: he sacrificed all for true love, and this is good.
Reply 2—Posted by: blueline, 1/28/2011 6:07:27 AM
Happily ever after? I don’t know; maybe we should ask his kids. Sanford rates my contempt. He made vows and sired children with Jenny who, by his own admission, was a good wife and mother. He dumped them all for this chick.
When his grandchildren come along, maybe he’ll get to see them once or twice a year; maybe get pictures of them. He threw gold away to chase aluminum foil. Stupid and adolescent. jmho
Reply 3—Posted by: PoliticalJunky, 1/28/2011 6:49:25 AM
I said at the time and I’ll say it again: He fell in love. He should not have, he lost everything he had by doing it, people on this site called him sinful, stupid, etc. and maybe he is. There’s an old saying: “love conquers all.” I understand the truth of that saying.
Reply 4—Posted by: keekng, 1/28/2011 6:53:54 AM
Not many in South Carolina were sad to see him gone. Now, does someone, anyone, want Lindsey?
Reply 5—Posted by: StormCnter, 1/28/2011 6:57:21 AM
No, love had little to do with it. Lust was the reason. Throwing over a wife, a family, a carefully built career, your good name for a romantic fling is adolescent behavior. Grownups deal with temptation as best they can, but there isn’t a lovely Argentinian reward for behaving the way we should.
Reply 6—Posted by: ramona, 1/28/2011 6:58:34 AM
He fell In lust, not love. Love is not an emotion—it is a commitment, and he failed at that. How could he love a woman he had never met, never spent time with, never learned to argue or share responsibilities with? I have no doubt that he became infatuated, and sometimes infatuation leads to love. But he walked out on his wife and kids to fulfill a base desire. Ask the kids how thrilled they are with their father’s romance. Ramona (the Pest)
Reply 7—Posted by: Spidey, 1/28/2011 6:59:30 AM
I understand how these things happen because human nature is what it is. but sooner or later this will burn off and Sanford will realize he did a terrible thing abandoning his wife and kids in such a disgraceful matter.
Reply 8—Posted by: doodah, 1/28/2011 7:13:22 AM
I still have my theory that Mark had never really been in love, and it hit him like a ton of bricks. Maria is no blonde floozie and doesn’t seek the limelight. No excuses, but this happens everyday, why crucify one man who lost his heart at the wrong time. I’m sure all his boys will adjust to reality. Many, many children of divorced parents do.
Reply 9—Posted by: Judith, 1/28/2011 7:20:57 AM
When I was a child, this man and his paramour would be shunned. Nothing would be said to children, but you got the idea that his behavior was awful and he should pay a price by being excluded from polite society. Does anyone know what polite society is today? How about honor, integrity, loyalty? All these words/traditions were certainly trashed by this man and by the author of this foolish article.
Reply 10—Posted by: StormCnter, 1/28/2011 7:25:06 AM
Lost his heart at the wrong time? I suspect that has happened to a lot of people. What those people do next is where the test of character lies.
Reply 11—Posted by: zephyrgirl, 1/28/2011 7:37:05 AM
Puleezz—I was eating breakfast.
Like a previous poster, I predict this little romance will blow up at some point and he’ll suddenly realize how he ruined his life for “love.” That’s when he’ll try to move back into his children’s life.
Reply 12—Posted by: Lawsy0, 1/28/2011 7:39:24 AM
Finally! Someone has found the answer to ‘Who cares?’
Reply 15—Posted by: janjan, 1/28/2011 7:49:22 AM
The posters here are all declaring he is in love or no, he is not in love but just lust. The truth is no one knows what his true feelings are except him and no one knows what the true state of his marriage was except the two people in it. Next problem.
Reply 22—Posted by: Timber Queen, 1/28/2011 8:07:30 AM
Although I found the article cloying and intent on letting Sanford off the hook with a romance novel point of view, I find it hard to cast stones.
I hate to admit it, but in my early twenties I had an affair with a separated man. After six months he decided to “honor his vows” and he returned to his wife. They had no children together. Ten years later I received a letter from him explaining that the marriage was empty and unhappy for both of them, and that he regretted letting me go and wanted to apologize about the way he left me. We met and realized that indeed, we were still deeply in love with each other. He then promptly divorced his wife and we married a year later. This spring we celebrate 23 years of a happy, stable, and mutually nourishing marriage. I didn’t break up his previous marriage, it was already broken, but I do suffer pangs of guilt at the hurt it caused. It’s not a new story, David and Bathsheba proves that. He who is without sin cast the first stone.
Reply 26—Posted by: georgia peach, 1/28/2011 8:21:25 AM
It’s worked out so well for Mel Gibson.You don’t fall in love as if you are falling out of a tree. There are choices along the way.
Reply 29—Posted by: The Patriot Code, 1/28/2011 8:31:01 AM
If I could wiggle my nose and magically replace zippy and the sleeveless wookie with Mark Sanford and his dear, dear friend … I’d do it so fast your head would swim.
Reply 30—Posted by: ladycatnip, 1/28/2011 8:31:18 AM
The article is written like some cheap romance novel. The author is trying too hard to spin this into a “happily ever after” while turning a blind eye to all the proverbial dead bodies along the way.
I repeat what posters upthread have already said so well—this man has no honor and too much viagra.
Reply 34—Posted by: yottyhere, 1/28/2011 8:40:47 AM
OP I find the unibrow looks normal when you have a craggy face like hers. When there are no children involved the parties can knock themselves out. Who cares. Glad the previous poster is so careless with the poor kids, four of them,let me add with meaningless I’m sure all his boys will adjust to reality. Many, many children of divorced parents do. The point is the father had a commitment to those 4 boys to see that they had his total support until they became young men. Not bump uglies with some hairy latin tramp. It is so very aggravating to see 4 kids tossed to the side with a casual ‘deal with it’ because some horny goat can’t keep it zipped up.
Reply 36—Posted by: LibertyLady, 1/28/2011 8:50:21 AM
While he basks in the glow of loves intoxicating and anesthetizing hormones, his precious innocent children absorb and carry the burden of their mothers profound and scarring grief. Forever.
The fact that these two are in this spread tells me that his narcissism is in full bloom.
Reply 37—Posted by: ilovedogs, 1/28/2011 8:53:38 AM
As the child of divorced parents who broke up over flirtations, I can assure you, you don’t get over it. Trust is gone. Hard to get back or to give to anyone else. You’re supposed to trust your parents. IF he “fell in love” he had a responsibility to do the right thing then. And I’m not saying stay in the marriage. There are right and proper ways to handle things. We act like children now and it disgusts me. Most especially when I do it.
Reply 43—Posted by: ufos4, 1/28/2011 9:19:16 AM
Middle age crazy exists. I think this man handled this horribly. I also think some people need to get the most out of life and just run away and change everything. Some posters might feel threatened by this kind of behaviour, but it happens. Sanford might have many regrets later in his life, but right now it appears he does not.
Reply 76—Posted by: rosefenn, 1/28/2011 12:33:05 PM
Yikes! Those eyebrows! I’ve seen Arkansas ditch caterpillars that weren’t as furry!
