Politico, which seems determined to turn into more of a discredited rag with each passing day put out a story yesterday (written by Kenneth P. Vogel, in case you’re scoring this at home) about Mark Sanford. The first paragraph reads:

In a written message to supporters Monday, Mark Sanford asserted that God’s plan for him includes finishing his term as South Carolina governor.

As readers will have gathered last week, I’m not exactly a fan of Mark Sanford. I am, however, a great fan of journalistic integrity.

So I’m constrained to point out that Vogel’s opening salvo is…how shall I put this delicately…a total crock of shit.

The word God certainly comes up a few times. But Sanford does not even come close to suggesting that he presumes to knows God’s plan for him. And “asserted” is a fairly strong word. Vogel/Politico are not just inventing lies to attack Sanford with, but lies that have been marinaded overnight in hyperbole.

How pathetic is it when you can’t find any real stuff to attack Mark Sanford with? Mark Sanford, for crying out loud?

Judge for yourself; this is the full text of that “written message to supporters”:

Dear Friends,

I write to apologize and ask for your forgiveness.

Well beyond the personal consequences within my own family, I know that at so many different levels my actions have upset, offended and disappointed friends and supporters and for this I am most sorry. As I mentioned in last week’s press conference, I’ve always believed God’s laws were there to protect us from ourselves, and what has transpired over this last week vividly illustrates the damage that comes personally, and to those you love and respect, in doing otherwise.

So in the aftermath of this failure I want to not only apologize, but to commit to growing personally and spiritually. Immediately after all this unfolded last week I had thought I would resign – as I believe in the military model of leadership and when trust of any form is broken one lays down the sword. A long list of close friends have suggested otherwise – that for God to really work in my life I shouldn’t be getting off so lightly. While it would be personally easier to exit stage left, their point has been that my larger sin was the sin of pride. They contended that in many instances I may well have held the right position on limited government, spending or taxes – but that if my spirit wasn’t right in the presentation of those ideas to people in the General Assembly, or elsewhere, I could elicit the response that I had at many times indeed gotten from other state leaders.

Their belief was that if I walked in with a real spirit of humility then this last legislative term could well be our most productive one – and that outside this term, I would ultimately be a better person and of more service in whatever doors God opened next in life if I stuck around to learn lessons rather than running and hiding down at the farm.

They have also made the point that a good part of life is about scripts – that the idea of redemption isn’t something that Marshall, Landon, Bolton and Blake should just read about, it’s something they should see. Accordingly, they suggested that there was a very different life script that would be lived and learned by our boys, and thousands like them, if this story simply ended with scandal and then the end of office – versus a fall from grace and then renewal and rebuilding and growth in its aftermath.

I won’t belabor all these points, but I did want to write as expressed earlier to say that I’m sorry and that more than anything I personally ask for your prayers for me, Jenny, the boys and so many others who have been impacted by what I have done.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Take care.

Mark

Sanford’s friends have suggested to him that perhaps suffering continued governorhood would lead to spiritual growth, and allow him to be a better role model to his sons, and also to serve God better in the future.

How the hell does that become asserting “that God’s plan for him includes finishing his term as South Carolina governor”?

I could produce quite a riff on what I hope is included in God’s plans for Politico and Vogel. But I’ve already wasted more time on both of them than they are worth.