As 77,000 unemployed citizens of his state watched in despair, Governor Sanford trumpeted tired free market mythology to defend subverting his state's efforts to pay unemployment compensation. His refusal to request federal funds to help laid off South Carolina workers was unprecedented by any Governor and had even drawn sharp rebukes from fellow Republicans:

"It's absolutely unheard of, it's insane, for a governor of any state not to request those funds," State Senator Hugh K. Leatherman, a Republican who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said last week. "I can't believe anybody would be this heartless, and create such a heartless act on these people."

Adding to the mounting evidence that Governor Sanford has no soul, he further flaunted his disdain for workers by politically targeting the very agency tasked with assisting South Carolina's unemployed:

For weeks, Mr. Sanford, newly elected as head of the Republican Governors Association and known for being a fierce free-market foe of government spending, stuck to his stand, questioning the probity of the South Carolina Employment Security Commission and demanding a new audit of the agency.

Luckily, the schmuck backed down in the eleventh hour and requested the 146 million dollar federal loan. But don't mistake his butt-saving act for compassion--on the heels of his relenting, he threatened additional audits on the state unemployment agency, despite the agency already being subject to annual audits:

"We will not punish the unemployed for this agency's incompetence," the governor said in a statement. But Mr. Sanford continued to insist that he would demand another, more stringent audit of the unemployment office, though Mr. Halley noted that the agency was audited every year by an accounting firm and had been given a clean bill of health.

As for who is responsible for the plight of his state's unemployed? The media (of course!):

Mildly rebuking the news media here, he said that "you can find any number of people, particularly around the holiday season, who have the most unfortunate circumstances, they've lost their job, and those are compelling personal stories."

Governor Sanford's tone-deafness is a striking and telling window into Republican plans to remain in permanent political exile as a result of their response to the current economic crisis. According to the New York Times, this same man once carried two piglets onto the House chamber floor to protest spending. One of the pigs duly went number two on the house floor, failing to amuse Sanford's colleagues. I can't think of a more fitting act to symbolize the new face of the Republican Governors Association.