First, I don't recall what he said about Clinton- whether it was the act or the lie. Probably both. At that time, in my opinion, he hadn't done either. His mistake.

Second- he never said he hiked anywhere- he left his staff twisting in the wind to try to cover for their boss. Honestly, had this been a pattern they would have smoothed this over like like shit out of a goose.

Third- Sure it was a political (or personal) hit. I am hearing the emails weren't released through freedom of information requests but were provided from personal email accounts. I might be wrong but that is the word on the street. Our Lt. Gov. has crashed a plane and bluffed his way out of a speeding ticket/possible DUI and was accused of being gay last week by a lesbian politician. What Sanford was doing, the good he was doing, earned him many enemies within and without his own party.