Mark Sanford Debates Cardboard Cutout Of Nancy Pelosi

Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) is slipping behind in the latest polls coming out of the South Carolina Senatorial race. Down by roughly nine points, former Governor Sanford has to count his victories when they come, no matter how small. As such, it should come as a surprise to no one that Sanford would pull out all the stops in his next public appearance. During a televised public debate, Sanford ripped into his opponent’s paper-thin arguments. With Sanford coming off as sharp as a new box cutter, the people of North Carolina might as well just pack this election up and FedEx it to Sanford’s house. His opponent may as well be thrown in the shredder and recycled.

I am of course referring to the cardboard cutout of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that Sanford routed in a recent debate in front of the Medical University of South Carolina. Sanford asked Pelosi’s stand in pointed questions regarding the Stimulus package and was so aggressive and precise regarding his questions that Pelosi’s stand in simply had no response. During the debate he also called out his opponent for refusing to appear in public, presumably out of fear of being crushed by Mr. Sanford’s superior skills as an orator. It is truly rare in this day and age of Teleprompters, speech coaches, and organized campaign staff that a politician would be totally at a loss for words, in front of the camera no less, but Sanford’s mastery of the realm of debate left both Pelosi’s likeness and the people of South Carolina in awe. 

Despite Sanford’s clear advantage in the intellectual rigors of the campaign, a variety of external factors have hampered him in this race. Of course we all know of the 2009 controversy, in which the liberal media demonized Governor Sanford and accused him of participating in an extramarital affair in Argentina (with his soul mate) despite his having informed his staff prior to his disappearance that he would merely be hiking the Appalachian Trail. Despite the liberal media slamming Sanford for his shortcomings as a man, he found god as well as his true soul mate and came back ready to reclaim his old spot in the House of Representatives.

However, even with his inspirational commitment to improving his life, he still has encountered hardships, such as when the media twisted Sanford trying to simply be a good father to his children as trespassing on his ex-wife’s property. As a result of Sanford simply trying to be there for his son, the GOP has pulled its funding from his campaign. But even through this, Sanford has chosen to fight on against the odds and his opponent, Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, who is known for her connections with liberal media elites like her brother, Comedian Stephen Colbert.

While Sanford faces long odds in this election, with his recent triumph, he has seized a huge amount of momentum heading into next week's debate with Colbert-Busch. Having taken a classic move from the Republican electoral playbook, by debating inanimate objects like Clint Eastwood before him, Sanford could be primed for a late upset. Should he be able to keep going with this strong late push, it looks like he could soon be hiking the trail to victory, and hopefully there will be no more insidious packing materials to get in his way.