Sex Scandals Short-Circuit GOP Efforts to Regroup

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JUNE 25, 2009

Sex Scandals Short-Circuit GOP Efforts to Regroup

By JONATHAN WEISMAN and SUSAN DAVIS
WSJ

When South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford stood choking back tears before a horde of cameras and reporters Wednesday, explaining his mysterious disappearance and confessing and apologizing for an extramarital affair, he said he would "lay it out" and "let the chips fall where they may." Those chips may ricochet beyond the governor's mansion in Columbia. The personal travails on display during Mr. Sanford's awkward news conference became the latest symbol of the struggles vexing his Republican Party, as another of its rising stars was upended by a sexual indiscretion.

Mr. Sanford's confession came eight days after Sen. John Ensign of Nevada announced that he had engaged in an extramarital affair. Mr. Ensign resigned his post in the Senate Republican leadership. Mr. Sanford resigned his as head of the Republican Governors Association and appeared to give up his budding ambitions -- to help the party redefine itself with a new message and new face, and possibly to challenge President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. And the GOP, still struggling after losing control of Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008, was left to wonder when it would stop seeing its attempts to attract positive attention trumped by embarrassments.

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Rep. Bob Inglis, a South Carolina Republican, said it is time to rethink its notion of morality, and perhaps the governor's travails could help move that process along. "If it causes us to lose the stinking rot of self-righteousness and causes us to understand we are all in need of some grace, it could be a very good thing for the Republican Party," he said... The sex scandals dogging the Republican Party the past three years have cropped up across the country: the September 2006 resignation of Florida Rep. Mark Foley after his inappropriate online communications with male teenagers in the House page program; the June 2007 arrest of former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig in a gay sex-sting operation in the Minneapolis airport; and the July 2007 admission of Louisiana Sen. David Vitter that he had been a client of a Washington, D.C.-based escort service. Mr. Vitter is running for re-election against a porn star, who said she entered the race to highlight his hypocrisy.

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Mr. Sanford's confession comes as the party is starting to gain some traction in battling Democrats, focusing on the still-weak economy and raising fears among voters about big budget deficits and an overly intrusive federal government. Circumstances are giving the GOP its voice, Mr. Fratto said, regardless of some members' foibles. But the Sanford scandal will neutralize, at least for now, one of the party's most vocal spokesmen for that emerging message.

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Mr. Sanford was one of a class of Republican governors seen by party loyalists as possibly helping the GOP return to power. And he isn't the only one to have hit rough waters of late. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been hit with a number of ethics complaints as her approval ratings have slipped. She has also had high-profile spats with the party establishment over speaking gigs. Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana was given a national platform to respond to Mr. Obama's first congressional address in February, but his speech was widely panned. Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, meanwhile, chose to accept Mr. Obama's offer to become ambassador to China.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124588664377250539.html (subscription)

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A6

[opihimoimoi]

1. GOP...they exist for All The WRONG REASONS