I guess we don’t have to feel bad about making fun of Mark Sanford after all:
But Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer issued a statement late Monday night saying that the governor was “hiking along the Appalachian Trail,” the first word on Sanford’s location since he was seen departing the state capital on Thursday.
“I apologize for taking so long to send this update, and was waiting to see if a more definitive idea of what part of the trail he was on before we did so,” Sawyer said in the statement.
Update. JMM suggests there may still be cause for concern. (I didn’t know the trail was quite so remote in places.) Let’s hope for the best.
Comrade Stuck
So if he ever gets that 3 AM call, we’ll know where to forward it.
gex
Wha? Are they trying to make it clear that they are just bullshitting? Sawyer seems to be saying that they knew all along that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but couldn’t say so until he knew precisely where Sanford was.
By that reasoning, did they require Sanford to stand perfectly still while they announced his whereabouts?
JK
Now that it’s safe to made snide remarks, Mark Sanford can go fuck himself. The people of South Carolina deserve better than this pathetic scumbag.
demimondian
I’m not yet sure we should be celebrating. There’s a lot of Appalachian Trail, and a lot of it is quite remote.
AnotherBruce
Hey, didn’t the guv’mint build that trail? Prolly during the evil reign of the sockialist Roosevelt.
iluvsummr
Hey, go easy on the guy. He gets forced to accept the dreaded stimulus money, the state legislature overturns all his vetoes last week, and it finally dawns on him that being governor doesn’t mean you get your way all the time. You’d go sulk too if you were he. Gov. Sanford, please take all the time you need (just hand over to the lieutenant governor first).
Yutsano
Does this mean Sanford is subject to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle? You can determine his motion or his position but not both at the same time? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Doesn’t this put the whole “getting away to write something” reasoning also in the shitter? There is something else pretty damn big going on here.
JoyceH
And more importantly – WHERE’S THE SUV?
Can we rent some billboards of our own?
How about it, guv? Huh? Where’s the SUV?
John
I’m thinking banjo music and squealing pigs.
LD50
He’s up in the mountains, in ‘Sanford’s Gulch’, designing metal alloys with his like-minded colleagues, unshackled by the tyrrany of taxation or regulation.
(cross-posted from the other Sanford thread)
Carl Nyberg
Space aliens abducted Mark Sanford. They forced him to march the Appalachian Trail under threat of obliterating the state of South Carolina. The aliens also forced him to consume large amounts of cocaine so he could keep marching. And then they forced him to suck the cock of a Mexican illegal alien, but Sanford didn’t want to do it. He did it to save the people of the Palmetto State from the aliens, the space aliens, not the illegals. Sanford is considering asking President Obama for assistance in resisting the space aliens, but he felt obligated to try to resist himself first, the aliens, the space aliens, not the cocaine and Pedro. I mean he wanted to resist, but had no choice.
ninerdave
What’s the problem? He went Galt? He’s a hero!!! He’s just the first wingnut that had the balls to do it!!!
I say bully!!! More wingnuts should go Galt.
This should put him at the forefront of the 2012
wingnutGOP convention.I’m auditioning for his speech writer:
“Ladies and Gentlemen…where others talked, I did in go Galt in 2009. No one, protested Obama’s babykillingsocalistmarxist
facisthilterlovingiranmullahasskissing
weathdistributingayersACORNbirthcertificatforging
blackheliocpterkmuslimlovingandmuslimhatingiranloving
iranhatingsupercalifragilisticexpialidocious policies more than I did.”
passerby
@gex:
Very good.
gbear
Lying liars.
Doug, that ‘so to speak’ brings a flood of really unpleasant connotations. Good work.
Keith G
He’s not out of the woods yet.
Brick Oven Bill
Sanford is a man with responsibility. I wonder what he is thinking about.
I have also just watched an image of Neda dying. The Zionists probably killed her, or created the imagery. So we are led to understand.
‘Neda’ means ‘voice’. Neocons.
evie
It’s just bizarre. He did this over Father’s Day without mentioning it to his, you know, family?
I couldn’t care less, but can’t help but point out… What if Barack Obama had done such a thing…
No POTUS for you!
LD50
Jesus, Bill, you’re not even trying anymore.
Take your meds and hit the sack.
Mayken
Wow! The lameness defies description. I’m liking that bender theory more and more. Taking bets on booze, heroin or meth…
KCinDC
DougJ, your mental breakdown theory was lacking in evidence, but now I’m wondering if ridicule might be inappropriate because of the possibility this could end tragically. Josh Marshall’s analysis seems reasonable. Maybe the guy had an accident.
LD50
‘We’?
I think you’re the only one who did.
Fulcanelli
A state’s governor just up and disappears for four days, and turns out to be hiking? C’mon, he was just looking to see if going Galt is all it’s cracked up to be.
You’ll notice he’s returned…
Fail.
ninerdave
@Brick Oven Bill:
If the state of South Carolina is lucky: nothing.
harlana pepper
Sanford has obviously “checked out” — he is toast — I so look forward to the details. There is a God.
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
Interesting. I’m beginning to understand the real reason the US is in the mess it is in today. The previous admin wasn’t incompetent, no, not at all. They had just gone Galt for eight years, waiting for the moment when we had reached free market nirvana and were free from of any kind of social ist control. So really, no fault of theirs.
