Sanford vs. Stanford: Which One is the Philander and Which One is the Swindler?

Sanford, judging from his media mea culpas, is a gushing torrent of public self-flagellation, backed by a biblical rationalization. Stanford is much more unrepentant.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

It's tricky keeping track of all the freshly percolating sexual and financial scandals. I might not be alone in this regard, but I keep confusing Mark Sanford, the weepy Republican governor of South Carolina, whose lovesick affair with a South American woman continues to generate headlines, with Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire, who is behind bars as he awaits trial on charges of being involved in a mammoth Ponzi scheme.

Sanford fell in love in Argentina. Stanford fell in love with Antigua.

The married Sanford found the right moves on the dance floor with what he thought was his future soul mate. Stanford did the cha-cha with a clutch of shady Caribbean con men, pols, and flimflammers.

Sanford, judging from his media mea culpas, is a gushing torrent of public self-flagellation, backed by a biblical rationalization.

Stanford is much more unrepentant. He denies siphoning money and pleads his innocence. There's a swashbuckler's smirk behind his wolfish expression.

Sanford, by contrast, is almost Doesteovskian, in his abject, pained performances before the camera. He sinned. He knows it. He wrecked his marriage. His wife, Jenny, is weighing her options -- and has a sympathetic public rooting for her. No Tammy "Stand by Your Man" Wynette here. Whether she someday goes on Oprah remains to be seen. (Note to producers: make sure she brings along her photogenic boys if she does.)

Besides playing with OPM (other people's money), Stanford loved to flirt with other men's wives. At a well-publicized cricket match that he sponsored, he was quite the Hefner-esque playboy. Not that he cared.

Now, Sanford admits to having a wandering eye, though it is open for debate and speculation just how wandering that lust took him. The governor was more discreet than the financier.

So in a year or two from now, or perhaps much earlier when Mark Sanford is forced to leave politics, he can take his tan weathered good looks to ABC television and appear on Dancing with the Stars, where a second career is always possible. We can see firsthand if he has the right ballroom moves.

Allen Stanford, unfortunately, will have less floor space in his cramped prison cell to practice the Texas Two-Step and "Dancing behind Bars" moves.

Sanford's moral crime was lust. Stanford ran afoul of the law because he was greedy.

Both will have plenty of time to pen their memoirs. Sanford shows some early promise here, judging from the hacked emails. He knows how to emote. A good editor will help him further plumb the heart's mysteries. And of course, sex sells.

Stanford's fate is more uncertain. And it's just as well. We're entering the post Madoff-era of financial scandal fatigue. Billions of dollars is simply hard to wrap the mind around.

As for marriage? We all have an opinion on this topic.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot