[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')OLUMBIA, S.C.—South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Tuesday that he "crossed lines" with a handful of women other than his mistress—but never had sex with them.
The governor said he "never crossed the ultimate line" with anyone but Maria Belen Chapur, the Argentine at the center of a scandal that has derailed his once-promising political career.

"This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story," Sanford said. "A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day."

During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

He said that during the encounters with other women he "let his guard down" with some physical contact but "didn't cross the sex line." He wouldn't go into detail.

Sanford said the casual encounters happened outside the U.S. while he was married but before he met Chapur, on trips to "blow off steam" with male friends.

Sanford also admitted he saw Chapur more times than previously disclosed, including what was to be a farewell meeting in New York chaperoned by a spiritual adviser soon after his wife found out about the affair.

He described five meetings with Chapur over the past year, including two romantic, multi-night stays with her in New York before they met there again intending to break up.

He said he saw her two other times, including their first meeting in 2001 at an open-air dance spot in Uruguay.

"There was some kind of connection from the very beginning," he told The Associated Press, though he said neither that meeting nor a 2004 coffee date in New York during the Republican National Convention were romantic.

His interview was the first disclosure of any liaisons with Chapur in the United States and contradicted a public confession last week during which he admitted to a total of five encounters over their eight-year relationship.

He previously announced he would reimburse the state for money spent during a government trip to Brazil and Argentina in June 2008 when he saw Chapur. It was then, he said, that their relationship became physical, and the e-mails they'd exchanged for years reflected their anguish over what they had done.

"Now I am frightened," he told the AP, describing his state of mind at the time. "It was before safe. But now it's not safe. We gotta put the genie back in the bottle."

He insists no public money was used for any other meetings with her.

He saw Chapur again in mid-June of this year, visiting Argentina without telling his staff he was going to be out of the country. He instead led them to believe he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

By the time he returned to a puzzled public, staff and family, his public image and emotional state had unraveled. He admitted the affair at a rambling press conference.

Now Sanford is attempting to salvage his personal and professional lives. He and wife Jenny, parents of four sons, say they are trying to reconcile their 20-year marriage but have not been sharing the same house for several weeks. Jenny Sanford found out about the relationship in January when she discovered a letter the governor had written to his mistress. She did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

The governor said he met Chapur in Punta Del Este, Uruguay, in 2001 after his final term in Congress and before his first term as governor. He said the two struck up an e-mail correspondence after meeting on a dance floor—a chance encounter during which he counseled her into the night about her failing marriage.

For the next seven-plus years, Sanford said, the two exchanged messages, sometimes sporadically.

They met in New York two more times in 2008: two nights in Manhattan in September and three nights in the Hamptons in November. Each time, Sanford claims he flew coach, paid for it himself, paid for the hotels in cash and told his staff he was reachable via cell phone.

"At that point I was very careful, everything was paid for in cash," Sanford said. "And you won't find a credit card record."

In early 2009, after Jenny Sanford discovered the affair, the couple went into counseling. She has told The Associated Press that he asked her several times to visit the mistress and she refused.

But the governor claims he wanted to end the affair in person and, with his wife's permission, went to New York with a "trusted spiritual adviser" serving as chaperone. The three went to church and dinner together and parted ways the same night.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9955KDG2&show_article=1

[ian807]

What next? Will he admit to "crossing the line" with every woman in his office, the capital, the state? Without "sex" of course (just a little "stimulation" here and there, possibly resulting in "extreme pleasure" at points).

I miss Bill Clinton.

By the way, where *is* Ken Starr these days. Seems he's not too active these days when the adulterers are republican.

[rangerone314]

More like forbidden lust story.

He's just another guy who thinks with his pee-pee.

No story here, move along.

[dinopello]

You didn't highlight this gem

Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

I don't get what he is trying to accomplish with these divulging statements. I don't think it helps him with his wife but maybe the ladies find this a plus ?

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'Y')ou didn't highlight this gem

Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

I don't get what he is trying to accomplish with these divulging statements. I don't think it helps him with his wife but maybe the ladies find this a plus ?

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', ' ')Maybe his advisors told him if he plays up the romance novel stuff, he'll actually win over female voters.

[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'A')nd I think the "trying to fall back in love" with your wife thing is sort of tacky, after you've cheated on her. It's sort of like blaming the wife for the affair, and requiring her to work to win his love back. Do his kids have to work to wiin his love back too? Maybe if they try hard enough he'll spend next father's day with them.

[dukey]

at least he wasn't having sex with under age boys

[Ferretlover]

His problem is that he didn't call the doctor when the effects of the Viagra didn't wear off after the four hour time limit.
Infidelity is, as far as I am concerned, inexcusable and unforgivable. He has certainly given his wife all (and, more) that she needs for a divorce; she can have her attorney write up the papers while her husband "tries to fall back in love with his wife." Jeeezzz! What a loser!

[nobodypanic]

big deal. the important thing is what's his credit rating? that's the true measure of a man's character.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'Y')ou didn't highlight this gem

Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

I don't get what he is trying to accomplish with these divulging statements. I don't think it helps him with his wife but maybe the ladies find this a plus ?

[Fishman]

Not a peak oil issue. Wild booty brings down another politician, so what, move on.

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Fishman', 'N')ot a peak oil issue. Wild booty brings down another politician, so what, move on.

[caliginousface]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', 'b')ig deal. the important thing is what's his credit rating? that's the true measure of a man's character.

[WildRose]

"Forbidden love story" - what a drama queen!

He's just trying to justify his actions.

[katkinkate]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'Y')ou didn't highlight this gem

Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

I don't get what he is trying to accomplish with these divulging statements. I don't think it helps him with his wife but maybe the ladies find this a plus ?

[IgnoranceIsBliss]

He might as well have just pissed on his wife and kids and put it on You Tube.

That creep makes me sick. His wife needs to (1) "Lorena Bobbit" his ass and (2) take him to the cleaners in divorce court. Why does she now have to suck up and say she is open to reconciliation? He cries some crocodile tears on TV and now everything is ok? This is the way things play out here in the Bible belt. Good old boys get a pass every time. "I was weak, taken by darkness, etc, but now I'm soooo sorry!"

He is a spineless, hypocritical loser who doesn't deserve any woman. What a great role model for his 4 boys too.

I hope his wife can move on and find a real man. (and yeah, I'm a wife and mother myself, so this really makes me mad! Not just the fact that he cheated, it happens all the time, but his weaseling, telling lies to the public, disappearing, and having those stupid "couples therapy Christian meetings" at the mansion. Give me a break. This is like something out of a parallel bizarro world)