"Go Forth, My Son, and..."

Say this for Republican sinners: They know the value of public repentance.

Today two of them step up to confess their lapses. Newt Gingrich is telling the Rev. James Dobson on his radio show that he “had fallen short of God’s standards” by having an extra-marital affair while pushing impeachment of Bill Clinton for lying about his.

Attorney General Arturo Gonzales is telling Senators he won’t oppose legislation to limit his power to anoint interim prosecutors, even as Karl Rove is defending the political firings of the White House’s own appointees as “normal and ordinary.”

Love may mean never having to say you’re sorry but, in Republican politics, it’s apparently a must.