Did “the Family” Force Sanford to Ditch His Mistress?
As Citizen92 pointed out, Governor Mark Sanford mentioned the "C Street" group in his press conference today (TPMM picked up on it too). Now, I’m not positive that the "C Street" group is the Family, but if so, then it makes two Family members in just over a week admitting their infidelities.
Which makes me particularly interested in the context of Sanford’s reference to the group–following on his statement that his wife knew of the affair.
Did your wife and your family know about the affair before the trip to Argentina?
Yeah. We’ve been working through this thing for about the last five months. I’ve been to a lot of different–I was part of a group called C Street when I was in Washington, it was a Christian Bible study of some folks that ask Members of Congress hard questions that I think were very very important. I’ve been working with them.
[snip]
It was discovered five months ago.
He suggests the affair was discovered and he spent much of the last five months since it was discovered getting counseling, first and foremost, from the C Street group (he also names someone, Cubby Culbertson, who attended the press conference). Suggesting that the Family–if it is indeed the same thing as C Street–has known about Sanford’s affair for at least some of the last five months.
So consider the timing.
June 11: Doug Hampton sends letter to Fox
June 15: Doug Hampton emails letter to Fox
June 16: Ensign admits affair
June 18: Sanford disappears to Buenos Aires (telling his staff he might be hiking in the Appalachian trail)
June 19: Publication of letter suggests ties to the Family
Now, Sanford’s wife released a statement saying that she threw him out two weeks ago. But she also makes it clear she had no idea where he went.
I believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity, dignity and importance of the institution of marriage. I believe that has been consistently reflected in my actions. When I found out about my husband’s infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage. We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago.
This trial separation was agreed to with the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage. During this short separation it was agreed that Mark would not contact us. I kept this separation quiet out of respect of his public office and reputation, and in hopes of keeping our children from just this type of public exposure. Because of this separation, I did not know where he was in the past week.
So what was it that made Sanford decide Thursday was the day to fly to Argentina and bawl with his lover for five days (and ultimately, he said, to end the affair, though it’s clear he still loves her)?
Frankly, I think it was Tom Davis–the friend he let down–who may have told he him he had to ditch the Argentine mistress. But I do wonder if the Family is trying to get ahead of another looming adultery scandal.
Sort of makes you wonder whether anyone else is going to be having teary press conferences in the coming days?
Good post, EW. And here’s even more:
This thing has a life of its own.
Sanford’s South American sojourn taxpayer-funded
“South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford spent more than $21,000 of taxpayers’ money on international travel last year, at least part of which was spent on travel to Argentina — where his mistress is located.”
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/…..er-funded/
Getcha hankies here! Get your big hankies here!!
Sort of makes you wonder whether anyone else is going to be having teary press conferences in the coming days?
Also makes me wonder what this sudden outbreak of purity enforcement, if so be it, would be gearing up for.
Ah Jealousy, that green-eyed monster! Not to mention the force of Envy…
It sounds like this group has a confessional aspect, like secret societies. Traditionally, this information is used to foster intimacy, with the implied threat of blackmail. It’s rare that members are asked to take action based on information that’s revealed in meetings. I hope it doesn’t have a chilling effect on the confessions.
That’s the same M.O. that conservatives have used for quite a long time with closeted gays; everybody is wink-wink-nod-hush about it, with the implied threat that any effort to part from the party line will result in an ugly outing.
I’m wondering what Ensign and Sanford did to piss somebody off, something which looked like leaving the party line…
Here are the emails he sent her.
that needed to come with a “brain bleach” warning. though i kind of like he took his family on a “world wind tour”.
The State had the emails since December?
And Sanford says “it was discovered five months ago”?
Huh.
Still can’t do the math, Governor.
Alarming that he finds a diesel engine running in the background to be “tranquil.”
This might tip the balance:
(My Bold)
And in case you haven’t got time to read Jeff’s book, try his March 2003 article in Harpers called:
And EW, even US News & World Report (a highly conservative publication) is onto the C Street connection:
I feel guilty popping in for a typo alert, but this:
Governor Jim Sanford mentioned
Should be:
Governor Mark Sanford mentioned
No guilt!! I’m particularly bad with first names, thanks.
