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Sanford's Strange Side
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Mic Smith / AP Photo
Well before the South Carolina governor admitted his extramarital affair, there were signs the “thoughtful conservative” had a penchant for concealing potentially damaging and unusual incidents from his constituents.
Plus: Read more of The Daily Beast's coverage of Palin's resignation and the GOP implosion.
Few journalists have been closer to and more supportive of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford than Warren Smith.
Smith, who writes for the evangelical Christian magazine World and has published a book this year criticizing some Christian conservatives for their part in “the cultural decline of the West,” A Lovers’ Quarrel with the Evangelical Church, has exchanged regular emails with Sanford. Sanford was a political “holy grail,” Smith told me—the ideal candidate to restore the Republican Party to national respectability. The governor was a “thoughtful conservative,” he said, who had united all factions of the Republican base behind him while avoiding the strident rhetoric that has driven moderates from party ranks in droves.
Sanford’s insurance company paid the girl’s family “around $300,000,” according to Dougherty, and the incident remained private.
Sanford’s official apology in 2003 to a mostly black audience for the Orangeburg Massacre, a 1968 incident in which local police killed three civil-rights activists protesting outside a segregated bowling alley, exemplified his “penchant for striking just the right chord,” Smith wrote.
At the same time, Sanford proudly broadcasted his devotion to the Christian right, taking strict positions against abortion and gay rights while pushing for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and the resignation of former Rep. Bob Livingston for engaging in extramarital affairs. During his three terms in the House, Sanford belonged to “C Street,” an evangelical men’s “accountability group” funded by a secretive international group called the Fellowship. Senator John Ensign, who recently admitted to having an affair, was among the congressmen who lived in C Street’s $1.1 million Capitol Hill dormitory.
As governor, Sanford seemed especially at ease in interviews with conservative reporters like Smith, talking at length about the weighty moral responsibilities he had assumed as a Christian public servant.
“There is a hierarchy of different responsibilities, responsibilities in terms of personal faith, responsibility to my wife, the responsibility of the father, and then responsibilities to state and federal government. Superseding my role as governor is my role as a parent and my role as a father,” Sanford told Smith in 2003, explaining why he sent his children to private Christian schools.
Smith and a growing number of conservative insiders were excited about Sanford’s national prospects. “He would make a great president,” Smith wrote in a commentary for Charlotte World two years later. “I hope he runs, and I hope he wins.”
Since Sanford reemerged on June 24 from a mysterious five-day disappearance, telling a reporter, “I wanted to go somewhere exotic,” then confessing in a tearful nationally televised press conference to an affair with an Argentine friend named Maria, his presidential ambitions have been obliterated. Even his job as governor is in jeopardy.
“This is a real blow to thoughtful evangelicals and sort of classical conservatives who saw Sanford as a breath of fresh air,” Smith told me. “This is a disappointment to me and many of us in this camp. [Sanford] was such an admirable figure that this is a huge lost opportunity for him and millions of people thinking he had a real future.”
But well before Sanford admitted his extramarital tryst, there were signs he had a penchant for concealing potentially damaging and highly unusual incidents from the public.
In March, a reporter for the American Conservative, Michael Dougherty, traveled to South Carolina to write a profile on Sanford. He returned with a generally favorable piece portraying the governor as a principled conservative with maverick tendencies. Buried in Dougherty’s lengthy profile, however, was a story from Sanford’s past that local papers suppressed and the national media has ignored to this day.
During Sanford’s first run for governor in 2002, an 8-year-old African-American girl drowned while wandering across Sanford’s vacation property on Lady’s Island. Sanford’s insurance company paid the girl’s family “around $300,000,” according to Dougherty, and the incident remained private.
Sources gave Dougherty varying account of the girl’s death: One said she fell into a “pit” while another said she drowned in a “retaining pond.” Other sources offered the reporter odd background details: “Sanford,” they told Dougherty, “who owned a hydraulic excavator at the time, digs holes on his property to unwind.”
(A Sanford spokesperson called the drowning “a tragic accident,” but would not elaborate further).
With Sanford’s once-bright future dashed by another scandal, the full story of the drowning incident may never come to light. Back in Columbia, South Carolina, the statehouse is rumbling with talk of impeachment proceedings against the governor for committing “serious crimes or serious misconduct in office.”
With his fateful trip to Argentina, Sanford dug one hole too many.
Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute, whose book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books), is forthcoming this summer. Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com.
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On a personal level, as long as there are not more revelations about abuses of authority and taxpayers funds, I wouldn't mind Sanford remaining gov. until the end of his term. However, I keep coming back to Sanfords insistance that Livingstion resign once it was discovered that he had an affair. Whatever our standards are for other, we must live by the same ones ourselves.
without having to be discovered before we act. In other words he should have resigned several years ago.
