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Sanford's Dereliction of Duty Trumps His Hypocrisy
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That the South Carolina governor stepped out on his wife is his business, writes Paul Begala—though it does underscore the GOP’s culture of hypocrisy. Stepping out on his job, however, is the business of the people of South Carolina.
Plus, read more Daily Beast contributors' reactions to Mark Sanford's flameout.
The Sanford saga is about two things: dereliction of duty on the part of Mark Sanford and a culture of hypocrisy on the part of the GOP.
The fact that the governor stepped out on his wife is his business—and Mrs. Sanford’s. The fact that he stepped out on his job is the business of the people of South Carolina. There could have been a tornado, a hurricane, a prison riot, a terrorist attack—and if, God forbid, there had been, the state’s ability to respond would have been sorely compromised.
If you want to be incommunicado for days on end, become an insurance agent, not a governor. Dereliction of duty alone is enough to boot Sanford.
The South Carolina Constitution vests executive authority in the governor. Sure, the lieutenant governor can act in case of an emergency or temporary absence—but, as The State reported, “Neither the Constitution nor state law details what is an emergency or a temporary absence.” Back in 1981, a special committee recommended that the legislature clearly define those terms. It never did.
Legalities aside, it is shockingly irresponsible to just walk off the job—never mind that he was walking on the wild side. If you want to be incommunicado for days on end, become an insurance agent, not a governor. Dereliction of duty alone is enough to boot Sanford.
In fact it’s a better reason than the infidelity. Do we really have to go through this again? How FDR lifted us out of the Depression and whipped the Nazis while finding comfort with Lucy Mercer? How Nixon was a faithful husband but a corrupt president? Americans long ago sorted this out, wisely separating personal immorality from public duties.
But the Republicans have not. Since the birth of the Orwellian-named Moral Majority, the GOP has claimed it has cornered the market on morality. In truth, all it cornered the market on was hypocrisy. For decades Republicans have sanctimoniously lectured the rest of us—that they’re better husbands, better Christians, better fathers, better wives, better patriots. In so doing, they have been hoisted by their own petard, or, as Gov. Sanford might say, they have immolated themselves by their own sparking.
Do we really need moral lectures from the party of Mark Sanford, David Vitter, Larry Craig, Mark Foley, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Rush Limbaugh, etc.? Of course, the list of Democrats who have cheated might even be longer. My point is, no party has a monopoly on sexual virtue. So my Republican friends ought to give up their odd obsession with policing the sex lives of others.
Mark Sanford voted to impeach Bill Clinton. He was the first prominent Republican to call for the resignation of the adulterous GOP Speaker-to-be Bob Livingston. He opposes gay rights, gay adoption, gay marriage, even gay civil unions. He and his fellow Republicans ought to try actually practicing family values rather than constantly preaching them.
To be sure, Democrats have an analog to the Republicans’ self-proclaimed moral superiority; it’s our self-proclaimed intellectual superiority. Republican strategists have for years skewered smarty-pants Democrats as Ivy League elitists—often with good reason. But the most successful modern Republican studiously avoided making himself the avatar of sexual purity: Ronald Reagan wanted to be president, not preacher.
In 1978 Reagan was a former governor who had been narrowly defeated for the GOP presidential nomination by Gerald Ford. Plainly seeking another run at the presidency, Reagan was tending to his conservative base and plotting his big move. But a bigot named Briggs got in the way. John Briggs was a state senator in California who put Proposition 6 on the ballot, which sought to fire every gay teacher in the Golden State. In the Age of Anita Bryant, the proposition started with 75 percent support.
Harvey Milk heroically led the charge against the Briggs Initiative, but it was the opposition of Reagan that made Milk’s victory possible. David Mixner, who secretly met with Reagan to make the case for opposing Briggs, has written, “There is no doubt in my mind that the man who put us over the top was California Governor Ronald Reagan. His opposition to Proposition 6 killed it for sure.”
As Republicans wander in the wilderness, they keep saying they want to return to Reaganism. It seems to me that if Reagan, who himself had a failed marriage, could support gay rights 30 years ago, maybe the current crop of Republicans shouldn’t be so damn judgmental about Americans’ sex lives today.
Paul Begala is a CNN political contributor and a research professor at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute. He was a senior strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign and served as counselor to President Clinton in the White House.
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Paul begala you were AWESOME on Bill Maher when you schooled the "I'm just a blond"
Great article btw
Mark Sanford is a number 8~PRICK in the book ThePrickIndex.
I suggest if people are interested in true human behavior they read this little jewel.
