Juicier and Juicier: Sanford met in Atlanta after returning from South America

[jefferson_dem]

:popcorn:

Sanford met in Atlanta after returning from South America
Governor says he never hiked Appalachian Trail; says he cruised along the coast of Buenos Aires to unwind after stressful legislative session

By GINA SMITH

ATLANTA -- Gov. Mark Sanford arrived in the Hartsville-Jackson International Airport Wednesday morning, having wrapped up a seven-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he said. Sanford said he had not been hiking along the Appalachian Trail, as his staff said in a Tuesday statement to the media.

Sanford's whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday, and the mystery surrounding his absence fueled speculation about where he had been and who's in charge in his absence. His emergence Wednesday ended the mystery.

Sanford, in an exclusive interview with The State Media Company, said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.

Sanford said he had considered hiking on the Appalachian Trail, an activity he said he has enjoyed since he was a high school student.

"But I said 'no' I wanted to do something exotic," Sanford said "... It's a great city."

Sanford, in a brief interview in the nation's busiest airport, said he has been to the city twice before, most recently about a year and half ago during a Commerce Department trip.

Sanford said he was alone on the trip. He declined to give any additional details about what he did other than to say he drove along the coastline.

Sanford, who was wearing a blue and white button down shirt and brown denim pants, said he left for Buenos Aires Thursday night from Columbia International Airport and had originally planned to come back Thursday.

But he said he cut his trip short after his chief of staff, Scott English, told him his trip was gaining a lot of media attention and he needed to come back.

When asked why his staff said he was on the Appalachian Trail, Sanford replied, "I don't know."

Sanford later said "in fairness to his staff," he had told them he might go hiking on the Appalachian Trial.

<SNIP>

http://www.thestate.com/politics/story/838823.html

[alsame]

1. This gets stranger by the minute. nt

[StopTheNeoCons]

60. American governor DOES NOT spend vacation money in America but chooses to spend in another country

what a lousy American he is, where's the right wing outrage

[marmar]

2. Buenos Aires? He suddenly had a craving for some Argentinian steak?

n/t

[Teaser]

3. you might say that

.

[Ninga]

5. Yes, did say that!!! This is going to be verrrrrrrrrry interesting. n/t

[lazer47]

10. I didn't know they had renamed it "steak"

[marmar]

13. I was actually referencing the famous Argentine steak houses....but I catch your drift.

n/t

[zeemike]

4. Yep cruising along the coast with some "cabin boys"

To serve your every need is a good way to unwind.

My god I have become so cynical...

[Ninga]

12. Experience leads to cynicism...because it is "deja view" all over again.

[cali]

37. because being gay is just so bad you have to use it as a slur.

[zeemike]

55. Is pedophilia a part of being gay?

Is it OK for gay men to have sex with children?

[cali]

61. there is no evidence that Sanford is gay and cabin boy does not

de facto indicate a child.

[zeemike]

67. Well I would not think that someone who likes little boys

Is necessarily gay.
Pedophiles are a different breed.
and yes Cabin Boy is a child...or it used to be going way back...they were anywhere from 8 to 10 years old when they went to sea.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. LOL so he not only just up and left, but he left the country too?

[DesertRat]

14. and his wife didn't know where he was

:popcorn:

[tanyev]

15. And didn't really seem to care.

:popcorn:

[underpants]

16. South America.... South Carolina well at least it was South something

:shrug:

If someone asks Palin for a comment I am sure she will say "South America is an important country for us to be engaged with"

[Sanity Claws]

7. Buenos Aires? But it takes two to tango.

He must have had his passport with him. He planned to go abroad when he left the house.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Poor Mrs. Sanford.

[leftynyc]

52. First thing I thought when I read this

He carries his passport to go hiking?

[spooky3]

57. he can pack for a 7+ day international trip in minutes?

It takes me hours to buy the stuff I need, do my laundry, and then pack to meet all those pesky regulations (little bottles for liquids on carryons, etc.).

[madaboutharry]

8. This is unacceptable behavior from an elected official.

If he went alone to Buenos Aires with plans for staying a week and left the state without telling anyone of his whereabouts and without handing over power to the Lt. Gov, then it demonstrates an unacceptable lack of judgment as well as serious emotional instability. This is the behavior of a mixed up kid, not a man holding a high level office.

At the very least, the man is a flake.

I believe that there is much more to this story. I hope we find out.

