(CNN) - Days after Mark Sanford wrote a newspaper op-ed publicly apologizing for his extramarital affair, the South Carolina governor told reporters Tuesday it's time to move on.
"I made a mistake in life. I've apologized for my mistake," Sanford told reporters at a stop in Greer, South Carolina. "I've said all I am going to say on that one. I am moving forward. I think the people of South Carolina are ready to do the same."
But Sanford, who spent last week away from the governor's office on a private vacation with his wife, did not answer repeated questions about why he was no longer wearing his wedding ring.
"Keep going, anything else," Sanford said motioning for the next question.
Pressed if he thinks his admission to a year-long affair with an Argentine woman will continue to be a distraction, the governor said the people of South Carolina are ready to get past the issue.
"Life and the choices that we make begin each day anew," he told a reporter. "So it's as much a distraction as you want to make it. I am going to move on with my life. The question is will you?
Asked how the scandal has affected his potential 2012 presidential ambitions, Sanford put up his hands and smiled.
"... the governor said the people of South Carolina are ready to get past the issue."
Unless a crime has been committed, the people of South Carolina don't have any choice given that there's no easy way to get rid of this guy, and he doesn't seem to think he really did anything wrong.
Mr. Sanford assumed that admitting and half-heartedly apologizing for his affairs would take care of everything, and he could just sweep the consequences under the rug and hope people forget. Wrong!!!!!!!! Saying you're sorry doesn't mean squat when you are so arrogant as to go on with your life as if nothing has happened! I'm sure that the good people of South Carolina would love to move on and forget the humiliation that this man has caused his family and his state, but he should have to pay for his mistakes. He has proven that he isn't trustworthy and should not be allowed to finish his term as governor.If his wife takes him back, she's a bigger fool than he is, and I will have no respect for her either.
Why doesn't Gov Sanford go get an exorcism like Sarah Palin did? He could stand there with teabags on his head as demons are rebuked and commanded to leave....
The South Carolina should impeach him, but not remove him from office fo rthe Lt. governor is not capable of running the state and how he ever got elected is beyond me.
His wife should kick his rear end out and let him flander around. She used her expertise and money to make something out of him and he threw it away so let him go back to the gutter.
Sure time to move on...so people won't tell him to resign...like he did with Clinton and Spitzer...republicans - jeepers when the shoes on their foot it is a different story....
What a selfish, power-mad idiot this guy has shown himself to be. He needs help, but should get it on his dime. Obviously he has no marriage and no intention of giving up his Argentine mistress. I guess he thinks he can govern SC under this huge cloud, but he'll never get anything done while running from the truth. Perhaps friends that have behaved badly in a similar fashion within the GOP could offer support? Of course, SC would need to build more housing for this huge influx of cheaters. Would Foley and Crain come too or do GOP gays have this problem? Perhaps Mark Sanford could now take the advice he publically offered Bill Clinton?
I sincerely wish this sap would get lost!
Maybe he lost it in Brazil!
Republicans = murderers in high office (bush & cheyney) = no moral values (sanford etc.) = commit any crime you want and get away with it = attack others plans even when you have no plans = evil party that claim to be the moral majority = 0
A democrat has an affair and his political career is over, and a republican with moral integrity has an affair and he stays in office??? Hypocrite or double standard...
talk about arrogant......
And this matters why?????
He will never run for pres, he would probably not win SC again, he will walk off into the sunset, or the swamp. His choice...
Let's concentrate on more important things .....like how much fur my cat sheds and how much it takes to knit a sweater with it .....