Politics & Current Events
KellyBensimon
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Mark Sanford vs. Elizabeth Colbert Busch
This is shaping up to be a really close race. I'll post the results later tonight or tomorrow.
I read that Sanford has been behind in recent weeks but is closing. He had a stumble when his ex-wife accused him of trespassing.
PPP had her down a percentage point on Sunday.
now i know how Nancy Kerrigan felt. that's insight into SCARY ISLAND. you have no clue what really went down.
Re: Mark Sanford vs. Elizabeth Colbert Busch
Interesting about Sanford being behind! I haven't been following the race closely, but I thought I had read that he had been leading. The fact that Colbert Busch even has a chance is HUGE considering how long it's been since a Dem has held that seat. I know it's not a liberal area, so I guess the thought of voting for Sanford is just making a lot of people sick.
I think this is a really interesting race. Mark Sanford is obviously really untrustworthy and slimy. It's quite the testament to partisan politics that he might win.
No, I think it's the libs who have taught us that sexual morality in marriage doesn't matter. ex: Bill Clinton
Better a rat than a 'rat? I have to admit I'd vote for Sanford in this race and sleep well at night.
Your last sentence does prove my point, doesn't it?
I'm not talking about sexual morality at all. I could care less about that. In my mind Bill Clinton and Sanford don't have interchangeable offenses. Sanford was "missing" for six days while governor and used public funds to fly and see his lady friend...as well as purportedly using a plane to go and get a freaking haircut. How is any of that fiscally conservative? He's shady as fluck.
Since you do think Sanford and Clinton commited interchangeable (or at least equatible) offenses it does bring up the issue of hypocrisy. I very much doubt that you were shouting that it didnt matter after Bill Clinton had his affair, so again, it's a testament to partisan politics that so many who decried that situation would have no problem supporting someone who conducted a much more scandalous, long term affair.
It looks like Sanford will beat Colbert Busch, and it won't be quite as close as some in the media optimistically predicted. Right now, he is winning in the precincts that he needs and keeping it close in the ones where he may have been in trouble.
My comment was more about the double standard that exists, how when a Dem cheats he's hip and cool and hot and his ratings go up, like with Clinton in 1999, how that atrocious female writer said that she'd give him a blow job herself for keeping abortion legal, etc.
I think this vote was less about Sanford in some cases, though he was considered a rising star before his fall from grace, and more about a dark red area wanting to give the Republicans an extra House seat. If the Republicans hold the House, Obama doesn't have carte blanche, and when it's a relatively close split, every seat counts.
I think a lot of people forgot how popular Sanford was before his fall from grace. It was assumed that he would be on a VP ticket or run for president in his own right. At least they didn't go as gutter against him as they have recently against Nikki Haley, like the comments that she should go back to where she came from (yeah, I'm sure he really meant Lexington county), then a separate comment that she should go back to the dress shop or something like that. Classy.
I agree with everyone else that Sanford was a shoe in. It would have been a Christmas miracle for Colbert Busch to win. That's why I was so surprised that Kelly said she had been leading in the polls! That's shocking.
I do have to give a big LOL at the whole idea that Dems think cheating is "hip and cool." Where did you get that? 1999 was 14 years ago. I can't speak to why you think it was considered cool then, but I do think Clinton's popularity went up with the ill fated impeachment. It was egregious and many people stood behind the president.
Do you remember John Edwards? Like Sanford, he was shady as fluck. He may have been acquitted, but I personally would never vote for someone so slimy. It has nothing to do with a simple case of adultery and more to do with the extent of lying and poor character.
So very true! And I can't imagine that anyone thinks it's hip and cool. What a hilarious claim.
And even John Edwards, who has no shame or dignity whatsoever, didn't have the balls to actually run for office again after his sleaziness came out. But Sanford did.
Hey, let's not forget Newt, King Hypocrite, who was having an affair as he was trying to demonize Bill Clinton. And yet, there was a time Newt was leading nationally for the Republican 2012 Presidential nominee!
