mark_sanford.thumbnail.jpgLast week we found that the South Carolina Republicans are putting more pressure on their governor to do the pearl-handled revolver in the library bit:

The Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives has joined a growing chorus of Republicans calling for Gov. Mark Sanford’s resignation.

In a much anticipated letter delivered to Sanford Tuesday, Harrell formally called on the governor to resign.

"What has become clear is that Sanford’s issues will continue to dominate our state as long as he remains in office," Harrell said. "Whether he should be removed from office is a question that will need to be answered from the State Ethics Commission investigation, but our state’s future is too important to have the governor’s issues overshadow everything we do for the next fifteen months. For the good of our state, Sanford should step aside."

Sanford treated this plea the same way he’s treated all the other recent pleas for him to step down before he can be impeached: By thumbing his nose at it. He’s in the catbird seat right now, and while his presidential hopes are permanently toast, he obviously thinks he can ride out this sucker and stay on as governor — or failing that, take one or two people down with him.

One reason for this is the guy who would be Sanford’s immediate replacement. If you’re wondering why the social conservatives who dominate the SC GOP didn’t publicly favor impeaching Governor Sanford until after his lieutenant governor, André Bauer, finally promised not to run for election to the governorship, should he come to occupy it upon Sanford’s likely resignation or removal from office (Bauer had originally promised this in June, but then backed off from that pledge) — well, this might have something to do with it:

I am now able to confirm a rumor that has circulated in South Carolina for years. South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is a closeted anti-gay politician who stands to replace Mark Sanford should Sanford resign or be impeached (a real possibility as Sanford is caught in his own sex scandal.)

Mike Rogers, the person making that statement, is the guy who outed both Larry Craig and Mark Foley. (By the way, 2008 South Carolina Democratic congressional candidate Linda Ketner said at FDL back in May that "the lieutenant governor" was gay, so it’s not as if Rogers is treading virgin territory here.)

This development obviously works in Sanford’s favor — so much so that Sanford’s enemies (which right now would probably include most of the South Carolina Republican establishment) immediately set to claiming that Rogers was working at Sanford’s behest — and even got a Politico writer to push that particular storyline, without of course calling up Rogers to see if it was true. (Rogers says it isn’t.)

Meanwhile, the hits just keep on comin’. Just the other day, it was revealed that the Feds actually pulled Sanford’s security clearance for a week in the wake of his tearful revelations about his trips to see his mistress. And if he really wants to help out his old-money old buddy Addison "Joe" Wilson, he should resist the urge to come publicly to the guy’s aid.

Oh, and guess what? Bauer’s backing off AGAIN from his promise not to run for Sanford’s seat. Will the religious-right homophobes and self-hating closet cases of the Palmetto State Republicans tolerate this, especially as they have their own favorites for that seat? Or will there soon be another conveniently-timed gay bomb lobbed Bauer’s way — yet another one that will officially be blamed on Mark Sanford?

Sit tight, folks — the fun is just beginning.

Related posts:

  1. Early Morning Swim: Special Mark Sanford Takes a Hike Edition
  2. Late Night: Sanctity of Whose Marriage?
  3. Late Night: South Carolina Issues Ambler Alert
  4. Jenny Sanford Lays the Wood to Lovey Govey
  5. Late Night: Mira! It’s “Wilbur Mills and Fanne Foxe” Redux