Two "Confessions"

In 2004, in a 60 Minutes interview with Dan Rather, Bill Clinton, when asked why he had committed his various marital infidelities, said:

I think I did something for the worst possible reason -- just because I could. I think that's the most , just about the most morally indefensible reason that anybody could have for doing anything. When you do something just because you could ... I've thought about it a lot. And there are lots of more sophisticated explanations, more complicated psychological explanations. But none of them are an excuse ... Only a fool does not look to explain his mistakes.

Early last year, in an interview with Pat Robertson, Newt Gingrich explained his marital indiscretions as follows:

There's no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn't trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them.

One statement is striking in its complete refusal to make excuses. The other is stunning in the way in which it tries to twist responsibility for reprehensible behavior into an excess of virtue. Seems to me any confessor worth his salt would tell ONE of those men he has quite a bit more work to do!