Where's Waldo ... er ... Gov. Sanford? (update)

I wanted to write a brief update to yesterday's post "Where's Waldo ... er ... Gov. Sanford?" before Gov. Sanford's 2:00 pm press conference. As you've no doubt heard by now, Gov. Sanford wasn't hiking the Appalachian Trail after all. Instead, he apparently "changed his mind" and went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to drive along the coastline instead. Huh?

A few quick points on this mess. First, two days ago was the start of summer -- in America. But in Argentina, that same day was the start of winter. According to Weather.com, it is 52 degrees in Buenos Aires today. Second, a number of people familiar with Buenos Aires have posted messages on various blogs discussing that driving in Argentina is less a recreational activity and more a health hazard. Third, other people have pointed out that Argentina has a kidnapping problem; thus, it seems odd that an elected American official would venture to Argentina without a security detail and without alerting the American embassy of his presence (the American embassy in Argentina says that they were unaware of Gov. Sanford's presence in the country). Finally, think about how you might pack to go hiking on the Appalachian Trail at the beginning of summer and compare and contrast that to what you might need to travel to Argentina at the beginning of winter. Oh, and among those things that you probably wouldn't take with you to the Appalachian Trail would be a passport ... with an Argentinian visa. Can you get one of those visas on the day of departure?

And what does it say about Gov. Sanford's governing skills when he didn't tell his wife where he was going, doesn't bother to tell the citizens or the Lt. Governor that he was leaving in the first place, and lies to his staff about where he was going, undoubtedly knowing that those lies would be repeated to the press? Look, I don't think that politicians need to be squeaky clean or tell us much about their personal lives, but this is ridiculous.

Yep, it looks like the Republicans have found themselves a candidate for 2012!