South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford returns after trip to Argentina

Everyday there are scores of stories in the news that don’t deserve to be.  A missing United States governor is not one of them.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford doesn’t see why his 5 day disappearance has gained so much attention.  This morning, Sanford told The State (S. Carolina’s largest newspaper) that he was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, not hiking on an Appalachian Trail as his staff had originally said.

To be honest, if Sanford had gone off the grid in a more conventional manor (how do you go off the grid conventionally?) I would have applauded.  If his wife and staff -who may be in on the bit- really didn’t know where he was, then that’s news.  Had they at least said they knew, I would have chalked it up as kind of cool.

But that’s not how it works when people in the limelight are out of pocket.  Google “Orlando Brown That’s So Raven” and see what you get.  It’s the story of Brown skipping out for a few hours to clear his head which caused his people to panic.  I posted about him on Dallas South because his management team and family were concerned about his well being.  Something similar happened with Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans.

What the governor did was reckless because it brings more undo attention to his state.   His stimulus shenanigans caused enough embarrassment, now this.