Where did Mark Sanford get the idea that he needs to reveal every last excruciating detail about his nauseatingly irrelevant love life–from his pastor, in some sort of open-yourself-to-Divine Forgiveness ritual? Or is he just drunk with the false martyrdom of exhibitionism?
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Meta
@ Heather
Given the two options you posit I’d go with the second. As you must have observed by now most pols are quite self-absorbed.
i was thinking the same thing….
The kindest (to Sanford) explanation is that he’s mentally ill. I can’t think of a sane reason he gave that ghastly blathering interview to the AP–the one in which he describes Maria as the love of his life and his soulmate–unless he really, really hates his wife. And hatred of that degree might be pathological. A full physical and psychiatric work-up might be in order.
On the other hand, maybe he’s contemplating a career as an Avalon romance writer, and this was just test-marketing a sample of the product.
Nah. He’s nuts.
Drunk. Hopefully he’ll be really embarrassed in the morning.
I imagine this is all part of an effort to get in front of the media a bit. His confessions basically consist of him providing details that I can only imagine the media was looking in to to begin with — additional indiscretions, how many times he really met with the Argentinian woman, etc. I don’t think he is speaking just for the sake of speaking — I think he is trying to break the story himself rather than have the media break it. Not pretty, and not dignified, but not crazy either. Sad to see, definitely.
He’s been watching a bit much reality television. His speech is odd, but only for a man of his age. The ‘Real World’ (that needs to be in quotes, twice) generation is at our throats, and with them comes the hyper-confessional mode of speech they normalized. Gov. Sanford is just the leading edge of the zeitgeist.
Remember, Gov. Sanford is one year younger than the late Michael Jackson.
I’m inclined to believe it to be mental illness as well, combined with a religious faith that compounds the problem.
how was the media going to find out that maria belen chapur was his ‘soul mate’??? this is the kind of ridiculous blather that people get into during the first flushes of love, and especially when it’s love frustrated. i don’t think it is mental illness unless you agree that most people go through phases of mental illness all their life.
but, the key is that most people don’t let this particular mental illness bleed over into your professional life. or, frankly, in their personal life in this way. one might feel in a given moment that your paramour is the love of your life, but how are you going to reconcile with your wife if you tell the whole world this? how are you going to look your children in the face? many husbands have done stupid things and destroyed their families, so perhaps it isn’t that surprising, but most politicians have more calculated self-control.
To answer your question, Mr. Hume, I would imagine that he may have been attempting to short circuit criticism of his actions if e-mails he had sent to his mistress became public. From what I have read, his e-mail to his mistress was hacked.
Again, is his behavior pathetic? Yes. Is it crazy? Nope.
I think the very fact that he let this situation bleed–no, hemorrhage–into his public life argues some kind of fundamental instability. Maybe it’s temporary. As DH says, most politicians have the calculated self-control that prevents this. Sanford’s been in politics since college. Why did he snap now? Yeah, I can see a fumbling attempt at damage control with the emails. BUT–how does all the blather about soulmates and loves of one’s life improve the situation?
It helps if he is trying to portray himself as something other than a manipulator and womanizer. He is trying to show that his affair wasn’t simply an act where he used another person while betraying yet another person. It was an act of love — that’s how he is trying to spin it.
Now, is that pathetic? As I have said before, yes. Is that crazy? No. It is an attempt to humanize, so to speak, what he has done. Is it effective? Again, I think not. But it is a rational ploy.