Hoffmania has it.  Mark Sanford is so depressed about how the Democrats are destroying the country. He did everything he could to stop it; his wife left him; he figured he’d enjoy what little time he has left.  If only Obama hadn’t destroyed this country, people wouldn’t have lost their spirit and the Sanfords of the world wouldn’t be cheating on their wives.

• Geraldo Rivera joins Alan with the latest on the tragic death of Michael Jackson.

• Conservatives love to claim that liberals have a double-standard on morality issues, but Alan thinks they’re throwing stones inside glass houses. He’ll explain why.

• Robin McHaelin of True Colors, an advocacy group for gay youths, discusses the troubling details of the “gay exorcism” of a Connecticut teen.

Michael wrote this song to honor Ryan White, the boy born with AIDS who died in 1990 at age 18.

TMZ reports:

We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him. We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

UPDATE: As of 5:58 p.m. ET, no other news outlets have been able to confirm the TMZ report.

UPDATE 2: The Los Angeles Times reports that as of 5:46 p.m. ET, Jackson had fallen into a coma.

UPDATE 3: At 6:15 p.m. ET, the Times reports that Jackson is dead.

Manifested Glory Ministries in Bridgeport, CT, conducted an exorcism to remove gay demons from the body of a 16-year-old teen.

The video shows the 16-year-old boy lying on the floor, his body convulsing, as elders of a small Connecticut church cast a “homosexual demon” from his body.

“Rip it from his throat!” a woman yells. “Come on, you homosexual demon! You homosexual spirit, we call you out right now! Loose your grip, Lucifer!”

[...]

“We believe a man should be with a woman and a woman should be with a man,” the Rev. Patricia McKinney told The Associated Press. “We have nothing against homosexuals. I just don’t agree with their lifestyle.”

This shocking ritual is not unique to this particular church.

The Rev. Roland Stringfellow, a minister in Oakland, Calif., said he was subject to demon casting in the 1990s when he was at a Baptist church and was struggling with his sexuality. He said he was put in front of the church as members shouted “demon of homosexuality come out of him.”

The Bridgeport church removed the video from its site, but it is still available:

You have to love how some on the right are bending over backwards (or is that forwards) to defend their fallen brethren.  Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review hails Nevada Senator John Ensign for bringing “a refreshing change to the handling of beltway loose-belt scandals.”  Lopez praises Ensign as much as she blasts the media for pointing out his hypocrisy.  And she defends Ensign’s oft-stated defense of marriage and morality:

A politician’s failings do not render the beliefs to which he subscribes morally impotent. Facts remain. Marriage is a cornerstone. Under a bastardized and unfortunately widespread understanding of hypocrisy, it is “hypocritical” for someone who is not a perfect person to ever make a statement grounded in conscience, morality, or natural law. Presumably, then, all Christians should throw out their Book. The Bible is and always has been directed to sinners. And, save for the star of the show, the preaching comes from sinners, too.

No, Christians shouldn’t throw out the book.  Christian politicians should stop ramming their religious views down our throats.

And then there’s Mark McKinnon, Bush 43’s former media adviser, who rushed to defend Mark Sanford when he disappeared, saying it would help his presidential chances. This was before it became known that he had cheated on his wife, but after it became known he was an oddball (h/t Right Wing Watch):

…he just made himself a better bet for president in 2012.

Guy wanted some alone time in the woods to clear his head.

Here we have a guy in politics who actually likes to get OUT of the spotlight. How exceedingly normal.

But oh, no. Not normal at all. A man in his position has to be “troubled” or “hiding something” for taking a walk.

Whoops!

South Carolina’s The State newspaper has released a few excerpts of e-mails between Gov. Mark Sanford and “Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina.”

The newspaper promises that the full e-mail exchange will be published in tomorrow’s edition. But the excerpts released so far include these details:

From Maria, 7/9/08:

“… You are my love … something hard to believe even for myself as it’s also a kind of impossible love, not only because of distance but situation. Sometimes you don’t choose things, they just happen… I can’t redirect my feelings and I am very happy with mine towards you.”

