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Yeah, he went there if you can believe it. Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace actually asked disgraced former South Carolina governor and now newly elected Congressman Mark Sanford if he plans on running for president, Does anyone think he'd ever ask, say Anthony Weiner, if he throws his hat into the ring for the New York mayoral race, that same question? I didn't think so.

WALLACE: Back in 2009, before all this personal stuff, you were exploring a possibility of running for president in 2012, even exploring the idea of setting up a nationwide organization. So the question is, does your political comeback now end as a Congressman from the 1st congressional district of South Carolina, or is there the possibility of higher office?

SANFORD: What I say is, one, people will begin to look at that fully. There's a big gulf between them looking at it fully and saying you ought to do this, that you ought to look at this, and me doing it. So I haven't pulled any tripwire on that front, but you're exactly right, a number of people were suggesting those kind of things. My focus... my focus is to be the absolutely best congressman that I can be for the 1st congressional district of South Carolina.

Wallace followed up by asking him what the Republican party needs to do to start winning national elections again, as though this wingnut is going to have anything to recommend other than his party moving even further to the right where he and his ilk have taken them. If Republicans are going to get any help with their so-called "rebranding effort" it's not going to come from the likes of Mark Sanford.

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Mark Sanford, the South Carolina congressman-elect who notoriously lied and said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he was actually in Argentina having an affair, on Sunday compared Fox News to The National Enquirer after a host asked him if he had set a date to marry his mistress.

During a Mother's Day interview following Sanford's win in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, Fox News host Chris Wallace asked the former governor what he had learned from the scandal.

"You learn a lot!" Sanford asserted from his shotgun-adorned home on Seabrook Island. "You probably learn more in the valleys of life than you do in the mountain tops with regards to God's grace, with regard to the reflective grace through the people that you walk with on a daily basis. I have to say that I learned a lot about judgment, I learned a lot about forgiveness."

"You are now engaged to the women with whom you had the affair, Maria Belen Chapur," Wallace noted. "What did your four boys think of that and have they accepted her?"

"I'm not going to go into inter-family conversations," Sanford insisted. "But I would just say it is what it is."

"Do you have a date for your wedding and will your fiance come to Washington to live with you?" the Fox News host pressed, adding, "I feel like I'm The National Enquirer here."

"Exactly!" the South Carolina Republican laughed. "What is this Fox News or National Enquirer? So, I'm not going to make news on that front tonight -- or this morning."

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Stephen Colbert expressed his dismay after his sister, Elizabeth Colbert Busch lost in a special election to former governor and "Appalachian Trail" hiker, Mark Sanford for South Carolina's 1st Congressional district.

Colbert turns his back on South Carolina over Sanford win: ‘I feel so betrayed’:

On Wednesday night’s edition of “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert lashed out at his home state of South Carolina for failing to elect his sister Elizabeth Colbert Busch to Congress, and re-electing former Gov. Mark Sanford (R) to the congressional seat he held before running for governor.

“Folks, tonight I am angry,” he said to the roaring crowd that greeting him at the show’s opening. “And for once, that doesn’t make me happy.”

Rolling video clips of South Carolina’s election results, he said, “And I think you know why.”

“My sister lost!” he said, although he got his hopes up briefly when CNN said she’d lost, which, according to their recent track record, clearly meant she had won.

“Mark Sanford beat my sister,” said Colbert, “and I believe that means that Mark Sanford is now my sister. And on behalf of my entire family, I want to say we’re deeply sorry about him.”

After saying he was then going to turn his back on South Carolina, Colbert went on to make it obvious that was going to be a lot easier said than done, since he didn't seem to thrilled with the idea of becoming a Tar Heel and wasn't wild about North Carolina's barbeque either.

Maybe Stephen can have Brad Friedman on some time in the near future to discuss whether his sister actually lost in a landslide or not and their one hundred percent unverifiable touch-screen voting machines, the use of which have guaranteed that we will never know for sure what the results of that election were.

