Up until this week, S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford had caught every break in his political comeback.
Let’s recap those fortuitous moments, shall we?
Break No. 1 – S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley decided to appoint U.S. Rep. Tim Scott to the Senate seat vacated in January by Jim DeMint – creating an unexpected opening in Sanford’s backyard.
Break No. 2 – Sixteen “Republican” candidates wound up running for the open South Carolina first congressional district seat. This created a race in which most of these candidates were either battling for the No. 2 position (behind Sanford) or battling to be heard at all. End result? Sanford was insulated from a lot of the attacks that might have otherwise come his way because the other candidates were too busy attacking each other.
Break No. 3 – Former Charleston County councilman Curtis Bostic – the candidate who emerged from the GOP primary as the “anti-Sanford” – was a fiscal liberal with a host of skeletons in his closet. He also clearly wasn’t prepared for the political sprint of a two-week runoff race against the former governor – squandering what could have been a golden opportunity to beat Sanford at his most vulnerable moment.
Break No. 4 – Sanford’s Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, also squandered an opportunity – allowing Sanford to define their May 7 special election along ideological grounds (a winning formula in a district with a heavy “Republican” lean).
In other words, everything that needed to happen for Sanford to pull off a surprising return to politics (remember, his polling numbers were terrible heading into this race) had happened.
Until this week …
On a dime, everything that had been working for Sanford turned against him. A race revolving around bread-and-butter fiscal issues quickly reverted to the train wreck that is Mark Sanford’s personal life – a dynamic the former governor was hoping to avoid (and which he has handled poorly in the past).
In fact less than 24 hours before the trespassing story broke, we wrote about an internal Sanford poll that showed him with a slim lead over Colbert-Busch.
“(Colbert-Busch) needs some unforced errors on the part of the Sanford campaign,” a source familiar with the poll told FITS.
Well she got one … and then some.
While it seems pretty clear that Sanford is receiving a measure of payback from his embittered ex-wife, Jenny Sanford, that doesn’t change the fact he exercised incredibly poor judgment by violating the terms of the couple’s 2010 divorce and trespassing (repeatedly, according to her) on her property.
Also … considering the humiliating international spectacle he put her through in 2009, is anybody really surprised she’s still pissed off at him?
Of course not …
So … can Sanford survive the damage done by his “No Trespassing” scandal?
Maybe, maybe not. If this is the extent of his problems, then he could very well overcome it – particularly now that the national press is picking up on the “bitter ex-wife” angle. However if another shoe drops (and there is plenty of discussion regarding that possibility as it relates to the Sanfords’ “sealed” divorce files), it could very well prove fatal to his comeback bid.
As of this writing our readers are split on the question, with 50.3 percent (511 votes) saying the scandal is fatal to Sanford’s candidacy and 49.7 percent (504 votes) saying it’s something he can survive.
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66 comments
He’s about as flatlined as BigT’s brain.
He’s about as flatlined as BigT’s brain.
“I have Larceny in my blood,” Disgraced US Rep. John Jenerette (D-SC) in 1979
““There is always another side to every story.” Disgraced US Rep. (R-SC) 2013
Jenerette insisted on staying in the race, and lost a seat that his party had an Iron Hold on…
Sanford insisted on staying in the race…….
I still miss RITA!
Me too!!
Wonder if FITS will run her playboy “Spread” in his softcore porn section???…Or is it too close to home for Sanford (would remind voters of rogue-career politicians???…
I think I know the answer to that one…
If not , I STILL have it. Also the issue with with Barbie Benton sliding backwards down the bannister!
TEN THUMBS UP!!!!!!
YOU BETCHA!
“I have Larceny in my blood,” Disgraced US Rep. John Jenerette (D-SC) in 1979
““There is always another side to every story.” Disgraced US Rep. (R-SC) 2013
Jenerette insisted on staying in the race, and lost a seat that his party had an Iron Hold on…
Sanford insisted on staying in the race…….
I still miss RITA!
Me too!!
Wonder if FITS will run her playboy “Spread” in his softcore porn section???…Or is it too close to home for Sanford (would remind voters of rogue-career politicians???…
I think I know the answer to that one…
If not , I STILL have it. Also the issue with with Barbie Benton sliding backwards down the bannister!
