CNN

It's so obvious he was set up by ACORN, the socialist libtards and the narcissistic, elitist obamabots. They stole his car while he was hiking and drove it to the airport. How can you moonbats not see it????!!!!
Have a nice day!

Marcus asks, "Dude, if you think that it is "tainted" why don't you send your part back or give it to a charity of your choice.
(cricket sounds)"
_____________________

Well, Marcus... since I received nothing, and I certainly will have to pay part of it... when can I expect my refund? (cricket sounds)

Can't catch Obama smoking but boy can our progressive media hound a republican for taking a vacation. Not that anyone would concider that biased or anything like that...

Buenos Aires is indeed a great place. I highly recommend it. But it seems like an unlikely escape for a conservative, repressed, southern Republican Governor without his wife. What's up, Mark?

All these Pres. Obama haters defending Sanford for his unexplained "need to get away" leaving his sons at home for Father's Dayare the same ones who went ballisitic on the President for taking his daughters out for an ice cream treat.

What fools you make of yourselves!

Curiouser and curiouser....................

North Korean is talking about firing multiple missiles to wipe out the West coast..... The Obama Administration is corresponding with the Iranian Supreme leader while protestors are being killed.... unemployment is over 10%.....

and THIS is the big news story??? Where a [R] Governor went on vacation???

Dear lord... MORE evidence on how/why Obama got elected!!

What a selfishly irresponsible move by Sanford. Kiss your presidential hopes goodbye – when the going gets tough you can't just disappear.

In the "real world" he would have been fired for job abandonment. He owes his state an explanation for his actions.

I expect this type of action from a 16 year old, not from a governor. Irresponsible move.

southerncousin, quit contributing to the stereotypes. It seems like only you'n me and Tesap are here to stick up for grits, so quit it with the 'oh noes, liberal media done has told a lie.' Sanford's a good ole boy, and he knows you don't jump in a cop car and fly off to a country with no extradition treaty without people thinkin' you in a mess of some kind. Don't act like you or me wouldn't git fired; there ain't no media bias when your wife and kids can't find you on Father's Day. He won't run for president after doin' this, I can tell you. Appalachian Trail or the brothels of Calle Florida; you still ask for the time off in advance.

"All the hypocrites demanding to know where the governor was and yet overlook the fact that Obama refuses to reveal who visits and stays at the White House???"

GWB did the same thing when he was president. He raised an issue about releasing the WH visitor logs.

A Republican who goes AWOL from his job, because he is on vacation. Sounds exactly like the kind of guy the Republicans would nominate.

@ Fair is Fair

If you want to play it that way, tell Bush to reimburse the country for the multiple trips to Crawford & and Maine to visit momma and poppa. An eye for an eye.

Hmmm. As the Governor of the state of South Carolina, I would imagine Hilton Head Island would be an ideal place to "get away." His refusal of taking stimulus money when clearly the state's education was in dire jeopardy is a prime example of the rednecks that run it. My feeling is he wanted to pay for the state's budget so something can be skimmed from the top. This guy is a shady crook. Can't wait for the old school dinosaurs to die out so the people of the state can finally get positive results. Everyone hates on Obama in that state. It's like stepping onto the set of Mississippi Burning.

Southerncousin, "They have never forgiven him for telling Obama to shove his tainted stimulus money "

Dude, if you think that it is "tainted" why don't you send your part back or give it to a charity of your choice.
(cricket sounds)

Where did he lie? He did not tell anyone where he was going. That is not a lie. Yes, maybe irresponsible. I am not sure if we know the whole story. I really did not know that a governor was so powerful that if he were gone for a couple of days, the whole state could virtually stop operating. Typical liberals being so dependant on the government. I love the comments about what if there was a disaster or a crisis. I hope he has enough competent people in place to handle a situation for a few days. Next time the tornado sirens go off I am going to call my governor before I do anything to see what I should do.

It's just that he doesn't think the public would believe the truth. He was abducted by space aliens. You're laghing now but wait 'till it's verified by the National Enquirer.