Seriously though, if Sanford had been a Democratic, wouldn’t the Republicans have been calling for elections tomorrow? I still couldn’t believe when the Alaskan Republicans said Ted Stevens should get his Senate back when the charges were dropped against him.
ninerdave
@Brick Oven Bill:
Define Zionists…it’s a serious queston. That term is thrown around a lot and I’m not sure what it means, except I usually hear it coming from the mouths of white supremacists and other radical racists in the middle east.
PeopleAreNoDamnGood
Until there is more info, the “hiking the trail” story is considered suspicious.
Also, we need to know the whereabouts of Brick Oven Bill.
Brick Oven Bill
Zionists support Jews governing themselves in Israel.
The Cat Who Would Be Tunch
@Yutsano: Brilliant. We had peak wingnut, wingnut horizion, wingularity, and now the Sanford uncertainty principle.
Who needs to come up with comedic material when we’ve got politics?
harlana pepper
Anybody who thinks Sanford is just missing, why is his wife not the least bit concerned? Why isn’t the Lt. Gov. automatically put in charge? Whole story stinks like rotting fish, sorry.
ninerdave
@PeopleAreNoDamnGood:
On DougJ’s pants.
Fulcanelli
The BoBerwock returns with steaming hot, fresh protocols…
The Grand Panjandrum
Why didn’t they just say he was looking for Obama’s birth certificate and leave it at that? At least then he would have 19% of the country clinging to his candidacy until the bitter end.
AnotherBruce
BOB, as far as I can tell, is transmitting from his home planet. The one with the noxious atmosphere.
ninerdave
@Brick Oven Bill:
So…what you are saying is a bunch of Jews from Israel, snuck into Iran, shot Neda and ran away. Correct?
Carl Nyberg
If Sanford’s on the AT without his security detail (but there’s nothing the matter), doesn’t it seem odd to advertise that the governor is on the AT without his security detail?
harlana pepper
@Brick Oven Bill: “thinking” is the operative word here
gex
@KCinDC: Yikes. I want to mock the man as much as the next guy, but the fact that he could be genuinely missing is scary.
On the other hand, if he is genuinely missing, his people are really screwing up pretending that he’s just on the Appalachian Trail, no big deal. As I understand it there has been no transfer of power. SC has no executive right now, and pretending that the missing governor isn’t missing just for CYA purposes is bullshit.
JK
Mark Sanford’s playlist
Fool on the Hill – The Beatles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3InMTrfdgI
Secret Journey – The Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35QURo_Reqo
The Seeker – The Who
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV8ARjMqBVM
Let’s Get Lost – Chet Baker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0ZBaZoBCaA
Mountain Jam – The Allman Brothers Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-W7gZKL2t8
Mountains of the Moon – The Grateful Dead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVqArOogY-c
Sugar Mountain – Neil Young
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB_IiWV_32Y
Taking Tiger Mountain – Brian Eno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKdiU_gzUrA
harlana pepper
@Carl Nyberg: bingo!
Comrade Stuck
Governor Sanford is now my favorite wingnut. He has raised the bar for cheesy jokes to a new level. Thank you Mark, thanky you very much!
P.S. – I wonder if he took his bow and arrow?
Travis
@ninerdave – you won’t get far interrogating BOB. He doesn’t write or think clearly. He may have been trying to say that the current government of Iran would like to blame the death of that young woman on Zionists. Although he is a unthinking moron — or a really, really devoted spoofer — Bill himself doesn’t tend to blame Israel or Zionists for anything.
Fulcanelli
Before I weep because one wingnut politician possibly snapped and had a breakdown, I’ll first mourn the death, chaos and destruction he and his ilk have enabled and caused this country and others around the world.
Comrade Stuck
I reckon now his political career has reached the end of the trail.
Fern
@harlana pepper:
Not to mention that the last version of the story had him take off because he had a couple of projects to work on/writing to do that he couldn’t manage with the kids around.
And of course the Appalachian trail is the perfect place to put in a few days of solid work.
KCinDC
He could become South Carolina’s Harold Holt.
superfly
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
hamletta
Y’all, this isn’t funny anymore. Yes, Mark Sanford is an asshole, but still.
I’m worried about the guy. I can’t begin to imagine how his family feels.
PeopleAreNoDamnGood
@ninerdave:
Yeah, that photo he posted once did have a certain Upstate New York look about it.
passerby
From the linked article:
state Sen. Jake Knotts, a veteran Republican who has clashed repeatedly with Sanford.
It was Knotts who provided the only on-record confirmation of Sanford’s absence to The State newspaper, prompting nationwide buzz about the unlikely story of the disappearing governor.
Knotts demanded in an interview Monday with The State to “know immediately who is running the executive branch in the governor’s absence.”
Bet Knotts has assembled a gaggle of lawyers who, at this very minute, are going over the state’s constitution and whatever other documents with a fine tooth comb, looking for a way to get Lt. Gov.–or somebody–officially in charge.
I suspect Knotts would be happy with some sort of coup.
[Thank you John Cole. I see EcoDrivingUSA on the welcome mat. Hope it didn’t cost you.]
gex
@hamletta: No need to imagine – his wife is on record as being not at all worried. I suppose she could be lying through her teeth just in case nothing bad has happened so she can cover for him, but I doubt it.
AnotherBruce
@gex:
I just got back from Josh Marshall’s place, and he makes a good case that what you described is what may have happened. I’m an experienced hiker myself. It’s very easy to take a false trail and get lost. If the weather gets bad, it can make the situation degrade in a hurry. If you are unlucky enough to be in a heavy canopy your GPS may not pick up enough sattelites to work. A lot can go wrong.
