappearing” act)
5. Mike Huckabee
6. Bobby Jindal
7. Sarah Palin
8. Newt Gingrich
9. Haley Barbour (enters the list after “meetings” with consultants in D.C. this week)
10. Mitch Daniels (enters despite saying “no way”—too many drafters saying “yes”)
Longshot: Hunstman returns from China
Read McKinnon’s Original Picks For 2012.
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, causes, and individuals, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today’s rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
Nice try...putting a positive "spin" on the Governor's disappearance act. However, if he was being so "crazy like a fox", I don't think he would have picked the annual "Hike Naked Day" weekend to take a "powder". Sorry, but that is not so clever, and boy oh boy, is he giving the late night comedians some real ammunition on that one!
This story is absolutely baffling to normal human beings and readers of blogs and newspapers. We have a man, a governor of a minor southern state, who goes on a five day vacation without a cell phone, and people are freaking out. If I knew anything about him I too would probably despise him but, dislike of Republicans aside, how on earth do people find scandal in 5 day vacation without a cell phone. I think this story reveals something sick about our political culture... no surprise there... but unfortunately it also shows "my side", progressives, liberals, as rather unhinged. Folks, get a life. This guy seems to have one.
Whether right or wrong, politics is a game of perception. And if Governor Sanford's goal is the national stage, this "disappearance" act just looks wrong on so many levels. He is going to be perceived as "flaky" and "irresponsible", because of this "stunt". This is not about a guy just getting away for a few days without a cell phone. This is about whether or not Sanford has what it takes to run for President of the United States. And right now it looks like he doesn't have "it".
Sorry, but the average Joe doesn't take a 5-day vacation without telling his wife and would be rightfully looked at oddly if he did. And the Governor is not an average Joe, he has explcit athority for activities in his state. It's one thing for him to tell people where he is going out how to reach him in an emergency but that's not what he did. If Obama slipped his secret service detail and disappeared for 5 days with no warning or notice to anyone, including the Service or his immediate family, people would be calling him all kinds of bad names.
Yeah, naked day? I heard his hiking buddy was Larry Craig.
Not trying to start rumors but that is just what I heard.
Actually this writer is behind the news, Sanford boarded a plane as reported by a Federal Agent who saw him do so at the airport 80 miles from the "trail" he was suppose to be hiking.....
So this is another example of
Republicans behaving maverick-y.
Spare me.
And did I mention...
Designating someone as being "crazy like a fox" is rather a compliment; it implies that his outward behavior conceals a certain degree of, perhaps brilliant, cunning.
While not a Republican, I did have high hopes for what I might learn from this piece, given your playful title.
And what did I learn?...That you seem to prefer to view every bat-sh*t crazy act on the part of Republican senators or congressmen as being guided by some Machiavellian genius.
"Guy wanted some alone time in the woods to clear his head," you wrote. (As if that would absolve the "Governor guy" of any duty to keep his constituents-much less his immediate family-informed of his whereabouts.) That is utter nonsense. And methinks thou dost "protect" too much, Mr. McKinnon.
Heard he was hunting with Cheney....more details after Checey sobers up
This is wrong-headed analysis. Sanford is looking bad for not informing his staff, not turning over state leadership to his Lt. Governor, not telling his wife (!) and disappearing over Father's Day even though he's the father of four sons.
Yes, he's entitled to time off and to unplug...responsibly. The press and online comments have been uniformly negative about this stunt. Sanford is not ready for the 3 a.m. call because the crisis call can't go to his cell phone in the Appalachians.
This was a dumb, irresponsible stunt that will backfire in his future.
So your prediction is
Not only will he survive the headlines
But his AWOL caper improves his chances
Of a Presidential bid.
Whose paid advisor were you?
Uh. Who would pay for such a lame, disingenuous cover?
This is absolutely ridiculous. Sanford takes off and we are to assume that this is perfectly "normal" behavior? Doesn't tell his wife (my husband doesn't go to the bathroom without telling me he'll be out of the room for awhile), McKinnon is trying to hitch a wish to a Republican star. Watch it, Mark, the star looks like it's burning out.
I can think of quite a number of politicians who I wouldn't mind seeing wandering off.
