There are liars and cheaters on both sides of the aisle Robert. Neither side has a right to down the other when they both have had and will continue to have many scandalous affairs.

Cindy...Ga.

Spare the family. Let us go with the saying.
"No one can master the grief ,except the one who has it"'
Time is the best healer. Let us not batter the family with our discussions, and contempt..

I don't care about his family, though I think his wife is weak for not kicking him out (same as I thought for Hilary with Bill), I care about the fact that he's another hypocritical Republican two faced slimeball who's willing to disobey laws, leave his own State without cover in case of emergency, and spend money his already bankrupt state that has one of the highest employment rates in the country so he can go boink his mistress in a foreign country.

He needs, at the least, to be impeached, and even fired for screwing over his job just like he's drilling that foreigner.

Amen. I have sympathy for Sanford's wife and children, but not the governor himself. The hypocrisy of these "family values" politicians is astounding.

Great write up you nailed it. I personaly wouldnt care if Gov. Sanford had five wives and two kids out of wedlock, but when he has made it very clear that marriage is between one man and one woman and has been so outspoken during other politicans affairs. Then and only then should you roast a guy. Maybe now gays can finally marry since it is so obvious that one man and ??? woman is not working.

Governor Sanford should be penalized, not for his extramarital affiar–which should be be private matter, but for the blatant neglect of his responsibilities as a public servant.

Right ON!

I'm glad Robert is telling it like it is.
Where are all the other voices?

Shame on every station for showing/posting his private emails.

Amen! What's most disturbing about this "scandal" isn't the scandal itself – it's the crass hypocrisy.

This article speaks the perfect truth and couldn't have been written any clearer. I hope that men around the world are paying attention to what you are saying, especially the republican politicians.
Andrea in Bushnell, Florida

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. He say he's been with the "OTHER WOMAN" for only one year, give it a break, he might as well confess that it's been longer than that. He is not to be trusted. What goes around comes around. He was one of the first to complain about Bill Clinton. He's worse. At least Clinton didn't use Government funds to lay and play.

Took the words right our of my mouth. I feel very sorry for his family and could even for him. He seems to have fallen deeply in love and been carried away. If, I could believe that this would soften him, that he would change his self-rightous condemnation of others, I would forgive him. He is human. But, he and others of his kind are not forgiving. They are so rigid and vindictive, that the very right wing of the conservative party, who so admired him and favored him for their Presidential Candidate next time; will turn like a pack of wolves on him. I'm sure Rush Limbaugh, who should be a felony drug offender, and has no right to hold himself up as better than others, will be the harshest. The Governor really should go to Argentina and be with his love, he has lost everything else.

Excellent. The nail has been hit on the head.

Ding...ding...ding...the nail has been hit squarely on the proverbial head.

Ok, why is it that there is so much hate and decisive politics in this country? Republican or Democrat, it doesn't matter as they all were wrong for having affairs. You can say that because of what their political affiliation is makes one worse than the other.. BULL!!!! The bottom line is that they are all wrong in having affairs. It's not different than saying that because one Muslim is a fanatic that all of them are terrible people. Enough with the political spin by both parties as this once great country is falling apart. AC, what is going on with you lately...??? You were once a very good journalist and commentator, but quite frankly I can barely watch your show anymore. I'm a huge Obama supporter, but you are spinning everything so far left that I have to watch FOX News to get the real story ( I hate fox, but they seem to report the truth better than you) Makes me sick to have to watch fox, but until you can start being honest you are losing viewers.

You'd think politicians would have learned from the mistakes of their colleagues by now....

why is it that we get so consumed with people's lives. that we have to think we know what's best? ok the Governor did what he did, big deal, there are way more important things happen in this world, thousands of people starving in America alone, and many kids cannot go to school because of lack of funding, i mean God!!! This man is first and foremost a human being none of us are equal, it is not our business as the masses to dictate the man's life or his penance, that should be something between him and his family.
Lastly, the more this thing is publicized the more hurt we impose of the family and the state, and on America on a whole.

I agree 100% about these idiots who preach purity & then cheat.
I don't agree about PRAYING for them, & I hope Anderson will keep HIS personal religious beliefs out of his essays.

Please for Gods sake leave this man and his family alone....nothing makes what he did right but it is a personal family matter... not the business of the whole united states the world...enough of this. We hae so much more to be concerned about really.........................

Sorry, I meant Robert's religious beliefs. I was fired up – oops.

Right on!

At least he did't lie like the 42nd President did and at least he didn't kill his mistress by his act of willful neglience leaving her in a watery grave for someone else to find her the next day.

Mary Jo Kopechne was a 28 year old promising young teacher, secretary and political activist 40 years ago.

As a retired A.F. member I remember Governor Sanford coming onto Charleston Air Force base as a reserve officer. His actions are definitely one that is not in line with actions of An Officer and a Gentlemen!