Here’s to hoping that Governor Sanford is only trying to cover up for a sex scandal or something mock worthy.
Brachiator
How do we know for sure? Shouldn’t Sanford be forced to produce his hiking certificate?
And can Governor Palin see Sanford from her window?
PeopleAreNoDamnGood
@Fulcanelli:
Heh. You said ilk.
gbear
Whatever is wrong with Sanford, I wish to god that Tim Pawlenty would get it too.
Unfortunately, Tim hasn’t got enough of a self-examining nature to lose direction. He just knows to shit what he’s been fed.
R. Schmidt Orren
Shit. Peter J in an earlier BJ thread just about had it nailed:
All they need to find now are the dismembered bodies.
GregB
Mark Sanford is D.B. Cooper.
-G
asiangrrlMN
@gex: I’m with you, gex. If they truly have no idea where he is, then this is the worst shit they could be saying. If they do know and are lying, well, then…that sucks, too. Bizarre.
Journo from The State was on Rachel’s show. He says that in a state of emergency, the Lt. Guv. can take over. The trouble is, they don’t know what the hell is going on.
@gbear: You said, it. Ratface Pawlenty…words fail me.
iluvsummr
@hamletta: That’s why it’s weird his wife doesn’t seem concerned. Like he’s gone off before and came back safe so she thinks it’s no biggie. I mean I’d be filing a missing persons report if I were her and there was no contact with the kids on Father’s Day. Hope he’s okay.
stickler
Oh, come on. Of all the things that have happened to Gov. Sanford, “gettin’ lost on the ol’ Trail” is the least likely.
The man is :
1) having an affair
2) having a breakdown (mental, drug-induced, panic, etc.)
3) having an “abducted by aliens” procedure
4) about to start his own religion
5) facing the heartless assassins of (Putin? Obama? Castro? You make the call…)
But lost while hiking? Fer feck’s sake.
R. Schmidt Orren
@AnotherBruce:
And you can drown in your bathtub. The AT isn’t the Amazon or Denali. Shit, you can bring a roll of quarters with you so you can do your laundry in town every few days. Sure you can get in trouble on the trail but keep it in perspective. The biggest challenge on a nice weekend in summer on the trail is to NOT see anyone else.
Martin
I’m going with the Steve Jobs plan – he’s off secretly getting an organ transplant.
gex
@Martin: Ooh! New brain or new heart?
Elie
–This is highly unusual and will have a profound and negative impact on his political future…just too weird by half and its still not clear that they actually KNOW where he is or that he is coming back from wherever that is..
Sorry, the Chief Executive of a State does not do this…
Another Republican Fail boy — on his own planet thinking he can do what he wants whenever he wants…. Just like all the other Republican bone heads. Maybe he is flying to Tehran to advize Ahmadinejad..
GregB
Breaking News:
Governor Mark Sanford has returned from gender reassignment surgery in Brazil and is now demanding to be called First Lady Chablis.
-G
ninerdave
@Travis:
Oh I know. He’s Dada w/o the Antiwar component. I read his blog and find him quite fascinating in the way that throwing paint on a canvas is art sorta way.
I’m actually curious to hear how a bunch of Jews infiltrated Iran and fomented a civil war.
Martin
Be nice.
My guess is he’s applying that Republican logic and getting a new appendix.
Fern
I find it very odd that there is no indication of when he plans to be back.
David
Has the governor been apprehended yet?
David
Minor facelift. He’ll look “magically” refreshed.
Martin
Well, if I put my wingnut wetsuit on, I’d go with the following:
Jews are the key to the New World Order – controlling both global banking and media. In that role, they’d be in every nation including Iran. So little media is getting out of Iran, yet several people just happened to be near this lovely young lady when she was shot, and those same people managed to get around the media blockade. That’s no coincidence – only the Zionists have that kind of media power.
Sorry I couldn’t work in birth certificates, marxism, or San Francisco. Maybe if I had my wingnut dildo, but I left it in my other suit jacket.
Martin
Obviously he’ll be back when the South Carolina economy has collapsed due to the lack of Sanford’s genius, when social!sm has reached its logical destructive conclusion, and society is once again deserving of capitalist heroes.
Anne Laurie
Maybe Sanford’s checking out Eric Rudolph’s old “safe house” to make sure it’s been re-stocked before the official “Governor Going Galt” announcement?…
Nah, I still think he ran off to move the money before the Feds showed up. When neither the wife (sex) nor the second-in-command (power) are upset about his ‘disappearance’, that just leaves m-o-n-e-y. Let’s hope the journamalists who exposed Sanford’s Agatha-Christie moment will be able to figure out what money, where it came from, and why the Governor had to run off to deal with it over this particular weekend.
EchoesNoBunnynoMan a variation
Being ‘lost’ for a few days without even calling the Mrs? And you are in charge of an entire US state? You can’t just bail and go hiking.
This is odd. Something isn’t right.
Sanford has made such a damn spectacle of himself in the last few months as it is. Stupid thing to do.
That’s abandoning your sworn duty, is it not?
passerby
@Anne Laurie:
I really like your theory here. With the illogical information that’s been put out, especially with the main characters being nonchalant about it, the money angle makes sense.
It amazes me that they’re actually trying to get away with the story they’re telling.
