Comments | pointedview: Beyond irresponsible: Step down, Sanford

pointedview

Beyond irresponsible: Step down, Sanford

Jun 24, 2009 17:05

leighbc made an excellent point about the hypocrisy of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford opposing gay marriage because it threatens his own marriage.

On the outside chance that you don't know what I'm talking about, click the link below. The man has been missing since June 18th.

South Carolina Gov. Sanford admits extramarital affairI am so very ( Read more... )

people behaving badly, politics/government

Comments 7

mumpish June 24 2009, 23:16:18 UTC

I do not recall you doing anything so radical as asking - to take your other examples - Bob Barr, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, and Newt Gingrich to step down. Did I miss it, or is this a change in position?

Mind you, I'm not defending Sanford. I don't care if he stays or goes ... just curious about the position you are taking.

pointedview June 24 2009, 23:28:54 UTC

You missed it, actually, but it's not your fault. :) sailormur could back me up on this, except for the fact that she's not on LJ much anymore. Back in 1998, which predates the origins of my LJ, she and I were on a mailing list group together (remember those?), in which I was in the teeny minority ... heck, I might've been the lone voice ... railing against Clinton and saying that he should step down. D. and I are about to go out to dinner, but I believe somewhere, if you dig back through my politics/government tag, somewhere, there's a previous post about it because I seem to remember Mur (who gently disagreed with me), responding something to the effect of, "My father said this about Clinton. Would I trust him alone in a room with you? No. Do I trust him to run the country reasonably well? Yes."

Anyway, you couldn't possibly have seen my posts back on the mailing list. I might still have them in e-mail somewhere. Maybe. I can try to dig them up, if you'd like?

mumpish June 25 2009, 20:59:50 UTC

OK, interesting. Here's why I asked:

I never much cared who Clinton slept with, so long as it was voluntary. I wanted Clinton to step down, or be run out of office, only because he committed perjury about one inappropriate relationship in order to obstruct justice in a lawsuit concerning an alleged far more seriously innappropriate one. Yet every argument I had about the issue with someone on the left I was accused of being a prude, that I only cared that he had sex. Anyone who knows me knows that's absurd.

So I was bemused to realize that, essentially, you're saying that you wanted him out of office for the sex; somehow I don't think you're quite what the left had in mind when crafting that argument.

pointedview June 26 2009, 02:05:24 UTC

Why is it interesting?

No, it is not about the sex. Not precisely, anyway. There are several reasons.

However, my response will be long. I almost think it should be a new post unto itself. I'm going to type it up, and see if LJ chokes on it.

10:05 pm ...
Hmm, it's as I guessed. "Your comment of 7736 characters exceeds the maximum character length of 4300." A new post it is. :)

Thread 5

Lapses in good decision making anonymous June 25 2009, 04:03:01 UTC

Your point is good if and only if bad choices and poor impulse control are traits that transcend the domains we're talking about. But I suspect they don't ( ... )

Re: Lapses in good decision making pointedview June 25 2009, 04:35:34 UTC

Hey, much of the time, I'd rather sleep in than face my commute, but there's this whole roof-over-my-head thing that I've come to enjoy. I see your point, but every day, reason and good judgment override immediate gratification for most of the population. And sure, people call in sick from time to time when they aren't -- but it's comparatively rare for someone to take off a whole week without reporting in ( ... )