Josh Marshall at TPM has a a write-up on the Sanford story (Sanford Story Takes More Serious Turn) which matches my own views–i.e., that while we do no know enough about the story to really know what is going on, the bits of information that we have been given give one pause for concern that Sanford may in fact be missing.
First, I had a similar thought yesterday about the cell phone info provided in stories about the governor:
If the governor were a civilian, I would say that this kind of data on the whereabouts of his cell phone strongly suggested that an active investigation into his whereabouts was underway. But of course, he’s not a civilian. He’s a governor. Possibly the whereabouts of his cell phone are routinely tracked. And if not, the state of South Carolina could probably easily pull those records. Still, the fact that this information is in the mix at least suggests that people in the state government have already made some efforts to track down just where the governor is.
And I must confess, the story as reported does come across as summing to the following:
Put it all together and this is starting to sound a lot like the governor is genuinely missing.He goes hiking, either alone or in a small group. He says he’ll be away and perhaps not in regular contact. But reading between the lines it seems his people did not expect he’d be totally out of contact for several days. There’s some evidence suggesting some efforts may already have been made to track him down. Now it’s the beginning of the next week. And there’s still no word from him.
Whether he’s missing because of his own negligence (i.e., simply failing to stay in touch) or because there has been an accident or somesuch remains to be seen.
The CSM notes that the story so far has “resemble[d] a John Grisham novel”:
A southern conservative governor and very vocal critic of a popular liberal president eluded his security detail and completely disappeared with his last known whereabouts — before he (or someone) turned off his cell phones — somewhere outside of Atlanta.
The story further notes the following bit of information:
Sanford had not disappeared. He was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Coincidentally, on Naked Hiking Day.
Who knew?
This is a story that inspires multiple impulses: legitimate concern about Sanford, serious questions about its impact on his political career as well as a bit of whimsy. Hopefully the latter will end up having been the most appropriate.
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June 23rd, 2024 at 10:44 am
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