Mark Sanford Wins House Seat

Mark Sanford will once again hike the Appalachian Trail to Congress.

Disgraced ex-South Carolina governor Mark Sanford won his bid for redemption on Tuesday night, defeating Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch for his old seat in Congress. Sanford, a Republican who admitted an extramarital affair in 2009, was ready to quit politics for good if he was not victorious in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District. He will replace Republican Tim Scott, who was appointed to the Senate.

The former governor — once a rising GOP star considered presidential material — was an early favorite in the Republican district, which Mitt Romney carried by 18 percentage points in the 2012 election. But the revelation that Sanford's ex-wife, Jenny, accused the candidate of trespassing at her home caused the National Republican Congressional Committee to withdraw its support in mid-April and gave Colbert Busch an opening.

Billboards Of The Day

Source.

SC Gov. Mark Sanford's Wife Hits The (Non-Appalachian) Trail

The wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has filed for divorce in the wake her public humiliation when her husband was caught with his Argentine mistress.

Sanford said in a written statement Friday that the decision to file for divorce came after "many unsuccessful efforts at reconciliation," but that she's committed to keeping the process "peaceful for our family." "As so many of us know, the dissolution of any marriage is a sad and painful process. It is also a very personal and private one. Because Mark and I are public figures, we have naturally had less privacy with which to deal with our difficulties than do other couples," she said. "Indeed, I know it will soon become known so I choose to release this brief notice that I am now filing for divorce."

Earlier this week the South Carolina legislature decided not to pursue removing Gov. Sanford from office, saying they couldn't act on another person's personal immorality. They were singing a different song in 2007 when they ratified a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

South Carolina's Adulterous Sanctity Of Marriage Advocate To Stay In Office

South Carolina Gov. Mark "Appalachian Trail" Sanford will be allowed to complete his term, despite the scandal surrounding his week-long disappearance to visit his Argentine mistress.

South Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday quashed a move to oust Gov. Mark Sanford over his summertime tryst and his use of state aircraft, saying his embarrassing conduct was not serious enough to merit impeachment. Lawmakers were still considering whether to recommend an official reprimand. Six of the seven panel members said they believed the events surrounding Sanford's extramarital affair involving an Argentine woman did not rise to a high enough level to warrant his removal from office prior to the end of his second and final term in January 2011. "We can't impeach for hypocrisy. We can't impeach for arrogance. We can't impeach an officeholder for his lack of leadership skills," said Rep. James Harrison, the Columbia Republican who headed the panel.

Before cheating on and publicly humiliating his wife, the born-again Sanford also had no qualms in enthusiastically supporting his state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Sanctity. Of. Marriage.

SC Gov. Mark Sanford Accused Of Being Behind Bauer "Gay Smear" Campaign

SC GOP state Sen. Jake Knotts claims that Gov. Mark Sanford, angered over Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's calls for his resignation, is the person behind Bauer's recent outing by gay blogger Mike Rogers.

"As a former target of a false rumor started by the Sanford Camp I can tell you with absolute certainty this attack was orchestrated on behalf of Mark Sanford, either directly or indirectly, and financially subsidized by him or one of his many 'front-groups,'" Knotts wrote. The letter was first reported by "The Palmetto Scoop," a South Carolina political Web site. Knotts, an ally of Bauer and a fierce opponent of Sanford, said there is no truth to the gay rumors that have dogged Bauer for years. "I have known Andre since he was eight years old," Knotts told CNN. "Ain't a homosexual bone in his body. That boy is a good boy. It's a just an attempt to prevent Andre from become governor."

"Ain't a homosexual bone in his body." At this moment, perhaps.

Mike Rogers denies Knotts' allegation:

“I don’t know anyone in Mark Sanford’s office,” Rogers told Free Times Sept. 3 while in a Washington, D.C. taxi cab. “I don’t know anybody on Mark Sanford’s political team. I don’t know anything about Mark Sanford except what’s been out there in the public and in the press.” Rogers says he has a 100 percent record with outing closeted politicians with anti-gay agendas, and he works his sources like any reporter would. “I know where these people work who are my sources,” he says about the ones regarding Bauer. “They don’t work in any political realm.”