...in her Uggs and parka Sarah was seen walking into the frozen wasteland and onto an ice flow, heading out into the Bering Sea....
It's practically a Jack London novel--minus the heroism! ;-)
I'm weeping (from laughter).
I became a Mark Sanford fan, and began following his story beginning with his *shocking* display of backbone and state patriotism over the enslavement...er...stimulus money.
He is probably one of the few people on your list who has actually read his State Constitution, and understands that it supersedes the voluntary federal compact known as the US Constitution.
He is also one of the few on that list who understand the context in which the US Constitution should be read...as a limiting document. Chains to bind the federal government whose powers (few and defined) were delegated to it for the purpose of serving the states.
Isn't that cute? State's rights may be paramount for you and Gov. Sanford, but if I remember correctly, didn't South Carolina try that "voluntary federal compact" gambit once before?
How'd that work out for you?
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the top executive of a state, even one as "minor" as South Carolina, taking a few days off. There is something wrong with not making sure everyone who needed to know, like the Lieutenant Governor, was aware of him being incommunicado. Basically, the state was fortunate that nothing important occurred requiring gubernatorial action, a fire, plane crash, anything.
I'm all for getting to do what a father wants to do on Father's Day (can you guess what I did?) but methinks Mr. McKinnon doth (not) protest too much.
Fail
JonesRE, I believe it was the very first republican pres. who ended all that "voluntary" stuff!
Please Mark. If this were a Democrat, would you be singing the same song? Doubtful.
The fact is the man is the Governor of a state. When you get elected to public office, you give up some of the perks of being a normal citizen, like being able to up and go whenever you want. Anyway you spin this, it's extremely flaky, out of the ordinary behavior, especially for a politician. It'll be interesting to learn exactly what's going on here.
I was just starting to think that McKinnon's brain was cooking on all four, but no, for him to make excuses for Gov. Sandford in this manner is a little bit crazy. For Sanford to be acting as a responsible governor, he might have told his staff he was taking a trip, told them where he was going AND told them who would be in charge, in case of emergency (Lt. Gov.?). Then he would have advised the Lt. Gov of his plans. He would have told his wife where he was going and how he could be reached (what about a contingency for a family emergency?). Assuming he took these steps, or most of them, he should have had an intelligent plan for what his wife and his communications people would tell the media, should questions inevitably arise. As it is, he looks to be an irresponsible and uncaring husband and father, he appears to have an inept communications strategy and very bad judgment as governor. As such, he appears to not be fit to serve his state.
Sanford is just crazy...
This trip doesn't make him look young and youthful or a 'cool' for ditching his security detail. Just makes him look like a joke, and that is what he has been for the past eight years.
There is something creepy about a guy who dumps his 4 sons on Father's Day. The party of Family Values? HAH! I can understand needing to decompress, we all need a vacation on occasion. However, his timing was stupid, and frankly, quite selfish. Of course, stupid and selfish are not out of the realm for (R)'s. Its a prerequisite.
Sorry, Mark. This doesn't make him look normal, or even like a guy who likes to go his own way. It makes him look eccentric and careless. The key question folks will ask: will he have the urge to wander away from the White House for a week, without telling anyone? Hell, if he thinks being governor of SC is reason enough to take these sudden vacations, imagine what the pressure of the White House would do.
I respect you greatly, but your logic is whacked.
P.S. if the dude can't take the heat as Governor, then he's WAY ill suited for Prez.
Is this article meant as a joke or is meant to be taken seriously? I think its hilarious if McKinnon is trying to be darkly comic and sarcastic about all this. But the tone of the piece seems to leave all kidding aside. Wow! That's pretty out there then.
Precisely.
Ironic? Or earnest? That is the question.
And,tragically, I think he's being earnest.
(Insert squirming discomfort and disrespect here.)
Nice. I'm not a Republican. (I feel I have to say that in order to validate what I write next.)
You're totally right. Everyone wants to get away for a while. Clear the head in clear air. The guy is a human, and you acknowledge that.
Most of us can turn the tv off, put the newspapers down, and turn away from the computer to shut off the clacking voices of the press, and nonstop contacts by friends & colleagues. Unfortunately, it's not that easy for politicians.