FMguru
It took them the whole day to come up with this “He’s just hiking” story? “Oh yeah, we knew where he was the entire time, we just couldn’t let you know because, um …”
So much doesn’t make sense. His wife not being concerned. Bailing on his family on Father’s Day. The day’s worth of changing and contradictory stories.
The most interesting tidbit is his seeming habit of regularly ditching his escort and disappearing at night. What’s up with that? Cancer treatment? Second family? Mistress? Boyfriend? Rest stop men’s rooms?
It’s all so weird. Tomorrow should be interesting.
PaulW
My question for Sanford’s disappearing act, which I don’t know if anyone else has posted here yet:
If Sanford was going off hiking like that, sans communication and stuff, why didn’t he leave – and isn’t he supposed to leave – the Lt. Governor in charge during his sabbatical?
br
@FMguru: serial killer? now that would make an awesome movie.
Ash
Seriously though, it’s not like Sanford is just some random douchebag. He has a JOB, that requires that people be able to find him. What if there’s a tornado or some shit in SC tonight? Is he gonna climb to the top of a mountain and try to get a cell phone signal in order to declare a disaster? Not cool.
Groucho48
He was last seen in an SUV full of cash and coke, with a flashy blond in the passenger seat, swilling a bottle of Jack, and yelling out the window… “Stimulus Package? I’ll show you a Stimulus Package!”, as he drove off into the night.
Texas Dem
Sounds like Deliverance, without the canoes. Are we sure Jon Voight isn’t with him?
parksideq
Just came over from Josh Marshall’s place, and a really unsettling thought just hit me when I read his account of the story so far: what if Sanford killed himself in the woods? No one has been in contact with him since Thursday, and even if he told his staff beforehand that he’d be in the Appalachians, that only puts him somewhere in the eastern US.
I hope I’m wrong, not just for his sake but his family’s. But that’s just my liberal sense of empathy talking.
FMguru
Either they have no idea where he is (“He should have gotten back to us by now”) and they’re spinning and playing for time until they can locate him, or they know where he is, but it’s immensely embarrassing/damaging, so they’ve trotted out this story until they can come up with a better one. Perhaps the Senator’s situation in Godfather II, or something like: BDSM club + heart attack = “shit, how are we gonna explain those ligature marks?”
I mean, really, 4 days and no one can give a clear answer as to where he is? Shouldn’t they be dredging local ponds and having teams of bloodhounds in the local woods?
asiangrrlMN
I’m starting to worry about him. I mean, I know his team isn’t worried, and neither is his wife, but what if something happened to him that shouldn’t have happened, even if he is where they think he is or say he is?
Bad sentence. You get the gist. I hope he’s found by tomorrow.
LD50
Well, that disqualifies you for the Supreme Court, right there.
Mike P
He’s probably getting ahead of himself a bit, but Josh Marshall thinks that the evidence points to Sanford being missing.
Dave
Dude offed himself or went rogue. Or whatever. This probably won’t end well.
Bill E Pilgrim
Hey, I’ve been missing since 1998, after a while you don’t even notice, it feels just like before, except more fun.
Dave
Also, where is Gary Condit in all this???
parksideq
@LD50: So THAT’S why my nomination was dropped. This whole time I thought it was because I’m a reverse raciaIist.
MelodyMaker
Great, now Sanford’s f’n TR. Somebody call Doris!
Another great opportunity for the cable sh*head* to talk mindlessly.
edit: about this guy’s attempt to chump the ARaRA of 2009.
hamletta
Allegedly he’s Tweeting as of 18 hours ago, but it was some rot about budgets and defecits.
It would seem that if he’s in touch enough to send tweets, he’s in touch enough to receive them, and would learn about the attention being paid to his absence and send out an LOL: “O hai, chillin in th wudz! I can haz smorz!”
The standard GOP agitprop in the face of nationwide concern reeks of ham-handed flack-ghosting.
Hank Essay
I wonder if Sanford knows how much public monies have gone into maintaining the Appalachian Trail.
In short, screw him….
burnspbesq
@Comrade Stuck:
Which end – Maine or Georgia?
hamletta
@asiangrrlMN: His wife says she isn’t worried, but she’s had years of practice at smilin’ through, just like any political wife.
My guess is, she’s either sick with worry or ready to do him in herself. God bless her.
Martin
@hamletta:
Recorded for posterity
asiangrrlMN
@hamletta: That’s true. The fact that he missed Father’s Day is also of concern, it would seem to me.
@parksideq: I actually thought of this, too, him killing himself, I mean.
Regardless, if he does show up unscathed and then never does something like this (after offering a lame, but uncheckable story, of course), I don’t think it will derail his political career much.
Shit. Just go home, Sanford, so I can be comfortable being snarky about you again.
Calouste
My working hypothesis:
Sanford was off with a few buddies on a stag-like weekend to Vegas or some Carribean resort with lots of booze and scantly clad women.
When the story broke earlier today, Sanford couldn’t make it back in time today, so after some umming and ahing (he was writing, no working, no hiking, whatever) they came up with the idea that he was hiking on the Appalachian trail, being somewhat incommunicado. Note that his cell phone was pinged near Atlanta, the major airport in that region, and that the Appalachian trail also starts not too far from Atlanta, so he could fly in early tomorrow, drive a few hours towards the trail and “re-appear” tomorrow afternoon.
I don’t really buy in the “missing while hiking” story. Why wouldn’t they come clear with that if that was the case?
