Sounds like Sanford hasn't bailed out on his wife for the Argentine because his wife has him by the balls--she's threatened to bar him from seeing his children if he doesn't do what she wants him to, judging from this quote in an AP story from Saturday:

“I had every hope he was not going to see her,” the first lady said. “You would think that a father who didn’t have contact with his children, if he wanted those children, he would toe the line a little bit.”

It sounds like he was moping around about losing his true love, and maybe thinking of leaving Jenny and the governorship for her...then Jenny called his bluff and upped the ante by kicking him out a couple of weeks ago-and banned him from seeing the kids. He ran off to B.A. to try and get closure, because he doesn't want to give up his kids, perhaps. And the whole thing blew up in his face.

Yikes. Hell hath no fury like a Catholic woman scorned--especially one who likely has not experienced a grand passion of her own. They married when she was 27 and she told a reporter it was "friendship at first sight."

If judgment and stability was a prerequisite for being a Republican, the GOP side of the aisles would be empty.

Bad move. Jen can claim he abandoned them (along with his constituents) to deny him access (she sounds like the type).

In a way, this is actually a welcome sight, and I don't think enough has been said about these "family values" conservatives being the worst sort of hypocrites when it comes to what I've called "thou shalt not" morality. I find comfort in the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes who said, "those who worry about their souls being damned probably have souls that aren't worth a damn."

So now comes Mark Sanford, strung out on truth serum and feeling the need to cleanse himself. With Norm Coleman conceding (finally!) and the latest Sarah Palin flak (can't say which one, there have been so many), there's barely anything recognizable of the GOP remaining. So forget all the talk here and elsewhere about how they can "rejuvenate" themselves. Who cares? Let them twist in the wind and pay hell in installments. This is the price for the deal they made with the Christian Right. The debate needs to move on going forward to why it's a bad idea to legislate morality, and how a preoccupation with who's sleeping with who is a bad thing for good government. Note to the "Right": your fevered fantasies of a theocratic state didn't take. GET OVER IT! Or don't, and become even more irrelevant.

The Purdam article on Palin is addressed briefly in WarRoom, and JW focuses her column on the most recent philandering southern politician's antics. It is hard to take Joan seriously when she dedicates this much time to something so stupid (and politically inconsequential), while ignoring a story that powerfully addresses not just Palin's astonishing incompetence, but also the culpability of McCain for selecting her.

Salon, you guys should just change your name to DNC! Come out of the closet and just admit you are a media outlet for the Dems.

You want Sanford to "just go away?" Then, how about if Spitzer, Clinton and Blogojavich just "go away, too?" That would suit a lot of us just fine. See, Dems do it, too!

Whatever.

The guy went MIA. He planned to be away for TEN DAYS!

Why isn't it being asked of the public "As a manager, Could YOU take off from your job, not let anyone know where you are"??

There are administrative assistants that would have their careers cut short if their bosses couldn't at least get in contact with them via their Blackberrys while on vacation.

The guy stole money from the state (in order to see his mistress) The only reason he's "paying it back" is because he got caught with his pants around his ankles.

Could a bank robber return the money before he was arraigned and then be let off the hook?

Why the hell are we focusing on his trysts?

That's the least of his problems... or least should be.

A good long time of self examination with a non-religious counselor might help him regain his equilibrium. All this Bible quoting is best left shared with his pastor, not his shrink.

His wife has resources and can re-start her career or delay while her kids are young...whatever works. When my spouse dumped me for his "real" love, I had no choice because I had no money even though both kids were babies. You do what you have to.

There can be a great life on the other side of such marital disaster. However, I'll bet it will never be found in the current Sanford household and it wasn't to be found in mine. Too much water........ Move through the pain and move on....quietly. If we want to read Southern chick lit, we'll buy it and read it on the beach.

Who wants Mark Sanford to go away?

Not Democrats. Joan Walsh is easily too enamored of herself.

Joan mistakes low-hanging fruit for grapes.

...use the word "soulmate"--especially to justify behaving like a creep? :P

Governor Sanford, do the planet a favor. In six words: Make It Look Like An Accident.

"Leaving his staff and other state officials in the dark about his whereabouts last week, unable to reach him even in an emergency, was a clear breach of Sanford's duties, and that alone would seem to have been reason for impeachment..."

It constantly surprises me how many journalists and citizens overate the importance of politicians. If Sanford did go away (as JW hopes he does), how would that have any effect on the rest of us? Would all the street lights go out? Would people suddenly not go to work? Do we start hunkering down behind locked barricades? No, we all go on as if nothing was different. I'm hoping someday that more people will start to realize that politician's worst fear is 'the citizens realizing that politicians and 99% of government are not needed.'