It's a very painful and unfortunate position that Mr. Sanford has placed his wife and family in.
Mark Sanford is a number 8~PRICK in the book ThePrickIndex.
I suggest if people are interested in true human behavior they read this little jewel.
It's a very painful and unfortunate position that Mr. Sanford has placed his wife and family in.
Begala, excellent EXCELLENT piece.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
There is a problem when the Republicans,who are constantly throwing stones,are the ones committing.the SINS.Democrats are seen as the sinners,as supposedly,they have no values,are liberals, so what these are just hidden closet,lyers. These are Hypocrites.And Democrats can survive the downfalls,because they do not pretend to be HOLIER THAN THOU>you cannot do as I say,not as I do now in politics.The JFK years are over.of covering.The media discoevrs and tells all.the cyber world..discloses. as for the wife she did right by not standing with him,remember he just came back from his escapade,5 days. How come he did not call on Fathers day???This is the worst.He needs to resign. This is a soap opera,...and you cannot be doing..the countries buss,this way
Excellent article Paul! I do have to agree with Spasticula that his affair is our business from the perspective that it should be a lesson for the conservatives that it is not up to them to judge the rest of us when it comes to our bodies and our bedroom!
Mr. Begala,this is really a great written article. Fair and Balanced,without attacks,with reality and sensibility,Excellent.
Wow,I re,red,the article and printed it out. i am taking with me. This says it all so well.fascinating.Do you teach classes?
The only reason Mark Sanford gave that bizarre press conference yesterday to "confess" his sin of adultery is because he got "caught" by the reporter waiting at the Atlanta airport. People who want to applaud his "honesty" are either being naive or stupid. But all that aside, the important questions are whether he used state funds to see this woman, and was he "derelict" in his duties as Governor when he went missing. All the emails and the tawdry details should be left to the readers of the Enquirer.
Bingo. My thoughts exactly.
I think Mark Sanford at the press conference was not aware of what was going on in the media for the past 5 days. He was hiding in his love nest, crying like a baby and being caressed and comforted by his mistress (which he called "that person" repeated in his press conference). I cannot help but think of the theatrical term "dramatic irony" in which the audience actually know better than the actor himself. Mark going in into the press conference, thinking he can use his candor, honest confession to salvage his political career. Quoting bible, invoking love-stroke "when in love, all is forgiven" fake innocence. It is truly theater of the first order, if it is not so pathetic. He should read all the jeers and snickering on the blogs about him and perhaps will then realize that IT'S OVER! Get off the stage and do whatever you want except lecturing us from your high horse.
"I did not have sex with 'that woman' Miss Lewinsky."
Sure, Sanford may have committed a political faux pas...or did he? Conspiracy theories abound regarding the *real* reason behind his public shaming...and the threats it may have taken to make him to fall on his sword...
I'm looking for the black helicopters already.
As to whether he was derelict in his duty?....We don't need leaders, we need LIBERTY.
Mr. Begala, you are, always have been and forever will be a gentleman, a scholar, and my hero.
it's the same as ensign, totally repentant & begging forgiveness (something neither had for clinton)
but neither would be contrite had they not been caught---more hypocrisy
Paul, I think you are a pompous ass, but I agree with you here.
Conservatives need to stop policing private behavior between consenting adults. The great Canadian PM Trudeau once proclaimed "the State has no business in the bedrooms of the Nation" and I think we all need to grow up.....
His affair is one thing. He's an jerk. Lots of governors are jerks. However, going AWOL for a week would result in most of us losing our jobs. There is no excuse for that behavior, whether he paid for his own ticket or not. His lack of judgement has made a joke out of him and his state. An elected official is a representative of the people and accountable to them. Too bad Trump can't just say, "You're fired!" and get this whole psycho-drama to end while anyone has a shred of dignity.
Governor Sanford, and the Republican Party collectively, should today draft a letter of apology to Bill Clinton. During the Clinton years, they began with a sexual encounter and twisted, sliced, diced and finally manufactured a legalistic vehicle they thought they could use to bring him down. It all remains the most cynical display of power I know of in American history. Now, as surely as night following day, with Republicans having the same feet of clay as we retrograde Democrats, some of them too are becoming entrapped in sexual indiscretions. Having set themselves up as some sort of western-style "party of God", they were collectively vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy when their own constituents inevitably strayed from the path. Well, they brought out the kettle and set it to boiling for President Clinton, and now the water is uncomfortably hot for them. They should apologize for ever starting the nonsense and distracting us all from the peoples' real business of running this country. Maybe then we could put behind us the junk news of the sex-lives-of-the-elected and stick to discussions of the important issues of the day like our endless war and the fiasco of our economy.