Anyone up for new episodes of “Sanford and Son”? But a bit more seriously, EW will confirm that I called it as an affair before the weekend, when it was just a tiny sprout of a story. I speculated there was a kid, too, but we don’t know one way or the other on that. Yet.
Sanford and Son(s)
or
All In The Family.
I jokingly asked if Palin’s witch doctor wasn’t cursing the field of potential challengers for her in 2012.
Would be even more interesting if The Family was clearing the field for someone though I’m not sure it would be Palin.
If one wanted to find out more about the secretive and powerful group called variously “The Family” and “The Fellowship”, you could read this 2002 article by Lisa Getter of the Los Angeles Times:
So, come 2010, the first question out of a savvy reporter’s mouth (you know it will be a blogger) will be: do you now, or will you ever, live in the C Street Church/House? And let the voters decide if they want to elect more wingnuts to Congress.
“So what was it that made Sanford decide Thursday was the day to fly to Argentina and bawl with his lover for five days”
I think he meant ball, and it got messed up in translation.
Oy! The letters have been released. May I suggest instead Balada para un loco (text)?
(Lyrics by Horacio Ferrer, set to music by Astor Piazzolla (youtube); at the first link are lyrics in English and Spanish, and for both male and female singers.
The song won a big prize in around 1970.
If it gets bad enough, I know of a fairly complete performance of Maria de Buenos Aires on-line …)
Here’s a link to Sharlet’s original article in Harpers from which his book The Family eventually grew. And here are Scott Horton’s “Six Questions” following up the book.
You win by at least a minute. Great minds and all…*g*
*g*
So I’m call you and see you another:
(My Bold)
And more gory details from an interview Jeff Sharlet did in 2003:
So here one can see clearly how inimical they are. The question is whether such could be constrained merely by conventional reckonings of gains and losses. By design I think they don’t work well with others.
Note that the stated aim is very similar to that of SMM; just a little dissonance on the question of who this world leader is to be, the resolution of which many parties seem to think can wait.
Oops. I posted this on the Scrapple thread by mistake.
It gets worse.
Sanford’s “Spiritual Giant”
Who is Cubby Culbertson?
By Meredith Simons
Posted Wednesday, June 24, 2009, at 5:14 PM ET
“Near the end of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s jarringly open confessional press conference Wednesday, as the event deteriorated into a storm of questions, interruptions, and half-answers, Sanford paused to give a shout-out. “I see Cubby Culbertson in the back of the room,” Sanford said. “I would consider him a spiritual giant.” Someone tried to interrupt him, but Sanford pressed on: “And an incredibly dear friend. And he has been helping us work through this over these last five months. And Cubby, I want to say thank you for being there as a friend.”
“So, who is this spiritual giant who for five months has been advising the governor? Warren “Cubby” Culbertson is a pillar of the Christian community in South Carolina’s capital, a Bible study leader and Sunday school teacher who owns a court reporting business.
“Culbertson helped form a men’s Bible study group with the help of good friend Bill Jones, the president of the evangelical college Columbia International University. “
http://www.slate.com/id/2221334/
I thought I remember reading somewhere that Sun Myung Moon hosted the National Prayer Breakfast one year, but I can’t find the link. It might have been the year he was crowned the true messiah in the Dirksen Building.
I was out looking for a link for you and while I didn’t find it, I did find this fascinating little tidbit. Wonder if there is any link between the ICL and The Fellowship or C Street or whatever?
“Started in the Depression, the cozy atmosphere of men’s fellowship was intended by Republican founders of the International Christian Leadership (ICL) to combat labor unions with the new fusion of Jesus and American enterprise. ICL soon found friends on Capitol Hill, and from 1953 onward, it hosed the presidential National Prayer Breakfast.”
http://books.google.com/books?…..8;resnum=6
http://tinyurl.com/laucvu
“. . . to combat labor unions with the new fusion of Jesus and American enterprise.” This is some seriously sick stuff, isn’t it?
Well, well, well. Apparently we’ve come full circle:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_(Christian_political_organization)
Sounds soggy…
You don’t like soggy toast? Good catch! Can’t correct it now, though, but thnx.