It does look like American voters just don't care about sex scandals as much as they once did.
I'm pretty sure John Edwards was much too busy defending himself on six felony campaign funds violations charges to run any kind of campaign so I'm not sure he's a good example. FTR while what he did was slimy with the money and probably violated the spirit of the laws, by the strictest interpretation of the law he did no wrong.
I won't be surprised to see him come back eventually like spitzer and weiner have been dipping their toes into the water on.
I don't see how John Edwards being charged makes him a bad example. He was acquitted a year ago, so he certainly would have had a chance to show his face in public again if he wanted to. He and Sanford are pretty similar in my eyes - I can't believe anyone would vote for either of them! They have shown their true colors, but apparently the voting public has a reaaaaly short memory in Sanford's case.
You might be right that Edwards will try to run again, but for the life of me I can't imagine why he would bother (other than being an extreme narcissist). I don't know how on earth he would make it through a primary. I still don't understand how Sanford made it through his own primary. He must have had some really shitty competition!
I think that Sanford won for two reasons. One, he was a popular governor before his disgrace and was even though of as a VP candidate in the future. Second, he effectively nationalized the race by debating against Pelosi. As an article stated (forget which one), he changed the subject at just the right time it needed changing. Also, there was a story about Busch's mugshot or something like that during the last wk of the campaign. It was probably easy to trivialize her as being just the comedian's sister, too. I know I did.
The thing that surprises me is that Sanford didn't have to talk all the time about how he maybe used his position and taxpayer money in pursuit of his honey. If Busch had pressed this more thoroughly, she may have won.
Speaking of philanderers...I had heard whispers of a Weiner comeback but didn't think anything became of it. He certainly could get elected in NY. No doubt about it. John Edwards got in trouble because his wife was battling cancer at the time and had built up a saintly image that may or may not have been removed from reality. (Read "Game Change.") The difference with Sanford is that Jenny Sanford didn't have that sainted image.
Don't get me wrong. I dislike Sanford. I find philanderers the most loathsome scum. However, if an election's nationalized and I think that my vote could keep Obama from winning the House and thus having unchecked power, my choice is clear.
I never understand when people come back and vote for these knuckleheads but they do. There is a local politician where it is common knowledge over this half of the state that he has a reputation as a child molester. It was one of those things that everyone knew about but he had enough political clout that even his opponents (when he had them) bothered to mention it on the campaign trail. Despite several of his victims ( one being very credible-didn't sell his story, respectable citizen-no trouble with the law ever, married with kids, etc) even coming forward and doing an at length interviews detailing the relationship this man had with them when they were children, this man has never, ever been charged with the abuse and the only reason he is no longer in office is because he didn't run in the last election. His official excuse was that he's in his late 70s or 80s and said it was "time to retire". Meanwhile the boys that he victimized (who are known around his hometown as his "boys") continue to get into trouble with the law and do irrational things like set houses on fire that he bought for them and he continues to pay cash to bail them out each time. It's twisted and sick yet I can promise if he ran again right now he would get elected. I asked a friend who is from that area why in the world anyone would ever vote for him and she said it was sick but that he brought in a TON of money from the fed and state govt for his town and people and their businesses were beholden to him. He's been subject to an SBI investigation for several years but magically despite it being such an open secret not one thing has happened yet.
Here's a link to the newspaper story. I live about an hour from this district and within a year of moving to this area in the early 90s I had heard the rumors about all of this stuff going on. The local newspaper ran this in 2011 and he STILL has never been charged with anything. The Penn State people have been charged (and convicted) on less than this. Even more shameful I think is that the other lawmakers in the state knew about this and continued to give him powerful positions in committees.
http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110620/ARTICLES/110629999/1177?Title=R-C-Soles-accused-of-taking-advantage-of-troubled-teens-ex-senator-denies-allegations
http://luminanews.com/article.asp?aid=8456&iid=278&sud=44
Money and jobs talk apparently.