OK, I know I have to write about Governor Sanford of South Carolina (hopefully, soon to be former Governor Sanfrod) because I’ve been writing about what hypocrits the leaders of the Republican party are since I started this blog and he’s put himself right at or near the top. Governor Sanford, if you haven’t been paying attention is one of the self-righteous Republican governors who tried to refuse the stimulus money from the federal government. Of course, he wasn’t going to refuse all of it – in his case just the money which would have helped to keep teachers employed in South Carolina’s public education system (which already ranks toward the bottom in the country and surely would get closer to the bottom – I believe the bottom is Mississippi – without the federal aide) – you know, the Republican’s agenda puts destroying our public education system at the top of their “to do” list. Their vision is for the disadvantaged children in this country to grow up without a first class education – and they hide their intentions in a bill titled “No Child Left Behind.” And, on top of all this, Sanford was one of the leading candidates for the Republican party’s Presidential nomination for 2012 (Oh, yes – I forgot to mention – while he was criticizing Democrats as being “immoral” he was sneaking off on the taxpayers expense to rondevous with his girlfriend in Argentina of all places).

Based on the other leaders of the party (Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich) having an affair shouldn’t disqualify Sanford from his political dreams, but he might have to wait a few years like Gingrich, after his dismissal from the House, and Limbaugh, after his viagra and oxycontin fiasco in the Caribbean did before they could reclaim their positions as leaders of the Republican party (Well, now that I think of it, I really believe Limbaugh’s elevation of late is a first – at the time of his arrest for abusing prescripition pain killers he was considered no more than the bloviating blowhard that he really is – I don’t think anyone took him too seriously until GW Bush screwed things up royally). Actually, I don’t think Sanford’s affair compares to Gingrich meeting his wife as she is rolled out from Cancer surgery and informing her he’s divorcing her to marry another woman – I mean that is a topper! I can’t think of anyone doing something more mean-spirited than that, which I’m sure is why Republicans love Gingrich. If he’ll treat a wife like that, just think what he might do to Democrats (don’t you like how they function in private whil eschewing in public they’re the “party of family values”).

Seriously, I could care less about governor Sanford’s personal life – as you might be able to guess – there’s no way I would ever vote for the guy even if he was faithful to his wife. I just found it interesting that he disappeared for 5 or 6 days over Father’s day weekend (the man’s got 4 boys), all the while lying to his staff, using public money to pay for his jaunts to Argentina to be with his mistress, and then trying to lie his way out of it when he’s caught at the airport coming back into the country – In Georgia of all places. So, the fact that he went AWOL from his job as Governor of a state and used public money to carry on an affair – these are the things that bother me the most – shouldn’t this man have legal issues? Fortunately for him, we live in a country where public officials don’t have to answer for breaking the law. I can tell you this though, as a public school teacher (you know the kind of person he was trying to put out of business by refusing the stimulus money) I would lose my job if I did either one of those things – and you have to really screw up to lose your job as a teacher after you’ve been there for awhile.

Sanford can use the Cheney defense if and when he gets accused of any crime. If you’re a high government official we just look the other way, and in this case, he probably only skimmed a few thousand from the books for his plane ticket and hotel in Buenos Aires – I doubt that he stayed at his mistresses house. And, this all gets me back to the thing that I’ve been trying to “hammer” home for several months now – and this goes straight to President Obama – you can’t be selective in enforcing the laws of this great land. Obama has chosen to look the other way regarding the admitted torturing authorized by the Bush administration. I’m reading a book right now titled “The Ballad of Abu Ghraib” by Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris which makes me even more angry that our leaders are letting this disgusting saga kind of disappear into the sunset. The problem with that line of thinking is I don’t believe it’s going to disappear – there’s a lot more to the story than what’s come out so far and sooner or later it’s all going to come out (Obama’s not going to look good if he doesn’t deal with this beforehand).

These Republicans are daring Democrats to stand up to them, and the Democrats keep folding like a cheap tent one time after another. And, President Obama has a lot of tough decisions laying in front of him and these guys (Republicans) are going to be in opposition – EVERY STEP OF THE WAY! Abu Ghraib’s abuses were clearly ordered from above – according to the book I”m reading, the suspicion is that the orders came from the very top – at least the Vice President’s office and very probably the White House. What was done in Abu Ghraib was disgusting, but the most disgusting part of it to me was the fact that a few untrained, overtaxed, well-meaning soldiers are or have been in Leavenworth while the real “culprits” are not only “walking free,” in the case of Dick Cheney – going around defending the policy of torture and making ridiculous claims about the Obama administration that SHOULD NOT GO UNANSWERED!

