Sanford strikes back at DNC, Obama

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) on Monday released a scathing response to the Democratic National Committee television ad it is currently airing in South Carolina attacking Sanford for refusing economic stimulus funds.

In a statement, Sanford said the ad is an example of the DNC launching a “political attack” instead of engaging in a debate on the issues. He also called on Obama to tell the DNC to stop running the ad.

“In his inaugural, President Obama proclaimed ‘an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics,” Sanford said. “It’s in that spirit that I’d respectfully ask him to end this ad, as it shatters the idea of change he so well articulated this fall – and to ask his Democratic National Committee to put an end to this mudslinging and get back to an honest debate about the future of our country.”

This will, of course, continue to fuel speculation of a possible 2012 presidential run for Sanford.

Check out the full statement after the jump.

“Over the past year, candidate Obama promised a break from ‘politics as usual’ – something that I joined with millions of Americans in indeed hoping for. I did so because my entire time in public life has reinforced how needed change is from ‘politics as usual,’ and because for better or worse I have always tried to debate ideas on their merits.

“My opposition to the stimulus bill was based on the merits as I saw them and has been well-chronicled, but rather than engaging our administration in that debate, Obama’s Democratic National Committee instead chose to launch a political attack ad against us for not supporting the stimulus plan exactly as the Obama administration saw fit. What may fit in one state may not fit in another, and accordingly I think tailoring stimulus responses makes sense.

“Equally disturbing is the fact that this ad was launched before the White House even bothered to respond to our request to use just one quarter of the available stimulus money to our state to pay down a portion of our high state debt. This still means a $2.1 billion spending windfall would come to our state – and one has to ask isn’t there a point when enough is enough in spending money we don’t have? I don’t think this approach of targeting ads against anyone who sees an issue a little differently represents the kind of so-called ‘change’ many people were voting for in November.

“In his inaugural, President Obama proclaimed ‘an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.’ It’s in that spirit that I’d respectfully ask him to end this ad, as it shatters the idea of change he so well articulated this fall – and to ask his Democratic National Committee to put an end to this mudslinging and get back to an honest debate about the future of our country.”

jeremy.jacobs@digital-stage.thehill.com