After bringing to South Carolina the nation's second highest unemployment, second highest crime rate, crumbling schools (GOP doesn't fare well with an educated populus) and paralyzing debt, the guy deserves some alone time. After you are defeated in court by a 12 year old and after the legislature overides 10 of your vetos, it is probably time to get out of town. South Carolina would appreciate it if Sanford kept on hiking. Nonetheless, McKinnon has decided that South Carolina shouldn't have to bear the misery alone. He wants to spread it to the rest of us. What have you been smoking, Mr McKinnon?
Mr. McKinnon, I'm going to assume(and hope) that your list of possible future republican presidents is in order of highest probability of being elected and not just in "no particular order" because if the latter is true, why you would willingly want Sarah Palin to be president is beyond my understanding.
Quite right.
Is Mr. McKinnon's list based on ODDS of being elected OR on intellectual fitness required to perform the task at hand once in office? Sadly, in the U.S., these two qualities appear to have no relation to each other.
This is pretty much on target.... man behaves normally and crazy journalists and bloggers are shocked. Whether it makes him a candidate, I don't know.
Following this story has been a disorienting and bizarre experience... who the hell are these people who find a vacation without a cell phone to be a shocking event?
mike,mike,mike...
No one disputes the premise that most of us would like to take off into the wilderness, without interference from the outside world, for as long as we need. Nothing crazy or abnormal about that impulse.
HOWEVER, there is a teeny-weeny problem with trying to pull that off when you're an elected official. And a GOVERNOR within the United States, no less. Did he think he was applying for a "part-time" job here?? Sorry. Not the case.
Certainly you can see the point of all those "crazy journalists and bloggers" with respect to this episode??
Please tell me you can.
honestly, I cannot see the point here. I think it makes our side look petty and obsessed. Most people would love the idea of taking a five day no cell phone vacation and this guy went and actually did it. That's not irresponsible... that's living well and doing so in a way that many people dream of, and many (not just the well off) have the ability to pull off once in a while.
What is "shocking" is taking off and not even his wife knows where or how to get in touch with him. What happens if one of his four sons has an "emergency"? It is just so "irresponsible" as a parent. Also, it's kind of "cold" that he didn't even check in on Father's Day with his family. Just seems incredibly self-centered and self-absorbed.
Huh. You live in a different world from me. I have a great marriage and love my children very much, but I can easily imagine taking a few days completely away from them... not all the time... but as a special adventure. This is just not strange for ordinary people.
@mike22
I'm an "ordinary person" too. And,of course you, and any other normal person, could envision getting away from the family for a few days. But could you imagine taking off--without telling your wife or children; leaving them to wonder where you might be?? (That'd be "a special adventure," all right. And one that might earn you a divorce summons.)
You have a duty to your loved ones not to fall off the face of the earth on a whim. And in the case of Sanford, he has concurrent duty to the constituency in his state. He's not the ice-cream man, for God's sake. He's the Governor.
The only people who have the luxury of taking what you call "a special adventure" like Sanford's are those without daily obligations to a family and a voting constituency. And Mr. Sanford should've been well aware of that obligation.
There is nothing normal about a guy with kids going off on a 4 day "weekend" hike and not telling his wife where he is going AND turning off his cell phone.
That does not make him normal, it makes him a jerk.
(and I can even see the trip as his Father's day present, I would love a Mother's Day present that was me leaving home for a few days...alone. But I would not turn off my cell and I'm not the Gov of a state.)
A "jerk"?! On what planet? This obsession with always on cell phones and constant connectivity is just nuts.... and it looks really bad. Folks, sometimes you can't get in touch with people. This is not a crime, it is not a sin, it should not even be particularly noteworthy. There is some kind of weird value split going on here and it will come back to bite you. Your perceptions of this are not normative... this is NOT how ordinary people see the world or cell phones.
Ok, fine, it is pretty normal to want to go take a hike by yourself. Unfortunately, when you're elected governor you are sort of expected to not drop off the face of the earth, abdicating all of the responsibility with which the voters have entrusted you. That he didn't even turn things over to his Lt. Gov. is just ridiculous. Even for people who aren't governors it's pretty weird to disappear and not have your closest work associate (ie chief of staff) know where you are or how you can be reached.