TEN THUMBS UP!!!!!!
YOU BETCHA!
Naw, just a little speed bump on the way to Washington
Every time he has been declared DOA he somehow ends up on a bar stool sipping a PBR and munching on some nuts
Charleston voters like rascals and Sanford has not disappointed them
Would not be surprised for several more OMG revelations to surface between now and election day
Why do hate Women????
youre the own munching on sanford’s nuts.
Naw, just a little speed bump on the way to Washington
Every time he has been declared DOA he somehow ends up on a bar stool sipping a PBR and munching on some nuts
Charleston voters like rascals and Sanford has not disappointed them
Would not be surprised for several more OMG revelations to surface between now and election day
Why do hate Women????
youre the own munching on sanford’s nuts.
Jenny just wants to be quit of him, other than maintaining a cordial relationship for her sons’ sakes. Like she has stated, she has stayed out of his way. He just doesn’t respect any boundaries but his own, His words and his actions are dishonorable and inconsiderate. She gave him his freedom, why can’t he give her some peace?
Jenny just wants to be quit of him, other than maintaining a cordial relationship for her sons’ sakes. Like she has stated, she has stayed out of his way. He just doesn’t respect any boundaries but his own, His words and his actions are dishonorable and inconsiderate. She gave him his freedom, why can’t he give her some peace?
“Bitter ex wife angle”……BULLSHIT……the only angle I’ve picked up from the national press is that Sanford is a freak,but in SC that’s what the Republicans love.He could have sex with a dog on Broad St, after having hit a woman in a wheelchair in a nursing home, and the voters of SC would still kiss his ass.That is what SC has become and we should be ashamed.
“Bitter ex wife angle”……BULLSHIT……the only angle I’ve picked up from the national press is that Sanford is a freak,but in SC that’s what the Republicans love.He could have sex with a dog on Broad St, after having hit a woman in a wheelchair in a nursing home, and the voters of SC would still kiss his ass.That is what SC has become and we should be ashamed.
Does slime ball Sanfraud have any money, marketable job skills( I hear he runs a mean backhoe), or is he just the classic carpetbagger?
Does slime ball Sanfraud have any money, marketable job skills( I hear he runs a mean backhoe), or is he just the classic carpetbagger?
Jenny has had almost 4 frigging years to get over it!! She just won’t! She will dog him forever. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/04/jenny-sanford-sabotaged-mark-sanford-comeback.html
Yeah, ex-wives can be like that!!
LOL; Hell hath no fury….She won’t ever “get over it”, they just don’t. But DAMN man….Sanford is no smarter than that….What a dunce!
Jenny has had almost 4 frigging years to get over it!! She just won’t! She will dog him forever. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/04/jenny-sanford-sabotaged-mark-sanford-comeback.html
Yeah, ex-wives can be like that!!
LOL; Hell hath no fury….She won’t ever “get over it”, they just don’t. But DAMN man….Sanford is no smarter than that….What a dunce!
If there was ever a woman who deserved to be a bitter ex-wife, God knows Jenny Sanford would be it. The man basically humilated her and brought shame to her and their four boys. And how he tries to play the father/son card saying he was only there so his son would not have to watch the ASuper Bowl alone. Really, Mark? What about that time on Father’s Day where you left your sons and their mother to go poke your Argentina lover?
If there was ever a woman who deserved to be a bitter ex-wife, God knows Jenny Sanford would be it. The man basically humilated her and brought shame to her and their four boys. And how he tries to play the father/son card saying he was only there so his son would not have to watch the ASuper Bowl alone. Really, Mark? What about that time on Father’s Day where you left your sons and their mother to go poke your Argentina lover?
For Republicans only-Mark Sandford’s face book wall page. A post written by karen L. condeming RNC. It is under don’t let Pelosi etc buy theis election.
For Republicans only-Mark Sandford’s face book wall page. A post written by karen L. condeming RNC. It is under don’t let Pelosi etc buy theis election.
“Can Mark Sanford stabalize?”
He has never been stable and never wil be!!!
“Can Mark Sanford stabalize?”
He has never been stable and never wil be!!!