Comrade Darkness
Boy, sure is a good thing he’s a republican . . . so he doesn’t have to get treated like everyone else with job responsibilities.
JL
Since it is difficult to get cell phone service on the Appalachian Trail, it’s the perfect excuse on why they could not reach him. Of course Sanford did update his tweeter a few times on Monday so he could have called.
Somehow I don’t have confidence that the MSM will investigate his disappearance.
Chuck Butcher
I can’t think of a single reason to worry more about Sanford than he’s worried about the people of SC. In fact, I can’t think of a reason to worry that much…
hamletta
@Martin: Oh, fine! But when they find his remains in some holler, that pic will be on your head.
@asiangrrlMN: The Father’s Day thing is puzzling to me, too. It’s not the kind of thing a good politician takes a powder on, especially if his kids are still young. The only public figure I can think of who could pull it off would be Joan Crawford.
Martin
Not my fault his bootstraps broke.
cosanostradamus
.
“SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR FOUND IN GAY LOVE NEST!!!”
.
spudvol
His kids are the same age as his political career…he’s gay.
Little Dreamer
Right, because since he ditched his security detail, they wanted to make sure to announce the exact location (within a few miles) so some crazed lunatic with a gun who is in driving distance can go hunting for him.
Yeah, I believe that one.
Little Dreamer
@JL:
Of course if he was boinking his mistress and turned off his cell phone, that might be a good reason too!
Just saying…
Little Dreamer
@cosanostradamus:
I’m sorry but Newt Gingrich with his huge ass hanging out above leather pants was just a bit too much for me. OMFG!
Hilarious!
El Cid
Yeah. OK. Sure. You betcha:
*************************************
First lady Jenny Sanford said Monday her husband has been gone for several days over Father’s Day weekend and she did not know where.
She said she was not concerned.
“He was writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids,” Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press while vacationing with the couple’s four sons at their Sullivan’s Island beach house.
spudvol
Story is BS. A 5-day backpacking trip requires an enormous amount of gear and planning, it’s not something you do on the spur of the moment.
Little Dreamer
Maybe he heard that Stanford was about to be indicted and got scared?
It makes more sense than anything the officials are throwing out there.
DougJ
Maybe you’re right.
kommrade reproductive vigor
LEAVE GOVERNOR SANFORD ALONE! JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE!!
-From an advance copy of his spin doctors’ next press conference.
harlana pepper
I just can’t wait to see how all this plays out over the next few days. I needed some comic relief after all this news from Iran.
cosanostradamus
.
@Little Dreamer:
I can’t take credit for Gawd’s handiwork.
.
harlana pepper
@DougJ: Jeez, you guys are so sensitive and caring. Cut it out!
Little Dreamer
@cosanostradamus:
The fat ugly butt may have been Gawd’s handiwork. The tight leather pants that don’t quite make it over that fugly rump, I suspect, were NOT.
;)
kay
I personally find it unlikely that he set out on a 5 day hike of the Appalachian Trail on a whim, and with no one in his household noticing the necessary preparations.
It’s not like you throw a water bottle and a sandwich in a backpack.
Do he and his wife live in the same house? She’s not very observant. She’d have to be blind and deaf.
HeartlandLiberal
This merely indicates Sanford has given up any pretense at aspirations for running for the Presidency. He is simply demonstrating his qualifications for the office of Vice President as defined by Darth Cheney.
harlana pepper
@kay: Let’s just put it this way, people who are close to Sanford are apparently really, really shitty liars.
snoey
If he was a regular hiker it’s possible that he had the gear ready to go, but there is still the matter of the ride to the trailhead. There should be a car left there or somebody who gave him a lift.
bob h
The pressures of taking stimulus money can get to anyone. The Republican crackup continues.
Jay Severin Has A Small Pen1s
Hopefully People Magazine will get an exclusive interview with one of his sherpas.
MR Bill
I happen to live near the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (or the “AT”, to serious hikers), and yeah, it’s rough country. It’s conceivable one could get lost (or worse, injured and lost) easily.
But this story stinks…The Father’s day stuff, the way Sanford has apparently been going missing on a regular basis, ditching the security detail.
Cell service on the trail is generally (and especially in the southernmost parts) quite spotty. and snoey @116, there are several access points on US or state Highways, where folks park and get on the trail.
Maybe this is nothing, but this just ain’t right.
El Cid
Anyone that thinks he just went out hiking on the AT is just willfully throwing away their own built-in bullshit detector, for no reason than other to be nice to an apparently lying asshole.
kommrade reproductive vigor
How to spot a bona fide City Slicker, part XVII.
The AT is a great place to go if you want to get away from it all. But some folks have to be a bit more specific about where they’re going and when they’ll be back.
Ed in NJ
Perhaps something bad happened to him, but the simple fact remains that despite all the attention, Sanford has still not appeared. Coupled with the ever-changing stories (away writing, on the Appalachian Trail, etc.) and the nonchalant way that SC officials and his family are treating this, I’d say he was doing something he shouldn’t have been.
But I agree the MSM will accept whatever excuse it is given without delving too deeply into the story. He is a Republican, after all.
Carl Nyberg
What happens if Sanford doesn’t make himself available to the media today?
It seems like the story will grow, barring a complete meltdown in Iran.
I doubt the media will be able to resist covering this. It’s too salacious. It’s not so much what’s happened but what people think might have happened. And unlike the missing White girls, this has a politics/governance angle.
