And There We Have It: Sanford Returns Home to Impeachment Rumblings

[tekisui]

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Source: Christian Science Monitor

What began as a story of a quirky Southern governor going on a mystery walkabout took a more serious turn Wednesday morning, with reports of impeachment talk bubbling out of South Carolina’s capital.

The disappearing act by Mark Sanford, a gubernatorial hero of the GOP who resurfaced after a five-day incommunicado absence, has not played well, even among members of his own party. The impeachment rumblings, first cited by Southern Political Report editor Tom Baxter, are more grave, though. In a bulletin Wednesday morning about the impeachment talks, Mr. Baxter quotes “well-placed sources” in Columbia.

The governor’s trip – taken together with the bitter intraparty battles over the budget in South Carolina and Sanford’s profile as a potential GOP presidential contender – is raising questions about whether he committed “serious misconduct” as chief executive, which is an impeachable offense under South Carolina’s constitution.

Complaints are that the governor turned off his cellphone without making plans for succession and that he apparently misled his staff about his whereabouts. According to his office, he had told them he was going hiking on the Appalachian Trail and instead traveled to Argentina, where he’s said to have taken quiet drives along the beach.

more: http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/06/24/sanford-returns-home-to-impeachment-rumblings/

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. So, where are the pictures of the thirty-something babe that

we have come to expect?

[DebbieCDC]

2. Or the boy toy

[eleny]

3. Seems obvious by now to me that he wants out of government service

This was a helluva way to get it done, though.

[aquart]

4. Except there are no quiet drives along the beach there.

[dgibby]

5. Guess they need to jump on board the grassroots Impeachment Train.

There's already an impeachment movement in progress, ever since he refused to take the stimulus money and sued the legislature. I'm sure the rest of us would more than welcome the bigwigs in Columbia to join the cause.

[monmouth]

6. Ensign is using his "inside" smile. Heat off!....n/t

[anigbrowl]

7. The weird thing to me is that he took off unannounced

and apparently without making arrangements for the fact of his absence. Indeed, he could have a lover/ drug problem/ be secretly working for the CIA, but this almost seems calculated to draw attention to it. Maybe, as someone says, he just wants out of the job.

I don't find the going off alone part fundamentally weird in itself. There's nothing wrong with a bit of solitude...but you think he'd just set up a scheduled holiday if all he wanted to do was switch off his phone and contemplate nature.