As any officer or enlisted member, he should be court martialed for adultery. The military can charge one with simply a perception of a unproffessional relationship. He has admitted it, and should be held to the same standard as his superiors, peers, and those under his command!

This is absurd. Having the guts to stand up for morality and what is right does not make you above making mistakes. How dare you blanket statement every Family Values Politician. What he did was not right in anyway and he should be held accountable for it, but that does not say anything about the thousands of other honorable Politicians who stand for the same things and are living those values day to day.

When are you "Liberals" going to stop judging everyone you think is judging you? Talk about hypocrisy.

Great points!

Your article made some valid points. However, saying that Elliot Spitzer "did not try to dictate to us how we should live our lives" is simply not accurate. In my mind, he's a bigger hypocrite that Sanford and as such should have been excluded from your piece.

I have one thing to say – every single man who cheats needs to be paraded about in public as a lying, good-for-nothing cheat. How dare anyone suggest that we leave cheating men alone! They need to be shamed publicly, so that other men who are considering cheating will run in fear! Yes, these women who are married to public figure cheaters need to screw them over, seriously. Send a clear message to men everywhere! This is unacceptable behavior for anyone, man or woman.

Why is it so important what this man does on his own time? I have never cared what a politician does on his time as long as they do a great job while in office!
And I have to agree people in glass houses should NOT throw stones because it will end up a big broken mess!

They are simply picking on this man because he is a republican!

This whole story is obsurd and ridiculous who CARES!!! The world is going to Hell and all you care about is a story of yet another politician cheating on his wife???
Give me a Break
Report on some real news next time!!

SEX, POWER, and MONEY both sides are cheaters when it come to an affair with whoever. But the Repubilcans put their foot in their mouths all the time because of the words they treasuer so much, "FAMILY VALUES"!

Sanford is without a doubt a hypocrite. However, let us not forget that there are two sides to every story. My guess is the poor chap suffered years of neglect at the hands of his wife; make no mistake, when a man's basic needs go unmet, trouble is sure to follow!

The Sanford story is only half told – I expected CNN to produce
a picture of his ,whatever you call her , almost as soon as the
reporters cleared the news conference.
After all , Mr Sanford had help letting that "cat out of the bag"
if you will. The person (s) responsible for giving heads up
on his arrival back to the Atlanta airport should have had pictures too!
Now... let's get out there and get those photos of Maria !!!
By the way, why should he step down ? Jenny has worked hard to
help him get where he is . Let him stay , for the kid's sake !
If Mr Sanford IS forced to resign, He's a GREAT poet –

All you Republicans that want him out of office - GO TAKE
A HIKE !

A voter from the ever always diverse South Carolina

The only thing he is sorry about is that he got caught! He's a liar, a cheat and a hypocrite. I have no sympathy for him, but I have an enormous amount of sympathy for his wife. I can't imagine the hurt and humiliation she must feel, especially having his personal and intimate emails to his mistress made public. The media should respect her feelings and not publish this information. It does not serve any useful purpose and it is not "news".

Hooray for direct, intelligent criticism!

Robert I always enjoy your thoughts! His family certainly does deserve our prayers and give his wife the strength to move on. He, on the other hand, needs to remember what he preached. He needs to be accountable to the State and Country he is representing, and the family he has hurt.

Well said!

The hypocritical governor Sanford is getting what he deserves! He was so quick to pass judgments at everyone else in both Democratic and GOP sides but he should have looked at himself first in the mirror. What goes around comes around and hits him bull's eye!

This is it in a nutshell:

“The issue of lying is probably the biggest harm, if you will, to the system of Democratic government, representatives government, because it undermines trust. And if you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.”

direct quote from Mark Sanford about Bill Clinton on Feb. 16, 1999. Self Righteous Jerk. I don't care what happens in his personal world or of any other "Promise Keeper"s, but to pander to the religious right to get votes and base a campaign on religion and racism, which he has, just check his voting record (very anti black) he should be shamed.

You have captured the essence of this story! I completely agree with your statements. While Democrats who have been unfaithful are not better than Republicans, it's the fact that these Republicans who are being "outed" in one way or another have tried to make their moral, religious and personal beliefs part of American law. The fact is that no one is perfect and America was founded on the concept that no two people are alike and no one should be forced to live their lives based on what people in Washington say. Its a free country and these people are in the wrong for trying to force their morality down our throats. Especially if they're not going to follow their own rules!

This article, by Robert Zimmerman, is exoressing how some of the American people who are the quiet minority, have been feeling. You watch the news and invariably there is someone making a grand stand on some kind of moral judgement while they themselves are cheating either the government or their families.. Please stop. Enough already. The Republican party should be the party of new ideas and how to help the ordinary citizien not just emotional rhetoric that is meaningless. Then they would be taken seriously again.
Great article and hope to see more.