[dgibby]

9. This guy is too weird for words.

A control freak completely out of control. Live 5 News in Charleston is now reporting this as breaking news, but have nothing more to add other than the facts listed above. Can't wait to hear the "real" story.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. He was there for a week of tango!

That's got to be it!

[Ninga]

21. More like the Horizontal Mambo. n/t

[Jennicut]

17. OMG....Buenos Aires, really? This is just plain weird.

So what was he doing there? Meeting a lover, getting drugs? Bizarre.

[underpants]

18. His staff vehemently denied he was at Atlanta airport

News 4 called the governor's office, and was told again by staffers that they stand by their original statement that the governor is hiking the Appalachian Trail. They did not want to comment on this story.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/report_sanford_seen_in_atlanta_airport.php

[Jennicut]

19. WTF? No one in his office including the gov has their act together.

I feel bad for the people of South Carolina.

[beac]

40. Yet he claims he came back because Scott English told him about all the hubbub.

Did it not come up in that conversation that he was not on the AT but actually in another COUNTRY?

The story stinks to high heaven.

[vaberella]

20. So his secret kids are Brazilian, not Black...what a disappointment. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

26. News Flash

Millions of Brazilians are in fact black. Brazil has the largest black population outside of Africa, larger even than our own in the States. Not everyone knows this. But it is the fact.

[Colobo]

27. Yes. But he was in Argentina, which has a larger percentage of whites than the US...

So who knows...

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

31. True dat. n/t

[vaberella]

42. Wait?! Now it's Argentina?! Does anyone know, really, now?! n/t

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

30. Thank you for that. It's amazing that people don't know about the Afro-Brazilians

[Colobo]

34. I'm an Afro-Latino as well (Black Puerto Rican)

and people hardly know we exist. It's sad.

[goclark]

56. I'm African American and I have a friend that is African-Latino

She is going to marry my cousin next month. :loveya:

[vaberella]

43. Far from it. I happen to be Afro-Caribbean---the comment is a joke. ~sigh~ n/t

[Colobo]

46. From the Hispanic Caribbean?

[vaberella]

48. I am from Hispanola----Ayiti baby!!! Ayiti! Ayiti! Haiti, as its known here. n/t

[Colobo]

50. Cool! I'm Puerto Rican but my paternal grandma is a Dominican of Hatian descent!

[vaberella]

41. I know they are. Actually about 66% of the population is.

However, they don't define themselves by any such title and that hierarchy on race is ridiculous.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

45. Yeah, that's true. But there still is a lot of mental racism against darker-skinned people.

Though Brazilians pride themselves on the lack of de jure racism and segregation; there is still a lot of poverty and dissimilarity based on skin color.

[vaberella]

47. Dude I know very well. I'm Haitian...lets just say we all tend to roll in a similar avenue.

Although in Haiti there are plenty of poor "white" people. It's mainly those of Middle Eastern/Haitian descent that are wealthy.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

59. Hmmm...very interesting. I did not know that.

[Adelante]

64. Middle Eastern/Haitian

Very interesting. I never considered that ethnic grouping in Haiti. Is it of long standing as an immigrant group?

[Colobo]

49. The problem is that in Latin America

that murky racial descriptions you find are, in many cases, ways to deny blackness or "Indianness" that have been in place since the colonial days...

Pigmentocracy still lives down there, sadly...

[vaberella]

54. The term you're looking for is Colourism, a byproduct of racism.

I know very well the breakdown and the way it's done. In Brazil it's not so much to do with "Indianness" that's relegated to nations like Puerto Rico (Boricua) or DR---which is used most definitely to deny any sort of African lineage. DR in particular took it to an extreme level during the 1930s and has had long lasting affects to this day.

Other places mainly are looking at the division of race through colour. I knew a girl from Honduras who would never admit she's of mixed lineage because she didn't want any association to Blacks. However, she hated the fact she had to relent to the possibility she had Arawak/Native lineage as well---since they are even poorer than Blacks in Honduras. However, they are better than being Black in her eyes.

However this push towards Native lineage is not absolute and tends very relative---depending on where you are and the population.

[agentS]

22. I see this is as a positive!

The longer he is away from the governor's mansion, the less damage he can do.
I would trust Bruno to run SC better than Sanford.

[MiniMe]

23. And there goes his Presidential Nomination hopes

Can you imagine if Obama disappeared for a week and nobody, including Michelle, Rahm, and Biden, knew where he was? I can imagine the campaign commercials.