I realize President Obama is focused on health care and energy as the focul points of his agenda – and is still holding out some kind of hope that he can get “bi-parisan” support for his pet issues. Who is standing in the way – TIME AND AGAIN – it’s those disgusting Republicans. If there’s a decent one in their midst you wouldn’t know it because the one thing you (well, I guess I really mean I) have to give them credit for is sticking together. They ran Arlen Specter right out of the party for “turning on them” and voting his “conscience” (if he has one) on the so-called Stimulus bill. They honestly remind me of a herd of sheep as they bunch up around whoever is at the podium for their capital hill news conferences – where one of them gives the “party line” while the rest stand behind the spokesperson nodding like a bunch of bobble head dolls. I know President Obama isn’t going to listen to me, but the best way to get bi-partisan support from Republicans is to allow the investigation of the Bush administration which will accomplish two things. First, it will shut up Cheney and now President Bush himself (who’s starting to follow Cheney’s lead in trying to salvage the Bush legacy by lying their way into the history books) along with the rest of them (Rove, Addington, et al) who would need to start worrying about legal problems instead of causing problems for Obama. Second, this would send a message to the rest of the Republicans (and, hopefully to any Democrats as well who are putting themselves above the laws of this great nation) that we are a nation of laws and not men and that when he said “No one is above the law” in the campaign President Obama really meant it.

Here’s the problem President Obama is facing right now. The Republicans always considered him weak and ill-prepared for the job at hand (I’m not sure if they even understand now what a job they left him with) and now Democrats are starting to question some of his decisions because he’s not following through on some of his campaign pledges. OK, I know that this is always the case with Presidents, but Obama had a different campaign and his supporters expect different decisions from him. There are many more besides me who EXPECT OBAMA TO FULFILL HIS CAMPAIGN PLEDGES. He needs to start with the investigations of the Bush administration (and Obama is so “into” the health care debate that I don’t think this is even an issue for him anymore – WHICH IS A HUGE MISTAKE!), he needs to “fix” the FISA legislation (which he promised ME during the campaign when I complained about his astonishingly discouraging support of the Bush FISA bill), he needs to follow through on his pledge to end the “Don’t ask Don’t tell” policy in our military which is siphoning off one highly qualified person after another, he needs to get our troops home from Iraq (there’s still over 130,000 there with no sign of them coming home – except for the Iraqi’s forcing us out) – in general President Obama needs to quit waffling on these issues because if he loses the support of even 10% of his “base” he will struggle to get re-elected.

I can’t imagine the Republicans will end up running someone like Sanford or Senator Ensign (the two unfaithful candidates) or Sarah Palin – despite the FACT she can see Russsia from her front porch (or whatever she claimed) or even Gingrich. I pointed this out about 6 months ago and I’m getting more confident that I might be on to something as every day passes and as these potential candidates keep eliminating themselves – in 2012, if Obama seems vulnerable at all (and, unless he changes this reluctance to go after the lawbreaking Bush crowd – he will be vulnerable), LOOK FOR THE NEXT BUSH – Jeb Bush is in the background – and, I believe the Republicans are setting traps for Obama; Cheney and GW are going around trying to convince everyone they weren’t so bad – “THEY KEPT US SAFE” (I’m sure, under their breath when they say that they mumble, “except for 9/11”), and they are going to start pushing the “good Bush” on us within the next year. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! :o)

These guys think the American people are stupid. I think that there is a large portion of Americans, like myself, who just long for someone to act like Americans are supposed to act – in theory. Now, this – I’m sure – is a bit idealistic and naive – but the alternative that the Republicans have been cramming down our throats for the better part of the past 30 years is destroying this nation. We have the opportunity to totally change the direction of this great country, and President Obama has the right ideas and many of his supporters are eager for a rational energy policy, national health care, a first class commitment to the education of our children and grandchildren, a sensible and peace first foreign policy which doesn’t thrive on depriving third world countries of their natural resources at the benefit of our multi-national corporations, and an economy which is balanced and a national debt which is shrinking (doesn’t that sound conservative?). The only way President Obama should be reaching out to Republicans (like Sanford, Cheney, and GW Bush) is to recommend good legal counsel. Governor Sanford, Vice President Cheney. and former President Bush are not only hypocrites, they are criminals!