I’d be more interested in links between the C Street/Family and the Council for National Policy.
Think Ensign is connected, but I don’t know about Sanford.
Here’s some info on Moon and National Prayer Breakfast. Don’t know the source, but do note that no footnote is attached to show where this info originated.
“Ronald Reagan filmed a promotional piece supporting the Moonie owned Washington Times Newspaper as well as getting Moon himself invited to a Presidential Prayer Breakfast. Grateful for Moonie support of his embattled presidency, Nixon invited Moon into the Whitehouse as a personal guest where Moon prayed for him in Korean. “
Gets pretty tin-foil-y, too.
http://www.geocities.com/craig…..wbush.html
************************************
This source makes mention of “a” prayer breakfast, which may be what you remember:
“Last week, the movement’s leaders (ACLC) presided over a Washington prayer breakfast featuring messages of thanks from both Bush presidents … Two sponsors of last week’s breakfast, the International and Interreligious Federation of World Peace and the American Family Coalition, are both affiliated with Moon …. Moon was the keynote speaker at the Washington breakfast last week … The columnist says Bush sent a ‘warm letter’ of support presented at the breakfast by a state senator, in which the president and first lady sent best wishes to the sponsors — and thanked them for rallying his ‘armies of compassion’.”
[You’ll have to go to the Way Back Machine to find this article, though.]
http://www.cuttingedge.org/News/n1990.cfm
Anyway, that’s all I could find.
I like how the Republicans have already given Terry’s job as head of the Repug Govenators to Haley Barbour. One would think they would wait until his political body was cold. They must be decisive or have had inside information…
This makes me think, was he even in Argentina? I mean, if you are going to dump your mistress, why would you feel the need to visit her? Unless of course you were trying to pay hush money.
Actually, I bet he never left the U.S. What is the chance that the Family has a blacksite in southwestern Virginia or somewhere where they do their hardcore come to Jesus convincing? And would give odds that Cheney has a
undisclosed secret locationcountry house nearby.I’ve almost done the same thing you did and had to check myself. The present embarrassment is named Mark Sanford. Here’s ol’ Terry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Sanford
he was confronted at the atlanta-hartford airport international terminal by a reporter from the SC The State.
ya gotta wonder if he even broke off the relationship, or ever intended to, on his 6-day visit, except he got caught.
and ya gotta wonder why the paper kept their tipoff for so long. who was manipulating that info? any attempts by the family to keep a lid on this may have backfired by exposing them. let’s hope this piece gets much bigger.
someone needs to press the paper to make sure they’re releasing everything they got.
The reporter who broke the story at state said they had to veryify the authenticity of the emails which is why they were held for so long. The paper consulted attorney’s after the email was authenticated and were told they could run the emails.
It’s the only reason the governor came clean.
ah, thanks. i agree; i don’t believe the guy would have even considered coming clean had he not been caught. hell, his wife had already kicked him out.
i’m actually a little concerned about this mysterious argentine woman. no one knows who she is. except of course those whose interests would be served by making sure she never talks about any of this.
my gawd, this is beyond tawdry.
Hartsfield Airport
It’s the same as with ABC and the Washington Madame’s little black book. Keeping it quiet gives them the threat of blackmail exposure and that opens doors to them for interviews and information.
TheState had that same leverage in SC. Why would they give it up now? Because they knew the story was going to come out and the best they could do was to get the first interview upon his return.
Well, speaking of SMM they’ve been making pests of themselves in the southern cone for quite a while, at least since he went around an attempt by the baires govt to scotch a similar regal event down there by inviting GHWB to give the keynote. It was soon after the end of the latter’s term, and I need hardly add that he accepted the invitation.
My, it’s been ages! But the site’s still up.
From Gorenfeld:
fatster @ 30:
The stuff in ()s is needed for disambiguation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_(Christian_political_organization)
but my HTML chops aren’t up to getting the edit window to put it into the URL. Scroll almost to the bottom of the disambiguation window to find “Religion”; the link to the article is there.
Well, I’ve now learned a whole new big word. And I’m learning what it means, too.
I’ll see if I can identify the section you noted. Thnx.
Ahhhh just waiting for the opportunity to do this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY-a4QbfT7U
Good on you. Re-enjoyed “Everyday People” too while over there.
