Still experimenting with my new Webcam. Today, I got to thinking about our governor’s “Apology Tour,” which prompted the above commentary. And if you can’t stand looking at me on video, here’s the script I worked from:
To Mark Sanford, being governor means always having to say you’re sorry. Hey, I didn’t like the original version of “Love Story,” much less this one…
The governor is going here, there and everywhere in South Carolina to “apologize” for his sins.
But he doesn’t mean it.
I remember how, during the 2002 campaign, Dick Harpootlian kept saying Mark Sanford was a poor little rich boy who could not possibly identify with ordinary South Carolinians. At the time, I recoiled at such class-based prejudice.
And yet, maybe Dick had a point, in a way. Because what we’re seeing now is a guy who thinks the rules of the world are that if Mark Sanford does something wrong, there are to be no consequences.
He just apologizes, and we’re supposed to forgive him. If we don’t do so right away, then in his world there’s something wrong with us. We have some sort of wicked ulterior motive or something if we don’t give him the forgiveness that is his due.
It doesn’t occur to him that he should have to pay a price. But he should. And the minimum, the down payment, should be that he doesn’t get to be governor any more.
Why doesn’t he get that?
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He doesn’t get that because there is nothing in it for him to get that. There is no upside for him as he sees it. What’s the payoff?
You are absolutely right. He doesn’t give a rat’s patooty what we really think of him as long as he gets to be governor. He doesn’t want us to think well of him if it means he has to stop being governor–do the right thing and concentrate on his family, or at least stop using state resources to hold on to his job.
Well done!
Narcissistic personality disorder is defined as having “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.”[1]
“The narcissist is described as turning inward for gratification rather than depending on others and as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, and prestige.”
Grandiosity, lack of empathy. Yikes.
As it happens, that also defines my ex, which is interesting because his principles are also situational. Whatever he thinks is wrong is wrong unless he does it. Then it’s God’s will.
I really think that’s the only lens that makes sense of Sanford’s behavior. He shouldn’t pay a price because he’s … different.
He doesn’t get it because he has a “L’Etat c’est moi” mentality. If it’s good for Mark Sanford (or he thinks it’s good for him) it’s good for South Carolina. I suspect that he’s done all sorts of hinky things while govenor, not because he intentionally skirted law or ethics, but because he would never perceive his actions to be illegal or unethical. After all, if he did something it must be right (cue ghost of Pres. Nixon). How much more of this type of behavior are we willing to tolerate?
Sanford sure sounds like a “C Street House” Family disciple. He’s not on God’s side, he believes God is on HIS side.
So Burl — I kept this one shorter. Better?
Yeah, baby.
Now do it every day. And get a sponsor.
Of all that the Governor is accused of doing the only item which, to me, rises to the level of an impeachable offense is dropping out of sight without assignment of power or keeping in touch. That is very serious stuff but perhaps deserves censure as opposed to impeachment. Fortunately his absence resulted in no dire consequences and surely he has learned a lesson. The infidelity is really not the business of the people of South Carolina.
What needs to happen now is for everyone to hush up and move forward. What is done is done. Neither repeated apologies of cries for the Governor’s head are helpful at this point. Sanford will have no less influence during this, his last, legislative session than he has had in the past. I believe he has handled the situation presented in the past two and a half months poorly but also believe that the poor handling was due to being genuinely torn. I do not feel that I am competent to judge that his sins are of such a magnitude that the requires down payment is to no longer be Governor. What sins in particular are we talking about here: the affair, going AWOL, accusations of improper use of airplanes, the inability to stop apologizing, taking policy positions over the last six and a half years with which many disagree? Upon reflection, I do not believe that he is even accused of doing anything worthy of impeachment and feel that impeachment hearings would be a lynch mob and a distraction from doing the business of the State. Again I say to all parties: Shut up and move forward.
Those crying for Mark Sanford to go are the same obstructionists who have opposed not just the reform efforts of Governor Sanford, but every other attempt by individual legislators to bring honesty and openness to state government.
They are the ones who wrecked this state’s economy with reckless spending on pork for their industry supporters: Bobby Harrell, Hugh Leatherman, Jake Knotts, McConnell, and all their media supporters.