Ocular Logjammin'

Thus S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford, in a generally ill-advised article:

We would be wise to start with the biblical notion of first taking the log out of your own eye before worrying about the splinter in someone else’s.

It was the word "splinter" that caught my eye, but I'm amused by how far Sanford's maxim diverges in thrust from the usual versions. Of the many reasons to want a splinter out of your eye, improved vision is not the most important. Besides, "splinter" imbues "log" with enough vividness to make that metaphor seem rather silly. (cf. here.) The upshot is that when I read Sanford's version of the maxim, it sounds like "put on your life vests before you help other passengers with theirs." Which makes sense, I guess, given his political tendencies.