I started to read the emails in the story linked but had to stop. They made me feel sorry for him. As a Republican “family values” persona, and as someone hurting his family, and as someone who left his state high and dry while he was wrapped up in his personal drama, he deserves to be outed and to have consequences, but the emails sounded like someone in very much over their head and I can’t get too snarky about that.
OT – Judge Leon issued another GITMO opinion on Monday. I lifted the link via Andy Worthington’s article here.
It’s a pretty incredible story. A guy goes to Afghanistan (maybe with stars in his eyes, maybe not) and once there, gets forced to stay at a training camp were wary Taliban can keep an eye on him and then gets accused of being a spy for America and Israel. He is tortured (including torture by Atef, which Atef supposedly has recorded on a tape captured by US forces) and confesses under torture to being a spy for the US. That is recorded too.
He is then put in the Taliban Sarpusa prison, along with a thousand or so Northern Alliance prisoners and at least four other non-Afghans. He is held for almost two years, when the US forces invade. The Taliban turns the Sarpusa prisoners loose as they leave and the Northern Alliance prisoners all leave, but five foreign prisoners including the Habeaas petitioner in this case, Janka, all have nowhere to go, so they just wait for the US to come and take them. Which we do. Then, bc Janko is discovered on an Atef tape (of Atef torturing him) Ashcroft declares him a terrorist and off he goes to GITMO (where real Taliban there I’m guessing had not much love for him)
Leon sounds absolutely incredulous that he has this case in front of him (and makes some by the side references to what he might think constitutes torture btw) Gov argues to him that, bc (even without much evidence to support this) they can show that Janka was at a traning camp and/or safehouse that was affiliated with the Taliban or Al-Qaeda for some period of time before he was accused of being a spy, tortured and sent to Sarupsa, that is sufficient for his forever indefinite detention and torture by the US.
BTW – this case is another in the string of cases, from Sullivan to Bates to Leon to Walton et al – swirling on the edges of being sucked into the lawless center that has always been at the heart of the Bushco approach. It’s not that there was ever any special reason for the “war” against al-Qaeda to be unlike any other war – the difference is that for the first time, the US wanted to adopt the posture – and has now successfully adopted that posture thanks to Mr. Obama – that the President of the US was a person so unique to the world and so inherently powerful that he could proceed outside of both the civil and military law. The posit was always that no law applied to anything the US Pres chose to do, or to have his human chattels do, to people.
The courts are now having to decide, with an MIA Congress and a popularized Changling in office (a Changling who will not hesitate to make the judges personal targets of fanatics if it relieves him of paying any political price for his actions) what to do. Never ever ever ever ever was this about military law v. civilian law. It was always about no law. What Obama and Holder have now codified by act and action.
Leon, who I think is not nearly as prone as I am to overuse of exclamtory punctuation:
Will we ever recover from what BushCo has done to us?
From now on I’ll remember Leon whenever I type CapLock-&-1. Thnx for that, too.
Yeah, saw that yesterday and meant to say something, but got sidetracked. You know, these are hard core conservative judges busting Bush/Obama chops on this stuff. It is far more noteworthy than it is being given credit for.
Just ran up on some Lake coverage.
I noticed that there was an amendment to the Military Appropriations bill that the House was voting for last night that would bar any release or transfers of prisoners from GTMO except under certain conditions. Does anyone have any more information on that? Did it pass?
Are some Republicans trying to loosen the Christian Grip by outing “the Family”?
Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, and thrice is a habit (I’m waiting for that third shoe to drop).
But, alabama, I shudder to think what they might have hidden behind their backs as a replacement.
Wow, reading these comments called to mind Craig Unger’s “Fall of the House of Bush,” which was an FDL Book Salon selection about 18 months ago (and is a terrific book).
The references to ‘foreign policy’ and to ‘Christian (evangelical) groups’ prompted the recollection of Unger’s description of the poisonous nexis of Tim LeHaye type ‘raptureness’ and Israeli policies (including, presumably, settlements). The Left Behinders supported the Likudniks, and vice versa. (And isn’t there some minister down in Houston or Dallas who helps organize tours to the Holy Land and supports Israel on the grounds that it will speed up the Second Coming?)
