Happy 4th to you too!

He was obviously not impeached because of sex. But sex drove the scandal. Adultery was not the charge, but I do not see Whitewater leading to impeachment without the sexual nature of the scandal. You are not wrong on the legal grounds, I just think that the social/cultural context is pretty important in that case.

As a leftist, I have little need for Bill Clinton.

Sure, dereliction of duty is the primary official reason why Sanford should leave. However, his entire reaction to all of this has shown him to be an unstable emotional twit. Is that reason for him to leave office. No. Should it make the people of his state nervous? Yes.

Are you a lawyer?

Happy 4th!

I humbly disagree given that calling for resignation or conducting impeachment over adultery would have been an anachronism in the 1990s just as it would today. Moreover, it’s ludicrous to accuse me of re-telling history given it was already established by the time of Clinton’s impeachment that as far as we know Clinton didn’t technically commit adultery while president, certainly not with Lewinski. Please explain how an adultery which no one was claiming was the driver of impeachment?

On a side note, I happen to think Clinton’s impeachment was a mistake given the votes to convict weren’t there. It was the equivalent of a prosecutor not exercising proper discretion and bringing an indictment knowing there isn’t a reasonable chance of conviction. That said, I believe his lying under oath in the Paula Jones case was certainly impeachment worthy. But impeachment for adultery? That would have been equally ludicrous in the 1990s as it is today.

Back to Sanford, IMHO, he should resign for dereliction of duty, period. And I find the focus on adultery here extremely anachronistic.

The sexual nature of the Clinton scandal is the only reason that the impeachment ever came about. To say that is was simply a matter of the rule of law, and not adultery, is an interesting re-telling of history.

I personally think that being a ding-bat is sufficient reason for him to leave. Whether he leaves or not does not really matter to me. Maybe South Carolina deserves him.

Likewise, I strongly suspect Nick is mis-citing Stanford’s past position on Clinton. I don’t recall any serious calls for Clinton to resign over adultery, but rather for perjury in a deposition, given POTUS is our chief law enforcement officer.

After a long string of dysfunctional governors in Arizona, I finally have a reason to be thankful that I live in Arizona and not South Carolina.

May 6, 2003: Rushing to the State House, Bauer is ticketed for reckless driving after police say he drove 60 mph in a 35-mph zone and ran two red lights in downtown Columbia. Bauer pulls over after four blocks, but the officer determines he is being aggressive, draws a gun and orders him to raise his hands.

March 28, 2006: News breaks that Bauer has been stopped twice for speeding. Once, after being clocked at 101 mph on I-77, he gets on his emergency police radio to identify himself as “SC2.” He is not ticketed in either case.

May 23, 2006: Bauer crashes his private plane into trees on takeoff in Blacksburg, shattering his ankle and injuring his co-pilot. The NTSB lists the probable cause as the pilot’s failure to abort takeoff after the plane fails to reach adequate airspeed.

The fact he had an affair, and then compounded it by secretly going half way across the world was waay over the top in the stupids department! Then just when you thought you had heard everything, he called his mistress his “soul mate”, but was getting back with his wife! What a major stinkin’ Jerk!!! There is no way he will survive this. Why he has not resigned by now is just amazing, and demonstrates just how big his ego is, and how far out of touch he is with South Carolina voters.

Martin, YES. Prominent Republicans have worked hard to court social and economic conservatives, but their behavior consistently demonstrates the actual degree to which they value conservative principles, namely, not much.