I’m saddened, frustrated , and absolutely disappointed. The story of Mark Sanford was a roller coaster that dumped me off a cliff at the end. Allow me to take you through this sequentially.

I’ve spent the past 36 hours dramatically changing my thoughts about how I might speak to the unusual story of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s mysterious disappearance. Mark was the head of the Republican Governor’s Association (now headed by Haley Barbour), and considered a potential candidate for the 2012 Presidential nomination.

First I thought, after hearing that he had been missing for several days after driving off in a bodyguard’s SUV, that this guy was a little weird. I could, at that point, conceive of only one type of circumstance that might explain this behavior, and that would be some kind of kidnapping or other threat by an outside party. Barring such a circumstance, I figured running for President didn’t sound like something that could be on his calendar… disappearing on purpose and intentionally avoiding everyone with no explanation just didn’t sound like an event that would instill anyone’s confidence. The good news, I thought, is that he certainly hadn’t disappeared because of an extramarital affair. No one would draw this much attention just so they could spend time with an alternate squeeze.

Later on I heard he was hiking in the Appalachian Trail. Clearing his head, evidently. According to his staff, this was not unusual, so my thoughts about the man didn’t change much, just continuing to seem very odd and unlikely to be a kidnapping but rather just some eccentricity. South Carolina officials were [...]

I’m tired of everyone dumping on George Bush.  I’m the first to admit that he has some serious leadership deficiencies, but he is the President and won the job fair and square twice, despite what the Libs think.  As President, he deserves our respect, just like Nixon and Clinton did.  For eight years, I had [...]

Democrats for decades have been struggling with the inner turmoil of diverse political positions which have kept their party from setting a course that all Democrats can get behind.  And this partly why that party has bled so many conservative Democrats to vote for Republican Presidents.
Obama has succeeded in achieving the role of presumptive Democratic [...]

Two big hits on prominant families this week.
Mr. Shawshank
One is Morgan Freeman.  You may recall he was in an automobile accident earlier this week and was in serious condition.  He was released later in the week after surgery with shoulder damage and a broken arm and elbow.  According to Fox News, Freeman and his wife [...]

From KCCI-TV’s Web Site:
DES MOINES, Iowa — Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama is canceling a scheduled trip to Cedar Rapids.
Obama had planned to hold an economic forum on Wednesday morning. The stop was part of a two-week economic tour.
Obama’s campaign said the visit is being canceled so that no resources are diverted from flood relief [...]

Ah, it’s back to one of my favorite pastimes…blogging for the Conservative Reader.  Since my last installment, several interesting things have happened:
Politics
For whatever reason, Senator Clinton refuses to concede the nomination.  Either she and Bill cannot conceive of the fact that reasonable people would not choose them to be their standard-bearer, or somehow, some way, [...]

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Ann Coulter says it well, here:
Well, it looks like it’s the end of the road for Hillary. Time for her to pack up her pantsuits and go back to – wherever [...]

Not surprisingly, Eliot Spitzer did resign today as Governor of New York, ,effective Monday. There is lots and lots of pundit commentary on this today (see Memeorandum). I’m sorry for his family, and I’m glad he did the right thing.
A coworker of mine made a good observation. He said, it seems as [...]

It is so easy, especially when you aren’t tightly scripted, to say things that just don’t come out the way you mean them to.

John McCain: When asked what will happen if he can’t convince the American public that the war in Iraq is succeeding, he said “Then I lose.” I don’t have a problem [...]

I want to be sure we’re not too dismissive about this whole debacle with the New York Times piece that showed up on the web yesterday and presumably in the print edition today. Rather, let’s just look at how it compares to some things in the past.
First off, again, I’m not a big fan [...]