The other thing that makes me go, “Hmmmmm… other shoes? Other electeds…?” is that at some point today, either on NPR or online, there was a report that referenced, “… a federal official who spotted Sanford at the Atlanta airport…” Cause I thought, “Huh? Whoa, would it be karmic justice if the neocon, wingnuttia uber-surveillance ends up exposing some of these Republican moralist scolds as … ‘double-dippers’, shall we say in order to be polite in mixed company?
Now, who was the ‘federal official’?
And Sanford’s a governor, so presumably he got on a commercial aircraft after having his passport examined and noted in some NSA database?
So was the ‘federal official’ NSA related? Or criminal justice related? ‘Cause it seems rather odd that ye olde Atlanta FAA flight operations manager would recognize Sanford waiting at a boarding gate.
At any rate, if some nefarious entities wanted to blackmail or extort favors — political, economic, or other — then knowing about infidelities would be a good place to start. Looks like that’s what’s happened.
Although, from the reports by Josh Marshall at TPM it appears that Sanford really has been pretty… honest. I think that I’ll take Marshall’s word for it. But the larger issues about two recent exposures, plus the potential for some kind of tie-in with foreign policy objectives (particularly anything related to the Left Behinders or the extremists in Israel) do seem rather ominous.
If there are more shoes to fall, let’s get ‘em out here and get this mess over with…
My paranoia points in another direction: I bet the Mormons are taking over the Republican Party (lots and lots of Mormons in the South, as there are in Nevada)….
Rather than loosen the Christian right’s grip I think this is being done to prevent a Palin fiasco from occurring in 2012.
I think the movers and shakers have decided that by getting this stuff out now when everyone is still in the grips of economic shock they can control the damage and by the time 2012 rolls around the public will consider this old news making either Ensign or Sanford less-damaged goods, altho Ensign is carrying some pretty heavy baggage considering all the financial shenanigans he engaged in.
Don’t count these people out.
In the car earlier, the news radio station indicated this relationship (which appears to have begun or at least was carried on via email) has lasted eight years.
Eight years he’s been corresponding with this woman. One wonders how long it’s been since it went from correspondence to meeting, etc…. And, FWIW, what he’s told her that maybe he shouldn’t have.
And for those who are slow on the uptake (like your’s truly), back in May last year, FDL’s own Siun hosted this:
FDL Book Salon Welcomes Jeff Sharlet: The Family, The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
I understand retirement can do that to a guy…
;-p
LOL! Or vice versa.
Sorry for the delay in my response, but I was reading all of that FDL Book Salon from last year. Scary stuff and no doubt about it!
As a lifelong agnostic, one of the blindspots it leaves me with is typically dismissing as frivolity religious stuff as a bunch of mumbo-jumbo not connected with reality.
And worse, my religiosity blinders too often blind me to the all-too-real connection of religion and power.
Shame on me!
“[R]eligious stuff as a bunch of mumbo-jumbo not connected with reality.” Yeppers.
Power seems a bunch of mumbo-jumbo stuff, too (as reflected in the jargon the power players use), only they use it to impose a “reality” on us. Or try to.
Now to read the FDL Book Salon link you provided. Thnx.
Still unanswered questions.
Who tipped off the Las Vegas Sun and gave them the Hampton letter (which read like an unproofed first draft)?
Who tipped off the (SC) State Newspaper in December and gave them the Governor’s personal e-mails?
Two local papers. Two huge scoops.
A woman scorned is a dangerous thing they say…..
Hey, wasn’t there once a Mouseketeer named “Cubby”?
Tee hee. See #25 above. Doesn’t answer your question, but it is interesting.
BBC video on ex-Bagram detainees up at ThinkP making it clear that, while Briwn Williams is ready to hop in bed with Obama, and Gibson will make sure the right wing points get played, and the press corps here laughs at Helen, some journos here and there are going to ask the sane, normal, logically sequential questions, all of which highlight Obama’s fecklessness.
