Peripatetic Palmetto State Gov Checks In

“the governor was somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten.”
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KT-They can not be serious. Let me get this straight. The gov goes amissing. His wife and kids no clue, his staff and security no clue, the LtGov no clue, the state house and senate leadership no clue, state Homeland security no clue, state law enforcement no clue. And the gov is taken aback. WTF does he think he’s running in SC a taco stand? Real nice of him to return though. How thoughtful. What a swell guy. I mean really.

@Roland_Hedley: Governor Sanford kicks off 2012 campaign by disappearing, paradoxically raising national profile. Crazy like Fox.
about 17 hours ago from web

@Roland_Hedley: Report: Sanford wandering in wilderness, triggering excited speculation from GOP faithful that he’ll return with tablets.
about 10 hours ago from web

I be ri’ glad now tha’ th’ one o’ me progeny currently posted t’ SC wi’ th’ military be decidin’ on retainin’ ‘is WA State residency! An, I would be feelin’ ri’ sorry fer’ th’ residents o’ th’ Palmetto State, if they hadn’a brought this upon themselves by electin’ th’ cretin.
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They were gettin’ wha’ they were payin’ fer, tha’ be fer sure!
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Spongy, go F yerself!
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Arrgh.

Just thought of a new commenter contest! Will post soon as an update.

As Theresa Kopec pointed out on Twitter, her husband is a hiker of the Trail and no way she doesn’t notice when he is packing up tent, supplies, etc. for a multi-day hike. In addition, people who are hiking the trail are required to sign in. Wonder what enterprising reporter will check that out.
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I’m going with Roland Hedley.

Never mind the contest. On second thought, it was too stupid and obvious to ask commenters to name the next pol they want to see take a hike.

KT-Particularly when every answer is Norm Coleman.

guys, i’m thinking of doing a post on the top ten sanford tweets. PNNTO has gotten me started. And i’ve got one from pourmecoffee. tell me what else you’ve seen.

Good points Ivy. Does anyone actually believe this hiking story? It sounds like a cover. An incredibly lame one at that.

First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press earlier Monday her husband has been gone for several days and she did not know where.

She said she was not concerned.

…

Jenny Sanford said the governor said he needed time away from their children to write something.

I guess the time out is just about over.

An’ incredibly easy t’ prove ‘er disprove, as Ivy be pointin’ out…
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KT – Ye’ve heard fr’ pourme??? Whar’s ‘e been?
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Spongy, go F yerself!
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Arrgh.

Sanford’s political career is rightfully over after this unbelievable stunt. Does he really have no clue about what uproar this caused or was this actually a serious emotional crisis for the governor? A suicide mission? Trying to kill Obama? Who knows…

http://www.political-buzz.com/

” .. And when the session ended with Sanford losing his fight to reject $700 million in federal stimulus cash, he abruptly disappeared. ..”

Have a heart guys.
The governor was in the wilderness communing with nature (and the green spirits). Who knows: He will emerge bearing 10+1 commandments.
[About the "+1"? "Thou shalt not take stimulus money"]

@PW,
pourmecoffee is very active on Twitter. In fact, that is the best and probably only reason to get a Twitter account. and Roland Hedley. and KT too…..
Pourme’s Flickr stream is also worth the price of admission.

I’m waiting for some enterprising local journalist to discredit this hiking story and uncover what he was really doing. If such a person even exists anymore.

Is there any truth to the rumor that up to two dozen fellow hikers performed “prostate exams” on Governor Sanford? What about the report that said he was spotted “gingerly walking” toward his vehicle?

KT – you want a contest? When hikers hike the AT – at some point they acquire a trail name – usually given by a fellow hiker. Let’s give Sanford a trail name. How about NoStimulus?

PD –
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Da*nation – I were resistin’ th’ twitter thing on me general principles o’ not indulgin’ in frivolous tech fads, bu’ I may need t’ be rethinkin’ me position…
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thanks fer th’ info, mate!
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Spongy, go F yerself!
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Arrgh!

