Every time that we open up the newspaper, it seems that there is another story about a politician caught in a scandal. Last week, the spotlight was placed on 49-year-old South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, one of the pure-bred Republican war-dogs, a bible-quoting, social conservative who looked to be one of the rising stars in the party.
The story started in the press rotation as a weird, concerned story about a state who couldn’t find its governor. Both Democratic and Republican representatives all had the same question but no answer, “Where is the governor?” The official story finally came from the governor’s staff, which issued a press release stating that the governor simply had gone to clear his head and hike the Appalachian Trail for a few days. This infuriated the Democrats who were angry that 1) Sanford took a government-issued vehicle and 2) no one could get hold of him. Republicans were just worried about where their governor was.
Three days later, the Governor answered those questions, and opened up some more, facing a national TV audience for 20 minutes, offering a rambling and at times tearful apology for an extramarital affair. Now politicians having affairs is nothing unusual no matter what party these guys are affiliated with. The rub comes in the fact that most of the guys who are getting caught philandering, are normally those who yell the loudest about good morals and family values.
It seems some politicians, whether it be at the federal, state or local levels, need to be reminded of the old saying “Practice what you preach.” If you are going to make your campaign about family values, then be a family man, and for God’s sake be faithful to your betrothed.
