Sanford and the “God of Second Chances”
Ed Kilgore of Washington Monthly writes on former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and his first ad for the upcoming special election for his old congressional seat. Sanford’s ad addressed his infidelity and bad reputation. “I’ve experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes,” Sanford says, “But in their wake we can learn a lot about grace, a God of second chances and be the better for it.” This “sin-and-redemption” routine has worked for “generations of southern politicians caught in various improprieties,” writes Kilgore, and this ad will likely gain the votes of some “forgiving souls.”