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Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin

Posted: June 24, 2009 05:22 PM

Don't Take the Bait


So South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford had an affair.

Big deal.

Now is a wonderful opportunity to show the country what Democrats/liberals/progressives/unaligned learned from the Clinton era. Whatever personal problems that public officials deal with privately, leave them alone. This could happen to anyone, in any state, regardless of party. Why make the voters of South Carolina suffer while Sanford is skewered? If he wants to resign, so be it. If not, let him deal with it in private.

The Clinton scandal was one of the most horrific political episodes I have ever witnessed. Henry Hyde and Richard Mellon Scaife and Kenneth Starr, the right-wing's goyish Roy Cohn, chasing down Arkansas state troopers and bank records and real estate documents until they found what they were looking for in Monica Lewinsky's closet. Literally. Of course you remember! The chorus of right-wing talk radio sociopaths dancing, prematurely, on Clinton's grave. Perhaps John Kerry's problems had, in one sense, an extra twist, because those filthy, lying cowards at the Swiftboat Luftwaffe were doing their thing out of pure hate. There were no careers or money to be made, as with Clinton. (Whatever happened to those two witches, Linda Trippe and Lucianne Goldberg?)

The rest of the world is about to kick this country right where it counts when it decides to go off the dollar as the reserve currency, and you want to spend five minutes over the fact that Sanford was cheating on his wife?

Don't take the bait. Move on.

So South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford had an affair. Big deal. Now is a wonderful opportunity to show the country what Democrats/liberals/progressives/unaligned learned from the Clinton era. Wha...
So South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford had an affair. Big deal. Now is a wonderful opportunity to show the country what Democrats/liberals/progressives/unaligned learned from the Clinton era. Wha...
 
 
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11:47 AM on 07/01/2009
Really now. He isn't a celebrity, he is an elected Government official who committed fraud, not just adultery. That being said, with Sanfords brand of Bible based legislation and right wing "family values" being the cornerstone of his campaigns he has put himself in the fishbowl and knows that any indiscretions on his part will be made public. Furthermore, I do not consider leaving your four children on Fathers Day weekend to be with your lover "family values", nor do I feel an ounce of pity for a man staunchly against gay adoption, civil unions, let alone gay marriage, because of his moral beliefs. He has broken not only God's law, which he claims to live by and governs his State by, but he has broken the laws of our Country.
10:51 PM on 07/05/2009
YES. Surely most would agree with the difference between a politician who practices "live and let live" policies, and a downright HYPOCRITICAL pol, who has made it his "right" to attack others for their indiscretions and ways of life!
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Leper
Giving the finger to intolerance
02:36 AM on 07/01/2009
Ummmmmmm. Bait. Yum.
10:42 PM on 06/29/2009
I agree that the Governor's personal life should be private. I don't really care who he was seeing, but what I think is distrubing is that the governor took off without letting anyone know where he was. At least Clinton did it right there at the house if there was a crisis going on he could at least be found.
03:33 PM on 06/29/2009
Baldwin is right on the money...as usual. GO ALEC!!!!!!!!
You're a little crazy, but at least you're working for the good guys! :D
11:50 PM on 06/28/2009
Some of these recent comments just strike me as vindictive and misguided. Hypocrisy? Of course it's hypocrisy! Do you really need the whole world to acknowledge your "I told you so" to make you feel better? What's also hypocrisy is a bunch of lefties saying that politicians' personal lives are not relevant to their professional lives, and then clawing past each other to throw stones at the righty caught with his pants down.

The best way to deal with Sanford is to ignore him. Let him crawl back to SC to try to cling to his career, while the people of his state justly hold him accountable for any misuse of public funds and resources. And to counter the general trend in moral soapboxing? While the Democrats have control of the executive and legislative branches, we need to make it undeniable that we have the right agenda. Rebuild the economy with reasonable regulations; increase our security through peace and more honest international communication and collaboration; advance racial, gender, and class equality; prioritize education and health-care (symbiotic issues); and systematically redefine the American Dream as a long-term goal instead of the past three decades' get-rich-quick mentality.

Mr. Baldwin's advice is simply to not lose sight of our goals. If we accomplish them, no one will be listening to the conservatives on any issues except traditional values. It's much more effective to brand them as ineffective than with a scarlet A.
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03:41 AM on 06/29/2009
I largely agree with you, cmj556, however I have a question for you (that is assuming you are American) : what exactly is the definition of The American Dream? And how come is it that (well, I haven't heard of such "Other National Dreams") the rest of us haven't heard of "National Dreams" such as: Danish Dream...Australian Dream...German Dream...Italian Dream...Rwandan Dream...Somalian Dream...Tibetan Dream.. Quechuan Dream. Heck, I could go on endlessly enumerating other nations. Hey! Like the Greek Dream! And the Greeks really started all the philosophical stuff and civilisation and stuff. And also the Muslim guys with their math and stuff. Just curious: I would like to have a clean, neat, rational, and well substantiated definition for what The American Dream is.
Thanks in advance.:D

P.S. Methinks the lefties don't wax religion, sanctimony and morality as much as the righties do. At least the lefties are being upfront with their sins instead of pretending to be pious. In this way they gather up a bit more credibility. ;)
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confuseddemocrat
11:06 PM on 06/28/2009
Mr Baldwin, you are taking the bait of the GOP and Sanford's handlers who wish to keep our attention focused on the sex scandal, contrition and on "forgiveness"

The hypocrisy is obvious...everyone sees this.... but what is being missed is the dereliction of duty while pursuing a tryst, the abuse of power, the attempt to defraud the State of S.C. and its people, reckless behavior which endangered himself and SC and of course the corruption

1) He abandoned his state leaving it unable to activate emergency powers for 6 days...what if there had been a disaster while he was away? How would they have contacted him?

