Jenny Sanford's Interview with Barbara Walters

<p>She will be on The Daily Show tonight. Way to stick it to the Guvnah!</p>

<p>Jon Stewart has no idea what to do with her. She talked about missing the inmates who kept her dog clean and grew nice roses when she was in the Governor’s mansion. Interesting tidbit.</p>

<p>She says she wrote the book for her sons? At least be straightforward and say she wrote it only for herself. </p>

<p>When a parent rips apart the parent of same gender, it’s like telling all 4 sons at once, “half of you is scum.” People do lots of things for themselves and claim it’s on behalf of their children. I don’t appreciate that rationalization for the book. Just own it.</p>

<p>If she has anything she wants to say to her boys, she has complete access to them now to talk it over.</p>

<p>She sounds like a well educated lady who made a wrong choice. Her husband is a real piece of work.</p>

<p>I just watched her for most of the hour on Larry King Live. Much the same as her interview with Barbara Walters, though Larry was more circumspect in his questions. She didn’t say she wrote the book just for her sons. She said she wrote it to give her side of the story, to help other women who might be facing something similar, as a way to put things behind her and move on, and just as one factor, that her sons could read it later at some time if they choose.</p>

<p>Larry King asked her about that aspect you mention, paying3tuitions, about not being critical of her H, that it might be damaging to her sons. She said she was not trying to trash him or make things worse, she doesn’t criticize him to their sons, and in fact, that she and the Gov. are getting along fine now. She did talk to the boys about the book as it was written. </p>

<p>But I did think about this advice to divorced parents never to criticize the other parent, because it’s really like stabbing your child in the heart. I read that once and it really helped me in my own divorce. And in a way, writing the book and talking about it on all these talk shows is certainly criticizing the Gov. His actions do speak for themselves, but she is filling in a lot of details.</p>

<p>I admired everything about her except for her saying that she forgives him. How in the world is that possible? Has he apologized and admitted that he was a jerk?</p>

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<p>With that background, why should she have expected long term loyalty and contentment from anyone? By the standards of her world, his transgression was not infidelity. It was the public humiliation he caused.</p>

<p>“I admired everything about her except for her saying that she forgives him. How in the world is that possible? Has he apologized and admitted that he was a jerk?”</p>

<p>Forgiveness is something that helps oneself. It doesn’t mean excusing someone else’s behavior. It doesn’t mean keeping a poisonous person in one’s life. It means letting go of anger that can hurt oneself by keeping one from moving on with one’s life.</p>

<p>“If you’re unforgiving, you may pay the price repeatedly by bringing anger and bitterness into every relationship and new experience. Your life may become so wrapped up in the wrong that you can’t enjoy the present. You may become depressed or anxious. You may feel that your life lacks meaning or purpose, or that you’re at odds with your spiritual beliefs. You may lose valuable and enriching connectedness with others.”
[Forgiveness:</a> Letting go of grudges and bitterness - MayoClinic.com](<a href=“http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/forgiveness/MH00131]Forgiveness:”>Forgiveness: Letting go of grudges and bitterness - Mayo Clinic)</p>

<p>I saw a clip of her on Morning Joe (available on the front page of msnbc.com). She was asked how the boys were doing. One thing that she said in response was that once the book thing was over, she was going to really focus on them. I’m sure they could benefit from a parent’s focus now!</p>

<p>I don’t think she should have written the book. There are better ways for her to have gotten closure. No reason for her to air her family’s dirty laundry. Far better for her to focus on her kids and on her own healing without having to write a book and do book tours.</p>

<p>Wow, she is everywhere. I wonder how many interviews she is contractually bound to do?</p>

<p>From reading Dave Barry’s columns, a book tour is kind of like the old British punishment of transportation. Except instead of Australia, you get to bunk down in crummy motel rooms and answer questions from an endless string of interrogators who make the NKVD seem like social workers. By the end of it, she’ll be begging God for illiteracy.</p>