The press needs to thoroughly investigate what he was doing and who he was with while in Argentina. Based on the GOPers track record of late, there's likely to be another scandal here. It is important to the American public that the "family values" party are exposed for what they truly are.

This is nice for People magazine, but why doesn't CNN report how under the Obama health care plan, union members would be exempted from paying taxes on the benefits. Crooked political pay back from dear leader at the expense of people who actually work for a living. Or, how bout the story about the NYC teachers who are paid to do nothing, up to $70K per year because of union rules, sounds like UAW doesn't it. NEA, their union of course supported Obama fully, Obama just loves to pay people not to work, look at the porkulus plan.

Hmmmm.....I wonder if Limbaugh accompanied him on his late night adventures? Next up, the real deal on the incident with "Customs".....Pull up a chair, bring the popcorn....Just when you though it couldn't get any better.....

I'm waiting for the arilines to report on who else flew down to Argentina on or around his date of departure that might be connected to him. And those offshore bank statements, where are those offshore bank statements?!?

Does anybody else catch the scent of affair of the heart in the air? Dork!

It is indisputable that Gov. Sanford is both a liar and a flake. By flitting off to who knows where without transferring power to the Lt. Gov., he also violated South Carolina state law. Is he still lying? Was he really in Argentina? He needs to fully account for his whereabouts and provide some truthful answers. He left the entire state vulnerable during his absence. He would have us believe that he is fit to be president. The Republican Party seems unable to field anybody but fools, bombastic liars, and hypocrites.

Here’s the Republican slogan for their next dynamic presidential ticket:
“Sanford & Palin 2012. We don’t know where we are, where we were, or where we are going, but you betcha we’ve been readin’ everything!”

C'mon, the man needed a timeout. Let him be. His wife will drill him. Everyone once in a while, we all leave town to revamp. He was a bit irresponsible but that not criminal.

This guy is making Sarah Palin seem normal.

He wants to be President after Barack in 2016?
Would he be ready for the 3 am call?
No, he wont be there at all!

Sanford's wife couldn't enjoy "exotic" time with him. What's up with that because the only "exotic" time my husband better have is with me.

I actually don't care about this story......
however, he is a liar.....first he was mountain climbing......now we really find out he was in Argentina? Of course we only know this b/c the local media in Atlanta spotted him at the airport....which his staff denied until this morning.....

@CK

WAKE UP CK!

Bush also did not release the names of visitors to the White House during his failed presidency...this is a non-starter.

Maybe he was on Republican Party business! That is just as crazy an assumption as some of the others I am reading on here. We will find out all after about 6 more lies.
Personally, I don't care what he was doing. He is a loon and if they keep voting for him, what is to be said.
Just another " great " Repub candidate for president. There has to be something in the water that they drink when they get together.

@ David:

"Why does anyone care? When obama flies off for nights on broadway on taxpayer dollars, all the liberals say "oh, he has such a hard job, he needs a break"….but when a Republican does it, liberals want his neck for it. Typical liberal hypocrites."

Ugh. David you're really not thinking. You Republicans find any excuse to slam Obama, even when it doesn't apply. Obama planned his trip and his staff was informed beforehand where he was going. Sanford didn't tell ANYBODY where he was going, not even the Lt. Gov. What if there was an emergency? He's an elected official, he needs to at the very least let his staff know where he is.

Exotic or erotic? Sounds to me like someone got caught doing something a Family Values guys shouldn't be doing.

Governor Moonbeam is being promoted for President by the hard right wing of the GOP - people like this character Grover Norquist, Howard Rich etc. The suggestion that anyone in SC thinks he should be President is laughable. We just want him gone.

For a party that prides itself on family values I don't know how this guy can explain disappearance on a father's day weekend without telling the wife and abadoning the children.That's mystifying to me.

What a tool.

Dutch/Bad Newz, VA June 24th, 2009 11:32 am ET

The state of S.C. should be reinbursed for the mileage the governor used to get to the airport. He claims to be so fiscal responsible. HA
_________________________

Using your logic, the USA should be reimbursed for NYC date night then... correct?

