Welcome folks, to the next insallment of Politics, South Carolina Style.
In today's episode, state Sen. Jake Knotts claims Please-send-me-back-to-Argentina Gov. Mark Sanford is behind rumors that Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is gay.
In case you missed this weekend's episodes, Bauer a long-time bachelor man, who has denied rumors of being gay, last week called publicly for Sanford to resign. And if Sanford resigns....Bauer becomes governor.
Then, over the weekend, an internet site that called it right previously on none other than Larry Craig and Mark Foley claimed to have talked with more than one man who'd had sex with Bauer, who of course is a very conservative Christian who claims homosexuality is an abomination. He recently sponsoredc legislation to let state Christians have license tags with the slogan "I believe."
And, the state's completely spineless Republicans, caught between the choice of a cheating, disappearing, not-hiking-naked-on-the-Appalacian-Trail Sanford as governor, or ousting him and having as his replacement a possibly-gay, none-one-likes-him-any-better Bauer as governor, basically backed up and punted on the issue. (Way to take responsibility, guys.)
None of the Republican lawmakers, at the statewide Republican Party meeting, spoke in support of Sanford, and they did ask him to resign, but none were ready to do the job only they can -- impeach him.
So then...with the mainstream press ignoring the Bauer-is-gay internet reports, one of Bauer's best friends and biggest supporters, state Sen. Jake Knotts (you may have heard him roasting Sanford on TV right before Sanford's press conference, then afterward nearly in tears, plegding to pray for the man) shows how smart he and probably Bauer are, by Knotts writing a letter to state legislators asking them to remove Sanford immediately, saying:
"During the last two months, we have discovered plenty of solid reasons to remove our current governor from office; but now there’s one more reason: the people trying to keep Sanford in power have stooped to a new low with this week’s false character assassination of Bauer," Knotts wrote.
Which I think is an example of how smart a Bauer administration would be. Because now, of course, with the letter from one state lawmaker to all the others, the mainstream press will have an excuse to start printing all the Bauer-is-gay rumors.
Which, I'm guessing, means more fun times coming in South Carolina politics.
Sanford, btw, issued a statement denying being behind the Bauer rumors:
"This letter is simply wrong – and in that regard, as bizarre as many of the other claims and attacks of recent weeks," said Sanford spokesman Ben Fox. "Some have even argued this indeed points to an obsession with slandering anyone who tries to change the ‘good ol’ boy’ system of politics in Columbia."
Palmetto Scoop full report here.
I'm thinking this all means Democrats will have one of their best chances ever to win statewide in 2010.