Meet Mark Sanford. He's the Republican governor of South Carolina and a staunch family-values conservative. He is anti-abortion, anti-gay, makes a big deal about the "sanctity of marriage," and generally likes to get on his moral high horse to tell everyone else how to run their lives.
Oh yes, and he just got back after a week in which he sneaked away to sunny Buenos Aires, Argentina. He didn't tell his family where he was going, even skipping out on them for Father's Day. He left his cell phone off and was completely incommunicado. He did, however, apparently get back in touch with the office a couple of days ago to say he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
But there's a slight problem - even the southernmost tip of the Trail near Atlanta is about five thousand miles from Buenos Aires. So either Sanford lied to his staff about his whereabouts or his staff lied to cover for their boss. Neither one is good.
So what was Sanford actually doing down there? Was he there to take advantage of Argentina's medical tourism? Or was it something a little less family-friendly?
I'm betting it's the latter. When you tell a lie that transparent and that easily debunked, it means you probably weren't there to feed the homeless.
For his part, the now-resurfaced Sanford is not helping his image. When he got off the plane, he was cornered by a reporter asking why he left the country and didn't bother to tell anyone about it. His response? "I wanted to do something exotic."
Oh, that sounds good.
This sure looks like it's going to get very ugly, very quickly.
Update: The American embassy in Argentina apparently had no idea he was in the country. Add in Buenos Aires' legendary kidnapping risk and a prominent American like Sanford would have to be certifiably insane to go there without any security or even informing the embassy.
Sanford will hold a press conference at 2PM EDT. Get the popcorn.
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