"I don't want to blow up my time in politics," he told the AP. "I don't want to blow up future earning power, I don't want to blow up the kids' lives. I don't want to blow up 20 years that we've invested..."
Here's a place to start: Shut it. Shut your piehole. Your constituents, your wife, your children, your allies (the ones you have left), will thank you. Really, the only people who want to hear your serial confessionals are reporters and that is a bad sign. And I say this as a journalist who is eating. this. shit. up. Seriously, my news budget meetings haven't been this much fun in a long time.
I've heard that Evangelicalism has a belief that you cannot receive forgiveness from God until you publicly repent. Is that true? Is the humiliation we are seeing Sanford put himself thorough possibly a self-punishment he sees as required by his religion?
@J.D.Regent: No denying the screw shortfall, but a little googling shows there is a concept of public repentance in Evangelical Christianity. So perhaps a combination of the two...
"I don't want to blow up my time in politics," he told the AP. "I don't want to blow up future earning power, I don't want to blow up the kids' lives. I don't want to blow up 20 years that we've invested..."
Jenny Sanford may have just found the perfect opportunity to flee her husband's troubling obsession with explosives.
It's the jobs, stupid. If people aren't working, the economy is going nowhere. Of course, that's kind of an end-user issue; even I understand that. And to say that full employment should be the primary goal of economic plans takes us in a very Soviet sort of direction, which also seems unsustainable, among other things. But it should be obvious at this point that making economic decisions that don't consider the consequences of large-scale unemployment will not lead to overall economic health. We can't all have white-collar jobs, nor should we all. And if no one can afford services, a service economy won't work either. Don't think for a second I wouldn't love to have a housekeeper and a nanny, or a housekeeper/nanny. The cheap Irish immigrant labor my husband's grandmother was so fond of isn't there, not that I would feel right about using it if it were.
I hate feeling so powerless to change our situation here. All of our energy goes into maintaining the relatively modest status quo in this household, and keeping our jobs. It's awful to feel no economic mobility, no career mobility, and no power to improve the situation. I can only imagine what it's like for people who don't have our advantages.
@TheFormerJuneBronson: Yeah, I don't know why so many people who should know better fail to see the point that in order to purchase things, people in this country have to have money. They need to have gotten this money from a job that is fairly stable and allows them to have some income to spend. I'm not putting that very well, but I just get so frustrated that no one even seems to consider that aspect, you know? And then I start to feel that we are really, really screwed because of it.
@TheFormerJuneBronson: I dont understand why we don't have major public works programs. At the very least all this government money should at least be giving people a paycheck. Obama, stop being so mf moderate! New New Deal, remember?
@HarpMadness: Because the people who are in policy-making roles DON'T get money via their jobs. Like, their jobs are nice and all, but their true income comes from property/ stocks/ inheritance etc., and thus the idea that you must live off your paycheck and not having one means no money is not an idea they are familiar with.
@J.D.Regent: That was sort of what I imagined would happen, and it didn't. In that respect, I can understand people's frustration with Obama. Nothing at all is going to change unless we can give people a means of steady, gainful employment in non-specialized fields (I read that if you're an experienced critical-care nurse or welder, things are good for you--but why do they think there are shortages?). I don't think we can or should be employer to the world when there are people here losing their homes. People's willingness to work in fast food or retail ought to be a hint that they would take anything.
Frankly I feel like Sanford is being a dog to both his women. You are in love with Maria but not enough to give up your "future earnings?" Wow those really sound like the words of a man willing to risk his marriage for a grand romance... like many cheating middle aged men I predict he will end up with no woman soon enough.
yap and more evidence of this "soulmate" bs he keeps spouting... once he starts considering reality instead of this druggy love fog, that soulmate passion starts fading under the microscope.
I am employed because of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. We are also hiring about 19 other people to do work with ARRA grants. Most of the other people are only going to be temporary hires though.
@thevickinator: yep. several of those people were only looking for something to do until august anyway and are going back to school. others, it can feed/house them until they find something else to do.
