RPOF Prevent Pelosi Project Mailer

The Republican Party of Florida thought it was a good idea to send out this fundraising mailer. Apparently, RPOF chairman Lenny Curry was inspired by Mark Sanford's victory. I would say that Sanford won in a conservative district against a boring Blue Dog Democrat whose famous brother couldn't save her campaign.

Curry sent out this "Prevent Pelosi Project" mailer out to potential donors.

“For millions of Americans, the notion of personal responsibility will be replaced by massive new government entitlement programs that promise benefits cradle-to-grave,” the letter reads. “Radical Islamists will continue to attack us with impunity, because under the leadership of Obama and Pelosi our enemies will no longer fear us, and our allies will no longer trust us. Obama and Pelosi will continue their assault on your Second Amendment rights to own a gun, while their Department of Homeland Security continues to stockpile ammunition. And although I personally find it sickening, given his recent remarks to abortion providers and his legislative record, I wouldn’t be surprised if President Obama pushes to end the ban on late-term abortions.”

I love how Republicans continue to claim that they fight terrorism better than Democrats. The Department of Homeland Security is not stockpiling weapons. The is a flat out lie and fear-mongering. Inspiring citizens to take up arms against the government is rhetoric. Sanford and these other Republicans fail to realize that they will be in office when well-armed vigilantes wage war against the government. As far as Obama ending the ban for minors, he has been fighting the courts against allowing Plan B to be sold over-the-counter to tennage girls. Obama has never even threatened to veto the Hyde amendment.

The most hysterical part of the mailer for a progressive.

In fact, I fear the Obama campaign team has only just begun to wreck their havoc in Florida.

Yes, Democratics have really been kicking ass in Congressional and state legislature races in the past two election terms. The Obama campaign team cares about Florida when President Obama is on the ballot. Obama didn't exactly lift other boats in his wake.

Votes Coming In For Mark Sanford Race

The early numbers for the South Carolina district 1 Republican primary race has Mark Sanford in the lead. Nothing surprises me from the state that kept sending Strom Thurmond backi to Washington.

Mark Sanford - 12,053

Curtis Bostic - 10,149

Update: AP has called the race for Sanford.

Update: The Fix reports Sanford will appear on Morning Joe tomorrow.

Mark Sanford May Run For Senate

Apparently, the Appalachian trail may lead to the U.S. Senate. Disgraced former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has not ruled out running for the Senate seat currently occupied by the departing Jim DeMint.

Don’t rule it out. In an interview, the former South Carolina governor said he’d been by bombarded Thursday by calls and emails from former donors and allies encouraging him to consider a run in the 2014 election for Mr. DeMint’s seat. And, guess what? He’s not dismissing the idea.

“It’s not a ‘no,’ but it’s not a ‘yes,’ ” Mr. Sanford said.

Gov. Nikki Haley will appoint DeMint's successor. An election for the Senate seat will be held in 2014.

Sanford became a national punchline for his affair with Maria Belen Chapur. I don't think an affair disqualifies Sanford from office. I do strongly disagree with Sanford's political views.

Don't think that Sanford could not get elected to the Senate. South Carolina sent the racist Strom Thurmond to the Senate repeatedly. David Vitter was caught in an escort scandal and was re-elected. Sanford has a legitimate chance a political second act. Sanford hasn't made enemies within his party like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. It is virtually impossible for a Democrat to win a statewide race in South Carolina. If Sanford wins the Republican primary, he will be a senator.

Erick Erickson's Bias

I love how conservative bloggers cry about liberal media bias. RedState.com webmaster Erick Erickson emailed Mark Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer about doing a push back fluff piece.

If he wants something more personal for the blog to push back, I'm happy to help, but I'll get this up now. Obviously he's got more than the usual suspects trying to make hay out of this and we're big fans.

That is serious muchraking on Erickson's part. The "we're big fans" is a sure sign Erickson was planning to ask Sanford tough questions.

Seriously, next time Erickson cries about media bias - ignore him as you would someone crying wolf. Erickson hasn't earned the right to credibility.

Daily Show on Mark Sanford

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Shut Up, Mark Sanford
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Jon Stewart does a segment on how the people of South Carolina wish Mark Sanford would please stop talking about his affair.

