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Margo Howard | 07/01/2009 8:25 am

Whatever Happened to Discretion?

Margo Howard unleashes on disgraced governor Mark Sanford — and goes into ‘Dear Margo’ mode to provide the South Carolina politician with some advice.
Margo Howard

Editor’s Note: A longtime journalist, Margo Howard went into the family business (her mother was the fabled Ann Landers) in the 1990s as Dear Prudence. Her broad experience and understanding of human nature provide answers for the troubled — and entertainment for everyone else. Margo’s advice column, Dear Margo, appears twice a week — on Thursdays and Fridays — on wowOwow.com.

What’s up with Gov. Mark Sanford? I cannot remember another public confession so loaded with detail. It’s as though he were a "sinner" looking for forgiveness, and we are Oprah. Sanford is making John Edwards’s stonewalling look positively admirable. (You know … it was only one night and the baby isn’t his.)

I heard a reporter from South Carolina saying on NPR that the governor apparently “wanted to talk." I’ll say. We learned the Argentinean bombshell was his "soul mate," that he "had crossed the line before" — but "not the sex line" — on trips out of  the country to unwind with the boys. He went public with this tidbit: "This was a whole lot more than a simple affair. This was a love story."

However … let’s hear it for the little woman. Three cheers for Jenny Sanford who threw him out. How refreshing to see a political wife act like a woman instead of some humiliated helpmate who is often trying to save a political career. No Silda or Hillary she, in effect saying to the public: "If I don’t care, why should you?"

I am trying really hard not to entertain feelings of schadenfreude about love-struck dude being yet another one in a long conga line of Republican moralists who are caught with, well, their pants down. I am frankly embarrassed for the guy. How much more dignified to have sought out a therapist if he had the need to spill? In one of his confessionals he said he had blown up his career, his marriage and the lives of his children. So: what next? Putting on my advice columnist hat I would recommend that he move to Argentina to be with Chapur and become a gaucho, or something. And also that he sit down and shut up.

513 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

deber B
Duh?   Do you suppose the Lt. Governor would step up and do his job?  Laugh out loud, MK!!
By deber B on 07/02/2009 9:07 am
MK P
Duh……deber B — except, the Lt. Governor specifically said over the weekend while Sanford was away that he did not have the legal authority to act in the Governor’s absence………..I guess he should have called you so you could have told him what to do………………
By MK P on 07/02/2009 9:21 am
deber B
Oh, those darn technicalities of actually being a Lt. Governor who is elected to  actually step in when the Governor is unavailable!!  Wow, think if Sanford  had a heart attack and died…….and hadn’t handed over the legal authority to act on his behalf!     No legal authority to actually act like a Lt. Governor?   Such a shame.   I still go with the public caning.
By deber B on 07/02/2009 10:05 am
MK P
Yeah…….those darn technicalities — if the Republicans in SC hadn’t gotten all worked up because no one knew where Sanford was over the Father’s Day weekend and he had not identified anyone to act in his place — this might not have been a national story.  
By MK P on 07/02/2009 10:09 am
Kristy B
Ya’ll are too funny with these Hmmmmmmmmm’s!!! LOLOLOLOL!!!!
By Kristy B on 07/02/2009 12:17 pm
Libra Lady
Deber….Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….are you sure they can’t make this stuff up after all?????
By Libra Lady on 07/02/2009 9:21 am
Irish Eyes NY

MKP: Your right, Kennedy just killed his aid, then divorced his wife ( sorry , an annullment, so he could stay a good catholic) declaring his children to be bastards. And Clinton just swore, UNDER OATH , the he never had an affair with that woman (in the scummy blue dress)

Oh, were you talking about JFK? so sorry, yes he screwed anything in a bra, but never had to own up to that. Like father, like son, I guess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Irish Eyes NY on 07/02/2009 8:10 pm
MK P

Geez…….let’s go back 50 years and dig up some dirt — Irish Eyes.    Want to talk about NIXON’s lies — that scandal rocked the whole country.   

I feel badly for Republican candidates who feel they have to prostitute themselves to the right wing conservatives — Sanford is paying the price now.

By MK P on 07/03/2009 11:43 am
Irish Eyes NY

mkp, yes we could talk about Nixon, I had no use for him as well.

Oh how wonderful, "you feel badly for Rep candidates………………."

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze~!

By Irish Eyes NY on 07/03/2009 1:22 pm
Maggie W
Thanks for the smile, De!   Once again, we have the " My daddy is bigger than your daddy" school yard syndrome. The minute Sanford’s name came up, the right would, of course,  hastily bring up Clinton or some other Democrat.   That’s a given !!!   We’ve circled that old block several times now, but when there is no other defense , then any defense is better than none. 
By Maggie W on 07/01/2009 9:27 am
deber B

Here’s what deber B actually posted:

"Jenny walks away with dignity.   Hillary "stood by her man" because it was in her best interest politically."   If that equates, in any way, to the bizarre post that "My daddy is bigger than your daddy" analogy, then I don’t see why.   Jenny did one thing and Hillary did another.   They both handled their situations in a way that was best for them.   Period.

 

By deber B on 07/01/2009 9:38 am
Maggie W
Time to fess up, Deber.  Could you have responded to this post without bringing up the Clintons?   Truth up, now.
By Maggie W on 07/01/2009 10:30 am
Maggie W
What in the world…… Deber, YES, we all know that!  Why are you so defensive?  This post is about current news, not about what happened in the 90’s or … God forbid… the 60’s!!!!   I don’t know where you are trying to go with this.  Is this your stance… Mark Sanford should not be judged so harshly because many horrible Democrats have done worse???   What the heck does that have to do with the  current slimeball governor of SC?    Tell me you are past such triviality.  
By Maggie W on 07/01/2009 4:19 pm
deber B
Mark Sanford, absolutely, should be judged harshly.   However, after Margo’s introductory remarks, she kicked the door open that republicans are, in some way, worse than democrats.   Please reread the introduction to this thread.   I am defending the republicans by saying….infidelity spares no party.   There’s nothing more to it than that.   Chill.
By deber B on 07/01/2009 5:11 pm
Maggie W

Deber, how did Margo advance that  thought that you so adamantly cling to?   It exists only in your own mind because you detest and and abhor the current administration so heartily. 

 Here are are Margo’s remarks…" I cannot remember another public confession so loaded with detail. It’s as though he were a "sinner" looking for forgiveness." 

You immediately jumped in with such back pedaling to the Clinton era and bringing up every Democrat that has ever walked a morally corrupt path.   You have been so out muscled here, but you still soldier on in the Republican name.   You come up with every possible history to prove that you are right.  And let’s face it, Deber, being right is what floats your boat.  You post many multi paragraph " evidence " of Obama’s downfall of this country, ( day after day after day..  you are all over the map)) but hey… the guy who believes in clean air, affordable health care, and dialogue with other countries is still in good standing with the populace. That must pain you greatly.  So sad, too bad.

 

By Maggie W on 07/01/2009 6:21 pm