Even as the Speaker of the South Carolina House calls for his resignation, Mark Sanford is remaining defiant.
“God can use imperfect people to perform his will,” declared the embattled governor moments ago, explaining in a radio interview that he needs to stick around in office to carry out God’s will by working to restructure state government to make it more effective.
Earlier today, House Speaker Bobby Harrell became the latest South Carolina Republican to call for Sanford to step down.
Asked by Kevin Cohen of WVOC-560 in Columbia whether he had committed any impeachable offenses, in connection to his now-legendary Argentinian romp and his use of state airplanes, Sanford replied: “That’s for the General Assembly to decide.”
Sanford pointed out that only eight governors have been impeached in the country’s history, and said all were guilty of “heinous” offenses. “There’s certainly a world of difference between what has happened in those cases and what has happened here,” he said.
He also suggested, as he has before, that he’s on a personal quest to make up for his missteps. “If you believe in this process of redemption, repentance, hope, and growth, then you’ve got to stay around for the second part of the show,” he said, rattling off those four stages as if reciting a catechism.
Sanford acknowledged missteps in his relationship with the legislature — where he now has almost no support — but said: “That’s the nature of the human experience…you’re not gonna get it perfect.”
And, perhaps eager to show his bipartisan bona-fides, Sanford lavishly praised the president. “Obama was an articulate, incredibly well spoken measured human being in the way that he presented his ideas,” during last year’s presidential campaign, he said, adding that the Democrat was a “better candidate” than his rival.
Sanford said he was so moved he was “in tears” as he listened to Obama on election night.