by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
The famed "Appalachian Trail" is a 2,200 mile hiking trail extending from Georgia to Maine and traversing some of America's most beautiful and scenic mountain woodlands. Truly bad-ass hikers can walk the entire trail in one long and arduous season, but most people who attempt to walk the full length of the AT do so over two, or three, or even several summers.
The trail figured prominently in the news nine years ago this month when the Republican governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, disappeared for six days. After people began talking about his mysterious absence, Sanford's staff released a story that the governor was hiking the Appalachian Trail. The truth about Governor Sanford's disappearance from public view finally came to light after a reporter caught him disembarking from a flight at the Atlanta airport - a flight that had originated in Buenos Aires. Sanford stumbled through a few explanations, but finally admitted that he had been in Argentina spending time with his mistress.
Sanford's wife, Jenny, soon took their sons and moved out of the governor's mansion - later divorcing her unfaithful husband. And while members of Sanford's own Republican Party in the state legislature threatened him with impeachment, he managed to remain in office until his term expired in 2011. Most people felt that Sanford's political career was at an end, but at least he still had his pretty girlfriend.
Most people, however, were wrong. Sanford's political career, his own personal Appalachian Trail, resumed in 2013 when he won the congressional seat vacated by South Carolina's new senator, Tim Scott. Sanford managed to keep that seat for three terms before finally losing a primary election to retain the seat this past week. Sanford's primary loss was reportedly due to his occasionally being critical of Donald Trump, even though he managed to vote the Trump position on most issues.
Rabid conservatives of the Trump stripe have a low tolerance for independent thought. Jeff Flake, the Republican senator from Arizona whose own political career has been has been terminated, or at least detoured, because of his reluctance to publicly prostrate himself before his party's Golden Bull, describes the Republican fawning over Trump as being "cult-like."
So Mark Sanford has lost the Republican primary to retain his seat in Congress. He is definitely down, but like many other hikers, but he may not be out. Anyone who bounced back politically from a two-continent love scandal can probably outlast a political anomaly like Donald Trump - a man who has trouble "hiking" to the bathroom without the use of a golf cart.
Don't put those hiking boots in the yard sale just yet, Congressman. You're probably going to need them after America dumps Trump.
Citizen Journalist
The famed "Appalachian Trail" is a 2,200 mile hiking trail extending from Georgia to Maine and traversing some of America's most beautiful and scenic mountain woodlands. Truly bad-ass hikers can walk the entire trail in one long and arduous season, but most people who attempt to walk the full length of the AT do so over two, or three, or even several summers.
The trail figured prominently in the news nine years ago this month when the Republican governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, disappeared for six days. After people began talking about his mysterious absence, Sanford's staff released a story that the governor was hiking the Appalachian Trail. The truth about Governor Sanford's disappearance from public view finally came to light after a reporter caught him disembarking from a flight at the Atlanta airport - a flight that had originated in Buenos Aires. Sanford stumbled through a few explanations, but finally admitted that he had been in Argentina spending time with his mistress.
Sanford's wife, Jenny, soon took their sons and moved out of the governor's mansion - later divorcing her unfaithful husband. And while members of Sanford's own Republican Party in the state legislature threatened him with impeachment, he managed to remain in office until his term expired in 2011. Most people felt that Sanford's political career was at an end, but at least he still had his pretty girlfriend.
Most people, however, were wrong. Sanford's political career, his own personal Appalachian Trail, resumed in 2013 when he won the congressional seat vacated by South Carolina's new senator, Tim Scott. Sanford managed to keep that seat for three terms before finally losing a primary election to retain the seat this past week. Sanford's primary loss was reportedly due to his occasionally being critical of Donald Trump, even though he managed to vote the Trump position on most issues.
Rabid conservatives of the Trump stripe have a low tolerance for independent thought. Jeff Flake, the Republican senator from Arizona whose own political career has been has been terminated, or at least detoured, because of his reluctance to publicly prostrate himself before his party's Golden Bull, describes the Republican fawning over Trump as being "cult-like."
So Mark Sanford has lost the Republican primary to retain his seat in Congress. He is definitely down, but like many other hikers, but he may not be out. Anyone who bounced back politically from a two-continent love scandal can probably outlast a political anomaly like Donald Trump - a man who has trouble "hiking" to the bathroom without the use of a golf cart.
Don't put those hiking boots in the yard sale just yet, Congressman. You're probably going to need them after America dumps Trump.
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