Top 10 Apologies

"The bottom line is this: I have been unfaithful to my wife ... I hurt a lot of different folks. And all I can say is that I apologize."

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has a way with words, especially when those words are "I'm sorry." After returning from a mysterious weeklong disappearance from his state in June 2009 (at first his staff famously claimed he was hiking the Appalachian Trail), the 49-year-old confessed to an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina and offered apologies to no fewer than five groups of people: his family, staff, friends, people of faith and "anybody who lives in South Carolina." The apology tour continued that week during a meeting with his cabinet and, in case anyone didn't get the message, in a column he wrote the following month in South Carolina's largest newspaper. His torrent of regrets may not have been good enough — as of early December 2009, state legislators were discussing whether Sanford should be impeached.

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