Break No. 4 – Sanford’s Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, also squandered an opportunity – allowing Sanford to define their May 7 special election along ideological grounds (a winning formula in a district with a heavy “Republican” lean).
Yeah, like he was ever going to do anything else. The same old thought-free knee-jerk bullshit the GOP has been selling since 1980.
The fact that he went negative right out of the gate, shows that he knew he was behind. Otherwise, why risk it backfiring.
Break No. 4 – Sanford’s Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, also squandered an opportunity – allowing Sanford to define their May 7 special election along ideological grounds (a winning formula in a district with a heavy “Republican” lean).
Yeah, like he was ever going to do anything else. The same old thought-free knee-jerk bullshit the GOP has been selling since 1980.
The fact that he went negative right out of the gate, shows that he knew he was behind. Otherwise, why risk it backfiring.
Fits please post Mark’s poetry to Maria for us again — the parts about the golden globes, the rounded buttocks, the perky nose, the perfumed hair, the moon at night…
I’d rather see him as poet laureate of the United States where he can do no harm.
How do I love thee Maria, let me count the ways…
All this while he was living with Jenny…
Fits please post Mark’s poetry to Maria for us again — the parts about the golden globes, the rounded buttocks, the perky nose, the perfumed hair, the moon at night…
I’d rather see him as poet laureate of the United States where he can do no harm.
How do I love thee Maria, let me count the ways…
All this while he was living with Jenny…
Jenny drove the man to this instability. He’s still letting her own him.
Bear in mind that it was Jenny — very smart but not attractive to the Lazard Frères & Co. investment bankers (or bankers of any other institution) — who romantically “sought out” Mark and decided to make him a political candidate.
She’s way smarter than Mark, arranged all the introductions to big campaign contributors while they lived at their Kiawah mansion (purchased by Jenny’s parents), and it was Jenny who determined that they needed to move to Society Street in downtown Charleston in order for Mark to run in the 1st Congressional District race (she even decided what district he would run in.)
Jenny was never attractive to Mark — or any other guys — and she made the mistake of trying to create a lovely family and a successful political career for her husband.
The flaw was her natural aggressiveness — forcing a round peg into a square hole. Without Jenny’s social networking Mark would never been elected. Mark’s lack of physical attractiveness to Jenny and his physical attractiveness to Maria was the turning point that caused his marriage to snap and his idiotic trip to Argentina.
Mark hadn’t had good, quality sex for years and reveled in it with Maria. My contacts say that Jenny spent all two years at Kiawah making dinner, golf and tennis arrangements with important political donors (retired CEOs primarily) who would bolster Mark’s new political career.
Is it impossible to be too smart? No. But in this case it was impossible for Mark, who is politically tone deaf (witness the crazy, blabbering mea culpa / soul mate news conference in Columbia, the boys-on-the-stage-with-Maria news conference, etc.) to manage his own campaigns without harming himself.
Incidentally, word is that Jenny has been seeing a boyfriend in DC and had been allowing Mark to come over and visit with his kids since the divorce, with Jenny’s tacit but unwritten approval. Jenny took an early flight home on Superbowl Sunday and, yes, ran into Mark on his way out.
Jenny was furious with Mark’s re-emergence as a candidate (she had made his political career and was no longer part of it), and “hell knows no wrath like a woman scorned” — she timed the police complaint and the public release of the details to coincide with Mark’s head-on campaign against ECB principally because she is furious that Mark “used” his two boys in that press conference with Maria for purely political purposes.
Jenny did indeed drive Mark to instability. She made his political career. I wouldn’t say “he’s still letting her own him” but rather “he’s not adept at managing his own public life” as witnessed by the series of self-inflicted wounds.
At bottom, Mark is a moron, a liar and a tone-deaf egomaniac who was made politically successful by Jenny. She is gone and he expects our continued support.
As General McAuliffe responded to the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge, “Nuts!”
I lived on Kiawah and have girlfriends on Sullivans Island who corroborated all this.
Throw the bum out!
Seems to me Sanford had a mediocre, lackluster career going on in real estate because of his PERSONALITY, and expressed an interest in political office to Jenny, that he had since at least his college days BEFORE he even met her, as corroborated by college buddies. Because he was floundering, she probably did all she could to see him successful. To do otherwise would have seemed un-supportive and lacking in love, and she had the connections and smarts to do it.