Also, Holbrooke is saying that we are going to cut back on how much spraying (what – did we have agent orange left over?) we are doing of Afghan poppy fields, bc it was making the peasants feel forced to go over to the Taliban fold. Instead, he says, we’ll go after the drug dealers (really? that’s our military mission, to designate suspected drug dealers as unlawful enemy combatants that can be bombed in their homes with their families and no trials etc. -thats our military mission in Afghanistan?)
Yeah, that’ll work. Bc in addition to blurring the lines on civil and military laws and missions even more, that kind of approach will get right to the heart of the problem. Leaving the farmers broke from inability to be paid by the drug dealers instead of being broke by virtue of having their crops and health and soil destroyed by US spraying efforts.
Good thing no one decided that the problem was really something as obscure as “the farmers need a way to make money to live” After all, if it doesn’t involve bombing people in their homes, what kind of solution could it be?
Thanks for the linke. For some reason I have a hard time with oxdown unless I get links. I’m glad for the piece and recommended it, but the truth is that several other judges have already done this before – slammed their fist and demanded release forthwith. And nothing has happened. RIght now, too, Congress has specifically prohibited (or maybe this has only passed on house, but I’m pretty sure it’s both) the Executive branch from using any funds to relocate any GITMO prisoner to the US through the end of 2010 (election year) for any purpose, be it trials or
tribulationsrelease.What Obama expected, given his and Holder’s steady drone of lies about GITMO and torture I don’t know, but maybe he is that 11 dimensional chess player and figured he’d always be able to just get his faithful followers to, teary eyed, point to his signing of the proclamation to close all the while knowing that he was going to have Congress block him.
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
I am sure Obama is just slicking this all out for maximum due process potential.
I’m almost positive that both houses is correct; I seem to recall hearing that the Senate passed it just last week under cover of darkness, and they would have been the second house. Maybe I can find it this evening.
OT- another job for our Fitz:
Just headed over here to see if word had spread.
I practically did a joy dance just to see that they still know how to arrest these guys.
Where? Turner’s site?
No, I heard from ThinkProgress.
Wow. Unbelievable. Go Fitz. We’ve already had a federal judge’s (Joan Lefkow) husband and mother murdered by a crazy, so Fitz is very sensitive to that.
Has this made it into the thread? “Fox News identifies Sanford as a Democrat”
I can’t believe he has the time for such nonsense. At least he wouldn’t if he were busy doing the State’s business and tending to his rather large brood of children. He ought to resign and save himself at least a shred of dignity. The ‘brotherhood of Christian soldiers’ is so outed.
Enjoy.
So when to we get to tell these guys STFU with the sanctimonious bullshit. Welcome to the Monkey House.
Totally OT, but I’m guessing that both EW and bmaz will get a kick out of the latest from Murray Waas (via The Hill):
O/T, or back to torture and Spain
Lawyer: Spanish prosecution of Bush lawyers will proceed
BY DANIEL TENCER Published: June 24, 2009 Updated 1 hour ago
“The Spanish lawyer working to indict six former Bush administration attorneys for their roles in the US’s torture program says the case will go ahead in Spanish courts.
“Gonzalo Boyé, a private lawyer in Spain, is working to indict the so-called “Bush Six” lawyers who gave the Bush administration its rationale for carrying out the systematic torture of terrorist suspects. The six are John Yoo, author of the “torture memos,” Douglas Feith, then a deputy defense secretary, Pentagon lawyer William Haynes II, former assistant attorny general Jay Bybee, and David Addington, a former chief of staff to then-Vice President Dick Cheney.
“A recent decision by Spain’s parliament to re-work its “universal jurisdiction” rules (which allow human-rights crimes anywhere in the world to be prosecuted in Spanish courts) won’t stop the prosecution of six Bush administration lawyers, Boyé told Mother Jones magazine in an interview.”
http://rawstory.com/08/news/20…..h-lawyers/
mad dog @ 44
good god!
another federalist society.
another john birch society.
our society needs to figure out how to immunize itself from organizations which, in this day and age, are right wing organizations.
the problem begins, of course, with calling them “crackpots” and leaving it at that – a favorite pastime of mine.
this article suggests they are very effective politically, and the nominations to and current control of the supreme court demonstrate (for the federalist society).
thanks for the info, md.
