Blogs and Stories
The Sanford Affair
The South Carolina governor admitted to his Argentine fling Wednesday in a press conference that was both tearful and absurd. The Daily Beast’s Tina Brown, Paul Begala, Kathleen Parker, Mark McKinnon, and more try to make sense of the one-time presidential hopeful.
What the Sanfords Didn't Say
by Tina Brown
Tina Brown decodes the Governor and First Lady’s statements about his sexual escapade. MORE >>
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Sanford May Have to Take a Hike, After All
by Kathleen Parker
Anyone with a heartbeat felt for the South Carolina governor during his awkward, drawn-out press conference. But his lying to the public and going AWOL might add to up a quick exit from office. MORE >>
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Sanford's Dereliction of Duty Trumps His Hypocrisy
by Paul Begala
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. MORE >>
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Sanford Should Resign
by Mark McKinnon
After his disastrous press conference, the South Carolina governor ought to pack his bags, The Daily Beast’s Mark McKinnon writes. Now who’ll be GOP savior in 2012? MORE >>
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Sanford Should NOT Resign
by John Avlon
As Governor Sanford’s former constituent in South Carolina, I understand how angry residents feel. But like Spitzer in New York, hounding him out of office now would prompt resignation remorse later. MORE >>
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GOP Lothario Losers
by John Batchelor
The twinned disasters of Mark Sanford and John Ensign expose the Republican Party apparatus for the laziness, pettiness and emptiness of what is left of the leadership. But the crash of Sanford—much higher on the 2012 list—eclipses that of Ensign. MORE >>
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We'll Miss Mark Sanford
by Reihan Salam
Before his career went down in flames, South Carolina’s governor was a wonderfully strange character who could have led a national movement. An elegy for a Southern original. MORE >>
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Time for a Male Anti-Sex Pill
by Matt Miller
In the wake of the Sanford scandal, the only hope for American public life not becoming an endlessly embarrassing comic opera now lies with Big Pharma. The nation needs a new Manhattan Project—and this one should have bipartisan support. MORE >>
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News Shrink: The Lovesick Statesman
by News Shrink
The release of Gov. Mark Sanford’s emails to his mistress prove he’s not a Spitzer, a Clinton, or an Edwards—he’s a lovesick adolescent. The Daily Beast gets a psychologist to shrink America’s latest love guv from afar. MORE >>
The Right Dumps Carrie
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.
What's Joe's Problem?
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.
Geithner's Stock Plummeting
Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
Week in Political Cartoons
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Week in Red Carpet
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Oprahs of the World
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Voters want the purist candidate in office. They got Bush, Sanford, Craig and Ensign because of their moral legitimacy. Those are the Republicans. The Democrats screw up but are not the same moralizing hypocrites that criticize others for doing as I do. When will voters understand that experience is our greatest teacher. People that experience, that have taken chances, can empathize a lot more with the amoral legitimacy. We are far from a perfect species. We need advocates who understand how far away we can be. We are a duality- rational and emotional. We are governed by both aspects of our behavior. When will we accept that we are less than we claim to be. We strive for perfection but will never achieve it. Yet we believe someone who alleges that they are almost there.
Way too much analysis and opining. This guy and the ones before him think with the wrong head.
Yep. The little head was telling the big head what to do. Is this noose? This is a story repeated over and over for thousands of years.
The lesson is these people are not leaders. We need to renew our politics. It cannot be that of the 300 million people in this country we are getting the best.
We are not, by any stretch. We need to start fresh. Dump the 535. Adopt The Rules of Order by Thomas Jefferson. Replace C-SPAN with transparent televised government - every thing recorded, as much live as possible, replacing all the pundit panels.
So much to do. Plenty of time to get it all done, after we send the 535 packing.
Why Sanford voted to impeach Clinton: "The issue of lying is probably the biggest harm, if you will, to the system of democratic government ... because it undermines trust. And if you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything."
John Avlon apparently does not believe in fairness.
I think he'll be able to ride it out; partly, if what I've read is true, the GOP doesn't want the L.Gov to get in.
I agree with Parker - his press meeting was sad and touchingly honest.
Thank you.
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