Sanford on Rand

Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC), that is, in Newsweek:

I think at a fundamental level many people recognize Rand's essential truth -- government doesn't know best. Those in power in Washington -- or indeed in Columbia, S.C. -- often lead themselves to believe that our prosperity depends on their wisdom. It doesn't.

I don't think he gets everything right, either with respect to the value of Rand's work or to how she intended that work to be understood, but it's an interesting take from a prominent public figure nonetheless.

Sanford and sunk

I didn't and don't care where South Carolina governor Mark Sanford was or what who he was doing over that "lost weekend," but he seems pretty insistent on making sure everyone knows the details. How long before we get to the Argentinian lady's diaphragm size?

He's even branching out into additional confessions. I'm not sure if he's trying to unburden a very guilty conscience or just yanking everyone's chain, but either way it's starting to creep me out. Didn't care where you were or what who you were doing, dude. Don't need to know where you stuck that thing.

And then there's this:

Any man or woman who shall be guilty of the crime of adultery or fornication shall be liable to indictment and, on conviction, shall be severally punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than one year or by both fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court. -- South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 16-15-60

Actionable with respect to Mark Sanford in a legal sense? Probably not, although I guess that depends on whether or not any of his ... adventures ... took place within the borders of South Carolina (if so, he'll probably blurt that out in Technicolor/THX before the week's over).

His own party's had enough (h/t memeorandum), though, and who can blame them? It's one thing for the state's chief executive to discretely dip his wick in legally unsanctioned wax. It's another thing for him to get caught. And it's yet a third thing for him to prance from newspaper office to TV studio to press conference detailing the ways, shapes, manners and and forms of said wick-dipping. [Oh dear God ... he's got a book deal]

Time for Sanford to take his proclivities and attendant obsession with displaying them back to the private sector.

Where was Sanford?

He was in Argentina ... but who cares?

The legislature is not in session, so it's not like there were going to be bills piling up on his desk awaiting signature or veto.

Emergency? South Carolina's constitution provides for that:

In the case of the temporary disability of the Governor and in the event of the temporary absence of the Governor from the State, the Lieutenant Governor shall have full authority to act in an emergency.

The Democrats are trying to make hay, of course:

"Being a chief executive means being on call all the time, and Gov. Sanford either doesn't get that part of the job or can't handle it," Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, scolded.

I rather suspect that Sanford was, in fact, "on call" in case of emergency ... but the tabloids and the Democrats getting their panties all in a wad over his whereabouts doesn't constitute an emergency (as a matter of fact, file it under "business as usual"). Just because Mark Sanford's staff wasn't telling Hari Sevugan (or anyone else) where Sanford was, that doesn't mean Mark Sanford's staff didn't know where Sanford was.

Get a grip, folks. When you take a vacation, do you leave messages on Mark Sanford's machine so that he can know exactly where you are at all times? If you don't, why should he?

Update: So it turned out to be about who's shtupping who in the non-political sense of the word. No, I'm not surprised. Yes, I'm still all so-whatsy and who-caresy. Maybe even more so -- above and beyond the fact that all these yahoos had no "need to know" where he was anyway, "I'm going to Argentina to shack up with my forbidden lover for a week" is precisely the kind of thing I'd keep to myself too.