When “the family” forces it’s member to come clean (as it were) regarding their “affairs,” it removes the prospect of blackmail that was clearly being employed against them, and every corrupt pretender in DC.
If you see a trend developing, keep in mind – these people are out from under the threat of blackmail when these revelations become public.
Somewhere, a blackmailer is freaking out for the loss of leverage.
You guys need to give a little more credit to the Columbia State. For a cackalack newpaper, they swallow remarkably little official bullshit.
and I’ve read that it was one of their reporters who tracked Sanford to the Atlanta airport and confronted him there. I don’t know that they actually ferreted all this out, but they sure went after it.
Waaaay O/T. “Class Warfare” does not exist. It doesn’t, it doesn’t, it doesn’t. So stop saying it does.
From The Times
May 26, 2009
Fury at ‘ghettoisation’ as Rio slums are to be sealed off by 10ft walls
Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
“Walls are going up around the hillside slums of Rio de Janeiro, further dividing a city already separated between rich and poor.
“Beneath the gaze of the statue of Christ the Redeemer, work is nearing completion on one of 19 walls to be built around the city’s sprawling favelas — the informal and often crime-ridden shantytowns that are home to more than a million people.
“Critics say that the concrete barriers, up to 3m high, will seal the favelas as ghettos, segregating the inhabitants by sealing them off from the richer areas.
‘“We had the Berlin Wall, we have the walls of Palestine, now the walls of Rio,” José Saramago, the author and Nobel laureate, said.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t…..360807.ece
Does anyone remember this wonderful book, Child of the Dark? Written by Carolina Maria de Jesus, who lived in the Rio slums.
How sad to see the news of walls going up…
Thnx, Margot. I hesitated to link that because it was so O/T, but it does make the heart hurt, doesn’t it? I hope it’s not an indicator of the future with such barriers going up all over the world to protect those who have from the growing many who don’t.
Why are we assuming they “bawled” and broke up for five days? Isn’t it much more likely they had nonstep sex for 5 straight days and then at the last minute he broke it off?
Who ever said that he broke it off??
They balled then bawled.
-G
There’s more to come, I bet.
Sanford apologized to Tom Davis, which means that he really hadn’t broken off the affaire . Furthermore, it’s implausible that no one noticed that Sanford was not returning home to the SC State Mansion week before his wife “tossed him”. That fact, that she tossed him, also suggests that Sanford was not yet done with “Maria”.
I bet he went down the Buenos aries for one more tryst on the Rio Plate. I also suspect it will turn out she visited him on his trip to Brazil…and on an earlier hunting trip to argentina.
Sanford claims he bought his own air-ticke t this time. Let’s hope so, since he was already redy running up charges on his abandoned State vehicles at two airports. Wonder if his “dove hunting” trip with friends last year was also self-financed…at $280/day/person I hope that tab wasn’t also on State or Federal expense…Maria as his personal guest.
http://www.politico.com/news/s…..24164.html
o/` It’s a Family Affair….it’s a Family Affair… o/`
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0kSlORbAnQ
Cubby Culbertson, seriously? Sounds like a character on Leave It to Beaver.
His real name is Warren Culbertson. Why he’d rather go by “Cubby” I don’t know.
Him and Scooter
Ms. Sanford, a suggestion ; “Dump the bum and take him to the cleaners!”
Mrs. Sanford is apparently the (eventual) sole heir to the Skil Tool fortune. She is the grandaughter of the company’s founder.
Sanford himself apparently has some money of his own (he grew up on a plantation and apparently still owns it), but nowhere near the access to cash his wife has.
Mauimom asked last night if she had to add another brand to the list of things to avoid. In this case, no. Skil was sold to Emerson Electric, which then sold it to Bosch. Of course, if you prefer to buy American you aren’t doing that with Skil…
She has the dough already
I feel kinda bad for the cucquean.
Sanford has founded a new group: Promise Creepers.
Phoenix Woman has a new post up on the front page for us: “Whipping the Public Option: Senator Klobuchar, Are You Listening?”
You wanna know what I’m wondering?
Who’s financing the ‘Family’? How’re they paying for the real estate? Because, by jingo, if this is another taxpayer financed scheme or if it’s financed by campaign contributions, I’m going to be madder than h&ll.