From Gov. Sanford, 7/10/08:

“… have been asked to spend it out in Aspen, Colorado with McCain – which has kicked up the whole VP talk all over again in the press back home… I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light – but hey, that would be going into sexual details …”

• “I have been unfaithful”: Alan examines today’s shocking confession by South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

• Dr. Wayne Dyer, whose new book is Excuses Begone!, explains why people like Mark Sanford sabotage themselves with self-destructive behavior.

• If Medicare works for seniors, why not a program like it for all Americans? Alan analyzes the latest arguments in the health care reform debate.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford made a number of statements during the Clinton era about the Lewinsky affair, most notably that Clinton should resign.

“I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally (to resign). I come from the business side. If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, he’d be gone.” [Sanford on Clinton, The Post and Courier, 9/12/98]

Sanford voted for 3 out of the 4 articles of impeachment, including Article IV:

Article IV: Abuse of power

Article alleges abuse of power, charging the president with making misleading statements for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States, his Cabinet and White House aides. The last charge also contends Clinton frivolously asserted executive privilege and made perjurious statements to Congress in his answers to the 81 questions asked him by the Judiciary Committee last month.

He discussed how harmful lying is to the democratic process.

“The issue of lying is probably the biggest harm, if you will, to the system of Democratic government, representatives government, because it undermines trust. And if you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.” [Sanford on Clinton, CNN, 2/16/99]

Sanford was most offended that Clinton lied to his wife.

The bottom line, though, is he still lied. He lied under a different oath, and that is the oath to his wife. So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.” [Sanford on Livingston, CNN, 12/18/98]

Sanford also believes that traditional marriage must be protected from gays getting married.

“As Jenny and I are the parents of four little boys, we’ve always taught our kids that marriage was something between a man and a woman.” [The Post and Courier, 2/11/04]

Sanford proclaimed October 15-21, 2006 as “Celebrate Marriage Week.”  The 19th was “Celebrate Your Spouse Day.”

WHEREAS, when entered into wisely, marriage can enrich the lives of individuals, homes, families, and communities; and

WHEREAS, as an affirmation of a man’s and a woman’s dedication to each other, the vows of marriage can provide the foundation for a lifetime of joy; and

WHEREAS, Celebrate Marriage Week recognizes the dedication of married couples throughout our state for their commitment to working together to achieve common goals.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mark Sanford, Governor of the Great State of South Carolina, do hereby proclaim October 15 – 21, 2006, as CELEBRATE MARRIAGE WEEK and October 19, 2006, as CELEBRATE YOUR SPOUSE DAY throughout the state and encourage all South Carolinians to recognize the happiness marriage can bring when taken seriously and entered into wisely.

On June 4, Sanford spoke with FOX News producer Brian Gaffney for a special on the history of the conservative movement, and the Lewinski saga was discussed. Here is some of what Sanford had to say:

You ask any guy, particularly one in office, you’ve been screwing around on your wife– maybe there’s one percent or maybe there’s two percent or maybe there’s five percent. But 95 percent of the time, whoever it is, is gonna say no. And so, I think the public said no matter what Clinton did, whether he did or he didn’t do whatever it was that happened with Monica Lewinsky, is that guy gonna stand up and admit it. They said no, he’s not.

Sanford later said:

You know, if somebody’s getting a blow job in the– the Oval Office– that’s enough to tick off pretty much every soccer mom in America.

As it turns out the biggest threat to marriage is not gays; it’s heterosexual, cheating husbands.

Statement from South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford:

I would like to start by saying I love my husband and I believe I have put forth every effort possible to be the best wife I can be during our almost twenty years of marriage. As well, for the last fifteen years my husband has been fully engaged in public service to the citizens and taxpayers of this state and I have faithfully supported him in those efforts to the best of my ability. I have been and remain proud of his accomplishments and his service to this state.

I personally believe that the greatest legacy I will leave behind in this world is not the job I held on Wall Street, or the campaigns I managed for Mark, or the work I have done as First Lady or even the philanthropic activities in which I have been routinely engaged. Instead, the greatest legacy I will leave in this world is the character of the children I, or we, leave behind. It is for that reason that I deeply regret the recent actions of my husband Mark, and their potential damage to our children.

I believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity, dignity and importance of the institution of marriage. I believe that has been consistently reflected in my actions. When I found out about my husband’s infidelity I worked immediately to first seek reconciliation through forgiveness, and then to work diligently to repair our marriage. We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago.

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