Politicians have a funny way of saying they're sorry. Conventional wisdom would probably tell you something along the lines of this when it comes to dealing with a personal scandal: "get it all out there the first, time, answer questions about it once, and put it behind you." But for some reason, when elected officials (and that's Democrats and Republicans alike) get caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar, they adopt more of a "rolling confession" type of strategy. And if their ultimate goal is to destroy themselves in the press, they've found the perfect way to do it.
Take South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who progression of explanations and apologies got a little bit longer today when he admitted not just that he'd seen the Argentinan mystery woman, Maria Belen Shapur, a few more times than he said before, but that he'd "crossed lines" with a handful of other women as well. Then his rhetoric took on a decidedly more sentimental tone. Calling her his "soul mate," Sanford had this to say about his tryst: "This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story. A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day." Still, he says he remains committed to reconciling with his wife.
Taken in its entirity, the Sanford Saga goes a little something like this:
Step 1: His wife, Jenny Sanford, says that he has gone off to find solitude so that he can write in peace.
Step 2: His spokesman, Joel Sawyer, contradicts the missus, and says that the Governor is actually hiking along the Appalaichian Trail. Sanford comes back and sticks to that story...for a little while anyway.
Step 3: Sanford admits that he wasn't on the Appalaichian Trail. He wasn't even in the country. He was in Argentina, having an affair with a woman he says he met eight years ago. He says he's had about 5 liaisons with her- all in Argentina- over that period of time.
Step 3.5: Sanford quickly offers to pay the state back for a "business" trip to Argentina that was admittedly mixed with a little pleasure as well.
Step 4: Well, maybe it was a few more than five times. Actually, Maria Belen Shapur also came to visit Sanford right here in the United States, with the two illicit lovers shacking up for long weekends in expensive Manhattan hotels.
Step 5: Yes, it gets worse. While Maria Belen Shapur was "the one" for Sanford (he called her his "soul mate"), she certainly wasn't the only one. Sanford admits that he's been unfaithful to his wife with even more women.
That story went from being a weird tale about a disappearing Governor to an all-too-familiar tale of physical greed. Worse, it went from a story that should have been on the front page for no more than three, four days tops, to one that will be popping in and out of the headlines for the next few weeks. It's been a neverending headache for the GOP, too.
The logic is pretty simple. Sanford thought he could get away with some stuff by admitting to other stuff. Turns out, not so much. Bill Clinton tried to do the same thing: first he didn't know Monica Lewinsky; then he knew her, but not well and he'd never been inappropriate; then he admitted to kissing her, but nothing more than that. Then the Starr Report hit him across the face and the whole story really blew up.
John Edwards' own personal tale was pretty similar. First he denied any involvement whatsoever in the affair that was being alleged by the National Enquirer (which he actually criticized for its shoddy journalism...turns out they were doing just fine). In fact, the Edwards inner-circle (or what was left of it) blamed it on one of Edwards' top staffers. Then that whole story crumbled, and it was, "yes, I had an affair," but it's not my baby. Now we're hearing about sex tapes. Hopefully, it won't be, "OK, it's my baby, but there is no sex tape." Quite a slippery slope.
But Sanfird is continuing on it. And each time it appears as though he might have planted a foothold in for a return to some semblance of political stability, he implodes and tumbles a bit lower.
You're not under oath, Governor Sanford, but the "truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth" might be pretty practical for you right now. Or you can see what happens if you continue to drop one bombshell revelation after another on top of your consituents. Your choice.
