State Left Unmanned in Dixie-Land
NEWS ITEM: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford disappeared for a week, explaining he would be hiking in the mountains on vacation. Actually, he engaged in a secret tryst in Argentina with his inamorata.
Should we forbid a governor
From dallying with sweet amour?
His job is hard beyond belief,
So why deny him some relief?
South Carolina is the state
Whose governor just couldn’t wait.
To Argentina off he flew,
Sub rosa, to his sweetie-poo .
At home he left his lawful spouse,
Abandoned in their vacant house.
He told his staffers quite a fib:
That he was going hiking! Glib!
Cavorting in the Argentine,
The governor, adulterine,
Resembled more a fugitive
Than topmost state executive.
It never ceases to perplex,
What men will do, impelled by sex.
One must be hardened to resist
Enticements of romantic tryst.
What unsigned laws were on his desk
While he pursued the picaresque?
What duties did the gov neglect
While primal urges went unchecked?
Big problems rise in governance
When breathing comes with hottest pants.
Such happenstances should we rate
And simply dub “affairs of state”?
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30