Great article more then the affair and the derelection of his duty, which everybody who has been following the story knows about I want to hear about his hypocracy and your article was the to address that point.
How in all that is holy is this strange? A tragic accident happens and it's dealt with quietly with nothing shady. Which politician wouldn't want this to be the case?
Shame on you for writing this article; you had just one new paragraph in there and you really shouldn't have gone there. You Sir, are just a hack!!
Adisco,a person who really regrets his mistakes,resigns, because he is abusing the public,by not doing his job,spending their money,fooling around and pretending to be perfect.the tears were for miss Argentina.Just get out of your position and do with your life what you want.We dont care,if you do not represent anyone,and sit doing our countries Buss.People are suffering.for real
Adisco,
I concur. This is a hack piece that does even come close to what the title suggests.
Amapola,
You, make some.interestingpoints. too liveand die in this world... where politicians do,things andgo places like America; only to the south (ERgo SouthAmerica!0 and not representthe few,but rather the many,sad, Adisco will never,learn
I concur. Why make a point of identifying the young drowning victim as African-American? Does Blumenthal think Sanford is a racist and deliberately dug a hole so that it would fill with water and drown a young black girl? The young victim was on private property and Sanford was not obliged to pay her family anything. His behavior is bad enough without manufacturing dirt on him.
Au contraire, elvin1. Search the term "attractive nuisance doctrine" and you will see that Sanford was completely responsible.
What I find reprehensible is how little was paid to this family for this child's death. A $300,000.00 settlement in a case such as this is nothing. The Sanfords would have paid out millions if this case had gone to trial and they would have paid millions to avoid the publicity of a trial, given how politically ambitious they were.
I am highly suspicious that the attorney representing the family of this child not only did a poor job representing them, but most probably struck a deal with the Sanford's attorney for not taking this case to trial. (A deal, incidentally, that would not have benefited the family).
This is where the issue of race comes into play. I have lived in South Carolina and seen how the politics of race play out. A rural African American family, probably poor and uneducated, lose their child because one of the wealthiest white men in the state decided to dig holes in his property? She drowned to death in an earthen hellhole because he thought being a cowboy on a tractor was fun and that he could do whatever they hell he wanted on his property?
This guy sounds more stupid, immoral and unethical than I originally thought.
A tragic accident? Are you out of your mind?
If all the hypocrites in our govt. were to be transformed into the moral puffs of smoke they actually are, the halls would be empty.
Huh? There's mention of a very late and probably opportunistic apology mentioned in this article re. a shooting at a demonstration.................now a drowned girl? That would be a tragic accident and I was certainly not referring to this incident, if such ever did happen.
Interesting, but to me the real strange side of this story is that anybody would "buy" the image he was giving of himself.
It has become almost a ritual in our nation's political life, that those public figures who most play the inhuman role of the moral Christian, turn out to be oh so human.
It degrades the term "moral"
The sad thing is that many of the people that represent us are corrupt in one form or another. We should kick them all out and start over.
I think that many of the people that represent us are corrupt because many of the people being represented are corrupt. Not to mention a little crazy. Kicking out all of the politicians currently in office will only bring in new people who are also corrupt or who will become corrupt. Anyone in power tends to get that sense of entitlement that 'excuses' bad behavior and bad money.
whipmawhopma,wow this is a hard name to type!!!If what you say is real ,we have a big problem.Our economy,country,lives of hard working people at risk.
amapola101 - I think we have a big, big problem.
cuppajo,you are so right. And it is in all parties.But it is a joke,they control and spend our budgets,they are supposed to be representing,the concerns,cares,restructuring of their constituents and the country. A man inlust,and thinking of his mistress is 24 hours consumed,since the past year with that.He couldnt care less about anything or anyone.So...here,we are,even though I am from another state it happens all over.AND THEY socialize with our money.THEY have some nerve,traveling and visiting Argentina,all under a false pretense,creating a whole story just to visit his girfriend.We have to start to get some coallition to oversee all this.People are going thru horrible struggles,and Politicians,are laughing,using others moneys,And he has some Beach House........to retreat and be with his wife.where was he fathers day?
All in all, I kind of like Sanford. He had an affair with a woman he loved, not a prostitute or a stranger or someone who reports to him. He traveled to the ends of the earth to be with her. He confessed without much ado. Not all that uncommon and slightly romantic in a tragic way.
Even so, it has a strong whiff of madness about it. Almost like he wanted to be caught, for it to destroy his chances at a national political office, to say something cruel but true to his wife, and to let his sons know that as a man he had strong failings.
