What a wonderful advertisement for Cali... as opposed to little ole' South Carolina!
Posted on 06/23/2009 5:25:58 PM PDT by pissant
South Carolina GOP Gov. Mark Sanford’s disappearing act is reviving an often-whispered, if rarely written, question about presidential hopefuls: Just how strange is too strange?
It takes a unique person to run for the White House, but the dividing line between endearingly quirky and just downright odd can often separate winners from losers.
Sanford’s solo stroll on the Appalachian Trail falls short of the character questions raised by changing your name and fudging your age (Gary Hart) or accusing an incumbent president’s campaign of trying to disrupt your daughter’s wedding (Ross Perot).
But is the straight-laced Republican base ready for a candidate whose idea of relaxation is leaving his wife and kids on Father’s Day weekend to commune with nature?
As an introduction to the American public, Sanford’s walkabout is unquestionably damaging.
Yet past political figures have recovered from inauspicious national debuts — see, for example, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s droning speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
Where the Sanford story could be more fundamentally harmful to his political prospects is in what it suggests about his persona.
It’s one thing to be a millionaire who wears frayed slacks, as Sanford is known to do, but some veteran political strategists and observers believe this episode pushes him over the line between eccentricity and flat-out bizarre behavior.
“We’re talking about professional and personal issues of responsibility,” said longtime GOP ad man Alex Castellanos. “It’s not just that the governor of the state, charged with emergency management, disappears. But at the same time, on Father’s Day, he leaves his four kids and wife to go hiking and they don’t know where he is?”
Sanford is bumping up against a threshold in politics for what a state politician can get away with versus what voters will tolerate from presidential candidates.
As the political analyst Charlie Cook put it: “Governors can be quirky — presidents can’t be quirky.”
So it’s one thing, for example, for then-Gov. Jerry Brown to date the likes of rock star Linda Ronstadt and sleep on the floor of his apartment while governing California. But America wasn’t at the time — and probably still isn’t — ready for an ascetic bachelor in the White House.
In Sanford’s case, South Carolina politicos aren’t terribly surprised at this latest turn of events.
Beside the well-worn story of the governor cradling squealing piglets under his arms in the statehouse to make a point about pork-barrel spending, Sanford-did-what stories are legion in Columbia political circles.
They’re small incidents, but enough to raise eyebrows among the traditionalists who dominate the state’s political establishment.
As a member of Congress in the 1990s, he slept in his office to save money. Political insiders recount tales of his walking around barefoot in meetings in the state Capitol and even doing sit-ups at odd times. During his State of the State speech in 2006, he lost his train of thought and admitted he was daydreaming about a fishing trip with a pal.
Katon Dawson, the former state GOP chairman, recalled when Sanford disappeared from the Republican National Convention last year in St. Paul, Minn.
“He called me and said he was in back in South Carolina,” Dawson said. “He didn’t tell anybody.”
Dawson said he admired Sanford’s firm conservative principles but acknowledged that the soft-spoken governor was considerably different than the back-slapping good ole boy of southern political lore.
“He’s a long-distance marathon runner,” Dawson said. “A guy who enjoys the solitude and can take a lot of pain.”
While those traits can be helpful, it’s not exactly the typical profile for a national political hopeful — especially the solitude part.
“To run for president requires a steady diet of crackpot stew: start with borderline narcissism, add a bit of Messiah complex, stir in a dollop of paranoia and blend with delusions of grandeur,” explained longtime Democratic strategist Paul Begala.
So voters are already presented with individuals who are not, by most standards, normal.
Americans have demonstrated that they’ll tolerate marital indiscretions (again, see Clinton) or illicit substance use (see the past two presidents) in their commanders in chief. But weirdness they have a steady track record of rejecting.
Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter straddled the fine line, but they were more awkward and withdrawn than strange.
Hart, Perot, Brown, Bob Kerrey, Pat Robertson, Dennis Kucinich? None of them ever even won the nomination.
Their peculiarities took different forms — ranging from Kerrey as the more detached, post-modern type to Kucinich, who often appears as just plain flaky — but none passed the have-a-beer-with test.
