Twitters best comments during Mark Sanford's bizarre press conference

There have been numerous examples of the power of Twitter of the past year. Most recently in Iran where thousands of citizens have used the social messaging medium to protest the June 12 presidential election.

Because of the government's crackdown on the press, Twitter has become a main source of news information from Iran to the rest of the world.

So how did the social media tool fare during South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's press conference today? In case you weren't paying attention, Gov. Sanford assembled the press at the State Capitol in Columbia to admit he was having an affair.

First, at least five of the top ten most tweeted topics (at least of this publishing time) had to do with Sanford or his admission of an affair with a yet-to-be-identified Argentinian woman.

Of course there's a big difference with the unrest in Iran and the news of yet another politician (they seem to be all trending Republican lately) tearfully admitting an extramarital fling. So you might expect the Twitter traffic to be more lighthearted or snarky than what we've been seeing in Iran.

Oh, and it was. And it is. It's like people are using Twitter to audition for The Improv. Or to be talking heads on MSNBC. Or FOX.

Republicans have been having a miserable year. So they gotta cling on to whatever they can. Like this one: CSundquist: "If Sanford had cheated on his taxes instead of his wife he would be a Cabinet member by now."

You could call this guy guilty of geographical stereotyping. Is that a crime yet? Matt_Poindexter: "I'm just surprised someone from South Carolina could find Argentina on the map."

Conservative Republicans might just want to give up on trying to set the rules for who should be legally entitled to marriage. Conservative Republicans are kinda ruining their argument. Joshbhatti jabs, "Gov. Sanford: marriage should only be between a man, a woman, and another woman from Argentina."

And Mitterrand1981 opines, "David Vitter, Larry Craig, John Ensign, Mark Sanford. Any other Republicans wanna tell me about "the sanctity of marriage"?

How about combining sports, politics, and comedy into one tweet? DocJessDCW found a way: "BREAKING: USA beats Spain 2-0, Argentina defeats Sanford 1-0."

You don't detect any sarcasm in this one, do you?

Notlarrysabato: RT @PatrickRuffini "RGA may be our best hope for a loud voice in DC. They have influence and true conservs: Perry, Sanford, Palin, Jindal."

We're proud to say that it was The Vote blog who first noted that Governor Sanford just happened to be "allegedly hiking" on Naked Hiking Day. But now that the story has taken even a more bizarre twist, one Tweeter is grateful for all of the comic gold...

Socki "I can't believe how much last night's comedy giants used Sanford's disappearance & nude hiking...just WAIT for tonight."

DavidCornDC is like Sanford's political weatherman providing the immediate and extended forecasts for the Guvnah: "Punishment in SC 4 adultery: $100 - $500 fine and/or 6 to 12 months jail. Sanford could be out in time to campaign for 2012."

And Rockwiththebest is acting as your entertainment concierge, "...Watch the ed show tonight.... Ed went in and the headline reads "Sanford and Sin".... Lmao

When did Twitter explode? When South Carolina's State Newspaper decided to print emails between Sanford and "Maria." Wow. RickSheridan found the silver lining in this cloud: "Reading Sanford's emails. At least he's a decent, descriptive writer with respectable vocabulary. And he values the sound of a diesel."

Who's got next? Pandagon predicts, "The next Republican to have an affair will have to outdo Sanford. I predict a tryst ON THE MOON."

Finally.... well, we just liked this one:

Harrydoesntmind: "I was most surprised when Sanford apologized for calling his son Lamont a "dummy" all those years."

----------

What are your favorite Tweets? Send 'em our way. You may even want to use Twitter!