This is a fine reflection of the republican brand of "normalcy" - shortsighted, irresponsible, and stupid. I wish the republican party would get its shit together and start proposing some substantive policies instead of falling back on these tired tropes of "normal american guy-ness" as political pluses.
...except that he wasn't hiking.
...he was on a plane in Atlanta.
...and he still hasn't spoken to his wife.
...this a'int over by a long shot.
And it's completely bizarre. By any reasonable measure.
The list is super. Would anyone in their right mind vote for any of those people . . . for president . . . leader of the free world . . . someone we would like to look up to? . . . If not us at least our children? Knot them. Knot.
The republican party is permanently a dead issue because they are not about to let anyone else in the door - they want to keep the control over the 80 million dollars the government will give them for their convention and running a campaign.
Without that money they would be gone altogether. Kay Baily Hutchinson plans on running for governor of Texas. She is going to walk away from a seat in the US Senate.
Our politics are really broken. Nothing happens without the countenance of Money&Power in the lobby, and we all know we can do better.
The disappearing act was the sign of a healthy marriage? Maybe I'm the crazy one here because if my husband disappeared for days and I wasn't able to reach him I'd call the police and start raising Caine until someone found him for me. What kind of caring, loving father and husband didn't at least give his wife a way to reach him? Doesn't sound like a healthy marriage to me.
Yep.
Don't forget he left his four young sons with no Dad on Father's day.
Republican Family Values!
McKinnon -- Sanford has made a political flake of himself. Do not put lipstick on a pig and think anyone is humored by it.
"The South Carolina governor isn't an irresponsible lunatic for wandering off the reservation-he just made himself a BETTER bet for president in 2012."
Oh really?
Put it like this...his career outside of South Carolina is pretty much over. Its pure political suicide, his Dukasis in a tank moment that will follow him to hi sgrave. If he even thinks about running in 2012, the bloggers as well as Rahm Emmanuel will bring this up and demolish him with this ordeal.
As I watched you on MSNBC during the election, I thought that you were one of the few thoughtful Republicans (like Mike Murphy). But this is the second article in a row that makes you sound kinda foolish.
As with Christopher Buckley, I gave you a Mulligan on the previous article I read last week, this time you don't get a pass. This article was Tucker-esque awful.
Out of all the Republicans in your Top Ten, the only one that would not get utterly destroyed by Obama is Mitch Daniels. That is only because he is more like Evan Bayh (DEMOCRAT) than any of the other Republican Candidates. John Thune has a chance only because like Daniels, he has laid low, stayed out of the limelight, and haven't totally embarassed himself like the others.
Haley Barbour? A white guy from Mississippi? Please That will lock up their FOX - Southern - W.A.S.P - Limbaugh - Pat Buchannan base, but is that really how Republicans will try to win over Hispanics, blacks, and college educated? Heck he's a caracture of how most people define the Republican Party? The others are damaged goods and I won't waste my time with what is wrong with them..
PS, the "liberal" bloggers are way more cut-throat than the Republican bloggers. They are like Piranhas when they see a major blunder like Sanford's. Just ask Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal.
If you think that there isn't more to this story, you are mistaken. Like I said....Piranhas.
Allow me to declare, as someone who resides in Indiana, that Mitch isn't "my man." (As his campaign tried to assert.) Please...Mitch isn't deserving of election to the U.S. presidency.
I reside in Indiana as well (the Circle City). Mitch isn't My Man either. My point being that out of all the Republicans out there, he has probably the best shot. Unfortunately, that how low the Republican Bar is right now for them. In all likelyhood Mitch is shooting for the Senate and then eventually the White House, but not any time soon though.
I think most (serious) Republicans have written off 2012 anyway. Thats why we see people putting retreads like Sarah Palin or Bobby Jindal out there as their Sacrificial Lamb in 3 years. 2016 is when you will see serious contenders in the Republican Party.
Oh my God. Spare us the reverse psychology bullshit. This guy is a dumb redneck who photographs well, and he has all the self involvement and narcissism of any politician. A screwup like this does NOT improve his chances for national office.
I'm going to dispute
The notion that Gov.Sanford photographs well.
He has a droopy dawg look
With the weepy glazed eyes of an alcoholic.
And alcoholism might figure into
That irrational behavior.
Thank you.
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