this should end all the speculation

formerly awol south carolina governor mark sanford:

sanford, in an exclusive interview with the state media company, 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 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. ... when asked why his staff said he was on the appalachian trail, sanford replied, "i don't know." sanford later said "in fairness to his staff," he had told them he might go hiking on the appalachian trial. ... "i don't know how this thing got blown out of proportion," sanford said. sanford said he has taken adventure trips for years to unwind.

and from abc news:

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."

us governor missing for a week. no wife, no kids, no security, no staff — who say he's hiking appalachia. he returns on a jet from argentina. no harm, no foul.

is it irresponsible to speculate? it would be irresponsible not to.

take it away, folks ...

@ john cole's balloon juice:

this is 798 different kinds of awesome. the spin that comes out of this should be framed and put into the smithsonian. this is going to be so damned funny.

i'm beginning to think now that he did have a blowup with his wife, she told him to GTFO, father's day or no father's day, and he did. staffer a: "she told him to take a fucking hike. what the hell do we say to the press?" staffer b: "charlie, you're a genius! that's exactly what we'll say!"

packing for hiking the appalachian trail in summer and visiting argentina in winter are not exactly similar.

who's paying for this trip? didn't he refuse to accept stimulus money on the basis that it would hurt sc's fiscal situation?

eliot spitzer (under pressure from many, including democrats) resigned for less.

i'd like to post something witty and insightful on this topic, but my brain is hung up on "wait, what?"

@ josh marshall's tpmmuckraker:

mistress had an abortion ... know [sic] doubt.

google 'sex tourism "buenos aires" ' and you will learn such fun facts as, "in fact, buenos aires is gradually becoming one of the most notoriously popular destinations for sex tourism."

so this is how the governor is burnishing his foreign policy bonafides for when he runs for president...

things that will now be funny to hear sanford talk about: importance of traditional family values. honesty fiscal responsibility accountability importance of sealing the southern borders.

i hear that the buenos aires airport bathrooms have nice stalls.

he told his staff he was "spiking some argentina tail," and they HEARD "hiking the appalachian trail". easy mistake to make.

@govsanford: went down to south america had a hard time sneaking back into the states. now i know how all those illegals from mexico feel.

i think he fathered a lovechild on one of his previous visits and the woman demanded that he spend father's day with little marco or else she would spill the beans.

those 'mystery solved' headlines from monday evening are looking pretty prescient, right?