Not all manner of sin is equal

This has become trite, but is nonetheless true. Yes, all three suffered from a sex scandal. But for many voters, sending pictures of his exposed genitals to strangers he met online, even after being forced to resign from Congress for said behavior, was too much to get past. They were also disturbed by Spitzer, who strengthened the laws against sex trafficking shortly before becoming a client of the Emperors Club in 2006.

Sanford lied about his whereabouts, and used public resources to facilitate an affair with an Argentine woman. But at the end of the day, he fell in love, then left his marriage and became engaged to the person he described as his “soul mate” in a tearful press conference.

That seems to have made more sense to voters, and ultimately lent itself better to the redemption story Sanford aimed to tell.

What’s more, both Weiner and Spitzer’s apology tours had a perfunctory, we-have-to-do-this feel. Once those were over in about a week, they drew lines around themselves, saying they felt they’d answered questions about their scandals sufficiently and it was time to move on.