Mark Sanford Interview

Talking Points Memo has audio of the Mark Sanford Associated Press interview. It is painfully obvious Sanford is still in love with Maria Chapur. Sanford said his relationship with Chapur is more important than becoming president. It would be shocking if he and Jenny Sanford are able to reconcile their marriage.

Josh Marshall makes an astute observation.

Of course, when you're a middle-aged man facing the collapse of your life's work and abandoning hope of being with the woman you call your 'soul mate' rational decision making or a clearly considered plan may be too much to expect. But it does seem like there are two guys here. One saying he wants to serve out his responsibility to his state and reconcile with his wife and another using the press to broadcast a free form love poem to the girlfriend in Argentina.

Sanford has been more eloquent talking about his love sick feelings than the stimulus package. The latter version of Sanford was another boring anti-government conservative drone. Sanford 2.0 is a politically damaged and flawed human. Too many in politics behave like bad dinner theatre performers. Sanford is a horrible governor but he did do a service with his fall from grace.

Update: Cenk Uygur offers his take on the Sanford interview. Uyger has a theory the women Sanford was dancing with were prostitutes.



Ben Smith discovers Sanford was suppose to be in Argentina for 10 days.

12 Republican State Senator have signed a letter urging Sanford to resign.

Mark Sanford & Sanctity of Marriage

Social conservative and anti-gay marriage Gov. Mark Sanford admits to having affairs with more women. Sanford uses the Bill Clinton defense that he didn't get to home plate. Only mistress Maria Belen Chapur had his heart.

"This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story," Sanford said. "A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day."

Sanford sounds like a bad Hallmark card.

Sanford and Chapur met 7 times during their 8 year "forbidden" relationship. The last time was in January of 2008. Sanford and Chapur ended the relationship after Jenny Sanford learned about the affair.

In related news: South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster is investigating if Sanford broke any laws when the Governor disappeared.

News of relations with other women ends the slim hope Sanford had of saving his political career. Sanford can hold on to his term as Governor but he will never be elected to public office again. The worse matter is his hypocrisy. Sanford as been outspoken again gay marriage. Sanford as no ground on whic to speak of the sanctity of marriage.

Update: Gawker points out something I missed. Sanford ended his affair with Chapur twice. The second time was when Sanford pulled his now infamous disappearing act. The first time was in New York of this year.

Two nights in Manhattan in September 2008.

Three nights in the Hamptons in November 2008.

One night in New York in 2009 with a "trusted spiritual adviser," to end the affair, which his wife found out about in January of that year.

It's Good to Be King

Gov. Mark Sanford compares his martital and political troubles to King David.

"And what I find interesting is the story of David and the way in which he fell mightily, he fell in very, very significant ways but then picked up the pieces and then built from there."

This may shock people but I actually feel sorry for the guy. I'm also politically astute enough to understand Sanford is digging a grave by comparing himself to King David. Another flaw in Sanford's analogy is David had Bathsheba's husband killed in order to marry her. Sanford has enough problem with his sanctity of marriage message.

Political Wives Standing Up

I second Ann Friedman's sentiment. Wives shouldn't be used as political props when their husband's get caught in a scandal.

Finally, I was glad to see neither Ensign's nor Sanford's wife did the ol' "stand by your man" routine at the mea culpa press conferences. Hope this is a new trend of politicians standing on their own when they apologize for their personal indiscretions.

Women don't need to go through the media humiliation to make their tarnished spouses look saintly. Imagine how Hillary Clinton felt knowing the nation was aware of her husband's infidelity? Debra Saunders wrote she will love to see political wives throwing their husbands' clothes out the front door. Saunders may get her wish.

Mark Sanford Emails To Mistress

The State has e-mail exchanges between Mark Sanford and the infamous Maria. Sanford confessed today to having an affair.

From Gov. Sanford,
Date: Thursday, July 10, 2008, 12:24 a.m.

“One, tomorrow leave at 5 a.m. for New York and meetings. Will think about you on its streets and wish I was going to be there later in the month when you are there. Tomorrow night back to Philadelphia for the start of the National Governor's Conference through the weekend. Back to Columbia for Tuesday and then on Wednesday, as I think I had told you, taking the family to China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Thailand and then back through Hong Kong on world wind tour. Few days home then to Bahamas for 5 days on a friend’s boat for the last break of the summer. The following weekend have been asked to spend it out in Aspen, Colorado with McCain - which has kicked up the whole VP talk all over again in the press back home ...