Argentina? Over Father's day (4 kids)? Wife clueless? Staff clueless? Abandoned state vehicle in airport?
He must have some serious hotty down there....Another Family Values liar like Ensign, Vitter, Palin, Craig and Foley.

First Ensign, now Sanford... The Republicans are morphing into Monty Python's "Silly Party"

Those comparing an Obama night out with this must be on Pluto (which now a demoted planet). When an elected official takes off seemingly without PUBLICLY delegating an authority figure, it is UNETHICAL. Should something catastrophic happen in his state who do you call – GHOSTBUSTERS? Anyway, the truth will come out and the man will, I think, eventually demit office. He needs prayer.

A number of comments are pointing the finger at that media. Please read the full story and not just the soundbites. SC lacks clarity its government structure about who is in control during a governor's temporary absence. Even his fellow Republicans were surprised and concerned by his action. No one holds a grudge against him for wanting to get away to relax. That is his right and he should have that time! He should have informed key staffers and state leaders he was going on hiatus. I would say that he was not obligated to inform them of his destination, but he was obligated to inform them he would be out of touch.

Those who are attempting to equate this issue with the Obama trip to NY are mixing apples and oranges.

all i want to know is:

Who paid for the trip?

Why all the studden need to leave?

Why not tell your number 2 what is going on after all thr GOP talk of the world is so much unsafer with obama talk?

How was the beach?

It would seem that this guy has not only ONE loose screw, but several.

This episode, together with several previous ones, creates the question if he has a psychiatric history. If yes, should such persons be allowed to be elected to top executive jobs ??

Proving that not only is he a Governor who could care less about the suffering of the people in his State, he's also a bit of a whack job.

He went into hiding because he was having a temper tantrum because he couldnt use the stimulus money to pay off his states bill that he himself had run up over the years. There are cities in his state with more than 25% unemployment and he wanted to put the money in the states pocket.

Appalachian (Trail)...Argentina (Buenos Aires) – they both begin with a capital A. I can understand how a staffer might confuse the two.

I wonder what other exotic things the Guv was doing in Buenos Aires?

The state of S.C. should be reinbursed for the mileage the governor used to get to the airport. He claims to be so fiscal responsible. HA

Scary this guys wants to be president of the U.S. yet he ignores his own state constitution and abandons his family at the same time....he's the perfect example of "republican politics".
My best guess is that he went to Argentina to stash money.

Are you Republicans for real??

Not a story?

A sitting Governor leaves the COUNTRY after a legislative session without tell his staff, his friends, HIS VP, or his family for 4 days...with one of those being Father's Day and it's not a story?

Whatever...You don't even believe that junk but still think you have to defend him because he has a (R) next to his name.

@southern cousin

"Some pretty looney responses here from the looney left. They have never forgiven him for telling Obama to shove his tainted stimulus money so the libs and of course the libs will attack him just as much as they do Palin and her family. Nice biased liberal press, the watchdog of a free society."

I assume, then, that if a Democrat governor were to disappear for 6 days, not tell anyone about his whereabouts, and then lie about the whole thing, you would have the exact same response, correct?

Don't bother....you are a Republican nutjob....and no one cares where you really were or the lies you will tell at your "press" conference.

What matters is that you are irreponsible, unstable, and unfit for office.

You have continually made South Carolina look ridiculous and backwards and racist and you need to be removed from office immediately.

North Korea threatened to wipe America off the map this morning.

Forget the governor of South Carolina, where is Hillary??

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is trying to make a name for himself here- like he has never done anything wrong...Hypocrite. He's just trying to get votes because he plans to run for gov.

I'll bet you a dollar to a doughnut that his wife knew exactly where he was but wanted him to be left alone so that he could unwind and come to terms with the fact that his office can be over run by representatives and senators and courts. They overrule him on what he KNOWS is in the best interest of SC but what can you do when you deal with a bunch of greedy politicians who love to spend someone elses money??? I can't wait until they see what's coming on the payback of this money. Maybe then they will appreciate what Sanford tried to do. Nah – they're too self-righteous to admit they were wrong.

wow, one more republican man of god, right?? that his wife and staff no nothing of his where abouts and he's out of the country!! yes, poor baby, he had to get away....from what?? his children?? his wife?? his state?? i guess we will find out at 2 pm. i wonder if his wife know's yet??

