Sanford earns scarlet-letter ‘S’
for exceptional selfishness

Family man Sanford
wife Jenny and sons.So, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford fesses up to a sneaky trip to Argentina for some horizontal-tango time with an illicit lover he’s had an affair with “for about a year,” although he said he’s known her for eight.

The 49-year-old Sanford, married and father of four, also announced his resignation from the Republican Governors Association he’s led for years.

The way things are going, Republicans should forget about a governors association and create a Republican Adulterers Association — with Sanford, Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, former Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia as founding members.

Surrounded by more than 50 reporters, photographers, aides and spectators in the rotunda of the South Carolina statehouse, the governor spoke with a quiver in his voice and was visibly shaken, tearing up at times and rocking on his feet at the podium. It took him more than a few stumbling minutes to get to the crux of the matter.

“The bottom line is this,” he said. “I have been unfaithful to my wife.

. . . “This was selfishness on my part.”

Indeed it was shabby, sneaky, shameful and supremely selfish. But no more so than the hurt inflicted on wives, family, friends and supporters by Democrats Bill Clinton, John Edwards and Eliot Spitzer.

The thing about it is that selfish cads can be capable, hard-working and helpful public servants while engaging in hurtful, errant behavior behind the scenes, in their personal lives.

However, Sanford doubled down on selfishness by conducting his adulterous affair in a way that let all the people of South Carolina down. There’s no other way to describe a governor going AWOL to another continent for nearly a week without having delegated decision-making authority to the lieutenant governor.

But even before that, Sanford acted with fiendish selfishness by trying to refuse federal stimulus money. Sanford’s effort was vetoed overridden by legislators. But had he prevailed, working-class and middle-class South Carolinians hurting in the worst economic downturn in 80 years would’ve been denied badly needed jobs and other assistance.

There’s no telling whether Sanford tried to reject stimulus funds solely because of his narrow and backward conservative ideology, or because he had presidential aspirations. Whether it was either or both, what he tried to do was unforgiveably selfish.

Sanford obviously owes his wife and children apologies and whatever amends he’s capable of making. For his stimulus rejection and for having abandoned his post, Sanford owes the people of South Carolina his resignation.

That’s the complete bottom line on Sanford’s selfishness.