Two, mutual feelings .... 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 - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ...

Lastly I also suspect I feel a little vulnerable because this is ground I have never certainly never covered before - so if you have pearls of wisdom on how we figure all this out please let me know... In the meantime 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.”

Sanford writes e-mails the way Barry White sings soul songs.

Fair and Balanced: Mark Sanford is a Democrat?

Fox News falsely identified Mark Sanford as a Democrat. The cable news network later corrected their mistake. This isn't the first time Fox News mistakenly labeled a Republican a Democrat. For instance, Mark Foley was labeled a Dem when news broke of the page sex scandal.



Fox News is either too incompetent to fact-check Sanford's and Foley's party affiliation or they willfully continue to misinform their audience. You decide. Either scenario does not speak well for the journalistic quality of Fox News.

Write A Caption: Mark Sanford

I blame Bob Dole for bringing Mark Sanford's career down.

Where Is Sanford

A touching video montage to a man with no understanding of economics.

Quote of the Day

"A guy from the northeast did a study on generational accounting. Generational accounting says what is the imputed tax for a young person born in America today? And remarkably, that number is 82, which at all ain’t that far from a thing called slavery. If you’re giving away 82% of every dollar you earn every day and every week and every month, A, it’s not a good deal, B, it collapses the capitalistic system because nobody has any initiative to work at that point, and C, it really isn’t that far from slavery. And what the Republic was originally set up was on the notion that was just talked about a moment ago, which is this larger notion of freedom. And economic freedom is a part of the larger notion of freedom."

Mark Sanford, the formerly missing Governor of South Carolina.

Sanford doesn't cite what economist wrote about generational accouting. The answer is Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Alan J. Auerbach, and Jagadeesh Gokhale. A 1995 Congressional Budget Office report predicted future generations will pay 78 percent flat tax rate. The problem with generational accounting is if you project Medicare, Medicaid and the Defense Department budget; each will all take 100 percent of the gross domestic product. That is impossible.

Conservative economist Herbert Stein served under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Stein was also a member of the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute. Stein's law is "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." Stein created his law for trade deficits. Logic dictates the defense and entitlement expenses will not be 100 percent of the GDP and that they will bottom out. The question is are the expenses put under smart fiscal policies are fall from their own weight?

Generational accouting does not take into effect what kind of fiscal policies future political leaders will apply and entitlement and military expenses being controlled. Which is what Obama has been proposing. What political climate does Sanford foresee where politicians expect to be re-elected with an 82 percent tax rate?

Side note: Ezra Klein wrote a post on health care and Stein's law. Klein believes "the day of reckoning is imminent."

Mark Sanford MIA

This is rather serious: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is missing. Sanford disappeared last Thursday and was recently located. Somehow Sanford was contacted. Which is strange, considering he turned off his personal and state phone.

First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press earlier Monday her husband has been gone for several days and she did not know where.

She said she was not concerned.

The governor’s state and personal phones had been turned off and he had not responded to phone or text messages since at least the weekend, a source familiar with the situation said.

Most mobile phones cannot be tracked if they are turned off.

Jenny Sanford said the governor said he needed time away from their children to write something.

Jenny Sanford was not concerned her husband disappeared for several days. I have no idea what to make of that statement. Sanford intentionally hid from the State Law Enforcement Division. SLED provides security for the Governor.

"I was recently made aware that Governor Sanford has frequently been eluding SLED agents and disappearing at odd times," Knotts said. Previously, Sanford has not been out of all contact - including with his own office - for this long before, a source, who insisted on anonymity, said.

Fitnews.com claims a source inform them Sanford ditched his security detail. The Atlantic Monthly reports Sanford's cell phone was traced to Atlanta.

Sanford's spokesman Joel Sawyer says the Governor's behavior was due to losing the bailout court battle.

"Gov. Sanford is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside," Sawyer said.

Is Sawyer blaming Obama for Sanford's behavior? Good luck with that talking point.

There are people asking who was running the executive branch in Sanford's absence? Even Sanford's staff didn't know his whereabouts. In all seriousness, people close to Sanford should make sure he doesn't do anything to harm himself. His behavior suggests he might be a threat to himself.

Update: More Sanford posts.

Write A Caption: Mark Sanford

Fair and Balanced: Mark Sanford is a Democrat?

Mark Sanford Emails To Mistress

The Press Conference: Sanford admits to adultery.