Most of us do bad things. We betray friends, make hurtful remarks, lie. Often an apology will suffice in restoring trust and respect. But some very successful people engage in patterns of nutty or nasty behavior that say more about them than the misdeeds themselves.

Consider the case of disgraced former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. Wanting to resume his political career, Sanford is taking the well-worn path of confessing his sins and asking the public to forgive him. But Sanford goes a step beyond the usual by portraying his uncommon failures as ordinary frailty.

“I’ve experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes,” Sanford says in a new congressional campaign television ad. “But in their wake we can learn a lot about grace, a God of second chances, and be better for it.”