Objectively speaking, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s vanishing act is perplexing, unreasonable, and reveals a lack of prudence. Contrarily, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker interprets Mark Sanford’s shenanigans as “brilliant.” Contrarily, Mark McKinnon argues, “The South Carolina governor isn’t an irresponsible lunatic for wandering off the reservation—he just made himself a better bet for president in 2012.” Not hardly. To borrow a quote from Number Six: “You have an amazing capacity for self-deception. How do you do that?“

Actually, given Republican reaction towards key issues like environmental degradation, climate change, health care reform, or the situation in Iran (or the blind support of former president George W. Bush and his Iraq debacle) in addition to strategically disagreeing with President Obama on just about every issue, Number Six’s quote could be: “[Republicans] have an amazing capacity for self-deception. How do [they] do that?”

Furthermore, a poll from WYFF4.com of Greenville, S.C., as of this morning, shows that about 91% believe it wasn’t appropriate for S.C. governor Mark Sanford to leave and not tell anyone. Sometimes, truth is unavoidable.

I agree with this assessment:

Whether right or wrong, politics is a game of perception. And if Governor Sanford’s goal is the national stage, this “disappearance” act just looks wrong on so many levels. He is going to be perceived as “flaky” and “irresponsible”, because of this “stunt”. This is not about a guy just getting away for a few days without a cell phone. This is about whether or not Sanford has what it takes to run for President of the United States. And right now it looks like he doesn’t have “it”.

Update 1: Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is a Democrat according to Fox News:

Update 2: What South Carolina residents are saying about the Mark Sanford debacle:

Update 3: The State, South Carolina’s largest newspaper, published emails between Mark Sanford and a woman in Argentina; but should these emails have been published or remained private? I’m guessing he sent these emails from his state government account. At most job sites—especially in the government—employees working in information technology have access to electronic mail or even an employee’s work computer.

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