Former Sanford aide cracks Argentina joke after papal election

The former chief of staff to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who was censured by his state legislature in 2009 after admitting an affair with an Argentine woman, joked on Twitter that "nobody complains when the College of Cardinals goes to Argentina.”

See, nobody complains when the College of Cardinals goes to Argentina. #marksanford

— Scott English (@scott_english) March 13, 2013

The tweet was a reference to Wednesday's election of Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the next pope. Bergoglio will assume the name Pope Francis I.

Sanford drew fire in 2009 when he disappeared for nearly a week in June with his whereabouts unknown by his wife and his security detail. He told his staff he would be hiking on the Appalachian Trail. He was later spotted by a reporter at the Atlanta airport returning from Argentina; Sanford subsequently admitted having conducted an affair.

Sanford is in the midst of a congressional campaign for South Carolina's 1st District, vying for the seat vacated by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) upon his appointment to the Senate.

In an interview earlier this year with The Hill, Sanford said that he "lived in a soap opera world," but hoped voters would forgive him.

“The reality of humanity is if you live long enough you’ll fail at something. And I failed, period. There’s no getting around it,” he said. “What I learned in the wake of that is that there’s this amazing reservoir of grace. A lot of people have told me they’re not going to judge me on my worst day any more than on my best day. I hope they’d look at the whole of what I’ve been doing in this community for 52 years and public office for 20 years.”

--Cameron Joseph contributed.

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