Unfortunately, “ridicule, dishonor, disgrace and shame” seems a bit long for a band name — sort of like CSN when Neil Young joined — but it’s just right as a summation of what Mark Sanford has brought upon South Carolina.
Jim Harrison’s Judiciary subcommittee got it right. We don’t need to waste the coming legislative session fighting over impeachment. (We still might, of course, but that is much less likely now.) Even though his desertion of his post may be impeachable, its sufficiently petty to be faintly ridiculous. Even before we knew where he was and what he was up to, the whole disappearance was just weird, otherwordly, and very Sanford. Only in South Carolina could a governor disappear for several days, and have it go completely unnoticed until an obsessed political opponent brings it to our attention. The thing is, the governor of South Carolina is a sufficiently irrelevant figure — or can be, if he’s as disengaged and strange as Mark Sanford — that this thing that would be impossible elsewhere is ridiculously possible here.
Governor of South Carolina is such a quirky post that it attracts a quirky guy like Sanford. He is in fact a natural fit. Only in South Carolina could a guy like him last as long as he has.
Anyway, Jim’s panel did a good job. They passed on the Sturm und Drang of impeachment, but did not shrink from describing in clear terms just how this governor has shamed his state.
Postscript: While “ridicule, dishonor, disgrace and shame” is a bit prolix for a band name, I might want to consider going with Rep. Garry Smith’s even more concise description of our gov’s behavior: “Seriously Stupid.”
I know! “ridicule, dishonor, disgrace and shame” could be the title of our first album! And just like that, in lower case, a la e.e. cummings. As S.C. continues on her mad course, neither nation nor asylum,
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