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I'm not sure just how "humble" former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has been when he's done things like ask his ex to manage his campaign, introduced his mistress to his children for the first time onstage after he found out he won his primary race, trespassed on his ex-wife's property and then took out a full page ad explaining it, or having a mock debate with a photo of Nancy Pelosi -- but that's what he claimed during his debate this Monday evening with his Democratic opponent for the U.S. House seat vacated by now Sen. Tim Scott, Elizabeth Colbert Busch

SANFORD: Yeah, I was just going to say, the second part of what I think I would bring to bear is, you don't go through the experience I has back in 2009 without a greater level of humility. And what I would say, what I would say is that willingness to sit down with a Republican or a Democrat alike and say, you know, I know what I believe, I believe what I believe. I believe the facts support what I'm suggesting, but let me just sit down with you and let me just a little bit better understand where you're coming from.

Wow. So it made him more willing to reach across the aisle as well. Who'd have thought getting caught with your mistress "hiking the Appalachian Trail" would do all that for you? Sanford may be a lot of things, but "humble" or "bipartisan" sure as hell aren't the first two things I think of when I hear his name.

Colbert Busch was tough. She did a really good job during the debate, but it's a blood red district, so we'll see how things turn out on election day. Here's more with a recap on the debate for anyone that missed it: Sanford, Colbert Busch square off in SC debate:

Continue reading »

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In this brief but telling exchange last night South Carolinian voters saw just about everything they needed to see from the two: Colbert Busch was combative and easily won the debate, and former Governor Sanford was as slimy and as evasive as ever.

via Politico

That was a reference to Sanford’s use of state funds to fly to Argentina to visit his mistress and now fiancé, an affair that derailed his political career four years ago.

“She went there, Governor Sanford,” one of the debate’s moderators responded.

With much of the crowd hooting and hollering, Sanford seemed shaken.

“I couldn’t hear what she said… repeat it, I didn’t hear,” he said.

“Answer the question,” Colbert Busch interjected.

“What was the question?” Sanford said, appearing stunned.“Ok, but anyway, ah ah, on the sequester, I’ll go back to the sequester…”

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Bill Maher answered his own question while discussing the political prospects for Anthony Weiner and whether he is able to make a comeback in New York, compared to Mr. Appalachian trail, Mark Sanford, who has already been forgiven and won his party's primary for the upcoming House race in South Carolina.

As Maher explained during his New Rules segment this Friday, the Republicans are the Christian party and "there's nothing Evangelicals eat up like a redemption story," but when it comes to the Jewish guy from New York, "no Jesus mulligan for him."

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After again endorsing his sister in the upcoming House race in South Carolina and after her opponent, former Gov. Mark Sanford's appearance on Morning Joe this Wednesday, where he was given a big wet kiss by the crew of the show and Scarborough announcing that it was "going to be, Morning Joe vs The Colbert Report," Stephen Colbert was more than happy to respond.

COLBERT: Oh... oh... it is on! Morning Joe vs The Colbert Report. Did I want this fight? No. [...]

Of course in some ways, it's always been Morning Joe vs The Colbert Report, though technically at that time of the morning, my network runs a P90X commercial. Yes. It's all about the muscle confusion. Where as Joe's show is just about confusion, in that sometimes people confuse it with news.

But not this morning folks. Because this morning was just pure infomercial for his old buddy, Mark Sanford.

After showing footage of the lot of them sucking up to Sanford, the worst of it being Mike Barnicle, who actually told Sanford that "he was struck" by Sanford's "honesty" over his affair, after he got busted "hiking the Appalachian Trail" with his mistress and if "there was any fear of that honesty coming back and playing a perilous role" in his political future, Colbert responded.

COLBERT: Oh, that's some in depth reporting. You know, Woodward and Bernstein may have had Deep Throat, but Mike Barnicle is doing something similar to Mark Sanford. I just hope... I just hope Mike can breathe through his nose. Because he's right. He's right. When Sanford finally surfaced, the first thing that everybody thought was "Man, that guy is being so honest about how much he lied." And I'm sure he would have been just as honest if no one had caught him.

Well, it's my turn Joe Joe. I'm going to shock some people right now, and endorse my sister, Elizabeth Colbert Busch for Congress. Yes... yes... yes... she's a Democrat, but she's a businesswoman, a job creator, who when raising three children on $14,000 a year went back to school, built a twenty year career in international trade and is now leading Mark Sanford in two consecutive polls.

Are we ready to do this nation! Yeah! Yeah!

And I tell ya. I'll tell ya. Mark Sanford should thank you Joe Scarborough, because I would not have done that, if you had not inspired me.

