Trying to think how many pols have gotten caught Hiking the Appalachian Trail since the 2006 mid-terms.
The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., has owned the Mark Sanford story, which is as it should be for a state capitol newspaper, but that’s not always how it works out. The paper tells TPMDC that online traffic for the paper’s website has tripled.
… very private, personal emails between Sanford and a woman in Buenos Aires named Maria.
Here’s another indication of just how tough the news environment is for traditional newspapers: If you read only the print edition of the New York Times, you would still not know anything about the Mark Sanford saga, according to my search of the paper’s archives.* Yet, right now it’s the lead story on the paper’s website, and has been, for better or worse, the dominant news story this week since The State first broke news late Monday afternoon that the governor was missing. Presumably, The Times will have a story in tomorrow’s print edition, by which time the story will have bubbled, built, arced, and be on its way to fading out. That’s not a criticism per se of The Times‘ news judgment. By the old standards, the story was arguably too undeveloped to warrant inclusion in The Times. But it points up the difficulty of keeping an old-line newspaper relevant to its better-informed readers.
*Correction: Several readers have emailed to say that in fact posts from the Times blog “The Caucus” did appear as items in the print edition. My error.
Earlier today I flagged a RedState post by Erick Erickson as one of the more egregious examples of a media outlet credulously swallowing the Sanford cover stories. Erickson is back with a follow-up post in light of today’s revelations. It’s titled the “The Real Lessons of Mark Sanford’s ‘Hike.'”
Late Update: TPM Reader BB‘s exegesis of the latest Erickson post:
I love … the method in which social conservatives distance themselves from wrongdoers. Instead of putting together a cogent analysis of a immoral politician’s positions and contending that said politician did little to champion the cause of social conservatism, they merely say that since the politician acted poorly, then he must not have been a true social conservative. It’s a very common logical fallacy in these situations.
Moreover, I love Erickson’s insinuation that Sanford doesn’t attend a bible study, when in fact Sanford professed his Christian faith repeatedly in the press conference and even discussed his affiliation with the C Street Foundation, a Congressional Christian bible study.
Erickson’s ability to retroactively select his allies is rather impressive.
While we were fixated for most of Wednesday with the Mark Sanford saga, there was some other news that bears watching. The candidacy of Marco Rubio, the staunch conservative candidate challenging the very popular and fairly moderate Charlie Crist for the GOP senate nomination in Florida seems to be coalescing as a key proxy battle between the conservative dead-ender wing of the GOP and the party moderates.
There are a number of these races around the country this year and next. The recently conclude Christie-Lonegan primary race in New Jersey was an example. But Rubio is getting A-list endorsements. Last week Sen. DeMint (R-SC) endorsed him. And now Mike Huckabee is endorsing him too. I’m curious to see whether endorsements in this race will become a litmus test for those who want to prove their unquestioned conservative bona fides.
White House rescinds invitations to Iranian diplomats for July 4 celebrations at U.S. embassies around the world. That and the day’s other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.