A special election needs to be held so that this nut is removed from office

What is it with Republicans these days? Are they all insane?

David – totally different comparison. Unlike Gov. Sanford, we actually know where President Obama and his wife went.. and there were no conflicts in the story among the staff.

A US governor leaving the country without notifying his staff is highly improper, regardless of his reasons.

I hope he resigns ....

Steve/Boston
What makes you think he needed a visa?

"David June 24th, 2009 11:09 am ET

Why does anyone care? When obama flies off for nights on broadway on taxpayer dollars, all the liberals say "oh, he has such a hard job, he needs a break"….but when a Republican does it, liberals want his neck for it. Typical liberal hypocrites."

Do you really not see the difference? When President Obama goes to New York, he doesn't keep it a secret from anyone, and he makes sure that his duties in Washington are taken care of. Sanford just left, with no one in charge, no note to his wife...just left the country. I sure hope he realizes any future political aspirations are down the tubes. And it is not democrats or liberals who are questioning him: it is his own party. I could care less where he was or who he was with...he obviously can't tell the truth about either.

All the hypocrites demanding to know where the governor was and yet overlook the fact that Obama refuses to reveal who visits and stays at the White House???

Y'all are so funny!!

WAKE UP AMERICA!

jasonDT June 24th, 2009 10:47 am ET
If this happened to a Democrat, it would be treated in the media and by Republicans as a national tregedy and, of course, caused by Obama!
______________________

If this happened to a Democrat, it wouldn't even be reported by the media.

I hope his wife and kid's aren't there.

Just how special and loved does his family feel right now.

it sounds bad, what kind of man have you elected

Funny, if I disappeared from my job for days without contacting anyone, I would be fired and I would deserve it. What sanford did was negligent, irresponsible and flat-out dumb. Then again, he's a typical Republican, so I'm not the least bit surprised.

I am getting tired of reading how easy it is for everyone to pass judgment on someone they know nothing about. It seems most of his political enemies want this to turn into a feeding frenzy against him, and they seem to have done their job. Since none of his know his personal life or seemingly that he has done this before, then why is everyone so upset other than here is another perfect opportunity for democrats to rail against republicans.

I hope he realizes that Argentina is on the other side of the Equator from North America, and it's winter there,right now.

BTW – to the poster who compared it to OUR President going on a date with his wife (and then went on to rant about liberals)- THAT was well publicized, and President Obama didn't just 'disappear' for a few days. BIIIIIIIIG diff, pal.

David wrote:
Why does anyone care? When obama flies off for nights on broadway on taxpayer dollars, all the liberals say "oh, he has such a hard job, he needs a break"….but when a Republican does it, liberals want his neck for it. Typical liberal hypocrites.

Because Obama doesn't disappear without telling anyone and then lie about it. Have a nice day!

Everyone is assuming his wife and children knew nothing/they simply told nothing there is a difference you know/ it seems that his wife worded her comments rather carefully if you look them over.

This is not the 1st time he took off/please with all of the things going on in the world would it not be funny if he just took off and there is no dirt to be found? what will everyone do then?

Who cares?!?!? PEOPLE! The citizens of South Carolina should care! This man is the governor of their state; there are responsibilities and rules for being in such a position. Not only did he go missing; he left the state; he left the country!!! He has totally disrespected the office of governor and more importantly the people of South Carolina.

Just come clean! If you want to go hiking on Father's Day, it's your business. However, if you want to lie or go to Buenos Aires. Then, its everybody's business. Exactly, where were you Governor? The truth will come out in the end.

I'm not offering my comments until I see NBC News corrospondent, Chris Hansen's tapes on his upcoming show.

Some pretty looney responses here from the looney left. They have never forgiven him for telling Obama to shove his tainted stimulus money so the libs and of course the libs will attack him just as much as they do Palin and her family. Nice biased liberal press, the watchdog of a free society.