Another poster who knows the family has stated that once introduced it was Sanford who tactically pursued his heiress. Don’t think she ever lacked for boyfriends prior to meeting him and she is an attractive woman, maybe not as sensual looking as a Chapur, but SA women are bathed in all that machismo/patriarchal stuff from birth. Sensuality is the power currency of the South American woman. But it is a two edged sword, as men call the shots and there is an acceptability that they take mistresses and discard one woman for another more to their liking. Didn’t one poster state that infidelity isn’t even characterized as a root cause of divorce? Boy those men there have it good! Maybe that is what happened to Chapur herself in her marriage and with other South American male relationships. She could have taken up with Sanford much as Jenny did because he seemed different from what she was used to. Like many people naively involved with a narcissist, Jenny seemed taken by some of his more charming attributes.
As for lack of quality sex: its near to impossible to have that with a narcissist for any length of time as they are really only interested in their own pleasure. Chapur is probably exhausted with providing all the bells and whistles of their sex life at this point. However, if he is endowed, maybe he doesn’t have to exert too much effort (TMI) plus there is probably a saving face aspect to that relationship.
We know as per FITS reporting of their Christmas meeting that Jenny didn’t want him re-entering politics at this time, as they still had the two younger ones at home who could be dragged into the rehash of the scandal, AND she was right!
Yes, it is a shame that there seems to be a mismatch of personalities but I think Jenny’s intentions were good and with a narcissist it’s always a lose-lose proposition. It will be interesting to see how long Chapur hangs in there, keeping up appearances. What a case study.
Very well written post.
Bottom line…you’re wrong. Mark is the one who wanted to go into politics,Jenny made it possible.Yes,she had the connections and the money,but she was helping him live his dream……..Sadly it became her nightmare. Mark has some serious problems that were there long before he met Jenny.All of his family and friends that claim to love him shouldn’t push him towards office,they should push toward getting help.
Wrong? I was agreeing with you???
Note…..my comment was to Nancy K…..she’s wrong,you’re right.
Gee, I’m blind. Sorry. Thanks
Jenny drove the man to this instability. He’s still letting her own him.
Bear in mind that it was Jenny — very smart but not attractive to the Lazard Frères & Co. investment bankers (or bankers of any other institution) — who romantically “sought out” Mark and decided to make him a political candidate.
She’s way smarter than Mark, arranged all the introductions to big campaign contributors while they lived at their Kiawah mansion (purchased by Jenny’s parents), and it was Jenny who determined that they needed to move to Society Street in downtown Charleston in order for Mark to run in the 1st Congressional District race (she even decided what district he would run in.)
Jenny was never attractive to Mark — or any other guys — and she made the mistake of trying to create a lovely family and a successful political career for her husband.
The flaw was her natural aggressiveness — forcing a round peg into a square hole. Without Jenny’s social networking Mark would never been elected. Mark’s lack of physical attractiveness to Jenny and his physical attractiveness to Maria was the turning point that caused his marriage to snap and his idiotic trip to Argentina.
Mark hadn’t had good, quality sex for years and reveled in it with Maria. My contacts say that Jenny spent all two years at Kiawah making dinner, golf and tennis arrangements with important political donors (retired CEOs primarily) who would bolster Mark’s new political career.
Is it impossible to be too smart? No. But in this case it was impossible for Mark, who is politically tone deaf (witness the crazy, blabbering mea culpa / soul mate news conference in Columbia, the boys-on-the-stage-with-Maria news conference, etc.) to manage his own campaigns without harming himself.
Incidentally, word is that Jenny has been seeing a boyfriend in DC and had been allowing Mark to come over and visit with his kids since the divorce, with Jenny’s tacit but unwritten approval. Jenny took an early flight home on Superbowl Sunday and, yes, ran into Mark on his way out.
Jenny was furious with Mark’s re-emergence as a candidate (she had made his political career and was no longer part of it), and “hell knows no wrath like a woman scorned” — she timed the police complaint and the public release of the details to coincide with Mark’s head-on campaign against ECB principally because she is furious that Mark “used” his two boys in that press conference with Maria for purely political purposes.
