Get your popcorn out, because at 2PM ET, Mark Sanford is holding a news conference to explain this craziness:
ATLANTA -- S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford arrived in the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport this morning, having wrapped up a seven-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he said. Sanford said he had not been hiking along the Appalachian Trail, as his staff said in a Tuesday statement to the media.
Sanford's whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday, and the mystery surrounding his absence fueled speculation about where he had been and who's in charge in his absence. His emergence Wednesday ended the mystery.
Sanford, in an exclusive interview with The State, said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.
Sanford said he had considered hiking on the Appalachian Trail, an activity he said he has enjoyed since he was a high school student.
"But I said 'no' I wanted to do something exotic," Sanford said "... It's a great city."
Sanford, in a brief interview in the nation's busiest airport, said he has been to the city twice before, most recently about a year and half ago during a Commerce Department trip.
Sanford said he was alone on the trip. He declined to give any additional details about what he did other than to say he drove along the coastline.
Uh, well, Argentina and the Appalachian Trail both begin with the same letter, right?
The one thing that seems perfectly clear -- assuming Sanford is telling the truth now about his whereabouts for the past few days -- is that neither Mark Sanford's staff nor his family had any idea where he'd gone over the past few days.
As a result, Sanford's staff lied repeatedly about his location and whether or not they had been in touch with him.
That's utterly dysfunctional, even if you disregard the fact that he left his state rudderless for a full week. Suffice it to say, his days as a serious political figure are over.
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Update (8:02 AM): This is an amazing quote from the article linked above:
"I don't know how this thing got blown out of proportion," Sanford said.
Join the discussion in Red Sox's recommended diary.
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Update 2 (8:13): ABC reports:
UPDATE: The plot grows thicker still.
ABC’s Joe Goldman reports that a US embassy official in Buenos Aires tells him that the embassy had "absolutely no idea" that Sanford was in Argentina. The embassy official added that this comes "from out of left field -- it would be extremely odd that a US governor would not check in with the embassy."
Well, yes. Extremely odd indeed.