I'm sure every teacher that is losing their job because of budget cuts this man has done to our 3rd from the bottom educational system does not care if he has privacy or not. How do you just ify the fact that the tax money we so badly need in these hard times were used for his romatic interludes and who knows what else he has been hiding? Let them rip him, he is a public official that has done alot to others because well maybe his mind was on a piece of a$$ instead of his job!

Vanessa/Los Angeles

You are spouting rubbish.
People that judge others, and then do exacty what they were judging others for, should be exposed.
If you put yourself on a pedastal above others then you can expect a greater fall when you are shown to be a hypocrit.

Question about his "private" e-mails: were they done with public facilities or on public time? I suspect that they were, since his office confirmed their authenticity.

This makes them owned by the public - just as e-mails sent on company time and facilities are owned by the company.

I have never felt dictated to by the several 'cheaters' that you list here. Just because people try to live their lives with a purpose of family values while serving in public office does not mean they are perfect or even pretend to be perfect. If you really think that, then you missed the entire point. Someone who happens to be a Christian is met with the same temptations as one who is not. Though some people strive to keep from making mistakes such as cheating on their wife and family, as people sometimes they do fail. To take a stand, publicly for this ideal of remaining true has become a beacon for non- Christians to attempt to wag their tongues and fingers at those who dare to TRY avoiding the pitfalls of society. Face dude, the freedom to condemn in the US may be your right at a citizen but it doesn't make you right and everyone else wrong!

What a joke the Republican “moral majority” has become.

This moron spent most of his working life wagging his finger at everyone else regarding their imagined moral failings. His comeuppance is grist for the mill, as they say. Let’s hope he joins the bottom of the workforce soon in a job fit for his kind of hypocrisy. I’m thinking “talk radio” or perhaps “parking lot sweeper.”

Well, the problem here is, this politician, went on a trip to see his lover, but he spent the tax dollars of the very hard working american people. He should be put out to pasture, after he pays this money back....

I thought he was against "re-defining marriage". With the exception of his own, I guess.

What I'm finding amusing right now are the comments. Those who fall onto the right side of the aisle say to leave him alone, it's none of our business - and those on the left agree with the article.

So for clarification for our friends on the right side of the aisle, it IS our business because a) as governor, no one knew where he went or how to get in touch with him ...or who was in charge during his absence; b) he was – until he resigned – the head of the Republican Governors association, committee whatever and touted as a possible candidate for the 2012 presidential elections; and c) he led the charge against Clinton for lying about having sex in the Oval Office.

While I fully agree that this is a private matter between Sanford and his family (and do note, he apologized to his wife and sons AFTER his girlfriend and the citizens of South Carolina - so much for "family" values) – but it became a public issue if you refer to a-c above. Further, if you intend to impose your beliefs and morals upon me, you'd better damn well be able to live up them. If you can't, why should I be expected to? And frankly, my morals and values are much higher than this lots. They need to be living up to my expectations, which they are not.

Gotta love right wing hypocrisy...very well said, Robert.

I agree completely. It’s an outrage, of course people should be mad at stanford, he exploits women even his own wife. He left her to have an affair with someone who had a “tan line”. Not only republicans but most politicians should not be running our public offices when they speak so high of “family values” however they fail their own family. They also try to prevent gay marriage, ironically they can’t even stay faithful to their own marriage. He should resign asap.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Sanford family and even with Maria. If I was Gov. Sanford's wife and listened to his speech, I would have known that it will be very hard, if not impossible, to make a new start in my marriage. He placed the State, his staff and Maria, before he spoke his apology to his wife and children. He loves this woman; emotionally and physically. The kind of eroticism expressed in his emails were certainly telling of an intimacy that he may not have shared with his wife. Most of us get complacent and allow our marriage to slide into a comfortable pit. You'll admit that, if you are honest. It is up to each one of us to find time to be vulnerable to each other, to laugh and play, and be truly "one" spritually, eroctically; sensitive and joyful with someone you vowed to love in all things. It may be too late for that with the Sanfords. I truly hope not for their sakes, I hope they can find a way to rebuild trust and love and intimacy. If not, this man will forsake everything and choose his new love...for better or for worse. Best wishes Sanford family. Maria – if you truly love him, I hope you will give him the chance to see if he can truly build a stronger commitment to his wife and children. The State will survive, it is the family that is important.

Gotta agree with Vanessa.... the actions of this man and a few others do not speak for his party or its values. Yes, Sanford is a hypocrite, but name one person who isn't or hasn't been at one time of their life. Are you liberals here saying that because a person can't completely live up to certain ideals and principles that they shouldn't try? No one is perfect, but we should all strive to better ourselves and live up to high standards. In my opinion, it's better to have high standards and fail than to have none at all!

