UrbanSwirl.com - Lifestyles of Color

So "hiking along the Appalachian Trail" - Mark Sanford was really referring to a woman's body (if you know what I mean)! Governor Sanford came back to work today after being missing for 5 days with no form of communications of his wherabouts - has revealed to the world where he was.

Mark Sanford apologised repeatedly to his wife, four sons, friends and the people of his state for his behaviour.

Appearing in public for the first time since he went missing on Thursday last week, Mr Sanford confirmed he had not been hiking along the Appalachian Trail as he had led his office staff to believe.

"The bottom line is this," Mr Sanford said. "I have been unfaithful to my wife. I developed a relationship, which started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina.

"It began very innocently as I suspect these things do, in just a casual email back and forth, in advice on one's life there, and advice here.

"But here recently over this last year it developed into something much more than that, and as a consequence I hurt her, I hurt you all, I hurt my wife, I hurt my boys, I hurt friends like Tom Davis, I hurt a lot of different folks."

The woman in question is known only as Maria, a mother of two boys, who lives in a Buenos Aires apartment block.

Mr Sanford, who is normally on call 24 hours a day and accompanied by bodyguards in public, kicked off a huge fuss across the US after he was last seen driving alone through the gates of his official mansion seven days ago. At one point a mobile phone tower picked up his signal near Atlanta, Georgia, before going dead. It is now clear he took a flight from Atlanta to Argentina.

Mr Sanford is not only the head of state in South Carolina but a leading figure in the Republican Party who had been touted as a possible presidential candidate in 2012.

Mr Sanford did not tell his wife, Jenny, where he was and she confirmed during his absence that he had not contacted the family on Sunday, Fathers Day.

He confirmed he had met Maria three times "during that whole sparking thing" after the pair's relationship started a year ago.

He said he had met her "very innocently" a little over eight years ago.

His wife had known about the relationship for some months, he said.  Link

Here we go again! Another up-and-coming star for the Republican Party just sank today.
Apparently, Mark Sandford was up-and-coming down in Buenos Aires, Argentina with a woman named Maria!
At this rate, the GOP will run out of any potential leading candidates for 2012 - they may wind up with Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber as VP!

Again - Sanford was a staunch critic against Bill Clinton way back when - has now found himself on the same boat.

The governor, in his previous position as a South Carolina Republican congressman, was one of Bill Clinton's staunchest critics during impeachment proceedings over the Monica Lewinsky affair. In 1999 Mr Sanford said that lying undermined the system of government, and was among Republicans pushing for Mr Clinton to resign.

Now the digging into this affair begins.
To be honest, Liberals like me don't care about politicians having marital problems and sleeping with someone else. Hell, I don't care if there was an orgy of women (or men). But the hypocrisy is just over the top and inexcusable.
In addition, the Conservative stance against Gays and Gay Marriages with the continuing rhetoric that this unholy union would destroy the institute of Marriage and the fabric of societal decency - is flat out old and pathetic.

In the coming days, we will find out if Mark Sanford had used any state money to pay for his repeated trips to Argentina.
Sanford has stepped down as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Will he step down as Governor?

If neither Sanford nor Ensign will step down from their leadership position - I hope not to hear from Conservatives if similar infidelity scandal occur with a Liberal politician (but somehow, I doubt that - Republicans have very selective memory).

Lastly, John Ensign must be breathing a sigh of relief!