I am just amazed that anybody is buying this load of bullsh*t. His staff said yesterday they hadn’t heard from him either. That being the case how could they possibly attest to where he has been or even is right now? His wife and other folks suggested he went some where to write yesterday. Well how the hell do you write while you are hiking? The man’s kids didn’t hear from him on Father’s day, this from a guy who is a flaming “family values” social conservative. Simply put nobody would buy this explanation if it came from a friend or family member and the media would be a hell of a a lot more skeptical if it were a Democrat, but since its a Republican and even though all evidence points to the contrary we are now bombarded with a statement from a flack of the Governor even though there is no independent confirmation that such a phone call actually took place and I assume that if the Gov could call his staff his phone worked well enough to call members of the media or at least his damn family to at least try to sell the same lie to them. Has that happened? Uhmmm evidently not. Has that stopped the press from running with his aide’s statement? Hell no.
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I swear there used to be a time when the media was sketical of any story from a politician. Yeat another reason to yearn for the Clinton years.

Hey Sacred –
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Ye weren’t tellin’ us yesterday tha’ ye be goin’ t’ th’ Appalachian Trail fer yer prostate exam, nor tha’ ye be gettin’ it fr’m a bona-fide celebrity!
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Way t’ go savin’ yerself some dough on yer medical costs thar, matey!
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Spongy…
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Arrgh!

just posted six.

Commenters:
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It would be fair to say the governor was somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten.
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Yes, it is rather odd.
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Regular Democrats have better things to debunk the GOP on than this (“government takeover”). It smells of opportunism, boredom and fluff. It doesn’t make Democrats look good in comparison –it actually invites scrutiny into where every single Congressional Dem was this Sunday (fundraising). We’re not better than the Republicans because our politicians are somehow nobler, it’s that our ideas haven’t thoroughly ruined the country after being put into practice (yet).
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Why is this an issue? Why is this kind of scrutiny necessary –especially now? Hasn’t this been going on with Sanford for some time?
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Honest criticism about issues that matter is one thing, but this is another. With the health care reform legislative process at its most back-room deal point, it’s as if there’s some kind of campaign going on to focus the public’s attention on irrelevant Republicans instead of relevant Democrats. HuffPo even brings stimulus fluff into it:
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How much [stimulus] money will go to the Georgia portion — where Sanford likely is — isn’t immediately clear.
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There’s no doubt about it: this is the ideology of fluff in action.

In the ideology of fluff “outrageous irony” plays a huge role in making the fluff look like news. But here fluff goes poof.
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In the ideology of fluff, political thought follows the Holden Caulfield maxim: find the phony. You isolate the “outrageous irony,” as Michael Scherer put it. Another way to boil it down: “Oh, the hypocrisy!” And if you’re a journalist working in this style, the frothing irony is more important than the underling issue. Which enrages the people who care about the issue. The rage is then used to prove how independent the ironist is, taking the heat and telling the truth. Every practitioner of fluff reporting draws strong reactions because events have to be trimmed, sliced or just plain distorted so the account seems more ironical rather than ideological– i.e. biased. This trimming and fiddling with the facts doesn’t matter to people who don’t care about the issue being trivialized, and it’s to the benefit of those on the “other” side of whomever was taken down a notch by it. (See http://is.gd/ok8B) So they don’t squeal. That leaves the fluffster and (in the fluffster’s mind) partisans upset by a tweaking.

This gleeful tale has all of the rank stench of Drudgism. Replace “Mark Sanford” with “John Kerry”, replace “opposes Keynesian federal spending” with “supports federal aid to lower-income families”, replace “accept stimulus money” with “lives in a big house/married ketchup heiress”, and we’re in familiar fluff trade.
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If the one example sounds coincidental, Replace “Mark Sanford” with “Al Gore”, replace “opposes Keynesian federal spending” with “supports reducing greenhouse gas emissions”, replace “accept stimulus money” with “lives in a big house/travels by airplane/has greater than zero carbon footprint”, and we’re in even more familiar fluff trade.
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Believe it or not, Republican governors aren’t the problem right now. In fact Republicans in general aren’t the problem afflicting the federal government’s ability to act on behalf of citizens.
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I know we all love to hate the other side, and we love to point our fingers at the outrageous hypocrisy (shock, offense, outrage) of those baaaaaaaaaaad people over there, but the minority party isn’t really who’s obstructing the Change agenda overwhelmingly voted for by the American people last year. As Chris Bowers says so well:

It is all very cute and tempting to attack Republicans. After the last eight, or really fourteen, years, it has become reflexive for almost everyone advocating for progressive causes. However, we need to start getting it through our collective heads that the political reality has changed. Conservative Democrats, ineffective Democratic leadership, and timid progressive advocacy organizations are the problem.
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Even beyond the specific case of climate change, this is a general Stop with the irrelevant attacks on irrelevant Republicans. Political reality no longer has anything to do with Republicans. Repeat after me: conservative Democrats, ineffective Democratic leadership, and timid progressive advocacy organizations are the problem now.