Ed Rollins, who ran Perot’s ill-fated 1992 campaign for a time, recalled a conversation he had with the late Hamilton Jordan, another top strategist working for the Texas billionaire, after the two came to the conclusion that their candidate had no business controlling nuclear warheads.
Jordan, Rollins said, was worried that Perot might win.
“There is no way he is going to end up being president,” Rollins said he told Jordan. “This guy is nuts, and the country will find that out.”
No one is yet comparing Sanford to Perot, but as Rollins notes, voters have a discerning eye for the personality traits of their national politicians.
The good news for Sanford: It’s 2009, part of an era of short attention spans.
“Unless he buried a few bodies along the Appalachian Trail, I don’t think this will matter in the least,” said GOP strategist Stuart Stevens.
Sanford’s allies believe the governor is a victim of an irresistible summertime story and some in-state Republican adversaries who delight in making him look bad. They also emphasize that Sanford, who lost his father in high school, is a doting parent who spends considerable time with his four boys.
But narratives matter in politics and, with this move, he is playing into one of the most difficult to overcome — that of the odd duck.
S.C. or N.C. small states can get away with that.
California, has earthquakes without notice, fires that takeout thousands of homes many in the 1 million dollar and on up range, etc. etc.
Arnold may be a POS but he would have been run out in 5 seconds if he pulled that.
“State government needs to know the chain of command in an emergency”
Don’t care if the state needs to know the chain of command. It was real easy in the military - PFC trumps private; lance corporal is above PFC; Corporal is above Lance corporal, etc., etc.
If the state can’t figure out the chain of command, I don’t care.
I don’t need the state to eat, find water, fish, hunt, pay my debts, shoot thieves, call my wife, run the dog or say hello to my neighbor.
I don’t care why my governor disappeared.
BTW, will you tell us what state you reside in, or must I hire a detective?
His second in command is not being honest.
And that may very well be true. I am looking forward to hearing from the Governor. I think he will make a statement by the end of the week.
What was this guy raising alarms about over the weekend?
Wall Street Journal: South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd, who oversees the governor’s security, raised alarms with high-ranking elected officials over the weekend, according to people familiar with the situation.
2008 estimated population for NC is over 9,220,000, SoCalPol. It’s in the top ten. Not exactly a backwater.
SC is somewhere int the vicinity of 5,000,000, I believe. Smaller, but still not insignificant, populationwise.
What a wonderful advertisement for Cali... as opposed to little ole' South Carolina!
Nice of you to share that with us.
“He has obligations to officials in the state for which he may have to be reached to fulfill. It’s clear that people who needed to be able to reach him were unable. For that, there’s no excuse. “
Says who? You?
Go clean up your shithole called Atlanta. When you’re done with that, we’ll respect your opinion to clean up the better peach state - South Carolina.
Jake Knotts, another Sanford critic within the party ranks, called up Reggie Lloyd himself this past Saturday, loaded for bear regarding a rumor that the governor was away “again,” and he essentially trapped Lloyd into making statements that sounded as if he were concerned about “succession.”
The thing no one outside the region realizes, is that the level of acrimony over Sandford’s rejection of federal stimulus money has been extremely high, even between Republicans in SC. There have been efforts to tie Sanford down, to tightly control him, spinning directly off of his refusal to accept the funds.
This ties directly to the wild tale of the disappearing governor. It’s all about Porkulus and control.
Well, clearly the Wall St. Journal is a shill for the Democrat Party. And, this Reggie Lloyd guys sounds like a black guy, so he probably loves Obama.
And, this is all a carefully constructed ruse perpetrated by Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod to discredit a rising star with Presidential aspirations as well as the chairman of the GOP Governor's association. They are cleaver bastards.
Do I need the sarcasm tag?
People familiar with the situation say it was one of Mr. Sanford’s appointees, Reggie Lloyd, head of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, whose concerns prompted elected officials on Monday to investigate whether a temporary handoff of control was needed. Elected officials decided against doing so after being told by aides to the governor that they knew Mr. Sanford’s location.
After declining for hours to reveal his location, Mr. Sanford’s office said late Monday that he was hiking along the Appalachian Trail and was difficult to reach.
San Diego Co. over 3 million polulation and the size of the state of connecticut
Sanford practices what he preaches about fiscal conservatism. Sanford's personality quirks pale in comparison to Obama’s Messianic complex.