Jenny did indeed drive Mark to instability. She made his political career. I wouldn’t say “he’s still letting her own him” but rather “he’s not adept at managing his own public life” as witnessed by the series of self-inflicted wounds.
At bottom, Mark is a moron, a liar and a tone-deaf egomaniac who was made politically successful by Jenny. She is gone and he expects our continued support.
As General McAuliffe responded to the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge, “Nuts!”
I lived on Kiawah and have girlfriends on Sullivans Island who corroborated all this.
Throw the bum out!
Seems to me Sanford had a mediocre, lackluster career going on in real estate because of his PERSONALITY, and expressed an interest in political office to Jenny, that he had since at least his college days BEFORE he even met her, as corroborated by college buddies. Because he was floundering, she probably did all she could to see him successful. To do otherwise would have seemed un-supportive and lacking in love, and she had the connections and smarts to do it.
Another poster who knows the family has stated that once introduced it was Sanford who tactically pursued his heiress. Don’t think she ever lacked for boyfriends prior to meeting him and she is an attractive woman, maybe not as sensual looking as a Chapur, but SA women are bathed in all that machismo/patriarchal stuff from birth. Sensuality is the power currency of the South American woman. But it is a two edged sword, as men call the shots and there is an acceptability that they take mistresses and discard one woman for another more to their liking. Didn’t one poster state that infidelity isn’t even characterized as a root cause of divorce? Boy those men there have it good! Maybe that is what happened to Chapur herself in her marriage and with other South American male relationships. She could have taken up with Sanford much as Jenny did because he seemed different from what she was used to. Like many people naively involved with a narcissist, Jenny seemed taken by some of his more charming attributes.
As for lack of quality sex: its near to impossible to have that with a narcissist for any length of time as they are really only interested in their own pleasure. Chapur is probably exhausted with providing all the bells and whistles of their sex life at this point. However, if he is endowed, maybe he doesn’t have to exert too much effort (TMI) plus there is probably a saving face aspect to that relationship.
We know as per FITS reporting of their Christmas meeting that Jenny didn’t want him re-entering politics at this time, as they still had the two younger ones at home who could be dragged into the rehash of the scandal, AND she was right!
Yes, it is a shame that there seems to be a mismatch of personalities but I think Jenny’s intentions were good and with a narcissist it’s always a lose-lose proposition. It will be interesting to see how long Chapur hangs in there, keeping up appearances. What a case study.
Very well written post.
Bottom line…you’re wrong. Mark is the one who wanted to go into politics,Jenny made it possible.Yes,she had the connections and the money,but she was helping him live his dream……..Sadly it became her nightmare. Mark has some serious problems that were there long before he met Jenny.All of his family and friends that claim to love him shouldn’t push him towards office,they should push toward getting help.
Wrong? I was agreeing with you???
Note…..my comment was to Nancy K…..she’s wrong,you’re right.
Gee, I’m blind. Sorry. Thanks
Hey, Mark. Care to tell us where Nikki sat on that long flight to China? If you tell the truth, you will win votes. People love truth.
Hey, Mark. Care to tell us where Nikki sat on that long flight to China? If you tell the truth, you will win votes. People love truth.
