No words.

    Sometimes I wonder if it’s jealousy, or perhaps pent-up frustration from the monotony of everyday life that makes our society feed so eagerly on the remains of a situation already torn to pieces.

    I sit here watching Sanford’s public apology on Washingtonpost.com, exactly one week after driving through the Charleston’s heat and monsoon thunderstorms, thinking his feelings for this woman genuinely surpass the dramatic calm and passion of the South Carolinian skies. The staffers standing behind him on television are smiling ear to ear, excitedly listening and posing for the cameras as lights flash at machine gun rhythm. What exciting internships they must have!

    If I were their professors, I’d probably fail them out of disgust. Were it an emotional intelligence exam, the grade would justify itself.

    You see it in the mist over his eyes, the gravity of his facial expressions, the gentleness of his demeanor. You hear it in his straightforward answers. “Yes” “No” “I’m here, she’s there...” He loved this woman. 

    There are worse sins.

    I see a man before God, desperately begging His forgiveness and seeking His guidance, torn by the realization that he has found comfort and inspiration not in scripture, but in another’s arms. To deny the first goes against all he’s ever known, to deny the latter feels just as wrong.

    Call me immoral, but I’ll be the last to throw stones. My heart goes out to this man, however divergent our respective political viewpoints. Those fortunate enough to have never dreamt of impossible love will disagree. It is their right, as provided for by the 1st Amendment of this beautifully hypocritical nation.

Comments

[Craig Hayes]

Personally, I respect that this man had the balls to confess such a deed. He didn't have to call a press conference. He didn't have to admit to an affair. Hell, he didn't have to do any more than release a press statement saying that between problems at home and a struggle with the legislature in the last session he needed to get away for a while. Instead he emptied his soul onto the laps of the people of South Carolina and America as a whole in a way in which could easily be described as politically stupid.

However, irrespective of the personal nobility of Governor Sanford's actions lies the great hypocrisy of the Republican paradigm. Regardless of certain media attentiveness to build public figures up just to knock them down, the reason this story is being soaked up is largely philosophical and not personal.

We have to remember to put this in perspective. Sanford campaigned against his opponents claiming he held "superior" family values. Until this affair was known, he was going to be a speaker at the Family Research Council’s Values Voters Summit. Need I say more?

Governor Sanford's biggest sin was not his affair but rather his conforming to the ideal of moral superiority.

Again, this is a story not because of the personal implications, but because of the larger problems with the current Republican Party. How can this broken party continue to espouse these "greater" values when an unending pattern of its so called members are caught in their own infidelity? This is the unfathomable hypocrisy.

As one critical of the Republican Party, these cases give me hope that little by little, the GOP will realize it is time to stop worrying about what goes on in the bedroom and focus on the myriad things that actually matter. Unfortunately for Sanford, society is not there yet.

[Langley]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't he already separated from his wife? And furthermore, why do we have to know or care what the guy does in his personal life. If he ain't breakin' any laws, so what?

This is all bullshit brought on by the 24 hour news outlets. They gotta have something to talk about, and sex sells. It makes me embarrassed to admit I work in the news industry.

Now I've gone and gotten myself worked up. I need a drink.

[Alicia l'Américaine]

@Craig Well said... I have found that Republican paradigm to be suffering for quite awhile, too.

I will say, however, that there's nothing wrong for striving for a certain ideal, then failing, by virtue of being human. It's not necessarily hypocritical in and of itself.

But family matters do belong in the private realm, and, as you say, it's a good time for Republicans to switch focus.

@Langley They'd been separated for two weeks, I believe, but the affair had been happening for a year or so.... in any case, it is embarrassing for the news industry. At least in America. You should move to France, they don't care about these issues over there! =)