It would have been like asking, in June 1972, "Mr. Nixon, did a bunch of freelancers break into the DNC headquarters?" "Of course not."

Cotton Boll Conspiracy- who must have been tired and irritated when blogging- tsk tsks The State for not calling up Governor Sanford last December to ask him about the emails his mistress' other boyfriend sent them.

The paper has many failings but that's not one of them.

Rule 1 of journalism- at least when Waldo was toiling therein- was verify the story before you go to the subject. Especially when it's embarrassing to the subject- in that case you have to assume s/he will lie and then, if the story breaks, blame the media for being irresponsible.

The State says they couldn't connect the dots sufficiently to assure themselves they had a story until one of their reporters confronted Sanford at the Atlanta airport and he provided enough corroborative information to validate the emails, even while lying through his teeth about what he went to Buenos Aires for.

So once they re-vetted the story, only then did they call his office and ask if their assumptions were true. That's good, careful, conservative journalism. You don't risk smearing someone by being reckless.

Sanford, to the extent any further corroboration was needed, then called a hasty press conference to fess up and get ahead of the story.

Is it really plausible to assume that, if The State had called the Love Guv in December, he'd had not lied then, too? Even his wife, now assuming the pose of betrayed Christian mother, enabled his coverup for months.

It's a too-easy slam on a news-light day.