Everyone has hailed Jenny Sanford for her fortitude in the face of what are humiliating circumstances and her unwillingness to stand by her man, as so many political wives have done in the past. But her most recent statement about "forgiving Mark" suggests that she still is looking for her pound of flesh. Maybe it's time for the public back and forth to end.

Just to recap: Mark Sanford confesses an affair on Wednesday a week ago. Jenny releases a statement hours later, saying she threw him out two weeks earlier to maintain her dignity but still loves him. Jenny then calls in an AP reporter on Friday to provide more evidence of Mark's perfidy, noting that he'd begged her for permission to visit his mistress (now there's some dysfunction). Mark retaliates with his own AP interview, in which he confesses that his mistress is his soul mate, that he's seen her more times than he'd previously acknowledged, that there'd been other women (sort of), and that now he's trying to fall back in love with his wife. Today was Jenny's turn, issuing a statement that says she's willing to forgive, but it's an oddly uncharitable one:

"Actions have consequences and he will be dealing with those consequences for a long while. . . . Trust has been broken and will need to be rebuilt. Mark will need to earn back that trust, first and foremost with his family, and also with the people of South Carolina.

"My forgiveness is essential for us both to move on with our lives, with peace, in whatever direction that may take us. . . . Forgiveness opens the door for Mark to begin to work privately, humbly and respectfully toward reconciliation with me. However, to achieve true reconciliation will take time, involve repentance, and will not be easy."

I'm not arguing that he should be forgiven. But isn't this the kind of thing one communicates in private, if one is truly sincere about forgiveness? And if one is actually feeling forgiving is it something one communicates at all? But as we now must suspect, the Sanfords haven't been communicating with one another for a long time. Maybe too many Biblical references. He cites King David, she references a Psalm. It's like watching some kind of Bible camp competition. But then Mark has made clear they aren't soul mates. Thank God for the AP.

The good news, for them and their boys, is Mark promised Wednesday that he was finished talking about his private life. Maybe this will be the last statement from Jenny, too. Then if they're serious about reconciliation, it can take place in private. Don't count on it.

In the meantime, it looks like Sanford won't be stepping down and there won't be a law enforcement investigation of his actions. So what's next?

Well, there will be the conspiracy theories. One arrived today from the Columbia Christians for Life, a South Carolina anti-abortion group. Here's how they spelled out the key questions in an e-mail sent around today:

Was Maria Chapur assigned to commit adultery with Bilderberger Mark Sanford, potential 2012 U.S. presidential candidate?

1) As a potential U.S. President in 2012, was Sanford initially targeted for seduction into committing adultery so that he could be "controlled" [blackmailed] more easily by the Globalist Establishment, if elected president?

2) Since it appears that CFR-member, 33rd Degree Mason, Catholic Newt Gingrich has been given the "tap" by the Globalist Establishment to be the designated "front-runner" for the Republican 2012 presidential nomination,was Mark Sanford "exposed" because he went off the Globalist plantation by opposing Obama's stimulus,and trying to bill himself as a conservative hero, and positioning himself as a challenger to the NWO's Gingrich?

And you thought it was just a love story.