Laurin Manning on Mark ‘Poor Me’ Sanford

The Washington Post‘s “Post Partisan” blog brought my attention to something I had missed — that our own Laurin Manning was back in the SC blogosphere. Jonathan Capehart of the Post quoted what Laurin had to say about Mark Sanford’s ridiculously narcissistic full-page advert in the Charleston paper over the weekend. As Laurin wrote:

On Sunday, just days after the horrific Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent events that left three people dead, hundreds wounded, and a nation in shock — and just days after the explosion of a Texas fertilizer plant that killed thirteen people and injured hundreds more — Mark Sanford bought a full-page newspaper ad in the print version of Charleston’sPost & Courier to tell us just what a bad week *he* had.soapbox

In his 1,265-word, quintessentially Sanfordian screed, the former governor and Republican nominee for South Carolina’s First Congressional District begins, “It’s been a rough week….”

Yep, that sounds like Mark Sanford, all right. The poor guy. It’s a wonder he wasn’t invited to speak at one of the funerals of the Boston bombing victims. He could have really cheered up the mourners by saying, “You think this is bad? Let me tell you about my week…”

Anyway, it’s great to see that Laurin — one of my very first blogging friends — is back on the job after a nearly two-year hiatus. Here’s how she announced her return last month:

It’s been a while, y’all. Almost two years! I stopped writing when I moved to Washington, DC to work at a software company called Salsa Labs and then at a Democratic organization called American Bridge through the 2012 election. Back in South Carolina figuring out what’s next — hopefully something around these parts. Don’t know how much writing I’ll have time to do on here, so I’m not making any promises, but we’ll see…

Well, I hope we will see. Here’s hoping she sticks around longer than she did after her last return. Welcome back, Laurin!

20 thoughts on “Laurin Manning on Mark ‘Poor Me’ Sanford

  1. Karen McLeod

    Saw her posts. Is it possible Sanford is actually working for Colbert-Busch? Every time he opens his mouth or commits anything to print he just demonstrates how pathetically self centered he is.

    1. Kathryn Fenner

      Yes, and she lost her job, left town, and now is back. So?

      It’s not like she was supposed to be working but went walkabout to see her lover, and she isn’t even married.

      1. Silence

        I used to enjoy reading her blog very much – but I am not sure that I trust her judgement or Baraki Seller’s judgement either. When people consume alcohol and operate a motor vehicle, it puts innocent lives needlessly at risk.

        I’d put intoxicated drivers somewhere around an 8 or 9 on the “Silence Scale of Evilness” – that is to say slightly more evil than Sarah Jessica Parker or malignant tumors, but not quite as evil as Stalin or Count Dracula.

        1. Bart

          Silence,

          One lack of judgement put a governorship in jeopardy, the other lack of judgement put the lives of the driver and others on the road in jeopardy. Yet, Manning will be forgiven, Sanford cruxified. Liberal rational.

          And no, I am not excusing Sanford’s actions. But then again, over the years having lost family members and close friends to drunk driving, I am less likely to favor Manning over Sanford for their respective indiscretions.

          1. Kathryn Fenner

            Laurin was quite young. I do not condone drunk driving, especially living where I do, near Five Points, but she was punished. Move on!

            Sanford seems to have lived down the Appalachian Trail, but got hung up on his inability to abide by a court order!

          2. die deutsche Flußgabelung

            The big difference between Manning and Sanford is that one is running for office and the other isn’t.

          3. Bart

            “Laurin was quite young. I do not condone drunk driving, especially living where I do, near Five Points, but she was punished. Move on!”…..Kathryn

            Laurin was 29, a little more than what can be considered as being “quite young”. So, is 29 the new 19? Well, time to “Move on!”, nothing to see here.

            “The big difference between Manning and Sanford is that one is running for office and the other isn’t.”….”die deutsche Flußgabelung” or whoever you are.

            Yeah, Manning is not running for office. She was instrumental in the campaign for Jim Webb of Virginia, Obama in SC, and was a member of Hollings’ staff to mention a few political connections and involvement. Just because she is not running for office is still no excuse and irrelevant. However, as Kathryn directed, time to “Move on!”.

  2. bud

    I saw that about Sanford. It’s as if HE is the victim here when in fact HE was the one who violated the Divorce decree which HE agreed to that stipulated that HE would not go onto Jenny’s property without her express permission. And HE has the nerve to play the victim card.

  3. kc

    It made me smile to see an add for Sarah Palin in this story about professional victim, Mark Sanford.

  4. bud

    And now it comes out that the young Sanford would not have been alone at Jenny’s house had the former governor just dropped him off. One of his brothers was at home “studying” in another room. If you believe that I have the deed to the Ravenel Bridge I’ll sell you. Seriously, a teenage boy “studying” while the Super Bowl is on? Are you kidding me.

    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Oh, I would have been the kid in his room, although I might have been “studying” a comic book or a novel or the liner notes of an album. I completely lost interest in the capricious sport of football the day the Jets beat the Colts in the Super Bowl.

        1. Brad Warthen Post author

          No, but I’m a bit older than Bryan Adams.

          I didn’t buy it at the five and dime, either.

          My first guitar was handmade by my teacher, who had a little shop where he built instruments and gave lessons down near the waterfront in Guayaquil, Ecuador. I got it in about 1963, or maybe ’64; I’m not sure.

          After several moves, it no longer held a tune and at some point it got bashed in on one side. I think it’s in my parents’ attic. I should probably try to find it, clean it up and hang it on a wall, as messed up as it is…

  5. bud

    Ok, Brad is an exception. I guess in a nation of 300 million souls there’s always the outlier. Still, young Sanford would not have been home alone.

    Interesting how Brad and I view that game so differently. My dad was a huge Colts fan and felt very confident that Unitas and company could not lose. My brother and I, being the hippie types, viewed the Jets with a sort of renegade outfit in much the same way as a young girl might be a groupie to some scruffy bad-boy band. We were simply enthralled by Joe Namath. Dad said he’d take us to any restaraunt in Columbia if the Jets covered the point spread. At the end of the day we ended up at the S & S Cafeteria on Gervais Street. Not sure why we chose that place but I remember it well. I ordered all the expensive stuff that were normally off limits – fried shrimp, watermelon and of course tea rather than the usual water. Amazing the things you remember.

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