2) He lied to his staff and constituents to the point that he took a state vehicle, disabled its GPS, then flew to Argentina; He even took hiking equipment to throw them off the trail

3) He used state funds to finance his tryst while trying to deny the poor citizens of SC functional schools and extended unemployment benefits

These reasons are why people regardless of party affiliation should be calling for his resignation
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Fightnmad
There isn't a fig leaf big enough
10:31 PM on 06/28/2009
Yet, Alec, here you are.... 53 pages of comments should take about 5 minutes to read, donchathink?

The GOP has claimed that GOD Almighty is on their side, that Dems are evil-incarnate, and when one of those sniveling hypocrites has a booger hanging from his nose, you tellin' me we don't get to point out the obvious?

btw- as a friend, I would hand you a Kleenex, but I would still (quietly) tell you the booger is there.

Hypocrites deserve every. single. thing. they. get.
09:31 PM on 06/28/2009
Indict the man not! He is as the rest of this human lot...susceptible -- vulnerable -- weak...

Yet by all means recognize that hoots, hollers, laughter, and screams may result from any revealed -- hypocrisy. Observe the meat of Stanford’s substance getting lean, as it broils in the hot sun of hypocrisy revealed. Point out the hypocrisy and pray for the sick to heal...for damage to relationships to find repair...for love to rain down. Pray for the healing properties of time and the warmth of love and care. A broken heart, a broken relationship, a broken promise, these things hurt. Last thing you want to do is kick someone when they are already swimming in the dirt. The governor must use this opportunity to grow. May he emerge with more than he had yesterday, and where it concerns politics, may he have better answers than obstructionism and simply saying “No!”.
10:33 PM on 06/28/2009
"That would be Sanford without a T"

(-:
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BlackBuddha
I didn't mean to, I meant to
07:19 PM on 06/28/2009
and

hollywood Forgiveness... allah Polanski and Woody Allen... but we'll see if it comes through Omnivore...
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BlackBuddha
I didn't mean to, I meant to
07:17 PM on 06/28/2009
'cause it's about a wife hanging her "man" out in a hard wind....
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BlackBuddha
I didn't mean to, I meant to
07:02 PM on 06/28/2009
One more....

Referencing the threat to the greenback as a bigger issue, as opposed to the reasons that the greenback is in trouble caused by the mismanagement of the financial sector and the need to create a false economic bubble to continue an expensive and expansive corporate war is not recognizing the foreign interests of stemming more expensive commodities, as these are based on the falling dollar (due to the above).

Further, we are still a few years away before any of the rest of the world trusts the euro as a political power, as the legislature is in Brussels, the political power is in Berlin, the spiritual guidance is in Rome, and.... the financial center? That would be in the hands of the Swiss. And they are about as eager to join as the Norwegians... because both of them have a strong currency, based on other people's money... and oil revenues, respectively.
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BlackBuddha
I didn't mean to, I meant to
06:29 PM on 06/28/2009
Three:
These things that represent themselves as men, sit in judgement from a moral and philosophical perchis, in their own minds, and dare to crap upon themselves and declare it perfume.

Sadly, too many will take his words without being concerned about his deeds.
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BlackBuddha
I didn't mean to, I meant to
06:24 PM on 06/28/2009
Two:
Ken Starr and the GOP engaged in Treason, High Treason if you wish to recognize that there was already a "War" on terror, or drugs, or whatever else we accept as gospel now. This is explained by a apolitical voice in the form of Vincent Bugliosi... a true voice of reason.
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John Ridgway
Chicago Novelist, Blogger, radio/tv
06:22 PM on 06/28/2009
Alec. . . Alec . . . Alec . . . I agree with you that the personal business of a person is often overblown, like trying to impeach Clinton. However, you are making the mistake of pretending you know how a Republican thinks. To keep the mentality that they are the Ayn Rand Gods of yore, they have to have someone to look down on, some higher moral ground to feel smug about while they listen to Rush and Thank God They Are White And Conservative. As long as they choose to use family values as their rhetoric, they are lighting the fires at their own feet. Hypocrisy is what people hate. Our system is based upon Machaevellian principles of deception, with all of us being a Trojan Horse containing fragile human beings. AEveryone of us is someone who should have never picked up the first stone outside of that glass house.... but, the Conservatives did pick up that stone, and I for one am throwing it right back in their faces. I feel for the senator, his wife, mistress, kids, etc.... but I have nothing but contempt for Conservatives who attempt to push their morality on people, and than ask for a forgiveness they would not offer when found out. Not to mention, he was AWOL from his job as a senator, and that is a form of 'running away' that cannot be tolerated in politicians.
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BlackBuddha
I didn't mean to, I meant to
06:21 PM on 06/28/2009
One: With four brothers I can tell you one thing....

you can judge a man by where he puts his....

manhood.

It's about being a man, a man stands by his word, or walks with an explanation.

Didn't a king abdicate his throne for the woman he loved...

This "man" has no credibility.... and therefore no believability.