By the way, just to knock the noble liberals off their pedestal, hypocrisy is rampant in the Democrat Party as well. For example, isn't it hypocrisy for someone like Al Gore to lecture about reducing your carbon footprint while living in a mansion and flying around the world in a fuel-sucking jet? Is he not pushing his values much like Sanford?

Xtra marital affairs by politicians are not unusual. The French model to not high profile them except if it involves national security, is a reasonable practice.

Otherwise, cheap journalism becomes the order of the day, and detracts from more important situations such as: The American economy, Iran, N. Korea, national disasters, failing infrastructure, medicaid, ...

Dirty linen is best washed in private and hung indoors.

I believe that we should be in prayer for our governor's wife and family. Yes, Sanford needs prayer, but he will pay the consequences. I wish nothing like this to happen to any family, but God have mercy on his soul. Amen !!

Writing your signature on the wrong line on a form is a mistake. Clicking the wrong button when you are buying something online is a mistake. Forgetting your blinker when you are turning a corner in your car is a mistake.

Cheating is NOT a mistake, its blatant lying and a slimeball thing to do.

You do NOT trip and your erect "member" "falls" into the other persons "space" multiple times in a row until you're both in the throws of passion.

When you cheat, you know exactly what you're doing, and you can stop yourself. Its not a "mistake". Mistakes are accidental.

Stop trying to make excuses for the cheaters in the world.

This guy is known for being cheap around the office,yelling at staff when he finds discarded paperclips on the floor, so to set a good example he takes a trip to south america at the states expense.

Well put, Robert. Of course I find it no surprise that politicians who disrespect women as a class also behave disrespectfully to the individual women in their lives.

BRAVO, Mr. Zimmerman! The audacity of legislating and prostheytizing "family values" and the protection of the "sanctity of marriage" is what makes these particular dalliances so grievous. Neither side of the aisle is any better (or worse) than the other for showing their human frailties, but these 'holier than thou' politicians need to wake and smell the humanity of it all.

I know that he didn't care about his wife and children because if he did, he wouldn't have let them endure this public shame.

I wonder how much can he care about South Carolina?

I hope he didn't use any taxpayers money to fly to Agrentina and have a romantic affair, pay for the hotel, food and intertainement, at our expenses.
What a fool.

Get him out asap!
Thank you.

How about the governors' mistress, shouldn't she be held accountable also? She knew he was married and is just as much at fault. If women would quit having affairs with married men, the problem would end. Both people in any affair are extremely selfish, and only act like they care about who they hurt, when they get caught. All people know going into an affair, that they will be causing great pain to their families. They are just tossing the dice, hoping their families will forgive them when they turn on the fake tears. Let's just be honest about this.

Individual moral failures do not constitute failure of sound priciples like "family values". Your outrage is very selective. Billy Clinton got a pass from NOW on his sexual abuse when they should have been calling for his head for abusing a young woman that way. Utter hypocrisy. Where were you then? You are just like them Robert, you line up your shots based not on principles but on what side of the aisle your target sits on. Get back to reporting news and politics and leave the selling of the hard left to those who bear no responsibility for "fair and balanced" reporting. CNN is writing your paycheck, not the Huffington Post. You are nothing more than a shill for the dems. Fox is looking better every minute...

larger issues like, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and their ongoing conflict of interest with housing, banking and medical care concern me much more than anyone's infidelity to their partner........

I am tired of feeling sorry for all the wives! The dereliction of duty is beyond my wildest comprehension This story would not even be believable as a Lifetime Movie on the true story night.

I concur with Zimmerman. I'm beginning to think that Republican definition of "family values" is value your family for what they can do for you (like help get you elected), while you do whatever you want.

I hope he has the decency to resign for the sake of the state and his family. What would have happened had their been a state emergency that required the Governor to call in FEMA or the National Guard or declare a region a state of emergency. It is absolutely incredible. If his wife wants him that's her decision. I just don't know how the people of South Carolina could want him in charge.

This was a very well written article, Robert. The only fitting end to this fiasco is for the Governor to resign in disgrace. Anything else would be a traversty of justice. Public school students in South Carolina are in schools not fit fot a third world country and yet, Governor Stamford could afford to abandone his responsibilities in such a manner. If any state employee had behaved this way, they would be fired. What is good for the goose, is good for the gander.

I agree with both Andrea and Melissa. The mistress "Maria" should also be held accountable. She has known him for 8 plus years and knew he was married so this was no mistake for either of them, and it just didn't suddenly happen a year ago. They both knew what they were doing and they both got caught! That is the only reason Mark Sanford is sorry, he was caught! I have no respect for any women who go after married men, they are lower then hookers and should be treated as garbage.

Those who live in glass houses should not throw rocks......I hear a lot of shattering glass the last few years. I wish the best for the families but I hope we don't hear from these men again.

This country glorifies extra-marital affairs. Ask the woman who slept with my husband and is suing me.