candygirl

(CNN) -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday, amid speculation over his whereabouts for the last several days, that he has been engaged in an extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman.


South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford chokes up on Wednesday as he admits to having an affair.

"I've been unfaithful to my wife," Sanford told a news conference in Columbia, the state capital. "I developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina."

His voice choking at times, Sanford apologized to his wife and four sons, his staff and supporters, and said he would resign immediately as head of the Republican Governors Association. The affair was discovered five months ago, Sanford said.

The South Carolina governor had not been seen in public since June 18. When questioned, Sanford's staff had told media outlets that he was hiking in the Appalachian Trail. But Sanford was spotted Wednesday in Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Watch Sanford admit to the affair »

The South Carolina governor said he had been in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He said it was his fault for "shrouding this larger trip."

"I'm a bottom-line kind of guy. I'll lay it out, it's going to hurt, and we'll let the chips fall as they may," Sanford said as he spoke with reporters.

Sanford said his affair began as a friendship, but "over this last year, it developed into something much more than that."

"All I can say is that I apologize," he said, adding that he would appreciate a "zone of privacy" for the sake of his family.

When asked if he is trying to reconcile with his wife, Jenny, Sanford nodded, "I am, yeah."

Pressed further if he and his wife are separated, he said, "I don't know how you want to define that. I mean, I'm here and she's there. I guess in a formal sense we're not, but what we're trying to do is work through something that we've been working through for a number of months now."

Sanford, 49, is a conservative Republican mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012. He is serving his second straight term as governor, which expires in January 2011. The state constitution prohibits a third straight term.

Shortly after Sanford's announcement, Democratic Governors Association Executive Director Nathan Daschle issued a statement saying, "Our thoughts and prayers are with Gov. Sanford and his family, and I wish them the best as they try to heal this wound."

The South Carolina governor has had a bruising year, losing his fight to turn down $700 million in federal stimulus money. Sanford initially tried to require that any stimulus money pay down the state debt, a stance rejected by the Obama administration.

The South Carolina's Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that Sanford had to accept the stimulus funds.

Earlier Wednesday, South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler said in a statement it was the "height of irresponsibility for the governor to walk out on his solemn duty to the people of South Carolina.

"When it comes to the real needs and concerns of South Carolinians, Mark Sanford has been pretty much missing in action for the last six-and-a-half years. But it is not acceptable for him to be actually missing.

"However, as disturbing as it is to walk out on your responsibilities without telling anyone, what's more troubling is that the governor and his staff have been less than truthful about his whereabouts," the statement said.


Sanford's wife Jenny told CNN Tuesday she had not talked to her husband since he left last Thursday and did not know where he went.

"I am being a mom today. I have not heard from my husband. I am taking care of my children," she said outside the couple's beach home on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina.

__________________
**CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN **

hesnothere

So Governor Sanford is another family values hypocrite. How many times did he deny privacy rights and marriage equality to others?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christ..._b_220322.html

__________________
http://witness.org * http://one.org * www.data.org * www.amnestyusa.org

dv8grl

Wonder if the State of South Carolina has to foot the bill for his little escapade?

__________________

Jolie Rouge

Two disappearing acts, one tabloid circus
By Michelle Malkin • June 24, 2009 10:59 AM
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/06/24...abloid-circus/

So, South Carolina GOP Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared and the story of where the hell he has been keeps changing.

Yes, it’s weird. Disturbingly weird that he would vanish on Father’s Day weekend and leave his wife and four sons in the dark. It’s weird and creepy and something’s not right.

But the wall-to-wall tabloid circus coverage of the story is ridiculous.

(See update on Sanford fiasco here… http://michellemalkin.com/2009/06/24/*******/ )

It’s the only fitting word for a man who abandons his wife and four sons on Father’s Day weekend to indulge his “overdrive” on an Argentinian fling.

Mark Sanford: *******.

***

If you missed Sanford’s rambling, surreal disaster of a press conference, consider yourself lucky.

He had a hell of a lot more passion and pathos for his mistress than his own wife. He referred wistfully to the “great friendship” and “that sparking thing” he had with the mistress for eight years — during which his wife was raising his four children.

No excuses.

No “but, but, look at all the dirty Democrats.”

He called himself “selfish” at the press conference. That’s the least of it.


If you can’t honor your marriage vows, how can you expect voters to trust you to honor your damned oath of office?

Philip Klein: http://spectator.org/blog/2009/06/24/sanford-and-sons


Ditto for Ensign.


:


That being said .... I am much more concerned about the forced disappearing act that the Obama administration has performed on all the inspectors general, aren’t you?

Where’s the wall-to-wall coverage of those unsolved mysteries?

***

Maybe if the IGs showed up in Argentina, the press would give their disappearances the attention they deserve.