I think the issue now is why did the staff say he was hiking? Maybe he lied to them to give them a red herring. So the man took an impromptu vacation. Maybe it wasn't the best time to get away, since it was father's day, but maybe he just needed to get away. What he was doing in Argentina is a personal matter and is between him and his family. It only becomes a public matter if officials find out he used state money on this trip. Until then, find out why the staff said he was hiking and let his family take care of the rest.

Missing spending Father's Day with your 4 children. So much for 'family values'.

See Mel Brooks in "Blazing Saddles" as The Gov.

Gov. Sanford is unfit to serve the people of South Carolina, let alone the country due to his erratic and unbecoming behavior of a public servant. In light of the Gov's behavior, by all counts, his public life is over!

Go home and stay!

More Republican lies and dissonance. He should get thrown out of office!! He disconnected himself from his state with no clear-cut person
in charge. He even left his family clueless !! I can't wait for the pictures
of him and his mistress to show up in the tabloids!! This is good stuff !!

Why does anyone care? When obama flies off for nights on broadway on taxpayer dollars, all the liberals say "oh, he has such a hard job, he needs a break"....but when a Republican does it, liberals want his neck for it. Typical liberal hypocrites.

A little koala told me that in all likelihood, Gov. Sanford would rather face the press and his constituents than his wife....he must have had a momentary lapse of reason. He’s about to pay the piper and she has a right to be pretty irate with this unannounced annual leave taker.

He's lucky South Carolina didn't have an emergency when he was wherever he's claiming to be today.

This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.....

So much for a presidential bid...idiot.

This guy is an idiot South Carolina, and make certain that your gov. paid for his exotic adventure out of his pocket, and not your tax dollars. He won't take the federal cash assistance yet he's willing to spend Your tax dollars on non-state business.

Talk about manufacturing a crisis. This is one of the least newsworthy news items I can remember. It ranks right up there with Obama swatting a fly.

Okay – I understand the man needed a break if the confrontation with the legislature was tough but come on? He tells no one – not even his wife that he was leaving the country? Yeah right.......sounds fishy to me (someone on staff knew where he was) ..... wifey better follow the trail. Whatever his reason it was pretty poor judgement on his part – mad because he did not get his way and as the state's top elected official walking away from the job without making sure staff/family knew where he was.

Has anybody else noticed that it is winter in Argentina, right now it's 46 degrees in Buenos Aires with temperatures dropping as low as the upper 20s in some parts of the country.

Not exactly 'take a drive along the coast' weather is it?

Honestly, this man has lost what credibility he had. Can you imagine what his wife must be thinking? Her husband goes missing, he blows off his kids on Father's Day, and then nobody can get their story straight as to where he is.

I can't wait for the Republican's to come out and defend this behavior like its no big deal...

Perhaps the governor just wants to surprise his wife with his spiffy new tango dance moves. Where better to learn the tango on short notice than Buenos Aires? He and his "dance instructor" could have stayed up all night long "practicing their moves" since Buenos Aires is a legendary city for night life than begins after 10:00 PM and goes all night long.

It all sounds perfectly reasonable to me. A self-professed conservative "Christian" traveling to a city infamous for decadence and sultry night life just to "get out of the bubble". Or maybe he went to get some lessons in right-wing government from General Pinochet's people.

Why not?

One more thought. How did he get a spur of the moment visa to travel to Argentina?

Can't wait to hear more lies...

Agentina? Really?

It sounds as if Gov. Sanford is one of those lone wolves that we ought to be concerned about. What was he thinking? I'm wondering if he is mentally competent? His poor wife and children. She sounds as if she's fed up, and not willing to lie for him, or cover his tracks.

Poor S.C. the sheer narcissistic gaul of this guy is staggering.

You forgot to say a lying conference.

