Sanford's Sham

A sham by any other name is still a sham. In yesterday's post, I failed to add South Carolina's Republican Governor Mark Sanford to the list of infidels. For it was very clear to me that there was only one explanation for such a cockamamie story of a 6 day disappearance in the Appalachian hills. Infidelity. Unfortunately, before I could proffer my theory, Sanford publicly confessed today and his "A" place was not in fact Appalachia but Argentina. Who could get that one so wrong?

His staff, trying to cover up for their AWOL Governor, came up with the tale of hiking to lend cover to his unreachable status. It sounded almost plausible, no cell phone signal in the mountains. But, no self-respecting Presidential hopeful, nee Governor, disappears seemingly unannounced for 6 days. Now, that the truth of his disappearance is revealed, Sanford has to cover up his staff's lie with another lie, through feigned apology, that he told them he was going hiking but changed his mind at the last minute and hopped a plane on a whim to Argentina? Ever try to buy a plane ticket at the last minute to anywhere, undercover, lately? Please. This is just ridiculous.

Here we are watching and denouncing Iran's democratic election results as a joke when in fact, our election process produces a heck of a lot more fools. Who is laughing now? The New York State Senate is still in shambles nearly 2 weeks later with a power struggle that has nothing to do with the will of the people. Where, I might add, the designated leaders-to-be are both under investigation for potential criminal activity. Will we re-elect a large majority of these self-indulgent fools? Yes, we will.

Aside: Maybe Ahmadinejad really did win. What is so wrong with that? We all love our status quo. At the end of the day, the incumbent devil we know has a higher probability of re-election when up against some unknown devil. Except, of course, if you are a morally crusading hypocrite, engaging in the very behavior that you vilify on a regularly basis. Then you ask for forgiveness and pray. Since the GOP is running out of leaders, Sanford may just get a pass.

A Sham By Any Other Name...?

We all know that power corrupts. That is why so many politicians practice infidelity, be they Democrat, Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards come to mind, or Republican, John McCain, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Guiliani, and most recent confessor, Senator John Ensign of Las Vegas to name too many.

Since a major tenet of the political platform of this latter group is conservative, read Christian, values then why do so many members of the GOP stray from the marital bed? How many times will the evangelicals, who have their own famous club of infidels, cite forgiveness to whitewash the indiscretions of their party leaders? A sham by any other name...? Perhaps it is best not to preach what you cannot practice. Perhaps it is time for the GOP to drop family values from their platform because they simply do not believe.

Perhaps we should turn to Fox News, the designated conservative media outlet for some insight. Oh, I see that the most emailed article on FOXNews.com today is from the FOXSexpert, Dr. Yvonne K. Fulbright, 10 Steps To Extended Massive Orgasm. There you have it.