__________________
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

janelle

What an idiot. What is wrong with all these people in office? The power must go to their head and they think they are special and can get away with whatever they want to do. His poor family and wife.

Mary Jo

I am speechless.
How stupid can a person be?

meltodd69

Hope no one gets offended but.....


That's a man for ya!! JK LOL
Seems like cheating is the new old thing to do in Politics. I think it is so selfish of these politicians, coming clean like that to the public. They have to know odds are they won't be re-elected. So why come clean to the public and hurt your family, so you can feel better about yourself? Keep it between you and your spouse, and when re-election comes up just bow out. Better yet just resign and get out of office!

__________________
Grandma

jasmine

At first he lied to "his people" and said that he was on a hiking trip. THEN he admitted to the affair. He got caught cause he went missing for so many days without anyone knowing what had happened, and they started looking for him.
Sad to say that cheating is in ALOT of relationships/marriages now-a-days, the only thing different about Mark Sanford is he is in the public light, and he lied. It's not the fact that he had an affair, it's that he lied about it trying to get out of it saying he was hiking instead of in Argentinia.
Maybe that matters more to women than men(lying).

candygirl

Sanfords Extramarital Affair a problem for GOP
Several Republicans Governors haven't looked like political grown-ups

MSNBC
updated 1 hour, 5 minutes ago

NEW YORK - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's admission of an affair with a woman from Argentina is the latest sign that Republican governors — once thought to be President Obama's most credible adversaries — haven't quite lived up to their billing.

From Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's cringe-inducing nationally televised response to Obama's first budget address to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's suggestion that his state might secede, GOP governors — including those said to be eyeing a potential 2012 presidential bid — haven't exactly looked like the political grown-ups many party strategists had promised.

And none has had a rockier go of it than the party's best-known governor, Alaska's Sarah Palin. The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee has been dogged by ethics complaints and has engaged in public feuds with Levi Johnston, the former fiance of Palin's teenage daughter, Bristol, and the father of Bristol's infant son, and with late-night comic David Letterman.

Palin, whose vice presidential bid sparked a devoted grass-roots following across the country, has also angered GOP leaders in Washington for poor communication and for canceling appearances at party events and fundraisers.

But the latest high-profile fiasco involves Sanford, whose outspoken effort to refuse part of the federal stimulus money due his state had made him a darling of conservatives and fueled talk that he harbored presidential aspirations. But after disclosing the year-long affair at a news conference in Columbia, S.C., Sanford announced his resignation as chairman of the Republican Governors' Association .

Sanford, a father of four, disappeared last week, without telling his wife or staff where he was going. For two days after reporters starting asking questions, his office said he had gone hiking on the Appalachian Trial. He said Wednesday he had mentioned the possibility of a hiking trip to his staff before leaving. He confirmed Wednesday he had actually visited Argentina for several days.

So odd was the disappearance that Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, another Republican, publicly complained about Sanford's lack of communication.

The 49-year old Sanford has been a fierce critic of Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package, even going to court to block $700 million South Carolina was to receive. He lost the court battle but boosted his national profile, making him a target of attack from national Democratic operatives — many of whom pounced on Sanford's unusual departure.

To be sure, not all politically ambitious GOP governors have seen their political fortunes stuck in the spring mud.

Mississippi's Haley Barbour was heading out Wednesday for high-profile visits to New Hampshire and Iowa, states with key early presidential contests. Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty announced last month he would not seek re-election next year, clearing the way for an expected 2012 bid.


Florida's Charlie Crist is running to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Mel Martinez next year and could well have a presidential bid in the future. And Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who won praise for pushing his party to diversify, was viewed as enough of a political threat to Obama in 2012 that the president appointed him to be ambassador to China.

Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a well-regarded political strategist before becoming Mississippi governor, has long insisted that GOP governors would lead the party's efforts to rebuild. He reiterated that belief in an interview Tuesday, while acknowledging some of his colleagues' recent public relations challenges.

"When Democrats have majorities in Washington, Republicans there can oppose bad things and propose good things, but can't demonstrate that Republican ideas work," Barbour said. "The reason governors are so important is that they can take our ideas, implement them and show they can work."

In a sign that the political fortunes of Democratic governors may not be faring much better than their Republican counterparts, Barbour attended fundraisers this week for GOP gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virgina.

In New Jersey, polls show former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie leading incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, while former Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell is running a strong race against Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds to be the state's first GOP governor in eight years.

__________________
**CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN **

gmyers

Because they have the mentality that if you cry and say your sorry everybody will just forget about it and he can continue his job. They said he wanted to run for president maybe thats why he did it. I noticed she wasn't at the press conference. But they said on the news that she's willing to stay with him because she's religious and believes in forgiving and giving another chance.

speedygirl

Another pig.
It's bad enough when one of our husbands cheats on us in the private sector but a politician gets to humilate his spouse in front of millions. Jacka$$.

__________________