Sanford’s Affair May Too Prove To Be Pro-Romney
BY: WC WINDBAG
Over the weekend, I posted that Sen. John Ensign’s affair with (or sexual harassment of) a staffer could benefit Gov. Mitt Romney in any future pursuit of the 2012 GOP nomination for President. I guess when it rains, it pours… as yet another strong, potential conservative rival for the nomination drops out for dropping his pants.
Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) — the man ranked #2 on the Fred Malek potential GOP presidential candidates, the man who initially refused federal money from Porkulus, the man who espoused all the conservative values (save one) that many on the Right crave:
He’s fiscally conservative and a strong supporter of civil and individual liberty. He’s in the Goldwater tradition and willing to stick by his principles, whatever the cost.
… yes, that Mark Sanford — is also guilty of carrying on an extra-marital affair. Below is the video of his admission of said affair:
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As with Ensign, I will pull no punches with Sanford. I agree with Michelle’s sentiments and with other former supporters who show disgust of this man’s behavior, especially when compared with the dignity of Mrs. Sanford displayed in her statement. Sanford will get what he deserves… but it just irks me a bit when Lurch and others take this pathetic man’s faithlessness as an opportunity to knock others… which makes no sense.
All this bad behavior could mean another bad election cycle for the GOP… or maybe not.
So back to Mitt… Romney’s gee wiz, squeaky-clean image of a faithful, family man might be just what the party is looking for in the future, which is complemented by the fact he is also a successful leader with economic smarts. Against the backdrop of these two clowns, Mitt is safe, and even desirable. Say what you want about President Obama, but he and his family are as about as clean as they get. Sanford and Ensign hurt not ony themselves, but any GOP candidate with a sordid or complicated family history.
This could also help the GOP by reducing the number of potential A-list opponents for Romney (since so many are being politically suicidal), allowing for a much less bruising primary fight, saving precious money for the general election against the Obama money factory. A fight against an incumbent is a difficult enough battle, but against the yes-we-can media machine as well, it will be even tougher to get his message out.
So I am not hopeless yet, especially for Mitt. Sometimes one must see the silver lining in that big, gray cloud.
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Better to burn the chaff now than in 2012.
Even though the election cycle is much longer today, there is still time to see some additional candidates emerge from the right side of the aisle. At this time four years ago Obama was just a Junior Senator from Illinois.
When he started his campaign he visited Union Station in St. Louis to hold a “rally”. Less than 100 people attended the speech and he had very little security. A year later you couldn’t get near him as the Obamania grew bigger and bigger.
Time will tell, but there are probably some great candidates out there that could emerge. At one time I thought it would be a Giuliani – Clinton matchup in 2008 – not so much.
If any GOP candidate wants to be on the national stage they better not have any skeleton’s in their closet (or interns) or Keith Olbermann and his minions will hunt them down. I assume if the reverse happened (a democrat in a compromising position) that Mr. Olbermann would report the story….
Conservative media rears its ugly head
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200906240026
Fox news deflects bad news on the Republican front by marking Sanford (D). Ugly.
Mike, that is a little of an overreach. This is common, and I have seen not only the big three networks do this same exact thing, but also go out of their way NOT to mention the party. Former Illinois Guv Blago is a perfect example. He was often not referred to as a Democrat by any of the stations, but rather his party affiliation was kept off the screen. I have not turned my TV on yet this morning, but I went to Foxnews.com and right in the article it said that Sanford would be “resigning as chairman of the Republican Governors Association” (emphasis mine). Later, the article mentions him as a potential contender in the 2012 presidential election, and looked for the South Carolina GOP Chairman for comment.
This is an example of bad editing or producing, nothing more than that.
Madman… I agree with you on clearing the field. Better to weed these people out than get them as close to the prize and Democrats did with John Edwards. That could have really screwed up their plans.
You are being an apologist for Fox if you think they-all-do-it and that therefore it’s ok. See http://intershame.com/on/Fox_News/
There is such a thing as professional journalism and not withstanding your own paranoid feelings, every journalist is not after saving the Dem or saving the Rep party.
Fox fails in professional journalism big time. Anyone who watches them might as well be watching Entertainment Tonight.
You are just a paranoid Fox hater. Where is this professional journalism of which you speak? MSNBC? The New York Times? The LA Times? Time? Newsweek? CBS News?
News outlets are run by people and they are all prone to their biases. There is no such thing as a completely fair and balanced network, but if you are looking for an example, how about this. Turns out that Fox News had the most balanced coverage during the Presidential election, and was fair to both Obama and McCain.
You can try to place O’Reilly, Beck, and Hannity in the category of unfair, but none of them claim to be fair. They are news commentators and spout their bias opinions every night, just liked the unwatched Olbermann and Maddow on MSNBC, except with viewers.
I would put Fox News’ Special Report up against any newscast in the business for fair, balanced, and professional reporting. If you can not see this, their primary news show, then you are confused between opinion (entertainment) and news.
And by the way… who cares about Fox News anyway… it has nothing to do with the fact that Sanford’s affair will likely boost Romney in the future polls.
Try Daniel Shorr (NPR), Daniel Perlman, Walter Cronkite. There are probably a dozen highly professional newscasters across all media outlets. They are very dedicated.
I don’t hate Fox, I just happen to think they are in the same boat as O’Reilly.
Correction: there are dozens of highly professional newscasters. You should hang around with them to gain a respect for the profession.
I have no use for Fox and other media, liberal or conservative, who demean the value of common decency by using tactics like Fox. Whether subtle or overt partisanship of the media is anathema to American values of respect and decency.
I guess this is all in the eyes of the beholder. Shorr may have been something once upon a time, but he turned into a liberal hack commentator for the left-leaning NPR. Walter Cronkite was one of the big (and only) three that ruled the airway and the release of news. Most of those anchors read from the pages of the New York Times back then, and the people believed them because they had no alternative outlets with other points of view. An outside view of Cronkite today sees his work as left leaning, especially his Vietnam reporting.
I don’t know anything about Daniel Perlman, so I can not comment on him.
I would agree that there are good reporters out there. My list does not include yours, but I would include Jake Tapper and Mike Allen. You might not have any use for Fox, but there are good reporters there, as I am sure there are at CNN and MSNBC.
The problem is when you watch or listen to a news story and you can hear bias in it. This happens more often than not when I am listening to anything political. It is difficult for the reporter to separate their biases from their reporting. Considering the estimated 85-90% of the DC press considers themselves left-leaning, I am not surprised that the reporting out of them is, if not overtly bias, at least a bit favorable in its tone and tenor to the left.
But again… why are we talking about Fox and media bias when the central of the point of the article had nothing to do with Fox, media, or bias?
Sanford has a hot story but no book deal. How long can THAT last?
See:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/sanford-book-deal-flames-out/
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