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The DNC would love for us to be fixated on “We told you they’re all hypocrites and liars! Boooo!” (and for journalists to be content producing fluffy irony) instead of this

Backroom Deals, Inexorable Right-wing Slides
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Without a hardline group of progressives willing to join with Republicans and defeat Democratic legislation unless that legislation meets certain progressive criteria, every legislative fight will follow this process of backroom deals with corporate interests resulting in an inexorable right-wing slide. …Otherwise, given the backroom nature of these dealings, there is no way for the progressive activist base to play any meaningful role in the legislative process, and all negotiation power is ceded to corproate lobbyists.
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We either have the Progressive Block, which continues to give us leverage in the health care fight, or we have this disastrous climate change bill path where already weakened legislation gets dominated by Collin Peterson. The choice is ours.

The closer we get to the real vote (the back-room vote in the Senate) on health care reform, the more we’ll hear about those bad, ol’ Republicans who aren’t Mary Landrieu, Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson or Arlen Specter. The reason the DNC is so gleeful to have the national media’s attention on a puzzled, irony-stricken Mark Sanford is because they’re desperate for anything to distract the public from asking the same “But why won’t they just do what we’re asking of them?” questions that Paul Krugman wonders about:

Health Care Showdown
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…Honestly, I don’t know what these Democrats are trying to achieve. Yes, some of the balking senators receive large campaign contributions from the medical-industrial complex – but who in politics doesn’t? If I had to guess, I’d say that what’s really going on is that relatively conservative Democrats still cling to the old dream of becoming kingmakers, of recreating the bipartisan center that used to run America…

Let’s not fall for it, folks.
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Right now, the most important domestic legislation since Social Security is being decided for us by a handful of people –all of whome are not the missing Mark Sanford– who care less about our interests and our lives than their own senses of power.
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The people standing in the way of your life improving, and your country going in the right direction are Democrats. It’s up to us whether to be satisfied calling out Republicans on their Fathers’ Day whereabouts, or to be unsatisfied enough to call out Democrats on the whereabouts of their values when it comes to the health of the American people.

I guess I’m in the minority in considering this a fantastically uninteresting non story?

pirate wench: Not on the trail, but this afternoon I will be driven down the hill by the mrs for the “event”. She relented on letting me get hammered before the exam. I have to take her for a weekend at Niagra Falls early next month though. If the government needs a tough negotiator, they need to hire my wife. I’m on my second rum and coke already. I’m taking a flask with me too.

Thank ye, Stuart, I be feelin’ ri’ taken aback!
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Spongy, go F yerself!
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Arrgh.

Honest – I hadn’a thought o’ it tha’ way.

Sacred –
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‘ave a few fer me, me hearty! I be not able t’ imbibe whilst I be takin’ th’ extreme-expensive antibiotic prescribed fer me bronchitis. Good thing I be havin’ some health insurance t’ take a bit o’ th’ bite out o’ th’ cost!
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Spongy, go F yerself!
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Arrgh!

sacred: you got yer papers? Downtown NF is in a “revitalization” state, and it’s not so pretty, lately. Canada actually has the more interesting side of the Falls, but you can’t get back unless you have proper papers. Thank you DHS. You rock!!

LOL
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Get a load of my sanctimoniously bad spelling!
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That should beall of whom are not the missing Mark Sanford…

Mr. Nice Guy: We need a passport if we go on the Canada side? A driver’s license won’t suffice?

SZ
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You might be interested in how the new group “ChangeCongress” has handled Ben Nelson and are now targeting Landrieu. I support their approach to the fullest!
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I like Gov. Rick Perry just as good as Sanford.

sacred: A plain state-issued drivers license will _not_ suffice. As of June 1st.
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http://www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/crossingborders/
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See the section on “Land/Sea” travel. Again, thanks DHS! Love you guys!
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This really sux because there’s this nice little restaurant in Fort Erie – Happy Jacks, if you’re in the area – that I love, but I can’t take my kid with me because he doesn’t have the “enhanced” driver’s license, or a passport. Years previously, we’d just hop in the car, grab some great food, enjoy the scenery, and come back fat and happy. No can do, anymore. Without a hassle, anyway.

sacred, yes, you need a passport to go back and forth to Canada.

