Michael Jackson

There's enough on the web about Jackson ... so I'll just post, again, his electrifying performance on the Motown 25th anniversary special in 1983. I was among the 47 million people watching live -- Super Bowl-like numbers. The Jackson Five performed, and then the brothers left the stage, and Michael Jackson took over. Literally.

Where is MY governor?

Since I don't live in South Carolina any more, I ought to be concerned with where MY governor is. He's Tim Kaine. And even The Washington Post can't seem to locate him.

I'm pretty sure the Virginia governor isn't in Argentina, or along the Appalachian Trail. But why won't he release the DNC part of his schedule? I don't buy the excuses.

I'm actually OK with him being chairman of the DNC if he wants. He just ought to disclose where he's going.

I Stand By What I Said

I still do not think Mark Sanford treats his staff with respect, though clearly yesterday's jaw-dropping news conference changes the picture a little bit about what is going on in his world.

The only other thing I can think is that the job of governor does not belong to him, and shouldn't be more important than how to repair his relationship with his wife and his sons. Someone else can be governor. But for the Sanford boys, there's only one Dad.

How You Treat Other People Shows Who You Are

At a Republican Governors Association gathering after his 2002 election victory, Mark Sanford asked me a few questions about how to set up his communications and press shop. What struck me most is that he told me he was hoping to give speech writing and media relations duties to one person, and hoping he could do it as cheaply as possible.

The tale of his recent vacation to Argentina -- after his staff told reporters he went on the Appalachian Trial -- reminded me of that encounter.

What it told me then was that South Carolina's incoming governor didn't think much of the roles anyone will play to help him accomplish the job.

And he still doesn't think much of them. He put them in the untenable position of lying for him -- they would have been better off saying they didn't know for sure -- and so far it's not clear he cares.

Gov. Sanford is entitled to a vacation, even a vacation away from everyone. And he doesn't have to give even his staff the minute details of a trip. But he runs a multi-billion corporation known as the state of South Carolina, and someone should have an idea of where he is. And they shouldn't be put in a position to have to lie for him.

Yet another chapter in the book of stories about people who think the axis of the Earth runs through their head.