I look forward to seeing if the crew on Morning Joe actually acknowledges this segment and responds to it, or if they choose to try to pretend it didn't happen, or worse yet, if they respond and selectively edit Colbert's remarks and spare both Scarborough and Barnicle from the worst of his criticism. We'll find out shortly.

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Here's hoping Stephen Colbert's sister, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, turns Tim Scott's district in South Carolina blue. Despite former Gov. Mark "Appalachian Trails" Sanford's prior problems, he managed to win the GOP's nomination for South Carolina's 1st District House seat. (This is the district from which Jim DeMint resigned.)

Mark Sanford Wins GOP Nomination For South Carolina's 1st District House Seat :

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford on Tuesday cleared another hurdle in his bid for political redemption, defeating a former Charleston County council member to win the GOP nomination for the U.S. House seat he held for three terms. [...]

With all of the precincts reporting, Sanford had about 57 percent of the vote in the 1st District to 43 percent for Curtis Bostic, the former county council member. The candidates were vying in the GOP runoff after they finished as the top two vote-getters in a 16-way GOP primary last month.

Sanford will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, and Green Party candidate Eugene Platt in a May special election.

Colbert Busch released a statement late Tuesday saying "I look forward to a vigorous campaign that focuses on creating jobs, balancing our country's budget and choosing an independent-minded leader who shares the values of the great people of South Carolina."

Sanford, a former three-term congressman and two-term governor, said earlier Tuesday that the runoff would give a good indication whether voters have moved past his personal indiscretions.

"I'm both humbled and grateful for the response of the voters here tonight," he said later. Read on...

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Ostensibly, former South Carolina Governor (and notorious Appalachian Trail hiker) is set to run against Elizabeth Colbert-Busch for his former and now vacant congressional seat. But if this clip from Morning Joe is any indication he's thinking more of defeating her famous younger brother.

MARK SANFORD: "She's not held office. Right now, the one thing people know about him [sic] is that she's Stephen Colbert's sister. Well, you know, at the end of the day, Stephen Colbert's a very popular, you know, well-regarded comedian, but at the end of the day he's not on the ticket. And we're going to have a debate about ideas, and I think that when people really begin to digest those ideas, some real strong contrasts in terms of where she would be versus where I would be, I think that will substantially change a poll that I think now simply defines name and ID as people know it, not issue ID. And I think ultimately debates in campaigns are decided on issues."

Yes, because the name "Colbert" provides an early unfair playing field advantage against someone who represented that congressional district for six years (1995-2001) and was the Governor of the state for another eight (2003-2011) in a deep red district that hasn't elected a Democrat in forty years. "At the end of the day," Mark Sanford sure has a lot of gall and is still a schmuck who feels entitled to the seat, but we knew that already.

South Carolina can do better. Elect Elizabeth Colbert-Busch.

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Stephen Colbert is still on vacation this week over at Comedy Central, but he did make an appearance on Jake Tapper's new show on CNN, The Lead. Colbert stepped out of character for the better part of the interview and discussed his support for his sister who is running for the U.S. House seat that was vacated by Tim Scott after he was appointed to the Senate to replace the Heritage Foundation's latest wingnut welfare recipient, Jim DeMint.

Colbert Busch's leading contender on the Republican primary side is none other than Mr. Appalachian Trails himself, Mark Sanford. If she's fortunate enough to find herself elected to the House, Colbert told Tapper she would be fair game when he's doing his show:

But now Colbert is breaking character to dip his toe into real politics – supporting his sister Elizabeth Colbert Busch, who works in business development at Clemson University and is running for Congress as a Democrat in their home state of South Carolina.

This is the first election Colbert has become involved in.

"I've actually worked very hard not to get involved in an election because I think people expect me - and I don't want to speak for Jon [Stewart], but people expected of Jon to exercise political power because we talk about politics a lot, and we did the rally and stuff like that," says Colbert.

But this time is different, says the Comedy Central star.

"She's my sister and I'm willing to break the jewel of my own creation to try to do something for her. Like I'm not worried about what it would do to me or my show to try to help her as myself, not as my character but as myself, and if people don't think that's the right thing for me to do, I don't care, it's my sister and I'm willing to help her," says Colbert.

Besides, Colbert says, "I've met these people and my sister is in the top decile."

And he would know. Colbert's faux conservative pundit shtick is basically the longest-running spoof of Washington, D.C., on television.