Mark Sanford’s odds of survival

“If there’s a manual for politicians on how to survive a sex scandal,” said Judson Berger in FOX News, Mark Sanford “torched it.” His “soul-baring” confessions to his affair with Argentine “soul mate” Maria Belen Chapur and other indiscretions are probably meant to help him survive politically, by “trying to appear honest and at the same time reveal so many details that the prying press doesn’t have any more muck to rake.” But it’s not working out that way.

Nope, the “unusually personal” press interviews were “the final straw” for his fellow South Carolina Republicans, said Andy Barr and Jonathan Martin in Politico, many of whom have joined six state newspapers in “actively seeking" Mark Sanford's resignation. Some Republicans are even openly questioning Sanford’s mental health. He says he intends to stay in office, but he may not have a choice.

“Mark Sanford only looks washed up,” said Roger Simon in the Chicago Sun-Times. Sure, he’s unpopular now, but he can’t fall any farther than he already has. Sanford is good at using people, and many reporters and pundits apparently “don’t care about his lies and betrayal of public trust,” because he’s in love with a “not offensively younger” woman.

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Even if Sanford could stay in office, he’s not acting like he wants to, said Josh Marshall in Talking Points Memo. Every move he makes “suggests overwhelmingly that he is desperate not only to get kicked out of office but to get kicked out of his marriage as well.” So Mark Sanford, if you’re really “deeply in love” with your Maria, “just go be with her.”