Washington (CNN) – South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford confirmed Wednesday that he spent last weekend trying to rekindle a relationship with an Argentine woman he once called his "soul mate."
"As a matter of record, everybody in this room knows exactly who I was with over the weekend," Sanford told reporters during a press conference. "That is no mystery to anybody given what I said last summer. And you know the purpose was obviously to see if something could be restarted on that front, given the rather enormous geographic gulf between us, and time will tell, I don't know if it will or it won't."
The rendezvous was originally reported by the website Gawker after tipsters spotted Sanford and a tall brunette in the Florida Keys.
South Carolina's Attorney General decided last week that the Republican governor will not face criminal charges following an investigation into his travel and campaign expenses, a probe that started after media organizations began examining the governor's financial practices following his disclosure of the extramarital affair last June.
At Wednesday's press conference, Sanford pushed back against continued interest in his personal life, saying "[W]hat I do know is this, the obsession with one's personal life needs to come to an end."
Sanford, who is not running for re-election in November, had been considered a possible 2012 Republican presidential contender before he admitted his affair in a nationally televised statement.
In February, a judge granted a divorce to Sanford's wife, Jenny, who separated from her husband last summer.
From CNN Politics
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It's very evident that few people actually paid attention when this scandal hit the news. Find me one, ONE example of a conservative or Republican defending this guy's immoral behavior. No?
Didn't think so. See, if you paid attention rather than rubbing your hands with glee at the opportunity to beat conservatives over the head with their own morals, you'd realize that, by and large, we eat our own. We do not tolerate this sort of crap and I could dig up TONS of examples of conservatives calling for Sanford to step down.
There are plenty of hypocrites to be found in both parties, but the only reason you don't find more in the Democratic Party is because many of them have no standards to begin with. You can't morally fail when you have no morals.
Sanford is a loser and I cannot believe he's still in office. Just another example of why conservatives need to clean house and get these idiots out.
The BUM ought to go to Argentina and STAY THERE! We don't need scum like him in South Carolina. All he does is give out Corporate WELFARE checks to the likes of Boeing ($900,000,000) at our expense, veto a cigarette tax increase and visit his sole mate. (not a misspelling). Get him out of here!
What was that song....reunited and it feels so gooood :-)
"[W]hat I do know is this, the obsession with one's personal life needs to come to an end."
Perhaps, Governor, your obsession in this matter should come to an end until you leave office and are once again a private, not a public, person...
That relationship will never make it. All the fun of it being forbidden is gone now.
Since this is his "soulmate" then he should have no problem this time around with adding the word "faithful" to his vows should they get married to her, right? Once a dog, always a dog. And, it's always the "we stand for christian family values" Republicans who are caught with their pants down with someone other than the one they made a lifelong committment to.
Perhaps Mr Sandford, who wanted Bill Clinton to be taken out to a rock quarry and stoned to death for his transgressions now knows very well the scripture "He who is without sin let me cast the first stone". Just as in the biblical days, sex is still bringing the most powerful to their knees in ruin.
how come these people don't get fired?
are they all intouchables?
Why is that we have to wait for their term to expire before we get to vote?
republican...thats all i gotta say
Now maybe he will put down the Bible and stop telling everyone else what to do with their own personal lives. Nah, he'd have to change parties.
graham Wolfe whined: "republican...thats all i gotta say"
Well, yeah, of course. Cuz if he was a Dem the media would not have been checking on his whereabouts. They'd have been helping him cover his tracks.
Saaaay, "graham", you're not really Wolf Blitzer, are you?
LOL!
>graham Wolfe May 12th, 2010 5:23 pm ET
>
>republican...thats all i gotta say
Bill Clinton....that's all I gotta say
AHHHH, immunity and support for another GOP hypocrite. Where is Kenneth Starr now?
He cheated = Not news.
His wife left him = Not news.
He keeps dating his mistress = Not news.
Starting to get the picture?
Garc , now thats funny and soooo true........poor republicans need to get uptodate with the times.........
Is there a way to kick states OUT of the Union? I say South Carolina and Arizona are prime candidates.
Sanford's behavior is typical of the west coast. You'd never see this kind of thing from Harvard.
This is the greatest love story in politics, if it works out of course. This man might end up just like good ole McCain.
"A keen observer May 12th, 2010 4:48 pm ET
Republican Bible thumpers seem to have a problem condemning immoral behaviour by republican "family values" (other republican Bible thumpers) people. Are they hypocrites or what?"
I am a republican and I detest what this senator has done and is doing....I call it what it is....SIN.
Good. He should be allowed to get on with his life.
Leave this poor dude alone.He doesnt have a clue,just like TCM and Rush Limbaugh.
Haba, what is good for the goose is good for the gender.
You probed into other people's life countless time and now you are asking people to stop probing into your life.
Why not move to Argentina, with immediate effect?
That is the only way you can limit the public scrutiny!
Typical Republican! They are all pro-marriage, pro-family, yet it turns out they all end up being in gay scandal or have mistresses.
Hypocrite, adulterer, Republican family values guy. Take another hike on the Appalachian trail pal, and bring your state's nuclear waste with you. You have no moral authority to lead a home owners association meeting no less a conservative state like South Carolina. You should have been impeached.
Typical of Sanford and the west coast. You'd never see this kind of thing from Harvard.
Good for him...he's single now . Leave him alone.... And if Jenny finds someone, good for her...