Yes, Mark Sanford is a hypocrite, but I think his story highlights what is wrong with the conservative view of marriage. The right sees marriage through a narrow procreation lens. To them, marriage is a business transaction first and foremost. Love is secondary. I'm not surprised at how this is playing out.
in this situation though this doesn't have anything to do with a conservative or liberal view of marriage. it's just a middle-aged dude who got lazy with his relationship, took his family for granted, and then found some woman who "made him" feel sexy and alive again. like that's a big deal. it's why both conservative and liberal marrieds screw around. they need to have that validation of their potency. john edwards isn't a conservative.
@morninggloria: Don't cry for me South Carolina, You know the truth is I used to love her, But then I emailed, Now I love another, And my Presidential Aspirations are gone
Those jobs numbers are really depressing. I shudder to think of what the underemployed statistics would look like as many people have been forced to take salary cuts or latch on to any part-time work they can handle.
The California budget crisis is also looming large, and I'm starting to wonder if Schwarzenegger isn't going to propose prematurely pitching parts of California into the ocean.
@dianersb was bit by a zombie: My wallet is feeling listless and longs for some real meaning in its life. If it can't carry money, what is the point in going on, frankly.
Aw Megan, feel better! You are, in fact, a trooper (a trouper? What sort of troupe/troop are you in?) -- thank you!
This is so clearly a case of what we were talking about a few days ago: Something happens to your brain chemistry when you're cheating and you just, somehow, despite all strikingly obvious evidence to the contrary, feel like it's alllll ok. It's ok to declare my love for a woman who is not my wife for all the world, her whole family, and OUR CHILDREN to hear! It's ok!!
God, the pain that woman must be going through right now. And those poor boys! Jesus H. Moses in the bullrushes. That man needs to go back to kindergarten and learn how to treat people.
@ellaesther: I think behaviorally he is just being normal in that he is trying to frame his infidelity in a positive light. He is trying to extricate his active involvement in it by saying that she is his soulmate (I had no choice! My soul made me do it!). By removing his active involvement he is saying that he was not really dishonest, it just happened to him, he is just a "victim" of love. It's pathetic and dismaying to see his denial, but it is what it is, and this type of shit happens every day.
@femaledwightschrute: Hmmm. Is it better to blame the soul over the dick? I think it sounds better. I think sometimes we confuse our lust with our soul. Surely if you're trying to retain your cred as a born-again Christian (with yourself, not to mention the rest of the world), you have to believe that it was your soul and not your hormones. And who knows? Maybe it was...?
But yes, I see your point. I think that's part of the lie that cheaters tell themselves (again, I say this as someone who cheated once, on an old boyfriend, so sadly I have my own experience to lean on) -- it was, somehow, Bigger Than Me.
"Pathetic and dismaying": A) I find this describes much of human behavior; and B) That would be a fairly awesome name for a band.
@femaledwightschrute: Nope, actually, I'm sticking with "pathetic and dismaying"! Absolutely. His behavior is at least all that, and more!
The band would have to be one of those over-intellectualized emo-punk outfits, don't you think? Lots of eye-liner, lots of skinny jeans, lots of girls swoooooooning.
I wouldn't say that the economy is dead; I'd just say that those who are in positions to shape economic policy are idiots engaged in the world's largest ongoing clusterfuck.
Also, policymakers' fates are too tied with the fates of banks and other financial institutions.
There's a way that it is hysterical to me, as a woman, that Sanford is acting like the emotional woman stereotype. When Latoya said above that he needs to spend some time with a Mary J cd and a bottle of booze, it occurred to me that more or less he comes off like he does that EVERY NIGHT.
I wish I could believe like Megan mentioned that he is humiliating himself because that's the way Mrs. Sanford prefers to get her pound of flesh, but I agree with her that it probably isn't.
This story is the oft-mentioned gift that keeps on giving.
Sorry if it isn't appropriate to discuss since it wasn't mentioned in the chat, but even other Repubs are telling Michele Bachmann to cool it with the census boycott.
"Every elected representative in this country should feel a responsibility to encourage full participation in the census. To do otherwise is to advocate for a smaller share of federal funding for our constituents. Boycotting the constitutionally-mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country."
