Buzzards Circle Over Mark Sanford

Despite having some of the best timing in the history of politics, it really appears that South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford will be forced into resigning after revealing his walk down the Appalachian Trail with an Argentine woman. The Speaker of the South Carolina House has asked Sanford to resign, and 60 other Republicans in the House hand-delivered Sanford a letter with the same message.

I won't cry for Mark Sanford, who should resign for his disgraceful record as Governor more than anything. But this is starting to feel like a witch hunt to me. There are grounds for dismissal - his abandoning the state for two weeks back in June, for example, or his use of state travel resources for personal business. And surely, given how Jim McGreevey and Eliot Spitzer were run right out of town, it might feel rewarding to a Democrat to see someone like Sanford run out of his office. But personal trysts should not form the basis of an assault on someone's public life. There's a public record that should be sufficient for that.

That said, Sanford does look to have abused his privileges as Governor on numerous occasions, and that ought to be enough for an investigation. I'm happy to have him sit there as a national embarrassment and a walking symbol of Republican hypocrisy on family values, however.

Here's another one.