His own worst enemy

Gov. Mark Sanford's latest expanded explanation about his love life has increased calls for his resignation among the Legislature and is being followed up with an investigation to determine if any state funds were misspent.

It also offered up more embarrassment to South Carolinians who were just getting over the shock of his rambling, emotional press conference of last week. The governor related the latest chapter of his personal soap opera to an Associated Press reporter during a three-hour interview.

One of his most reasonable comments in the published account was the observation that he is dealing with his "own political funeral." The governor appears to be under some inner compulsion to get to the graveyard in a hurry.

Even some of his former legislative allies, including Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, have joined the calls for his resignation.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, who could not be counted among those allies, stopped just short of making that demand on Wednesday, though he questioned whether the governor can regain any measure of effectiveness. That's the $64,000 question, and as Sen. McConnell points out, only the governor can answer it. Over the last few days, he seems to be saying "No."

Even so, the governor apparently believes he can weather the storm, as he maintained his intention to serve the 18 months left in his term. If so, he's going to have to present a different face to the state than the mooncalf we've seen and heard over the last week.

The governor, teary-eyed in his press conference last week, was weeping on occasion during his recent interview, according to the AP.

In that interview he admitted he had "crossed the line" with other women during his marriage. His elaborations on that topic, while limited, suggest that those occasions didn't rise to the level of adultery. He also admitted additional meetings with his mistress.

The state attorney general has asked the State Law Enforcement Division for an investigation to determine if any public money was spent during the visits to his mistress. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, has declined to join the resignation chorus, saying any decision should be put off until that investigation is complete. It may be ready as early as today.

During the interview, the governor talked at length, again, about his love affair with his so-called "soul mate" in terms that recalled some of his steamy e-mails to her. That he would tread again into that territory of his own volition raises troubling questions about his emotional state and his judgment, considering that he has publicly stated his intention to reconcile with his wife. The Sanfords have four sons.

Mr. Sanford said he undertook the interview "to lay it all out." To that end, he was excrutiatingly successful. He provided more details about his emotional landscape than you'd ever want to know.

The insipid maunderings in his interview resembled those of his press conference. But the new information from the interview didn't rise to the level of those revelations that set this whole train wreck in motion: his extramarital affair and his five-day disappearance from the state.

The results of the SLED investigation should be more pertinent to the matter of whether he should resign.

The growing demands for his resignation could be blunted by some evidence that the governor has sufficiently regained his equilibrium to lead the state. He can't provide that leadership while acting like a lovesick schoolboy or returning again and again to confessional mode.

The governor keeps providing ammunition to his critics, who happily continue firing off salvos in his direction. He's about one bullet away from putting an early end to his second term.