<p>I’m not defending Mark Sanford, who sounds like an idiot and a jerk.</p>

<p>But…if you are married, consider what you could write if you were to write a book describing all the bad, unreasonable, and obnoxious things your spouse has done, entirely from your point of view. And what would your spouse write about you?</p>

<p>I agree Hunt. You can see the good someone is doing or the bad someone is doing. Which is why someone would have an affair with a creep - because she is seeing him in “good light”. </p>

<p>early on in this scandal Jenny was quoted as saying that when they married they weren’t madly in love, but they were great friends.</p>

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<p>I agree with NSM that the commandment to forgive is NOT for the benefit of the perp but for the benefit of those hurt.</p>

<p>Bottom line for me is that she was a woman who invested herself into a marriage and a family and yes, unfortunately she did not see or chose not to see the man. But it has been proven that young woman with children go into nuturing mode and they will do everything to maintain the nest for the children’s sake. She has done what many,many woman have done, much to their detriment, and that is put themselves aside and take care of the nest. There is one thing that usually comes when a woman reaches a certain age and the children are more mature, they come back to themselves and realize they have to be true to themselves. That is was she has done and I applaud her for not taking the stance with her husband when he admitted the truth. It is not her fault that he is a cad and a wretched man. She should not be embarrassed at all. He did this all by himself. As for writing the book, I think her sons will eventually learn the lesson that we all are not perfect, we are flawed, regardless that we are the parent. Also, hopefully they will learn what happens to families as a result of infedility and to raise them as caring and nuturing young men.</p>

<p>Am I the only one who feels that posters in this thread are judging Jenny Sanford much more harshly than Elizabeth Edwards (in earlier threads) who also wrote a book?</p>

<p>Probably. Elizabeth Edwards isn’t the subject of this thread and it’s unreasonable to expect us to discuss everyone who wrote a book about adultery just to appease some hyper-sensitive pretense at fairness. And the judgment isn’t even that harsh; go make a thread about Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton and see the hateful garbage people spew.</p>

<p>I don’t think we are being harsh - I think that Jenny Sanford has handled the situation with great dignity, and I wish her well. I do not understand why she wrote the book, though, and in her position, I would be focusing on the children who have had a nuclear bomb go off in their lives, rather than spending time writing a book and then travelling around the country. And I would not have done anything to prolong the family scandal’s time in the headlines.</p>

<p>I feel very sorry for Elizabeth Edwards, because she has cancer and because she has lost a child. I had always thought very highly of her (although I could never stand her husband). I was taken aback when they built her dream house - that obscene mansion. And it is beyond me why she wrote that last book. Rielle Hunter has stayed out of the spotlight, while Elizabeth is the one who is keeping the situation in the news.</p>

<p>Each of these women, Jenny Sanford and Elizabeth Edwards, has been grievously hurt by a spouse to whom she had given much of her life and energy. I don’t blame them for taking whatever (reasonable and lawful) steps they need to in order to handle the fallout from their husbands’ extreme waywardness. Perhaps it helps them restore their egos. As Jenny Sanford said, “It’s** his **loss.”</p>

<p>Yes, they may justify what they are doing (it’s for the kids, for other women, etc.) and the justifications may or may not be valid. But IMO they are entitled to disclose what they want, provided it is truthful, in order to help their psyches recover. There are too many women who put up with too much in order not to rock the boat or to save a marriage. I hope that some women enablers can learn, from these women, not to throw good years after bad. I hope each of these women can move on and have happier times in the future.</p>

<p>In case anyone is wondering, I am not saying this because I am a bitter divorcee – have been happily married for 34 years. But I have some friends who have had tough times with their spouses and I hate to see women just “take it” because they can’t imagine life without their man. As Gloria Steinem said, “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” Sometimes you are better off solo. These women, whatever their faults, both look much better than the guys who done them wrong. </p>

<p>At least that is my opinion, from what I know, which is likely only a part of the full stories.</p>