Mark Sanford

What was he thinking?

Mark Sanford joins the ranks of political leaders and other high profile public figures who is publicly humiliated for an extramarital affair.

Up until last week, Sanford could be seen as a rising star among Republican ranks, a feisty, principle-driven governor who faught unsuccessfully to turn away Federal "stimulus" funds which Sanford saw as a true "Trojan Horse" given what the state would be committed to accepting in addition to the money.

Then he disappeared supposedly for some quality private time on the Appalachian trail. In truth, he sped off to Argentina to make whoopee with his little Latin Lupe-Lu. A sharp reporter found that he was arriving on an incoming flight from Argentina and soon his dirty little secret was public knowledge.

Following the script America has seen so many times before, Sanford offered his public apology, the one that follows the "I'm sorry I got caught" scenario. Thankfully, unlike most of the other speeches of this sort, he didn't force his embarassed wife to stand by his side, but Sanford must have set the world's record for the longest apology speech. It seemed to rival Bill Clinton's address to the 1988 Democratic address for rambling verbosity.

Given Mark Sanford had left South Carolina for Father's Day weekend leaving behind no clear indication where or how he could be located in the event of a state emergency, this total lack of regard for his office puts him in an extremely compromised position.

Some will maintain that Republicans are treated more severely than Democrats when their personal behavior becomes an issue, and that's probably true. It is the Republican party in general that attempts to ascribe to higher personal standards in promoting family values as a foundation of their platform. Democrats instead treat such conduct as primarily a personal matter endorsing situational ethics and the relativistic, "Who are we to judge?" mantra.

For Democrats to engage in sexual liasons or other forms of personal corruption is simply behaving in the hedonistic way to which they are accustomed as flaunted and glorified by the Hollywood crowd, a most vocal constituency of their movement. Consider Barney Frank maintained a homosexual prostitution ring out of his House office and continues to serve shows how "anything goes" in their world.

In an act of pure political opportunism, Democrats are quick to capitalize on Republican mishaps knowing they have the news media at their calling. For Republicans such behavior is extreme hypocrisy. For Democrats, it's life as usual. Nevertheless, the Democrats are gleefully happy to extract every morsel of embarassment available when scandals hit the GOP.

Republicans are quick to complain they are being held to a higher standard, but rather than complain, the Republican Party should embrace it and live up to it. By setting high standards and living up to them, the Republican parties can win over millions of Americans who are disgusted with political corruption and the flagrant immorality shown in the media culture.

Mark Sanford must pay his price for his horrible lapse in judgment. Meanwhile, let his case serve as yet another example that such behavior will be revealed and the best way to avoid trouble is to stay out of it in the first place.