Let’s start asking for a review of their tax status too – an audit might be nice.
I still think the biggest affront in this affaire is the pretense made of hiking on the AT. Part of his penance should be a large donation of cash and land to the cause.
My guess is that The State sat on the emails because, since they received them anonymously they couldn’t be certain that they were authentic. Only when their reporter acted on the hunch that they were real and therefore the governor might be in Argentina, and managed to catch him at the airport, did they really confirm it.
Which brings up the question of who might have leaked the emails: clearly neither he nor “Maria” would have done it, so who else could have had the messages. If he used the computer at home, it could be a family member, but that seems unlikely. My guess is that some secretary in his office discovered them. I doubt if he was hacked by some random person.
I’m thinking the powerful, rich father-in-law.
If you’ll recall, in the presser Sanford said he had a “conversation” with dad-in-law “a few weeks ago.” Pops would have the $$$ to investigate such things. He was probably in the process of hiring a hit person when the scandal exploded.
I think it was Jenny Sanford who sent the e-mails to the newspaper. I don’t think whoever sent them would expect them to just sit on them and not investigate. They had the name and address of Maria. Not to hard to check out. Who else would have had access to his personal e-mail that would have a reason to want his dalliance exposed? Her statement talks about forgiveness and reconciliation. She gave him a chance, but he wasn’t able to give up the heady romance. She forced him to come down to reality. The statement she gave last weekend about not knowing where he was and that he needed some space away from the children was a give-away that things were not going well at home. It did not have the tone of a wife who was going to cover for a straying mate. She was just waiting for the dam to break.
Just read Jeff on the FDL book report! This info on The Family makes me so ANGRY!! I plan on reading further (see who all’s involved) and pushing to get it reported on. It’s truly disgusting.
Thanks for the ’heads-up’!
Well I personally plan on having a “teary press conference” if these GD Democrats don’t get it together about public option!!
OTOH, it is wonderful to think about which Republican idiots might be having staff set up the mikes and sound systems right now.
BargainCountertenor@ 92: Thanks for the update. I don’t like having my selection of power tools [the hardware store kind] limited.
And fatster@ 62: I just threw in the Mouseketeer reference as a joke.
Finally [because this has turned into a grab-bag]: I will be REALLY happy when Presidents [and Congresscritters] don’t feel obligated to attend the “National Prayer Breakfast.” Just another sign of the disintegration of our education system: that kids [now adults] didn’t learn in 8th grade about the separation of church and state.
My best friend in college is (and was then) a member of an evangelical church, but he was never the least obnoxious about it. We’re both pretty serious musicians who support our art (habit??) with day jobs. He runs a band through his church. Near Christmas a few years ago he (and his band) were invited to play a concert at the town creche display.
He told me that he agonized over the invitation, because he wasn’t sure the town really ought to have a creche, and even if that was okay, he wasn’t sure it was okay for his church band to play there. In the end, he decided that it was okay for them to play there. He still isn’t sure the town ought to have a creche, though.
It’s not the case that all evangelicals are moonbat-crazy.
What’s behind this move?, as others have said. Possibly accurate is the comment that the Mormons are working on taking over the Republican party from within. NPR yesterday said that the person these accusations helped is: Mitt Romney. Given the extreme cult nature of what’s behind Mormonism (google for more than you ever wanted to know), it seems as likely a threat as “The Family”.
The newspaper had the e-mails from Sanford since December but said they were not able to validate their authenticity. They were tipped that he would be arrive on a plane coming from Bs. As. on Wednesday morning and they had a reporter meet the flight. He did not admit to any dalliance at that point. He said he had been alone driving the coast.
The State (newspaper) called at about 11:00 am and told them they had the e-mails. He apparently was not aware of that until then.
It appears he was still in denial until that point that the whole thing was going to be a big public deal.
That is what amazes me about all these cases….Edwards, Spitzer, Ensign, Vitter….that they think they compartmentalize so completely that one part of their brain cannot communicate with any part that such secrets are impossible to keep and keep going as if they will never be found out.
Someone was making sure that Sanford got found out sooner than later. Someone who would know what plane he was coming back on to Atlanta and where he was coming back from. Possible the same someone who had set the e-mails to the paper.