The story is titillating, but hard to dismiss as “not news”.
If Sanford doesn’t hold a press conference today, the media feeding frenzy will grow, including investigation into all aspects of his life.
kay
@harlana pepper:
I read the whole story, and his wife and children were at the beach house, while he was at the state mansion, so perhaps it’s possible.
I just don’t believe it, but he doesn’t have to convince me.
He probably doesn’t have to convince anyone, really. It’s not like any entity is going to verify any of this, because he’s a Republican, and therefore above suspicion.
Napoleon
@spudvol:
Bingo. On top of it the last his cell phone was picked up was near Atlanta yet the southern most trail head of the Appalachian Trail is well north of Atlanta, and if you look at a map it doesn’t make much sense that if he was traveling from Columbia that he would go through Atlanta since it would add 60 miles to his trip if by car (and even if he did he almost certainly have still been picked up well north of Atlanta before getting into the hills).
MR Bill
Yup, the southern Terminus of the AT is on Springer Mountain, accessible by a 7 mile approach trail, or gravel Forest service roads, from Doublehead Gap Rd.. Other Trail access points are at Woody Gap (GA. Hwy 60), Walisyi Gap (US 129), Unicoi Gap (GA. 17/75), and US 76 at the Union/Rabun Co. line..
All these places are approx. 2 hrs from ATL…
This just don’t add up.
MR Bill
And I will note this is the territory where the Bigfoot was supposedly found last year….
Michael
I just wanted to applaud this:
It slid by without notice.
geg6
The really weird thing, to me, is that the media seem to be playing this as if…well, hey, no biggie, they said they know where he is. But then they go on to say, well no, not really. But still…no big deal!
I’d sure love to see how this would play if it was a Dem. (Not that I wish any harm to any Dems.) This whole thing is a buncha B.S., IMHO.
machine
$10 says he was really at a studio recording the material of “Mohammed”, the pro-intervention Iranian protester.
anonevent
If you go Galt, you have to hike all the way to Colorado to prove your mettle to John (Galt), so Sanford is just getting started.
Rommie
I’m impressed by the double standard of all this – if Granholm went Galt here in Michigan on a nature hike in the UP, lordy lordy, the Wingnut Circus would be in town.
This is pushing IOKIYAR to new territory, no matter the resolution of this.
Michael
I’m still going with the “Jericho” like secret meeting of conspirators. Probably at a Days Inn about 100 miles outside Atlanta, lots of bottle blond part time b-girls, all the cheap whiskey you can drink, lots of shouts of “YeeHaw” and a bunch of Conferancesaneses flags a’flyin’ as Sanford, Randall Terry, David Duke and the guys who fund Alan Keyes plan the comeuppance against all them yankeemexicanniggramarxistatheistmuslimarablibruljews.
PurpleGirl
As I was told, the first rule of hiking is to tell someone where you’re going. The next rule is to leave a written outline of your plans and timing. This is especially important if you are hiking alone. The man is an idiot. He could have an accident and no one would know where to look for him.
machine
Or maybe his spokespeople just heard it wrong and he was enjoying some Appalachian *tail*.
djork
Frankly, being originally from SC and well aware of the politics down there, due to my state government employed parents, I think SC would be better off having no one in charge for the time being. Andre Bauer, the Lt. Gov., is pretty much an idiot too.
JL
A little bird told me that local folks think that Doug’s post from earlier yesterday is pretty accurate. Of course Sanford wouldn’t admit to that. Oh by the way the little birdie is a conservative.
Michael
I go there a couple of times a year to see family – the place is a basket case.
What I always find interesting is when those who are at the pinnacle of the status quo in places like SC, Alabama, SE Kentucky, rural GA and Mississippi insist on telling everybody else how great that particular system is and why everybody should have to emulate it.
You’d think that they’d just shut the fuck up out of some lingering sense of shame over what they perpetuate.
A Mom Anon
Driving to Atlanta to access the AT? Um,no. As others have pointed out,the AT is no less than 90 minutes from north metro Atlanta. There’s plenty of places along the trail closer to home where he could have had access. Not to mention any number of state and national parks all over the area between Atlanta and SC to get away from it all.
Something isn’t right. Not to mention the weird part about ducking his security detail enough times for it to be mentioned. The story has changed at least twice now,if Sanford doesn’t show today,what’s the next excuse?
Montysano
My wife would have my male bits in a Mason jar if I:
– Just took off for a few days;
– Blew off Father’s Day;
– Went backpacking without leaving a clear plan. I’m a backpacker, and this is rule #1.
As with the Palin birth story: even if the official story is accurate, it shows a huge lack of judgment.
Napoleon
. . . and I just read this elsewhere, of course this past Sunday was Father’s Day and Sanford has 4 sons but was completely out of touch with them (as everyone else).
The Sphynx
@spudvol:
Respectfully disagree. If he has been hiking before– and the story makes it sound like he has– then all he really needs is to grab his gear, buy some food and hit the trail. Its not exactly map-and-compass navigation on the AT, the thing is better signed than the FDR Drive ferchrissakes. He doesn’t even need a tent!
Easy
AT ’05, PCT ’07, CDT ’10(?)
Little Dreamer
@A Mom Anon:
I thought that it was way out of the way too, but, looking at info online, I could not find any definitive maps showing the distance from Atlanta and the sound entrance to the AT.
