No, it is time for the "good guys" to stop saying and doing stupid things and shooting themselves in the foot.
Rush vs Sanford is some manufactured BS by the Soros Media...don’t spread this crap.
Again, no. "Rush vs Sanford" is the entirely foreseeable and easily avoidable consequence of Sanford's making either a careless or stupid mistake and walking right into a trap laid for him by the MSM.
Sanford has his flaws like everyone but he is heads and shoulders preferable to Romney, Guiliani, McCain, Pawlenty and all other has/never beens! ... Mark Sanford needs supporting, he could make a terrific Presidential candidate and may be very electable in 2012. Let's not run him off with inside the tent attacks.
Since you and I are neighbors, FRiend (I live just across the SC state line), let's get something very clear between us. There is no question Sanford is far preferable to any of those you noted above. He is one of the "good guys", but he is seriously in error on some key issues, and is showing signs of some troubling flaws in knowledge, understanding and judgment.
For example, let's put aside the Rush kerfuffle for the moment. I belong to a volunteer wildlife/conservation/environmental organization which is based in South Carolina. We have worked with Sanford on several issues and projects, and he has visited with us and supported us in many ways. From our organization's mission perspective, he's not just one of the good guys, he's a great guy!
Unfortunately, no matter how much we share with Sanford a deep respect and appreciation for the wildlife and natural resources with which we've been blessed, and a strong desire to be good custodians and preserve them for our posterity, if he truly believes in the man-made global warming/climate change scam and is incapable of recognizing it for the globalist/socialist Trojan-horse stealth back-door to totalitarian world government that it is, then that's a fatal flaw, and a deal breaker.
Further, the reason it's a deal breaker is not because I'm some sort of single-issue fanatic, it's simply because if he's incapable of recognizing that reality, then should he ever become President he'll have already voluntarily painted himself into a corner and handed our enemies the conceptual and regulatory chain by which they can yank him into compliance with their agenda.
In that situation it won't matter how many tax cuts he proposes or how many pigs he carries into the Capitol for his State of the Union address. They'll have him tied down just like Gulliver with countless threads of environmental regulations, regulations they'll point out that he himself sanctioned.
This is just one example of how easily "our guys", by buying into the false premises of the Left, hand them the very tools they'll use to either control or destroy them. The agenda of the globalist environmentalists is incompatible with the survival of our sovereign Constitutional Republic, and will overwhelm and wash away anything else that a President Sanford might hope to accomplish.
Now with regards to the "Rush vs Sanford" matter, and by extension with my comments and those of certain others in this thread, this is absolutely NOT a case of "Let's not run him off with inside the tent attacks".
What this IS, and as I said earlier, let's be very clear about this, is about folks, including Rush Limbaugh, who are already favorably disposed towards Sanford, and who have high hopes that he will rise to the challenge, who are attempting to splash a dash of cold water in his face to get him to wake up, clear his head, get his mind right and focus.
It really isn't complicated. The best example of how simple it is to say and do it right was posted by Lancey Howard in post #90:
LH - As a group, Republicans are cowards. How hard could it be to stand up and say, “It looks like President Obama’s agenda is to turn America into a European-style socialist welfare state, and if that’s the case then certainly I want him to fail. On the other hand, I will do everything in my power to help President Obama succeed by cutting taxes, reducing the size of government, and restoring America to its traditional roots of freedom, liberty, and personal responsibility.”?
That's it. That says it all, and that's what Sanford needs to do. If you really would like to see Sanford succeed in becoming a positive force in national politics, you need to send him this and ask him to release it as an official clarification of his position on this (I'm certain Lancey won't mind /g).
He doesn't need to apologize to Rush - Rush doesn't care about that. What he does need to do is get this on the record for future credibility. Otherwise, if he does start to gain traction as a serious contender, and as unfolding developments shown just how correct and prescient Rush's statement was, Sanford's mushy muddle-headedness will be used against him and he will be made to look like a fool.
One final time, let us be very clear. I like Sanford. He has great potential. I want him to succeed. But, when he is wrong it is necessary to call him on it, and how he responds will show whether or not he has the "right stuff".
There is an old saying that "An honest man, when shown he is in error, must, by definition, cease being one, or the other". Now Sanford has an opportunity, as Faramir said in the "Lord of the Rings" movie, "to show his quality". Or not. The choice is his...