@linnyt is a walking cliché: Oh, I didn't see that. Thanks for posting it. That is making my day, also. I love that they use the word "illogical", too. Hee.
@linnyt is a walking cliché: But apparently it's not working! She STILL won't listen to them b/c she has managed to convince herself participating with the census is making a deal with the devil.
ThinkProgress is speculating that if Minnesota loses a congressional seat b/c of an undercount, her own district would be right up there to be eliminated. That would be sweet justice.
07/02/09
Here's a place to start: Shut it. Shut your piehole. Your constituents, your wife, your children, your allies (the ones you have left), will thank you. Really, the only people who want to hear your serial confessionals are reporters and that is a bad sign. And I say this as a journalist who is eating. this. shit. up. Seriously, my news budget meetings haven't been this much fun in a long time.
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
Jenny Sanford may have just found the perfect opportunity to flee her husband's troubling obsession with explosives.
07/02/09
I hate feeling so powerless to change our situation here. All of our energy goes into maintaining the relatively modest status quo in this household, and keeping our jobs. It's awful to feel no economic mobility, no career mobility, and no power to improve the situation. I can only imagine what it's like for people who don't have our advantages.
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
yap and more evidence of this "soulmate" bs he keeps spouting... once he starts considering reality instead of this druggy love fog, that soulmate passion starts fading under the microscope.
07/02/09
Jeezy-creezy, what a loser.
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
in this situation though this doesn't have anything to do with a conservative or liberal view of marriage. it's just a middle-aged dude who got lazy with his relationship, took his family for granted, and then found some woman who "made him" feel sexy and alive again. like that's a big deal. it's why both conservative and liberal marrieds screw around. they need to have that validation of their potency. john edwards isn't a conservative.
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
Also: I second TheFormerJune and am emailing hortense next!
07/02/09
07/02/09
Don't cry for me South Carolina,
You know the truth is I used to love her,
But then I emailed,
Now I love another,
And my Presidential
Aspirations are gone
07/02/09
The California budget crisis is also looming large, and I'm starting to wonder if Schwarzenegger isn't going to propose prematurely pitching parts of California into the ocean.
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
the state of california is too big to fail!
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
This is so clearly a case of what we were talking about a few days ago: Something happens to your brain chemistry when you're cheating and you just, somehow, despite all strikingly obvious evidence to the contrary, feel like it's alllll ok. It's ok to declare my love for a woman who is not my wife for all the world, her whole family, and OUR CHILDREN to hear! It's ok!!
God, the pain that woman must be going through right now. And those poor boys! Jesus H. Moses in the bullrushes. That man needs to go back to kindergarten and learn how to treat people.
07/02/09
07/02/09
But yes, I see your point. I think that's part of the lie that cheaters tell themselves (again, I say this as someone who cheated once, on an old boyfriend, so sadly I have my own experience to lean on) -- it was, somehow, Bigger Than Me.
"Pathetic and dismaying": A) I find this describes much of human behavior; and B) That would be a fairly awesome name for a band.
07/02/09
I can't imagine what type of music that band would play but I'm sure all the members would be wearing tons of eyeliner.
07/02/09
The band would have to be one of those over-intellectualized emo-punk outfits, don't you think? Lots of eye-liner, lots of skinny jeans, lots of girls swoooooooning.
07/02/09
Also, policymakers' fates are too tied with the fates of banks and other financial institutions.
My solution is to move to Candyland.
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
I think that's where the Kandyman came from. I'd stay away from the lemonade.
07/02/09
I wish I could believe like Megan mentioned that he is humiliating himself because that's the way Mrs. Sanford prefers to get her pound of flesh, but I agree with her that it probably isn't.
This story is the oft-mentioned gift that keeps on giving.
07/02/09
"Every elected representative in this country should feel a responsibility to encourage full participation in the census. To do otherwise is to advocate for a smaller share of federal funding for our constituents. Boycotting the constitutionally-mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country."
07/02/09
07/02/09
07/02/09
[voices.washingtonpost.com]
07/02/09
ThinkProgress is speculating that if Minnesota loses a congressional seat b/c of an undercount, her own district would be right up there to be eliminated. That would be sweet justice.