Late Night: Rome, S.C. Burns While Nero Diddles

Poor South Carolina, left holding the bag AGAIN! Mark Sanford, who had only just resumed his duties as governor of the financially strapped state, is once more on the romantic run, this time with the woman he actually married, deserting his constituents in their time of need.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford headed out of state Wednesday for personal time with his wife, as the two try to reconcile, and skipped a meeting with a top economic adviser ahead of what’s expected to be more bad economic news including rising joblessness.

Wow. Overblown sense of entitlement much? As the person elected to govern the state, Sanford’s job is to. . . well. . . govern. South Carolina is not his personal sand box to play in when the mood strikes him. Someone toss this guy a few bucks to buy a little perspective. (But don’t worry — the couple isn’t headed to Buenos Aires. They’re probably going to have their second honeymoon at the C Street headquarters with all his buddies. Sanford is a hopeless romantic that way.)

The reconciliation effort "doesn’t negate the fact that we’ve got some serious, critical problems in the budget that is hemorrhaging every day because of the employment situation and the weak economy that requires our best efforts," said state Sen. Larry Martin, a Pickens Republican who has called on Sanford to resign.

"I think his preoccupation with his personal life right now is certainly expected but doesn’t serve the state very well," Martin said.

If the South Carolina legislature had any balls whatsoever, it would have demanded that Sanford step down, instead of slapping him on the wrist for his egregious dereliction of duty.

There appears to be a pattern emerging with Republican governors – when the going gets tough, Republicans FAIL spectacularly. It started with Bobby Jindal’s much-anticipated rebuttal to Obama’s "State of the Union" speech dissolving into the creepiest ten minutes on television that month. Then, weeks after Sanford went AWOL, Sarah Palin, awash in ethics scandals and lucrative book deals, shocks the hell out of everyone by bugging out of Alaskan politics for the bright lights of the Lower 48. Who’s next? I’ll be taking wagers, so feel free to place your bets.

Maybe Michael "Fried Chicken and Potato Salad" Steele had better reconsider his strategery for the Great Republican Renaissance.

Related posts:

1. Late Night: South Carolina Issues Ambler Alert
2. Late Night: Sanctity of Whose Marriage?
3. Late Night: Mira! It’s “Wilbur Mills and Fanne Foxe” Redux
4. Late Night: Livin’ the Dolce Vita with The Lovernator
5. Sanford’s Not Going Gentle into That Good Night