United Liberty

Count me among the apparently small group of people who think the Mark Sanford vacation story has been completely blown out of proportion. I’ll give you the fact that the story is weird, but anyone who has been involved in politics in any capacity knows that it can take a lot out of you, especially if you are as invested as Gov. Sanford was during the most recent session of the South Carolina legislature.

Admittedly, I don’t know a great deal about South Carolina politics, however, I’ve followed Gov. Sanford enough to know that he hasn’t been afraid to stand up for his principles in the face of opposition, even if it comes from inside his own party. That’s why he got a primary challenge when he ran for re-election in 2006 and it’s why his relationship with the Republicans in the state legislature and disingenuous bloggers constantly taking shots at him.

Consider this. Within the last couple months, Sanford took on the Republican-controlled state legislature on the state’s budget and lost. He also took on President Barack Obama and the state legislature on the “stimulus” bill and lost.

I don’t like throwing bombs at the media, but what should be a non-story has been hyped into a big deal because Gov. Sanford is a frequently mentioned candidate for President in 2012 and also to distract from the real issues facing the country, such as balloning budget deficits and more government intervention in our daily lives.

Let me know when the media gets back to things that actually matter.

[UPDATE] In case you are interested, Gov. Sanford will hold a press conference at 2pm in at the statehouse in Columbia.

[UPDATE II] Wow. I was wrong. I guess I wasn’t trying to be positive and give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Several friends of mine who know Gov. Sanford have always said he was a family man. So yeah, I’m shocked by news of his affair. The problem I had with this story was the jumping to conclusions about every aspect of it.

I’ve always liked Mark Sanford and would’ve have been one of the first people to volunteer for his presidential campaign.

By all accounts, he was very sincere in expressing regret and asking forgiveness (you can watch the press conference here). He has his work cut out for him, piecing his family back together and restablishing trust back with his state.