This goes way beyond irresponsibility. For his wife not to know that he was in another country is beyond anything I could ever imagine in regards to my own family. This kind of thing is way out in left field. I would venture to think that most of the couples that I have met in my lifetime would not be O.K. with a spouse disappearing to another country or another county for this length of time. Adding to the fact that he is supposed to be responsible for a whole state is frankly unbelievable. God forbid their was some disaster in the state and he was reading about it from Argentina. There is no excuse for this. I would never want to go somewhere "exotic" unless I had my spouse with me. Maybe leaving her at home was his plan.

lol. So he thinks we're dumb enough to fall for his lies just because he's going to say them straight to the press. How amusing. Sorry, he made his bed and now he has to lie in it, even though its a bed made of thorns. I don't believe a thing coming out of this mans mouth.

He's going to end up implicating himself in too deep. He needs to apologize to the state of S.C. for being negligent.

This story is just weird. A governor just disappears and no one knows his actual where about, not his family, not his staff, strange. Most people understand that public officals are under alot of stress and need to"get away", especially after his fight against the stimulus money, must be draining to refuse millions of dollars to help your state just to make a political statement. But for him to go on a vaction to another country, leave his family behind and not informed and his staff in the dark, is just weird,strange. I can not wait to hear more about this, this ought to be good.

It's getting wierder and weirder... there is something very shady going that they are trying to cover up!

None of this makes any sense... Looks like another "family values" Republican is about to bite the dust!

Jeez! Come on everyone!

We have MEGA PROBLEMS: healthcare, the economy, N. Korea, joblessness, and lots of others.

Who cares where the Governor goes for vacation!

Chris Mannoia
Norfolk, Virginia
Obama 12'

This doesn't look good; the wife should really question his behavior. I mean really, why would a governor take a five day vacation on the week of Father's Day? Goodness, people these days are just ridiculouos, they think of no one but themselves. I pray for the wife and kids, why can't men just grow and be adults. Take your role as fathers and husbands seriously. Our kids are falling off the cliff, because of idiots like this. Men I don't mean of you, just fools like this one, who seriously believe that what he has done is not wrong. I know many of you are great fathers and husbands, who definitely believe in looking out for their love ones, I am married to one. I just get so angry when I hear foolisness like this, it has been the going thing lately, look like everyone is airing their dirty laundry. This is why this country seriously need to take a look at their spiritual lives, people are living like heathens and just seems to have no fear for God.

what a jerk!!!!!!!!! This guy should have gone to Mt Everett at the top of the mountain and then do the rest--– . he will be toasted in 2010 like Sarah Palin if she runs for another term in Alaska.

Well I don't really care since I'm from NC, not SC. We have our own problems with this gal Bev Purdue. What an idiot and it is frustrating because you know she only won on Obama's coattails... she had a (D) beside her name on the ballot and that's all it took. When I watched the debates she did with the other guys I hardly noticed her because she rarely said anything... which was a good strategy, because when they asker he a question she had no clue how to answer.

Geez... this is getting more press than a Sarah Palin story. Enough already... the guy is more than just a little peculiar. The media has become nothing more than a flock of buzzards around a fresh roadkill.

Yeah I think he have some explaining to do. This whole story sounds fishy to me...This should be an interesting story, once it unfoil.

What an irresponsible flake. No wonder SC is one of the poorest states (except for the golf courses for the wealthy).

If this happened to a Democrat, it would be treated in the media and by Republicans as a national tregedy and, of course, caused by Obama!

Who cares where he was?? He's alive... If the media doesn't have anything better to report on then they need to be FIRED.

Governor, what happened to that duffle bag full of stimulus money you took with you? Have a nice day!

I'm sure there is a logical explanation for Sanford's secret mission to Argentina.

Maybe he was searching for Nazi war criminals.
~~~

Is he going to announce an affair? I actually don't care whether he is out of the Country, but lying about it? You have children and did not spend time with them on Father's Day.

How dare the Neo-cons complain about President Obama spending time with his children. He is more of a father than Gov. Sandford will ever be!

Who cares already?? How many stories can CNN run on some Governors secret trip??

Sounds like the guv fell off his trolley

Folks in the media that want answers..... how about in the state of SC.......He should disclose receipts... and tell them who paid for his "EXOCTIC" getaway..........seriously, they were thinking of this guy for President......wow

Will she stand by her man?