Sacred –
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Yep, beginnin’ in June, everyone travelin’ t’ Canada be needin’ a passport (or in WA, one o’ them “enhanced” driver’s licenses, or a passport card) t’ be gettin’ back.
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Arrgh!

It be a bloody pain in th’ arse (sorry, Sacred!) fer those o’ us livin’ near th’ border an’ accustomed t’ poppin’ into Vancouver willy-nilly, an’ fer th’ senior discount prescription bus tours!
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Yarr!

Both my wife and I just got new driver’s licenses last week (both our birthdays). They look entirely different from the old license. We’re in Ohio. Those will be OK?

Sacred,
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Not unless they be specifically “enhanced” wi’ th’ extra identifyin’ information. I don’t be knowin’ if Ohio even be offerin’ these types o’ licenses…check th’ official web site, I be supposin.
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Spongy – go F yerself!
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Arrgh.

Sacred: if you just went through the typical renewal process – send in the check, etc. – then I’d guess they’re _not_ enhanced. That’s too easy for the good folks at DHS. Here’s a link, but you should check Ohio, specifically.
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http://www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/crossingborders/gc_1197575704846.shtm
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Just out of curiosity, roughly where in Ohio are you? Cleveland area, per chance? I used to live in Olmsted Falls.

Thanks for the link and embed, SG, much appreciated.

This specifically says it’s “unofficial,” but you may find it useful:
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http://www.dmv.org/driving-abroad/passport-license.php

PW(DW)

Thank ye, Stuart, I be feelin’ ri’ taken aback!
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I didn’t think that piracy and “feelin’ ri’ taken aback” could co-exist within the same person.
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Arrrgh!

Bu’ I be a ri’ SPECIAL person, Stuart – ye be knowin’ tha’ – an’ a wench o’ great mystery an’ complexity, t’ boot!
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Spongy – go F yerself!
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Arrgh!!!

Mr Nice & Sacred –
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I be hailin’ fr’m th’ great State o’ Ohio too, me lads! Me first experiences in piratin’ an’ wenchin’ along th’ shores o’ Lake Erie betwixt Cleveland an’ AOTL (Ashtabula On The Lake) were th’ sparks ignitin’ me life o’ buccaneerin’!
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Spongy…
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Arrgh!

Tillis Wynette’s top ten explanations for Gov. Sanford’s disappearance:

10) Pursuing the Great Appalachian Wild Bender

9) Finishing up last chapter of “Social Security: Mollycoddling the Elderly” at South Carolina State Police safe house

8) Attending week long eucumenical prayer retreat with Greta van Sustern, Charles Krauthammer, John Roberts, Ramesh Ponnuru, Mitt Romney, John Yoo and Dick Cheney at undisclosed location

7) Jesse Helms seance gone terribly wrong

6) Souping-up funny cars with Dennis Miller and Instapundit at clandestine Defense Department Motor Speedway Research Center

5) Despondent over 3rd place finish in National Vittel Association’s ‘Possum Stew Cook-off, Sanford seeks out Zell Miller for tips

4) Repackaging Morning After pills as fertility drugs

3) Helping to create new race of right wing conservatives by donating sperm to National Review Culture of Life Bank

2) Celebrating Father’s Day with 2nd spouse, Corvallis, and their adopted children in Provincetown… and, number one

1) Dove hunting with Bibi and Avigdor on West Bank

Mr. Nice Guy: I live about 10-11 miles north of Steubenville.

What SZ said, as is common upon my rising. Joking about Sanford is highly amusing, but 3 posts KT? Add AS’ thrilling pair…
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“The people standing in the way of your life improving, and your country going in the right direction are Democrats.”
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Bingosity. Americans of all political persuasions, if they’re not already, will be perfectly aware of this come ’10, ’12 etc. Every time we of the left hyperventilate (falsely) about the big bad GOP keeping us from achieving progressive legislation, the status quo kicks back and relaxes a little bit more. I’ve said it before, but the productive debate is not between Spob and liberals, it’s between center-left and the left. If we actively participate or expend most of our energies (when we hold all the offices/majorities) rebutting insane repug’s/their policies, no correction to corrosive democratic centrism is poss.
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And as for SG’s link, hey that’s great and is worthy of our time/donations, but by the time these bastards are up for reelection (if they can be replaced) it might be too late. Again, I probably a self-hating liberal, but I maintain it’s all in Obama’s hands–he’s got the pop and the cap–use it! Nationally shame those f@ckers. Travel to their states and give 5 speeches.