I have a much more cynical take. After everything I've learned about Sanford in the last few days, I began to wonder why in hell he was in politics to begin with. He's clearly not someone who enjoys, or even feels comfortable, being in "the bubble" -- by his own accounts he likes, even needs solitude.

Then I look at Jenny, who was an independently wealthy career woman when she met Sanford; she became his campaign manager and media representative. Which makes me think it quite possible that the whole idea of him getting into politics was hers (perhaps because 20 years ago in conservative politics, he was a more marketable candidate), that's he's been fulfilling her dreams and ambitions for their life together, not his own.

Which makes her refusal to stand by him look like a calculated political move, and not any stand on principles. She learned that he was about to blow her life's work out of the water, and she decided to jump ship. After all, she still has money, connections and name recognition in political circles, and now she gets to cut loose the no longer necessary anchor and play the dignified, wronged wife and devoted mother. Wanna bet we see her name on a ballot sooner rather than later?

As someone who doesn't pray, I have a question. When people say things like "my prayers are with the family" do they mean that literally? Are they actually saying a formal prayer (as opposed to "OMG! How terrible for his family"). Or is it just a figure of speech that has now become an obligatory rote phrase in situations like this?

Because I find it hard to believe that *everybody* who says that someone is "in their prayers" (which seems to be everybody) actually takes time from their busy lives to say "Dear God, please help the Jackson family through these terrible times" (or whatever people say when they pray).

Who the fuck cares what celebrities are twittering? If people want to know what these inane people twitter, they can sign up to follow them. The only reason to write this article is because anything that has to do with twitter is somehow "hot." I can hardly wait for the twittering fad to GO AWAY.

"@ralafler: You care. That is why you read the tweets and posted about it."

I was sucked in -- I actually thought, that since someone had written about it on a reputable news forum like Salon.com, that there was something newsworthy in the "tweets." But no, just typical inane blather.

Almost by definition tweets are inane blather, since unless you're Hemingway, it's impossible to say anything profound in 140 characters. The technology has its place -- quick breaking news, group organizing, etc. -- and eventually it will grow into it, but tweeting just to convey the twitter's every passing thought and reaction is a fad that's only made more obnoxious by being written about in places like Salon.com.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones ... because their house can be broken just as easily from stones they throw as by those others throw.

Sanford threw stones at other people, and now he's used those very same stones to shatter his own house from within. So I have have no sympathy for him at his public downfall.

As a romantic, I do have a soft spot for someone caught up in an ill-fated love story. And yes, he's James fucking Joyce compared to the lurid, disgusting writings/utterances of other publically shamed adulterers (a decade later I'm still shuddering with revulsion at Prince Charles wanting to be Camilla's tampon, something I wish I'd never heard).

Maybe he can turn this into a new career -- when asked where he was, didn't Jenny say he was off writing somewhere?

This reminds me of the rabid birther I was talking to the other day who said that he'd seen Obama's "real" Ethiopian birth certificate -- it was authentic! He knows because he saw it on Ebay (where it was later removed, of course, because of the conspiracy)!

Because, of course, if you had Obama's original birth certificate showing him born somewhere other than where he says he was born, the thing to do would be to put it on Ebay.

Anyway, I love that like the birthers, people like Cahill are busy chasing their tails desperately trying to prove something that's completely irrelevant. I'm glad all that energy isn't being wasted trying to fight something that actually matters.

... over on the Cashill "William Ayres wrote "Dreams of my Father" comments, people will believe what they want to believe. A rabid birther told me just this weekend that he saw Obama's real, authentic Ethiopian birth certificate on Ebay. On Ebay! It must be real!

The fascinating thing about conspiracy theorists is that once they've glommed on to a conspiracy, then every attempt to disprove it is yet more evidence of the insidious pervasiveness of the conspiracy. Everyone is in on it, dontcha know, except for the few special people blessed with special insight and special knowledge of THE TRUTH.

It's really just another way of making themselves feel important and privileged, and it's no surprise that conspiracy theorists are primarily older white men who are paranoid about losing the status that being a white man has accorded them.

Debbie Rowe may or may not be a "mother" but she's definitely -- by her own choice -- not a parent.