Republican "Family Values©™" - absent Dad, exit Mom.

South Carolina governor Mark Sanford is in the news again. In June he went A.W.O.L. and as a result, the expression "hiking the Appalachian Trail" entered the political dictionary of euphemisms for adultery. Then he tried the Bible high road, to shame his detractors.

All to no avail, it seems.

A day after estranged S.C. First Lady Jenny Sanford announced that she was divorcing her philandering husband, S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford, the traditional Sanford family Christmas cards began arriving in select South Carolina mailboxes …

This year’s cards are not like their predecessors, however – another reminder of the highly-publicized drama that has consumed South Carolina’s First Family ever since the governor confessed earlier this year to having an extramarital affair ...

For starters, this year’s “family picture” includes the couple’s four sons [...] but no governor. And no first lady.

Won't somebody please think of the children? Beyond their public relations value, that is.