By Dan Sullivan
PoHo contributor

I love a good political scandal. There’s just something about the revelation that those we elect to office are regular human beings – susceptible to all the same temptations and lapses in judgment as the rest of us.

Naturally though, I prefer scandals that involve Democrats. The Blago scandal was one-in-a-million. And I think only the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal could top Gary Hart’s 1988 romp on a boat called “Monkey Business.”

It’s not so much fun to read about Republicans breaking their word and compromising their good morals. Especially rising stars such as South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

Sanford is exactly the kind of conservative that many Republicans have been hoping will take the reigns of the party. His political views are, in many ways, in line with those of the great Barry Goldwater. Not only did he single-handedly battle the Fed in an effort to stop Obama’s spendulus money from touching his state, but he’s against preemptive military actions, and he passes most of the conservative litmus tests – pro-life, etc. Essentially, he’s the sane version of Ron Paul.

But, as of now, it appears that dream is over for Sanford. Following his sudden and bizarre disappearance for several days from his post as governor, Sanford revealed that he had gone to Argentina to visit a woman with whom he admitted to having a year-long affair.

Even if he finishes out his term as governor, it will take considerable political skill for Sanford to make a sufficient recovery to have any real hope of running for president. Or anything else, for that matter.

That kind of skill is a rare gift bestowed only to guys like Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich – guys who still manage to remain politically relevant despite the fact that they have more skeletons in their closets than a haunted house.

The Sanford story came on the heels of the somewhat less talked-about admission of Nevada Sen. John Ensign to having an affair with a campaign staffer.

Ensign, like Sanford, was considered a star of the Republican Party until news of the affair came about. Unlike Sanford, however, Ensign is a social conservative of the evangelical mold and staunch advocate for preserving the sanctity of traditional marriage. He helped lead the charge against Bill Clinton, calling for the former president’s resignation in the wake of the Lewinsky scandal. All this, of course, makes Ensign’s affair appear to be especially hypocritical.

I’m sure many of my liberal friends will be quick to pounce on both the Ensign and Sanford stories as the beginning of the end of the Republican Party. This is nonsense of course. If the Democrats can survive Eliot Spitzer and Rod Blaojevich, the Republicans can surely survive these goofballs.

I think it’s key to point out that Sanford and Ensign both had the good sense to admit their mistakes rather than lie about them. Granted, Sanford apparently did try to cover his tracks, coming up with assorted excuses having to do with the need to unwind from the pressures of being South Carolina’s chief executive. But still, he knew the jig was up and it was time to come clean.

That’s more than Bill Clinton can say about his own response to the Lewinsky affair – lying about his actions for months before weaseling his way out of a legal mess. And Blago, to this day, claims he’s innocent of the charges for which the Illinois legislature felt there was sufficient proof to have him impeached.

Sanford and Ensign both demonstrated bad judgment. But they admitted their errors. Even Eliot Spitzer, as bad as his sins were, admitted what he did and sought forgiveness. There is something to be said for the fact that these men appear to be genuinely remorseful. Blago and Clinton could take some notes.

By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor

He was supposedly hiking — getting away from it all, clearing his head.

When 2012 Presidential wannabe South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford went AWOL late last week, most observers pointed to another case of Sanford being Sanford. As time went by and no one including his own wife could account for his whereabouts, the rumors began to fly. Yet, no one imagined the truth would be as bizarre as what the governor himself revealed on Wednesday afternoon: he’d been unfaithful to his wife; leaving all to wonder about the little side trip to Argentina (first reported as a hiking trip in the Appalachians).

What a week for white, male, conservative, Christian politicians. First, Sen. John Ensign caught with the wife of a staffer, then former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair charged with putting a real life smackdown on his two children, then the coup de grace-Sanford and his hike up a skirt.

Some will cry foul. I’m picking on the conservative, Christian Republicans again. Nope, not this time. The facts speak for themselves. I’m not moralizing here. I think I have a pretty decent understanding of human nature and its foibles. I’m not critical of their weakness and their failures.

Rather, I find fault with their prior history of moralizing and judging others, holding themselves above the rest of us plebes because they’re men of values, family values no less. My issue with these men lies not in their professions of faith.

There’s a rule in journalism that holds true in life as well: Show me, don’t tell me. If you’re a man (or woman) of faith show me that faith by your actions toward your wife, toward your fellow human being, and toward those whom you serve. I’d prefer to discover your faith in your actions, not in your pronouncements. Let me discover your work with the poor, disenfrancished, and those who can’t offer you a political donation or a position of power. Let me discover your service to the community. Don’t talk about it, just do it. I don’t want to hear you talk about it.