It wasn't for porking the porker that Clinton should have gotten a bullet to the brain. That was just the titillating storyline that that breathless young Betty's on the beat used to offer him fellatio in return for making sure they could murder their children.
No, Clinton should have been publicly drawn & quartered because he facilitated the sale of classified missile guidance chips to a hostile foreign nation.
Lest you think Bubba's the only one I would put on the block:
Bush '41 sent war planes to bomb Iraq's water treatment facilities in the closing days of desert storm. The result was an estimated 200,000 civilian casualties. A war crime in any civilized society.
Bush '43 gave us the grossly misnamed "patriot" act. This abortion of liberty should in and of itself be a capital offense. But he followed it with such abominations as Medicare Part D, No Child Left Behind, McCain Feingold, and more. (no friend of liberty was Bush).
Government Kills! all politicians are liars, and the very best of them deserve to be tarred and feathered.
If your elected representative isn't genuinely enthusiastic about making sure every man, woman & responsible child can walk into any hardware store and purchase any pistol, rifle, shotgun, machine gun, howitzer etc without producing ID, filling out paperwork, NICS, or registration...then that politician is not your friend, he is an apologist for tyranny.
JonesRE's Eutopia - No government and lots of guns. Who will be there to prevent women from killing their babies?
I tell you what, I feel safer already!!
I agree with Begala's pleas that we concentrate on whether Sanford's indiscretions impair his ability to do his job, but I'm not convinced a sojourn to Argentina is beyond the bounds of acceptability.
We don't know whether key members of Sanford's staff knew where he was. They might have. If they did, I don't see what the big deal is. Governors are allowed to take vacations, are they not? Their staff members simply need to know how to contact the governors if circumstances require it.
This is such a great article!
Austerlitz, Here, Here! The GOP owes Pres. Clinton a HUGE apology! I am so sick and tired of Repubican party hypocrites moralizing about "family values" when they are just as vulnerable as anyone else to personal frailty and foolishness.
A well framed article.
It brings to mind the Back to Basics scandal in the UK during the late 90s. Prime Minister John Major was presiding over the Conservative party which espoused 'family values' as a way to cling on to the party's shrinking base. A series of tawdry affairs (he was even doing the dirty himself with a high profile former minister) led to a loss of moral authority and charges of hypocrisy.
It helped (although was not instrumental) in Labour's 1997 landslide, propelling Tony Blair into Number 10.
It also forced a rethink of the Tories' social policies. There are now a number of senior front bench Conservatives who are openly gay (Alan Duncan recently married his partner).
Perhaps a similar sea-change here in the US might help the Republicans jettison the Christian Taliban who seem to speak for the party when it comes to 'moral' issues, which adds a dash of hypocrisy to this unsavoury episode.
"Since the birth of the Orwellian-named Moral Majority, the GOP has claimed it has cornered the market on morality. In truth, all it cornered the market on was hypocrisy. For decades Republicans have sanctimoniously lectured the rest of us-that they're better husbands, better Christians, better fathers, better wives, better patriots. In so doing, they have been hoisted by their own petard, or, as Gov. Sanford might say, they have immolated themselves by their own sparking.
...My point is, no party has a monopoly on sexual virtue. So my Republican friends ought to give up their odd obsession with policing the sex lives of others."
Bravo, Paul! You are absolutely right. Sanford's major political failing was not his affair--that should be a private matter to be worked out with his family. Rather it is that he left the state without telling anyone where he was going, an action that left the state and its people potentially very vulnerable. He was elected to be Governor for his entire term--not to bug out when his lust overcame his sense of duty.
My own belief is that this nation would be a lot better off if we left people's bedroom activities out of the political equation and concentrated on issues of governance and policy. But the Republicans can't seem to do that. So they are constantly sniffing the air for the musky odor of sexual dilliances among the opposing party. They bray loudly about family values.
But even the embarrassment brought about by their own Party members' escapades isn't enough to damp down their holier than thou attitude. The Republicans have truly earned their reputation as the party of hypocrisy.
Perhaps Sanford should have used the big brain to choose his vacation destination.
Is it true the Governor's girl friend is none other than Monica Lewinsky? G Patton
Preach!
Paul Begala...mouthpiece for a generation of narcissistic dolts...
Sanford's problem is that he traveled to Argentina to get what Clinton stayed in the White House to get.
Thank you.
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