Wait, so now he's God's TOOL?

Heaven knows he IS imperfect!

The only Good Book that helps decode this apparently twisted logic is one written by Jeff Sharlet (The Family).

Why?

Sanford's a member of this quasi-religious outfit.

Remember mentions of C-Street? Or him thanking Doug Coe for his counseling after he wandered the Appalachian Trail?

Coe's the current leader of the Family (AKA the Fellowship). All you need to know about their ideology is the following:

• They believe that if you are in a position of power, it is because God chose to put you there. Their insider phrase for that is that you are one of the "new chosen."


• Coe is quoted by Sharlet as saying "Morality is for the little people" and not the New Chosen. And, by that, he means literally anything and everything goes if you're a NC.
  
  BTW: His statement was in response to a question about what would be the fallout if the questioner were, for example, to have raped an underage girl.
  
  Morality is for little people.
  
  The Family admires people who have the leadership stones of the likes of Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin.


• Their modus operandi is "I have all the money and power because God wants me to. I'm keeping it, and f**k all y'all."

If you understand these few things about him and other Family members like George Allen, Chuck Grassley, Ensign, Ben Nelson, Bart Stupak... (the list is way too long to go here, but it is impressive)... then you have enough knowledge to understand their motivations and resolve what would be contradictions.

To us little people.

The Family is must reading.

I do give Sanford credit for bringing a Shakespearean quality to the whole affair, right from that first press conference. But other than that, who cares!? Other than his wife and preacher, of course. Must we (really Republicans) continue to run people out of office for sexual transgressions?

Hey Mark- Jesus thinks you're a jerk
Frank Zappa would have had a lot of fun with this guy

Sanford claims the eight governors who were impeached were guilty of 'heinous' offenses.

I don't know what qualifies as 'heinous' in Mark's book, but Arizona's governor the notorious Evan Mecham, was impeached and convicted over state campaign finance law violations. Truthfully, he was really impeached for being a heinous asshole and a general embarrassment.

But, campaign law violations aren't 'heinous' in my book.

I'm not sure how many TPM readers have spent a lot of time around southern protestant evangelicals, but I must say that everything that comes out of this man's mouth sounds just like something he would have been told by a fellow evangelical, likely in a Men's Bible Study group or perhaps by a "Christian counselor." And it would have all been wrapped up each time with group hand-holding, standing in a circle, and self-validating prayer sealing the deal. I can easily picture the scene in Columbia or with The Family in DC. The only thing that surprises me is that the SC legislature doesn't seem to buy it. There are probably enough legislators who smell blood in the water and want to run for governor themselves and get this poor goofy schmuck out of their way.

I love it when Republicans are forced to confront their own self-serving hypocrisy.

Gov. Sanford:
God is tired of you using Him as an excuse. God serves us too. And God told us that you are a lying, hypocritical, sanctimonious, self-serving, self-righteous, supercilious, self-deluding sack of shit. Actually, your own words and deeds did. You lied and cheated. You threw stones from within your glass house. You pilloried others for lesser sins than your own. And you got caught. Just. Go. Already.

Hey South Carolinians, forget the religious stuff and remember this guy left the country and turned off the cell phone without telling anyone in the SC government how to reach him. He holds the highest office in your state and he abandoned his post. He may be a great Christian, but I bet you can find a better one to be your governor. And yes, the rest of the country (excepting Illinois of course) is laughing at you for keeping this guy in office.

Duke Cunningham; 'hmmm, I wonder if I could have used the Mark Sanford defense, you know, God and all that stuff.'