[Perky]

38. Politico is already speaking of hime in the past tense.

[Doctor_J]

24. the other day he said that reports he was at Hartsfield were "lies"

is he going to retract that lie?

[JTFrog]

25. My money is still on rehab. n/t

[nyc 4 Biden]

28. We may have found another Gov. as weird as Blago.

[Colobo]

29. This guy is not "weird"- he's just a bad liar...

[nyc 4 Biden]

44. If I say he is weird, then he is weird.

He is also a liar, but he's a Repug, so we already knew that.

[raccoon]

32. I thought this was going to be from the Onion. nt

[raccoon]

33. I think he was meeting with Nazis who ran off to Argentina. :silly: nt

[zulchzulu]

35. La Plata, near Buenos Aires, is well known as the biggest whore hangout in Argentina

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7793183.stm

[Colobo]

36. Yeah, with a big number of them being tranvestites and transsexuals...

[countingbluecars]

39. I've changed my theory

from plastic surgery to real estate.

[Z_I_Peevey]

51. He drove along the coastline

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sc_governor_where

According to this AP story, that accounts for about two miles. He must have pushed the vehicle with his bare hands, since it took days.

"Trying to make such a drive could frustrate a weekend visitor to Argentina. In Buenos Aires, the Avenida Costanera is the only coastal road, and it's less than two miles long. Reaching coastal resorts to the south requires a drive of nearly four hours on an inland highway with views of endless cattle ranches. To the north is a river delta of islands reached only by boat."

[rvablue]

58. Nice catch, ZIP! This guy is a liar through and through. And I get pretty impatient

with cavlalier liars who think everyone is as stupid as they are.

There's going to be some reporter out there who has lived for awhile in Argentina and is going to bust the dear Guv on this lie!

You shoulda made this an OP.

[Cha]

62. So, sanford is caught in another lie..those poor

people in South Carolina who have him for their governor..yech.

[Arkana]

53. I'll bet it involved drugs in some way!

And if this turns out the way I think it will he can kiss his '12 or '16 Presidential ambitions goodbye.

[demo dutch]

63. Plain and simple, he's having an affair. Sanfords are reportedly having marital problems

[sarah553807]

65. He was probably cutting a deal to shut his mistress up

[Cha]

66. Cross post from GD on freeper comments..

Mrs. Overall (1000+ posts) Wed Jun-24-09 11:56 AM
Original message

"A few freep responses to the Sanford story:"

Just to clear things up,
this isn’t the same “Sanford”
that called for the nationwide Tea Parties, right?

Conservatives need to cross this guy off the list of potential POTUS candidates for 2012 immediately. We have a pathetic excuse for a list as it is.

Who gives a crap?
Well, I give a cr@p if Obama's admin is somehow behind this.

His WH aspirations are over?
Not at all. He could do well in the initial primaries and get launched as the primary candidate....isn't that what happened to McCain?

I doubt Obama has anything to do with it, other then needing the cover provided by his friends in the State run Media....

Everyone is entitled to a little free time and most of his constituents agree with me.

I curious to know how a reporter ‘found’ him at the Atlanta airport? Was the reporter tipped off by obama? After all, the US government knows who is coming into the US before they arrive.

Let's get real here. The Governor is not like the President. He doesn't have the nuclear football and must be available at a moment's notice. Sanford was hours away from SC. He could easily respond to any emergencies. All governors travel around the US and overseas.

The media is deliberately going after these guys, to eliminate them in 2012. I'm withholding judgment on this Sanford story for now. I smell a rat.

But he's by far the best Governor in this country right now (OK, maybe maybe tied for 1st w/Palin).
Until proven otherwise, my experience with the man leads me to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I hope there is no girlfriend ... maybe a religious retreat or something.

Perhaps he DID tell Lt. Gov Bauer. Bauer and Sanford are well known to NOT like each other...maybe Bauer knew exactly where Sanford was and was told to “man the helm” while he was gone, but Bauer used it as a political opportunity to sabatoge Sanford by acting as if he knew nothing, making up stories to make Sanford look irresponsible, when in fact Bauer knew all along what was going on.

I'm not condemning the dude. He's under a lot of pressure. Needs his space. Cool. It doesn't mean he's a bad person.

The MSM kidnapped him? Or paid him to disappear? Or are they all lying in some huge conspiracy?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5912651