Mike Rogers: South Carolina's Anti-Gay Lt. Governor Andre Bauer Is A Closet Case

Noted outer of hypocrites Mike Rogers today named South Carolina's anti-gay Lt. Governor Andre Bauer as a closeted homosexual. Mike Rogers:

I'm a reporter. I meet with people and I talk to them. Then based on a review of all of the facts, I report closet cases that hurt the gay community. You may not like my style, but I have a track record of 100%. And for those reasons I am now able to confirm a rumor that has circulated in South Carolina for years. South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is a closeted anti-gay politician who stands to replace Mark Sanford should Sanford resign or be impeached (a real possibility as Sanford is caught in his own sex scandal.)

Rumors have been swirling about Bauer for several months and have intensified since the Sanford scandal. In June, South Carolina Democratic congressional candidate Linda Ketner apologized after she outed Bauer, saying she thought she had been speaking off the record and had no direct knowledge of his gayness. As Mike Rogers notes in the quote above, he has a 100% track record in naming closeted gay politicians who are working against the rights of their own people.

Coming Soon: SC Gov. Mark Sanford (R) Impeachment Hearings

SC Gov. Mark "Sanctity Of Marriage" Sanford's trip down the Appalachian Trail of an Argentine hottie is probably going to cost him his job. His own lieutenant governor is joining the call for his removal.

South Carolina Republican lawmakers are on the verge of calling a special legislative session that could impeach and remove embattled GOP Gov. Mark Sanford by the end of the year, The Washington Times has learned. GOP lawmakers will use a regularly scheduled annual retreat this weekend to discuss the fate of the governor, whose extramarital affair with an Argentine woman sparked an international scandal earlier this summer. Mr. Sanford has rejected calls to step down voluntarily, included one issued Wednesday by his own Republican lieutenant governor.

Sanford has vowed that he will not step down.

Bill Maher: Sanford Vs. Foley

GOP Marriage Formula

Daily Grumble

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is the luckiest man in the world today, as we move into Michael Jackson's Continuing Death: Day 2.

Maddow RIPS Gov. Mark Sanford

Quote Of The Day - John Kerry

“Too bad, if a governor had to go missing it couldn’t have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin.’’ - Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), speaking to a "Democrat-centric" group of business leaders in DC.

Oh my. This one is going to end up in Letterman territory.

Maria, Maria, The Guv Luuuvs Your Magnificent Boobies, Mariaaaa!!!

From an email from SC Gov. Mark Sanford to his Argentine mistress, Maria:

"You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light."

This part reads best if done in a Barry White voice:

"Please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.”

Ooooh, SANG it me, Barry!

(Voice of announcer: Person in photo not Maria.)

Flashback: Gov. Sanford On Gay Marriage

Dan Savage:

Sanford was more than five months into his affair when he gave this interview—and you gotta love Joe shoving his tongue up Sanford's ass at the end of the interview: "We all love you, Mark." Get in line, Joe. And Sanford—who ditched his four young kids on Father's Day in favor of his mistress—opposes civil unions for gay couples and adoptions by gay couples. Because every child deserves a mother and a father...

Anti-Gay SC Gov. Mark "Defender Of Marriage" Sanford Busted For Infidelity

The interwebs has been buzzing for days over the mysterious disappearance of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who ditched his security detail and went missing for a week. After claims that he'd been out "hiking the Appalachian Trail" (snork!), the truth comes out. Sanford had been in Buenos Aires visiting his mistress.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says he’s been having an affair and will resign as head of the Republican Governor’s Association. The married father of four emotionally apologized to his wife, staff and others after returning today from a trip to Argentina that followed a days-long absence. His staff had said the Republican was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. He had been a rumored contender for the 2012 GOP ticket. A former congressman, he’s most recently snared headlines for his unsuccessful fight to turn aside federal stimulus cash for his state’s schools.

Sanford vigorously supported South Carolina's Defense Of Marriage Act. Bwa ha ha ha.