the fact is that no republican could even directly challenge sanford. no republcan dared attack his character and record. what are all these politicians scared of? colber-busch is even more pathetic. how easy is it to say that he s UNFIT FOR OFFICE, that he’s a NATIONAL JOKE, that he went AWOL on the state, his job/duty and his wife and kids, that he had to pay the all-time record fine for ethics violation in SC history. then he broke his divorce agreement and BLAMED IT ON HiS SON. he called his mistress “long suffering” and LIED that he was surprised/didn’t know she would be attending his victory party on stage next to his son who had never met her. colber-busch is simply not up to the job of being in politics. anyone with the least initiative would blow this clown out of the water BASED ON HIS OWN ACTIONS ad HIS OWN WORDS (LIES AND MORE LIES). anyone wih a conscience and a sense of morality would demad he come forward and defend his embarrasment of a record and public life. there was no serious action taken to hold this loser to account after he got busted on many previous occasions so it isnt surprising that no one has stepped up to do it now. i cant determine who are bigger cowards: the political class who are scared of sanford or the voters who accept this loser even of running for office. no one is even mentioning that sanford “served” in the same office with a term limit pledge. ergo, he, by his own “pledge” should not be runnin forthis office since he’s already served a sef-imposed limit of terms. but then againhe pledged to be faithful to his wife before GOD, pledged to serve the citizens ofSC by obeying the laws, and even pledged to honor the terms of his divorce. FAIL FAIL FAIL. he’s a liar and a fraud, which of course he was before he ever publicly broke anyof the above mentioned pledges, but now HE HAS PROVEN IT BEYOND A DOUBT. but guess what, SC voters stillsupport him by MORE THAN HALF LOL LOL LMFAO!!!!!!!!!! you get what you deserve. south carolinians allowed this embarassent to remain as governor because his wife decreed that if she forgive him then everything was OK. oh, and miss lindsey seconded it. what a fkn JOKE. SC is stuck with this loser. even places like egypt tunisa and libya got rid of their corrupt leaders and they had to face military and secret police who would KILL THEM IN THE STREETS. fair and honest demoracy is less important in SC than the “right” to be FAT AND STUPID (which btw is directly connected). LOL
the fact is that no republican could even directly challenge sanford. no republcan dared attack his character and record. what are all these politicians scared of? colber-busch is even more pathetic. how easy is it to say that he s UNFIT FOR OFFICE, that he’s a NATIONAL JOKE, that he went AWOL on the state, his job/duty and his wife and kids, that he had to pay the all-time record fine for ethics violation in SC history. then he broke his divorce agreement and BLAMED IT ON HiS SON. he called his mistress “long suffering” and LIED that he was surprised/didn’t know she would be attending his victory party on stage next to his son who had never met her. colber-busch is simply not up to the job of being in politics. anyone with the least initiative would blow this clown out of the water BASED ON HIS OWN ACTIONS ad HIS OWN WORDS (LIES AND MORE LIES). anyone wih a conscience and a sense of morality would demad he come forward and defend his embarrasment of a record and public life. there was no serious action taken to hold this loser to account after he got busted on many previous occasions so it isnt surprising that no one has stepped up to do it now. i cant determine who are bigger cowards: the political class who are scared of sanford or the voters who accept this loser even of running for office. no one is even mentioning that sanford “served” in the same office with a term limit pledge. ergo, he, by his own “pledge” should not be runnin forthis office since he’s already served a sef-imposed limit of terms. but then againhe pledged to be faithful to his wife before GOD, pledged to serve the citizens ofSC by obeying the laws, and even pledged to honor the terms of his divorce. FAIL FAIL FAIL. he’s a liar and a fraud, which of course he was before he ever publicly broke anyof the above mentioned pledges, but now HE HAS PROVEN IT BEYOND A DOUBT. but guess what, SC voters stillsupport him by MORE THAN HALF LOL LOL LMFAO!!!!!!!!!! you get what you deserve. south carolinians allowed this embarassent to remain as governor because his wife decreed that if she forgive him then everything was OK. oh, and miss lindsey seconded it. what a fkn JOKE. SC is stuck with this loser. even places like egypt tunisa and libya got rid of their corrupt leaders and they had to face military and secret police who would KILL THEM IN THE STREETS. fair and honest demoracy is less important in SC than the “right” to be FAT AND STUPID (which btw is directly connected). LOL
There are no good girls gone wrong, just bad girls found out.
There are no good girls gone wrong, just bad girls found out.
Is the Woman running against Mr. Stanford a Obama clone.Clear choice a Obama clone or an anti Obama man
Is the Woman running against Mr. Stanford a Obama clone.Clear choice a Obama clone or an anti Obama man
Sanford is saying via a recent radio interview that he and his son started out at a Super Bowl Party on Sullivans Island but when it got too uncomfortable for his son, they elected to watch the second half at Jenny’s house….
Sanford is saying via a recent radio interview that he and his son started out at a Super Bowl Party on Sullivans Island but when it got too uncomfortable for his son, they elected to watch the second half at Jenny’s house….