Sanford went to Atlanta or it’s outskirts, and for something other than hiking.
I also noticed that the wife was at a beach home “on vacation” – perhaps she wasn’t concerned because they’ve quietly split and she’s fully aware of another woman?
If it turned out he simply had a mental breakdown, I’d think she’d be concerned.
I seriously think another woman (or man) is involved.
Ukko
All of this talk about him being away hiking on Father’s Day misses the point, that was also International Hike Naked Day. He just needed to go and air out for a while.
Avocet
I rather doubt that he is out hiking, but if he is then I have two concerns:
1 No one should go hiking alone, or without leaving an itinerary. Governors are not exempt.
2 It has been rather warm throughout the southern region of the trail the last few days. Not good hiking weather.
Napoleon
TPM reporting that Jake T. says Sanford has now called in from his undisclosed location to his office and will be back in the office tomorrow.
Deborah
I’m with everyone else on the details making absolutely no sense. Especially that the person who knew where he was (cleaning lady? front desk guard? someone who works the evening shift at the state capitol M-R) wasn’t his family or staff or the lieutenant governor. If they knew he’d gone hiking on the AT, they’d have said “He’s gone hiking” not “We have no idea where he is, but are in no way concerned.” Plus it’s too far to the AT for that to explain all the shorter disappearances.
The career-undamaging way for this to play out:
1) Thursday informs staff, security, wife, LG that he will be hiking the AT. Gives them a timeframe: where on, where off, when he’ll check in. Since he will be unreachable, he arranges something with regards to LG power.
2) When he doesn’t check in, his family and staff become concerned. Hikers on the AT are alerted to watch for him.
So, okay, tragically dead is still an option, but if his staff and wife are so hellbent on “everything’s fine, just fine, no cause for concern….no I don’t know where he is….what? oh, okay, he’s on the AT” then I won’t feel guilty about snickering at their non-explanation of his whereabouts. “On the AT” smacks of “what reason can we give for his location being known, but he can’t talk to reporters for several days?”
Bill
If someone well-known in S.C. were seeking to travel overseas from S.C. without being noticed and recognized by hundreds of fellow travelers, wouldn’t Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport be one of the best routes? Whether hiking the A.T. in solitude or flying out to points unknown, one might well turn off one’s phone “near Atlanta” and not raise doubts.
According to Sanford’s buddy on MSNBC this morning, in the past he travelled overseas on a trade mission that no one had mentioned before it was almost over. I wish I could find a reference to that, as I’m wondering whether it might have been to investigate the market for teens taking summer jobs in the Thai tourism and entertainment trade…
Is it too much to hope that the final resolution of this story requires the S.C. media to explain the word “ladyboy” to their audience?
Fern
@Avocet:
I wondered about that – I’d be throwing up and passing out trying to hike in that kind of heat and humidity.
cosanostradamus
.
@Little Dreamer:
OK, Satan did the whole package, then.
.
Ash Can
Good grief. Is there any detail of this whole fucked-up story that doesn’t stink to high heaven? If he really did have presidential aspirations, I’d have to think that this flushes ’em. The only way I could see him salvaging a presidential run is if this were to turn out to be a mental issue, and he were to undergo (unfortunately) very public, and very publicly successful, treatment. Otherwise, this is a big, dark dereliction-of-duty cloud hanging over him for the rest of his career. The American public may have the attention span of a gnat, but Sanford’s primary opponents would be more than happy to jog their memories come campaign time.
jake 4 that 1
@PurpleGirl: 1st, 2nd & 3rd rule. If only because the rangers will be extra pissed if they have to spend extra time looking for your lost ass because you decided to play Survivor Man.
Will
The Trail is remote enough that if you hike its length, you have to schedule food drops at various locations, because you’re that out of touch with civi.
Peter J
This post is only so that when and if Sanford is found dead somewhere, maybe partly eaten by squirrels, I can say that I predicted this first:
Vince Foster 2.0
Sure, there would be no similarities at all, but that haven’t stopped the wignuts before, so why should it now?
Deborah
Re 151: He could not speak to reporters at this time because, um, the cell phone reception was breaking up. Something tells me when he returns he’ll be caught up in “urgent state business” and need a few days before he can fit in any reporters to evaluate his complexion for hiking outdoors vs bender indoors.
Re 153: So Rick Sanford, international man of mystery, is still on the table?
The Sphynx
@Will:
Again, not exactly. Anyone willing to hitchhike into towns as they travel can be out on the trail for some time without food drops. This is not the Brooks Range.
I am not saying that I buy this whole story, but lets be clear what we are talking about here– tens of thousands of people travel on the AT every year, even the “remote” parts.
Elie
What Kay said @ 118 —
The story is a lie. Lets see if the MSM will do their jobs for once.
Ordinarily I would not care about a public figure’s personal life, but he is the CEO of the state and like anyone else in that role, has accountability that is legally mandated and not just enforced at his say so. Even those of us lesser shmoes cannot just disappear without an excuse and expect to keep our jobs…
The guy is pretty squirrely and obviously its good that his little quirks are being found out early in his bid for the Presidency — although given the Republican penchant for weirdos, maybe not…
Comrade Darkness
Adjusting my tinfoil for better reception I see a line of republican hopefuls biting it since the beginning of the year. Amusingly enough, solely on transparency. Since this totally irresponsible awol behavior is normal for this guy, was someone just waiting for him to take an above average galt weekend and decide to blow it up in the press as an irresistible missing persons item? That would explain why everyone back in SC is just playing it down as standard op.