And he did not demonize Maria. In fact he apologized to her first, then to "you all" and, thirdly, his wife, Jenny. I think he loves Maria. Eight years is a long time. I think he married Jenny in part out of personal ambition (his and hers) and her wealthy family. Maybe he really is a tortured "Father Ralph" .............
If that is so, he should quit stringing his wife along, resign his position and move to Argentina to be with the woman he really loves.
If that is true he should have quit stringing his wife along, resigned his position and moved to Argentina 8 years ago. He didn't, like many "moral" leaders he became (if he wan't already) a hypocrite with no moral grounding.
FastMovingCloud - You're right.
These super Christian republican conservatives are getting creamed by self generated blow back...Normally i would say let the voters decide but this guy's history as a public scold makes him completely unsympathetic.
Even by his own standards, he should resign his office. In 1998 he said Clinton should resign over allegations of sexual misconduct. And Sanford has out and out admitted his own. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander.
The Sanford and Ensign scandals can provide a good education for voters...it shows how many of these family values, sancticity of traditional marriage, bible studying, bigoted good Christians turn out to be fakes, phoneys, liars and hypocrites.
I have no patience for the likes of Mark Sanford. This neo-christian wannabe conservative hypocrite set himself these fake high standards to which he himself is incapable of living up to. It's typical for him to be associated with prayer groups, being anti gay in anything and having lambasted President Clinton for his digressions.
What a scumbag. Let the people of South Carolina send him to the desert!
It is very wrong to think you are holier than Thou. Infidelity has existed and will exist forever. But if you profess in public such righteousness,and throw stones at others and are in Public office,under that reason, then you are a HYPOCRITE A REAL con job.Get over ,you can be unfaithfull on your own time,it is getting sickening, all this soap opera crying,it is a priVate matter,so resign. BUT THESE POLITICIANS,THIS ONE,TRAVELED TO ARGENTINA,and thats all we know,on our money,they have parties,food,wine and dance,healthcare,insurances,retirements,and immense power they are incharge of this countries bussines,restructuring,reconstructurring,and they are INCOMPETENT
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8:57 am, Jun 26, 2009
June 2009....Michael, Ferrah and Mark..
Has anybody here seen my old friend Michael?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He entertained a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he's gone.
Anybody here seen my old friend Farrah?
Can you tell me where she's gone?
She entertained a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and she's gone.
Anybody here seen my old friend Elliott?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He fooled a lot of people,
But it seems the good their careers die young.
I just looked 'round and he's gone.
Anybody here seen my old friend Mark?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He fooled a lot of people,
But it seems the good their careers die young.
I just looked 'round and he's gone.
Has anybody here seen my old friend Bernie?
Can you tell me where he's gone.
He fooled a lot of people,
I just turn around and my money's gone...
Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ...
It would be refreshing if these sanctimonious and self righteous critics (Christian and secular alike) would remember Jesus' words: "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone..." It would also be refreshing if we on the left, which I proudly claim kinship to, didn't seem to be reveling in this man's obvious pain and suffering. Sanford's plight is a very human one and yes it can be considered hypocrisy, but we should still give him a break. It's doubtful to me that he set out to flout the rules of his church, the things that he believed in, to destroy the trust of his family, his peer group, his constituents. We are all fakes and phonies and hypocrites and liars and fools for love at some point in our lives. Hence the quote above. Sanford got caught in a very public way being what we all are- human beings. He's learning the hardest lesson of all right now- that as J.M. Barrie said, "Life is a long lesson in humility."
dave78981,I agree with all you say I get no pleasure in someones downfall,since it could happen to any of us,and many go thrU times like these in our lives.AND WE GROW and learn and flourish to a better human being.BUT THAT SAID, WE DO NOT USE OUR POSITIONS OF POWER,BECAUSE THIS POSITION HAS POWER,STATUS,AND RESPOnSIBILITIES.visiting Argentina,with taxpayers money,and all these apologies are really because they are caught.And that is Fine,but they should Resign. That takes real class,and really feeling regret.This man enjoys all the status of public life,healthcare,parties,dining,retirement,pensions,and He is not doing his Job.I would feel sorrow if he said ,I resign.That would be a decent human going thru lifes mistakes.That would be refreshing.I am tired of seeing our politicians, fooling around acting irresposible,spending our money,and these are the people in charge of our welfare?Its getting scary.I think they are arrogant, and think they deserve all.and want it..Its wrong.for us.
We are NOT all fakes, and phonies and hypocrits! And yes his plight is very human but he is a grown man, not an adolescent boy, and he should have knwon better, especially since he was so hard on Clinton. And don't pull that "if anyone is without sin" stuff. If you put yourself forward as a 'good Christian' who wouldn't think of being unfaithful to you wife, then you get what you deserve...
