This has come to me from two sources — his bureau chief, and someone with his syndicate. It’s from Joe Galloway, the author of We Were Soldiers Once, And Young, who is now military correspondent for McClatchy out of Washington.
I have no idea whether it’s for real, or someone’s scamming Joe. Neither does Sanford press aide Joel Sawyer, although he doesn’t say anything to cast doubt on it. Nobody logs the governor’s personal notes. I suspect it’s real, but the governor’s out of pocket and we may not have an answer before tomorrow. But here’s what the Galloway missive said:
gents:
am in receipt of hand written note on stationery of South
Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford with a clipping of my column from The State
newspaper. Gov Sanford writes:"Dear Mr. Galloway:
Your writing speaks
to me. Thanks for saying things in such straight forward
fashion.
Mark."
It was initially passed on to various editors by John Walcott, McClatchy Washington Bureau Chief.
I have no idea what, if anything to make of this, but I found it interesting because Galloway hasn’t been a fan of the current administration’s military policies, to put it mildly.
Mr. Walcott is — understandably, I suppose — under the impression that Mark Sanford is a garden-variety Republican. Actual Republicans who deal with him in South Carolina know better. The great irony here is that he will probably be re-elected because the vast majority of Republican voters in this state don’t know him any better than Mr. Walcott does.
Chalk up another one for the way partisan politics scrambles up everything in this country. Parties give everyone the false impression that the world, and issues, are far, far simpler than they are. This is very dangerous.
Oh, and for those of you who still harbor monolithic notions about "the media," I am not a fan of the current administration OR of Mr. Galloway’s work. As regular readers know, I believe in our nation’s mission in Iraq — probably more than Mr. Bush does, judging by his actions — and judging by what he writes, Mr. Galloway does not. Of course, I may have misread him.
I certainly respect the perspective from which Mr. Galloway writes. After all, someone has actually deemed it worth the money to send him to the war and write what he thinks, an opportunity I have never had (so in part, you should chalk up my lack of enchantment with his work product to envy) — probably because he has at least 40 years experience as a war correspondent, and I have zero.
And I definitely appreciate the fact that he obviously cares deeply about the troops, having shared their danger — especially in Vietnam. Did you see the Mel Gibson movie? Well, Joe Galloway was actually there, and lived it, as others died all around him. He was portrayed by Barry Pepper.
I truly stand in awe, and must say in all humility that perhaps I would see things as he does, given the same experiences. But as things stand, I don’t.
I do know Mark Sanford, though, and I look forward to hearing more about this …
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Whew! Your headline had me worried there for a minute that you might be talking about George Galloway.