So, who first broke this story I am now curious to know.
Tiparillo
The first mention I see in the press is the AP story that quotes his wife, his spox Joel Sawyer, and the Lt. Gov. How the Ap got on to the story?? Its under Jim Davenport’s byline…..
Ed in NJ
Once again, if he wasn’t incapacitated for some reason, he would have shown himself by now. There is no reason to wait until tomorrow morning to clear the air unless there is a reason to wait until tomorrow, or a story to concoct before they trot him out there. Probably need to debrief him to find out who he crossed paths with over the last 5 days.
djork
I’m certain that state Sen. Jake Knotts (R-Lexington) alerted the media. He was the source in the first article I saw about this. The Republican congresspeople in SC hate Sanford, as evidenced by the 10 recently overridden vetos. I would not at all be surprised if one of them is trying to take Sanford down a peg. I would be even less surprised to find out it was done purely for spite, rather than part of some grand conspiracy to keep Sanford out of the running in 2012.
Good Ol’ boys politics playing out.
Comrade Darkness
@Tiparillo: thanks
I have this delicious vision of republican governors as a little row of metal duckies.
(with very deep and strange closets)
passerby
@Comrade Darkness:
According to DougJ’s linked article, some SC state senator named Knotts started it:
Sanford allies blamed the initial attention on some of the governor’s adversaries, especially state Sen. Jake Knotts, a veteran Republican who has clashed repeatedly with Sanford.
It was Knotts who provided the only on-record confirmation of Sanford’s absence to The State newspaper, prompting nationwide buzz about the unlikely story of the disappearing governor.
Edit: Oops, djork beat me to it.
gwangung
Isn’t that like declaring Peak Wingnut?
Mike in NC
We went to see “The Hangover” yesterday and returned home to learn about Sanford being MIA. Laughed our asses off in both cases. Life imitates art.
Comrade Darkness
@passerby: Sanford allies blamed the initial attention on some of the governor’s adversaries, especially state Sen. Jake Knotts, a veteran Republican who has clashed repeatedly with Sanford.
Ah, yes. How does that expression go? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?
Assuming the guy’s eventual red-faced return, I’m finding great amusement in this story.
Persia
@passerby: It blows my mind that the Governor of a reasonably large state could disappear for days and no one was willing, apparently, to even notice.
Origuy
No one has mentioned the definitive book on the AT: Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods.
A movie version is supposed to be in development.
Edit: The title is a link to Amazon that should credit Balloon Juice, should you be interested.
binzinerator
Over at the Puffington Host they’ve got a competition or something for readers to come up with a trail name for the gone galt governor.
The suggestions in the comments over there are worth reading. There’s some pretty good ones:
‘Family Man’
‘Mental Gap’
‘Skippy’
‘Appalachian Fail’
DonkeyKong
Can’t a man go Galt for a couple of days, sheeeesh!
passerby
@Comrade Darkness: @Persia:
Either his political peers are gonna pants him, or
he’s basically pantsing himself. Either way, I doubt that he can recover, politically, from this catastrophe.
And though there is something tabloid about this story, my curiosity is through the roof. We all know damn well this story is laced with lies and I for one can’t wait to discover what Sanford’s really been up to.
Deborah
I just listened to the LG interviewed on NPR on the way home, and he has sooooo tossed Sanford under the bus, preparing to step in when Sanford’s actual scandal breaks open and he steps down to spend less time with his family. Nothing untrue, just no attempt to cover up Sanford’s vanishing act.
And his wife is refusing to play along, just stating that “I’m being a mom this weekend and I haven’t talked to him.” Noooo, she’s not mad about anything.
I share Passerby’s fascination: it’s the obvious lies that draw me in. And the careful eliding, like the office implying they’d talked to him and then admitting, well, no, they hadn’t, but that should in no way indicate that anyone was going to be concerned….they had received information that he was on the AT (by twitter? carrier pigeon?) and There Is Nothing To Worry About but, um, okay, we haven’t “talked” to him…..Okay, Tuesday we talked to him! Uh….no, he hasn’t talked to his wife or the LG. But no worries!
I’ll be very interested in whether he actually was hiking while blowing off the state, family, security, etc (and thus looks kinda lean and sweaty) or whether he’s still a little pasty and bloodshot looking. Or how long he can put off encountering any cameras, reporters, etc.
JenJen
So, Sanford’s been spotted at ATL… by a federal agent, according to the article.
Oh, my. So, does that indicate they put a tail on him? And it begs the question… is a missing Governor a national security issue? Maybe.
chrome agnomen
this may have been mentioned, but maybe he just joined noonan’s ‘keep walking’ campaign. sanford/noonan 2012!!
kay
I’m running out of plausible excuses for the governor.
I’m thinking he has to say he was kidnapped. That never works, but everyone tries it.
Comrade Darkness
Found over on wonkette: When the wife did a news conference for sanford at the end of the campaign…“Mark Sanford burned his eyes under the bright stage lights at a groundbreaking ceremony and was sidelined on the very last day of the campaign, his wife said Monday.”
This excuse is a thing of beauty that could only be concocted by someone with a lifetime of experience at it. In comparison, the “AT” one looks like it came out of a committee.
arguingwithsignposts
@JK:
You forgot
Big Rock Candy Mountain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6kv_eGSGZ4