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Disappointing article - if there's a story with the holes on the vacation property, pursue it, but what is included here is too sketchy to be taken seriously.
As soon as anyone claims to be morally superior to the rest of us, you know they are getting ready for a fall. The GOP might do well to recognize this -- especially after Sanford's painful confession -- and not only soften their rhetoric but lighten up on their black-and-white approach to legislation related to so-called moral behavior. Read: abortion and gay rights. I wrote a blog post yesterday to this effect: www.rebeccaclayhaynes.blogspot.com.
Did I miss something? This kind of "journalism" is a turn off. *African American* girl drowns on [white] governor's property ... oh, and he likes to dig holes to unwind ... so he's strange. Really?
I get the sense that Stanford is strange fruit, so to speak, but this story widely misses the mark in explaining how.
"He likes to dig holes to unwind..." WHAT THE F***?
This is way past strange fruit. This story is a zombie movie screenplay.
The hole concept has pretty much been already done in "Holes," a movie about juvenile delinquents forced to dig, as punishment, seemingly meaningless holes. Signourney Weaver plays the character of Gov. Sanford.
That line (strange fruit) is not fodder for puns.
Indeed - i thought the same thing.
I don't know why Sanford is waiting to resign. If he thought others who did the same thing were not worthy to stay in office isn't he being a hypocrite? Oh, sorry I forgot, that's the same thing as a conservative republicans. My bad.
Gov Sanford was not tearful or crying,when he was lying between the legs of his mistress.Or did he tear-up after each ORGASM?
He is a Liar,a Cheat,and dishonest.He's simply TIred of his old
unexciting wife,but didn't have the courage to admit it to her.
Anybody who has an once of brains,knows that his wife leaked the e-mails he wrote to his mistress.My bet is his marriage has been in trouble for Years.
Here's a great point - who leaked the emails last December? I don't think it was his wife - there's no upside for her. If she wanted to bury the guy, she'd use them in divorce court. So my guess is that someone who used to work for him got into his laptop or PC and had these in their possession and used them once they were fired or left his employment. I don't like what the guy did or the hypocrisy, but I'm having trouble justifying the release of his private emails.
It's quite the leap to go from a tragic, seemingly accidental death and somehow connecting that to his extramarital issues. Weak story.
Ridiculous. And how does this journalist think the public would be served by digging into a tragedy? Is he suggesting the Governor murdered the child? And did he consider what any of that would do to the family?
Funny, this article makes Sanford a somewhat sympathetic character, when I suspect he had the opposite intent.
I think the Governor should walk away from it all and return to Argentina and the woman he loves. His marriage and career are over anyway.
A little snippet jumped in my head about this lovelorn Lothario:
Mark Sanford the poet mysteriously missing
Turns out he absconded for "magnificent kissing"
O Love, thy power how it intoxicates me!
Duty be damned, I'll abdicate for thee.
~ Maya Teague ~
The real war cultural warriers like Sanford, Vitter and Ensign, is the battle they wage against themselves. Thanks for the article, Max. You're the main reason I come to this site.
Hear, hear. They are acting out in public their own personal trials and tribulations. They say everyone needs religion to keep their 'immorality' in check - they are simply projecting outward their own personal condition.
And - Max rules.
We need a new rule, say call it the Platinum Rule. Never insist that another do what you will not do.
He wanted unfaithful male politicians to resign, let him lead the way.
Brilliant!
And a perfect (and under-considered) necessary corollary to the Golden Rule.
What is Blumenthal implying here about the death of that little girl? I honestly can't fathom what the heck this has to do with Sanford having an affair. There's just the faintest whiff that Blumenthal thinks there's something sordid here (why else mention it, and why else use words like "suppressed" to describe the story?) but he needs to man up and say what he's thinking.
As for the digging holes, okay, not what I'd do to unwind, but I also think hitting small white balls with metal clubs as a form of relaxation is kind of weird. A lot of people who have jobs that don't involve a lot of physical activity engage in manual labor to relax -- Reagan use to cut brush on his ranch, for example.
"Reagan use to cut brush on his ranch..."
--- and you see where that got us.
Sanford doth protest too much: From his vain, self-aggrandizing, media grabbing political attempt to refuse federal stimulus funds to buttress the state's economy to promoting his personal moral conservatism as a political platform. Add to this his failure to keep private emails from prying eyes and purloining fingers (work is NOT for conducting personal business, governor); using state funds to purchase his trysting ticket to Argentina and you discover that Sanford's acumen is deficient. Perhaps it was some unconscious subliminal mid-life emotional critical mass that disordered his judgement. That's understandable. One can empathize even. But in the final analysis was Sanford's protest too much the national moral character. It has come back to haunt him. For this, not his affair, he deserves to be raked over cold shoulders.
Thank you.
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