June 24, 2009 4:47 PM
Mark Sanford - the ultimate betrayal
Broken family. Broken home. Broken dreams. Broken hearts.
I wrote about it all on Father's Day: Dads, Who Needs Them?
The same Father's Day that Mark Sanford went missing. Today he confessed he was in Argentina with a woman he's been having an affair with for a year.
Yes, the same Mark Sanford who's been a stalwart conservative, much in the news lately for refusing - or trying to refuse - federal bailout money to avoid the strings attached.
The same Mark Sanford who was hailed as perhaps the next Ronald Reagan - now just another reason for our political opponents to scoff at us and discredit our conservative ideals.
How depressing that he would give up everything - EVERYTHING!!!! - for fleeting pleasure.
As a woman, I guess I will never understand this.
But it is SO. DEPRESSING.
Posted in Current Affairs | Permalink
Comments
I was listening to a clip of him talking about it on the radio...he was talking about his beautiful wonderful friendship with this woman and then oops they got romantic.
Not everyone agrees with me but I say men and women were not really meant to be friends.
Also, he was talking about how "real" the feelings were between them (I wanted to throw up). I have "real" feelings all the time that are 100% wrong and not wise to act on.
Posted by: Catherine R. | June 24, 2009 6:27 PM
Four beautiful sons. What a horse's patootie.
Posted by: Marie | June 24, 2009 8:09 PM
It is indeed depressing. I just don't get it.
Posted by: Mary | June 24, 2009 8:21 PM
The same Mark Sanford who, as US Congressman, voted to impeach Bill Clinton, citing the great need for "morality and integrity" in our leaders. Nobody's perfect. But the people with those superior conservative values think they're the only ones who should be forgiven.
[Actually, Lissy, you are wrong. The conservatives are usually not forgiven, and their peers bring censure to bear on them and they step down. It is liberals who get a pass - like Barney Frank and his boyfriend, who ran a prostitution ring from Barney's townhouse - and countless other Democrats who got a pass when they cheated. But you are right that the lives of conservatives should be more reflective of the values we espouse. I am ashamed that we haven't done better.]
Posted by: Lissy | June 24, 2009 8:39 PM
For some reason this hit me in the gut and I don't even know the man. I got it in a "breaking news" text message and it made me almost cry. I prayed for his wife-- i didn't know he had 4 little boys.
I feel the same as you... he sacrificed so much for such fleeting pleasure.
Leslie
Posted by: Leslie | June 24, 2009 9:14 PM
Indeed a very sad day here in South Carolina Barbara! Very dissapointed. We are from Greenville, SC. Another political figure fails.
Posted by: Wendy | June 24, 2009 9:20 PM
I don't know when I've felt so betrayed and I don't even live in SC. Where are the real men?!? I know they're out there because I'm married to one, but they sure seem to be in short supply!
Posted by: Shannon Miller | June 24, 2009 10:17 PM
I hope that he will truly repent of his sin of adultery and not just be "sorry" that he got caught.
Posted by: Melissa | June 24, 2009 11:37 PM
There is hope for even him. Isn't it when we are at the bottom of the barrel that we can finally climb out? Maybe this exposure is bottom for him. Hopefully for his family's sake he can change and become a real father again.
And yes, I agree with the woman above you says that men/women really are not meant to be friends, it is just too much of a temptation for some. We are suppose to stay away from the "near occasion" of sin.
Posted by: Carolyn | June 25, 2009 7:50 AM
So sad.
Catherine, I am also in a agreement that married men and women (not to each other) should not have such close friendships. I've seen this pattern far too many times to think otherwise.
Posted by: Jen K | June 25, 2009 7:58 AM
Lissy, you are so right! Why just look at this very comment thread with all of these conservatives insisting that Mark Sanford be "forgiven" (code for absolved) of this affair without any consequences! Not a one of them expressing disgust or disappointment in him, right?
I've noticed that on the left there's a belief that any person who is not 100% perfect who has the audacity to believe in right and wrong is a hypocrite. This leads to two things: 1) no one can condemn any other person's actions no matter how immoral; and 2) everyone must support the right of others to make all the same mistakes they have made (ie, single teenage moms must be a-ok with other teenaged girls having sex, divorcees who ruined their marriages with adultery must not speak out against cheating, etc.)
On the right we believe that if a thing is wrong, it's wrong if you do it and it's wrong if I do it. Instead of vilifying those who catch us in our sins, we confess, repent, and accept the consequences. That's called consistency, not hypocrisy.
Posted by: Michelle Potter | June 25, 2009 6:39 PM
