Apparently, among Republicans, infidelities are OK if you don't get caught

Where's the Greenville and Spartanburg County GOP on Governor Sanford's infidelities?

Silent as the grave.

Russ Cassell, on WORD-FM, has been bloviating on the Luv Gov all morning. In true conservative fashion, callers have, among other things argued Mrs. Sanford must have been slagging the man for him to stray like that, or that he is feeding the media beast to get a good book/movie deal.

But back to the Upstate Morals Police:

“South Carolinians will be irate when they learn their hard earned tax dollars are being spent to advertise our state as ’so gay,’” Sen. David Thomas (R-Greenville) told The Palmetto Scoop. “South Carolina is a wonderful, family friendly destination not a Southern version of San Francisco. This campaign goes against our core values.”

David Thomas on Governor Sanford's infidelities? Silent as the grave.

If you thought he was a hoot in the South Carolina legislature, imagine the yuks Mike Fair could get in the U.S. Congress.

Fair, a Greenville Republican legislator for 12 years, is running for the congressional seat Bob Inglis is leaving to run against Sen. Fritz Hollings. Unlike some politicians who turn straight and narrow only when it is politically wise to do so, Fair has always been straight and narrow.

He is best known for the stacks of bills he has introduced that deal with sex. A recent bill called for jail time and fines for men caught in public with "discernibly turgid penises." Fair has sponsored many bills that advocate treating homosexuality as a crime.

Fair proposed rewriting the 1988 Comprehensive Health Education Act to delete all mention of "responsible sexual behavior." To Fair there is no such thing outside of marriage.

Senator Mike Fair on Governor Sanford's infidelities? Silent as the grave.

HuffPo has a remarkable item on the Sanfords' Rasputin, who "chaperoned" one of the Luv Gov's trips to New York to see The Argentine Firecracker. It quotes noted SC Moralist Will Folks-and former Sanford spokeshack- who in the meantime is slagging new MN Senator Al Franken thusly:

In one of those things you knew was coming but weren’t quite ready to actually believe, Stuart Smalley is officially a United States Senator.

Smalley (a.k.a. liberal comedian Al Franken) is now the junior Senator from Minnesota after that state’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that he won last November’s election by 312 votes - out of nearly 3 million votes cast.

We’d get into the whole original count, recount, etc., but we’re pretty sure Franken stole this one.

And it obviously doesn’t matter all that much, well, except for that part about Franken’s win giving Democrats a 60-vote “filibuster-proof” majority in the U.S. Senate.

How do we know he stole the election? Since you asked, Coleman’s wife told us … right after she gave us a “blo and go.”

But back to the SC establishment.

The Conservativist? Silent as the grave, even as he was hot off the blocks to denounce the Gay Pride Parade in Spartanburg.

Senator Kevin Bryant: As our quarterback, Mark intentionally threw a pick to the other team. This movement of reform needs a new quarterback and its time for the Governor to step aside...I for one, take one’s personal decisions into account when I consider whom I will support in politics. How far do we need to delve into one’s personal affairs while making these decisions? I don’t know exactly. I’m not one to pry feverishly into an elected official’s closet, yet I do look at the facts that are public knowledge.

At least Bryant's open about making Republican moralizing a matter of political opportunism. If it's not public- and it's not gay- it's OK. Well, except for Senator Graham, who continues to defy the laws of gravity.

And speaking of defying gravity, Daniel J. Cassidy continues to run the top conservative blog in South Carolina- and to serve on the SC Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights- while demonstrating his remarkable tone-deafness:

MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2009

We Need Governor Sanford to Finish His Term

We strongly concur with Governor Sanford's decision to remain in office and finish out his term. As much as we regret what has transpired in recent weeks, it would only compound the evil were our political process distorted by the Governor's resignation.

South Carolinians deserve the opportunity to get to know all the candidates vying to succeed Governor Sanford. The Governor's mistakes should not provide one of those candidates with an enormous leg up in free publicity and fund raising, particularly when that candidate and his supporters represent the very big government, big spending, catering to special interests that Governor Sanford was elected to oppose.

The Governor has not been as successful as we would like in defeating the over-fed agents of pork and special interest in the State House, but his resignation would hand them an enormous, undeserved victory.

There are plenty of pots calling the kettle black right now. The best thing that Governor Sanford can do for our state is to continue standing up for the taxpayers, and educating the electorate on the need for constitutional reform. By defying those who would like to see him gone, he blocks the way for those eager to move South Carolina in the wrong direction.