... and who made a point of calling up Chief Reggie Lloyd over the weekend, and essentially roped him into sounding “concerned over succession?”
Why, it was none other than longtime Sanford critic Jake Knotts, that’s who.
This was a hit job, because Sanford opposed the stimulus.
That quote is from this politico article.
“They’re small incidents, but enough to raise eyebrows among the traditionalists who dominate the state’s political establishment.
{As a member of Congress in the 1990s, he slept in his office to save money}. Political insiders recount tales of his walking around barefoot in meetings in the state Capitol and even doing sit-ups at odd times. During his State of the State speech in 2006, he lost his train of thought and admitted he was daydreaming about a fishing trip with a pal.
Katon Dawson, the former state GOP chairman, recalled when Sanford disappeared from the Republican National Convention last year in St. Paul, Minn.
“He called me and said he was in back in South Carolina,” Dawson said. “He didn’t tell anybody.”
And flat broke, coming hat in hand to the rest of us rubes in flyover country for yet another flippin’ bailout.
"People familiar with the situation say it was one of Mr. Sanford’s appointees, Reggie Lloyd, head of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, whose concerns prompted elected officials on Monday to investigate whether a temporary handoff of control was needed. Elected officials decided against doing so after being told by aides to the governor that they knew Mr. Sanford’s location.
After declining for hours to reveal his location, Mr. Sanford’s office said late Monday that he was hiking along the Appalachian Trail and was difficult to reach."
In this case, the Lt. Governor appears to be mentally incapacited because he isn't even aware that he's the logical goto guy if a governor's pen is needed and the governor is unavailable to push it. He's also stupid enough to let the whole world know he's a helpless idiot who needs his hand held if he doesn't get a tweet or call every five minutes:
Lt. Gov. : [tweet]"Where r u @?"
Gov. : "I'm surrounded by trees."
Lt. Gov. "Al Gore and his ecoterrorists are there too?"
Gov. "No, these are nice trees. But I think I just walked through poison ivy"
Lt. Gov. : "What should I do?"
Gov. : "Um, nothing. You're not the one who just stepped into poison ivy."
Lt. Gov. : "No, I mean what should I do while you are gone?"
Gov. : "Is there some kind of emergency? Anything that needs to be done right now that you can't handle?"
Lt. Gov. : "I dunno. I thought you would tell me. I'm bored."
Gov.: "If you see nothing that needs to be done why are you calling me? I'm a governor not an entertainer."
Lt. Gov. : "Shouldn't I call for help?"
Gov. : "Why? What's wrong, aside from the fact you're bored?"
Lt. Gov. : "Nothing's wrong. I mean, everything's wrong. You just said you stepped in poison ivy and you are not here and it's the end of the world according to the press."
Gov: "I don't need help with poison ivy. Have you been eating those brownies the democrats left in the fridge again?"
Lt. Gov. : "I need to know what to do without you! We are all lost without you! Please come back!"
Gov. "Who is 'we?' Nobody's there, the legislative session is over, for crying out loud."
Lt. Gov. : "The press is here..."
Gov : "Is that all? You're lonely so you are hanging out with presstitutes?"
Lt. Gov. : "Well... they aren't known for deep penetration."
Gov. : "So what do you want me to do, cut my break short and babysit you and the media trolls?"
Lt. Gov. : "well... I... uh...they keep askin' where you are, uh, they say uh, I mean we need to know, uh, where, uh,... you are..."
Gov. : "You sound like you're reading Obama's teleprompter."
Lt. Gov. : "Uh, well, actually, I am reading Obama's teleprompter."
Gov. : "Tell them I am by the maple between two elms, just north of a small meadow. Tell them if the start at the south end of the trail and head north they can't miss me. Also, ask 'em where the other 49 governors are right now, as if anyone cares."
Lt. Gov. : "And then what?"
Gov. : "And then go home. Take your wife out or something. You can't think of some other way to entertain yourself for a few days without getting in bed with presstitutes?"
Lt. Gov. : "Well, they called me up and pressured me..."
Gov. : " Have you ever considered taking up another less dangerous hobby?"
Lt. Gov. : "Such as?"
Gov. : "Such as taking a hike?"
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