After years of watching political wives stand by their man when their men had not only not stood by them but lay down with other women, Jenny Sanford was a breath of fresh air. After hearing about her husband’s dalliances with an Argentine mistress (and his adoration of her tan lines), Jenny tried to forgive her husband. “But we reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong,” she said in a statement. “I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago.” It’s a decision she’s stuck by. Now Jenny will be writing a memoir about her experience, to be published next May by Ballantine Books. Of the book, Jenny says, “I would like to show others how important it is to stand firm on one’s principles, stay true to oneself, and respond with grace and honesty to whatever hurdles may come.” The best part of this news? That Mark Sanford had a book in the works which his publisher nixed when the affair scandal broke. Oops. [Galleycat]

Apparently unaware of the many ways this could backfire terribly, Wikler Moran-Mora, pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist Church of Reform in Tampa, FL, faked his own kidnapping so he could two-time his wife. According to police, Moran-Mora texted his wife last Tuesday evening to say he had been kidnapped, but that she should not worry because he was working to get released. But when police tracked down Moran-Mora’s location via his cell phone, they discovered “negotiating with kidnappers” actually meant “boning another woman.” The pastor has been charged with filing a false police report—and coming up with a really bad alibi. [ABC Action News]

But Moran-Mora actually isn’t the first genius who got caught being a liar, liar, pants on fire. A trip down memory lane, after the jump:

“I also feel sorry for the other woman. I am sure she is a fine person. It can’t be fun for her, though I do sometimes question her judgment. If she knew the newspaper had those E-mails back in December, why did she want him to come in June? But I can’t go there too much. All I can do is pray for her because she made some poor choices.”

— Jenny Sanford, in an interview for the ever-important September issue of Vogue, speaking of Maria Belén Chapur, the Argentine woman with whom her husband, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, was discovered earlier this year to be having an extramarital affair. [via WashingtonPost]

A little bit of distrust goes a long way. In the wake of the Sanford scandal I am trying to get a better handle of why we lie and how we can tell if someone is telling us the truth.  My interest piqued during the political scandal of the Italian Prime Minister. However, it began several years ago when a male friend of mine began telling me stories about a new woman in his life.

I was a good listener until he asked the question, “So what do you think?”

Did he really want to know that she lying and manipulating him? Continue reading...

Following a long line of notable affairs—A-Rod and Madonna, Eliot Spitzer and an escort, and Jon and Kate’s various trysts—Gov. Mark Sanford recently revealed he’s been having an affair with a woman in Argentina.

Of course, this is after Gov. Sanford (previously only noteworthy for refusing Pres. Obama’s stimulus funds) disappeared and then reappeared, claiming to have gone hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Unfortunately for the family-friendly governor, his cover story happened to highlight Naked Hiking Day. Man, some people just can’t catch a break.

• During her concert, Beyonce gave her microphone to an audience member so he could propose to his girlfriend. He said, “Beyonce, you told me if I like it, I need to put a ring on it,” and then got down on one knee to ask his girlfriend to marry him. She said yes. [Radar]—Much better than proposing over Twitter.
• Hilary Duff is reportedly joining the cast of “Gossip Girl” next season. She will be playing Olivia Burke, “a movie star who enrolls at NYU in search of a traditional college experience.” [Entertainment Weekly]—I think I’ve heard that story before… [Hilary needs all the career help she can get.—Ed.]
• Hayden Panettiere bares all in “I Love You, Beth Cooper.” At age 20, she says, “I might as well show it now!” [PopEater]—Some are calling her baring-all brave, while others are a bit surprised. I’m not.

When is this Mark Sanford guy gonna get a clue? First the governor of South Carolina gets caught having an affair and now he’s opening up about how he’s had questionable encounters with several women while married. “There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn’t have crossed as a married man, but never crossed the ultimate line,” Sanford said in a press conference with the Associated Press. Um, what exactly does that mean? Email flirting? Semi-regular BJs? Why voluntarily spout this information to the media?! Your unlucky kids are going to have to read about what a pig you are.

This week Daily Beast columnist Meghan McCain takes on Mark Sanford—or, rather, she takes on those who are calling for his resignation, writing that he should be forgiven for his affair and that “it’s of very little concern to me who elected officials sleep with.” While I am inclined to agree with her in general, Sanford’s actions, like those of the many other politicians of late, represent an obnoxious hypocrisy which gives them the authority to preach family values while shirking them in their personal lives. Sanford (who McCain has spent personal time with), for example, was a vocal critic of President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky debacle. Nevermind the fact the dude went MIA from his job for five days to romance his darling Maria.

Mark Sanford may be getting a little slack from the media because some guy known as the King of Pop passed away, but that doesn’t mean his mistress will get the same treatment. Some websites are identifying the mysterious “Maria” as María Belén Chapur, a Buenos Aires native who’s a 43-year-old mother of two. Getting details on her has been so difficult that one Fox News article decided to give a detailed account of the apartment building where she lives. After the jump, some things you absolutely never wanted to know about María Belén Chapur, but the media deemed important enough to print. Mostly because they couldn’t find out anything better.

Along with the rest of America, I’m rubbernecking at South Carolinian Gov. Mark Sanford’s affair with an Argentinian lass, Maria Belen Chapur (and I’m quietly cheering for Sanford’s wife, Jenny, for leaving him).

Cheating doesn’t speak well for a conservative Republican politician who preached “family values.” Sanford’s hypocrisy alone is gross.  But married politicians dropping their drawers for women who aren’t their wives isn’t as interesting to me as the fact that Gov. Sanford told everyone he would be hiking on the Appalachian Trail when he was actually south of the border with his mistress.

The best part of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford admitting he’s been having an affair – with tax payer dollars, no less! – with a mysterious woman named “Maria”? The fact that some of the love letters he sent her have been released! It is true poetry, peoples. Ahem…

”You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light—but hey, that would be going into sexual details…”

Oh please, do continue!

”In the meantime please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.”

Yowza! That’s, uh, sexy stuff. But how does it compare to the words exchanged during other famous sex scandals? Let’s take a walk down memory lane…

Sen. Mark Sanford, the Republican governor of South Carolina, admitted at a press conference this afternoon that he has been having an extramarital affair with a “dear, dear friend” in Argentina for the past year. Incidentally, he and his wife were on a trial separation.

Cuckolded wives and politicians go together like gravy and mashed potatoes. Maybe the wives aren’t surprised—Sanford’s wife apparently knew about his Argentinian affair for months—by the cheating the same way as the public is. But what gets me every time is when Silda Spitzer stands up next Eliot while he grovels for the public’s forgiveness, or Elizabeth Edwards invites Oprah into her home to talk about John’s affair, or Larry Craig’s wife, Suzanne, walks hand-in-hand to his press conference where he denies being gay. I just roll my eyes.