Serial presidential campaign flirter Newt Gingrich doesn't just have problems -- dating back 16 years -- committing to a run for the White House. For even longer, Gingrich has basically been thinking about forming an exploratory committee into monogamy, a situation that has now left him in the position where his potential first lady would actually be his third. Today, Maggie Haberman details Gingrich's interview with the Christian Broadcast Network, where he admits that he was doing "things that were wrong," in his married life. And yet he makes it sound like he was doing those things because of forces well beyond his control! "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," Gingrich told CBN's David Brody, in an interview taped at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition and posted online Tuesday night. "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," Gingrich said. "I found that I felt compelled to seek God's forgiveness. Not God's understanding, but God's forgiveness. I think it's absolutely first-rate that Gingrich didn't demand understanding from God, given that this is all very hard to understand. All Gingrich can tell you, about that time he left his cancer-stricken wife for another lady who became the multiple sclerosis-stricken wife he left for his current mistress-turned-wife is that he "was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them," possibly because he "worked too hard" because he felt "passionately ... about this country." Think about that, America: Newt Gingrich did all of those things because he loved you so very much! And when things got tough for America, he didn't leave us for New Zealand or Ecuador or Portugal, as if we were some woman. Gingrich stuck by America, and if the pressure of our demands got to be so great that it forced him to philander from time to time, then maybe we need to take responsibility for that. When Gingrich left Marianne for his current wife, Callista, here's how he explained the situation to his second wife: She called a minister they both trusted. He came over to the house the next day and worked with them the whole weekend, but Gingrich just kept saying she was a Jaguar and all he wanted was a Chevrolet. "'I can't handle a Jaguar right now.' He said that many times. 'All I want is a Chevrolet.'" He asked her to just tolerate the affair, an offer she refused. Even in his tortured love life, all Gingrich wanted to do was support the American automobile industry! Newt is pretty sure that he'll keep Callista because he's finally "truly enjoying the depths of my life in ways that I never dreamed it was possible to have a life that was that nice." Callista has helped Gingrich embrace Catholicism -- a religion whose attraction, for Gingrich, managed to fully bloom after she introduced him to the concept of annulment. As Christopher Buckley joked, "Mother Church can be rigid, but at times--bless her--she can think like a $700-an-hour K Street lawyer." Also thinking like a K Streeter? Newt's pal, Ralph Reed: "I think as long as he's prepared to confront those challenges and he can do so in an authentic way, people's (inclination) will be to be forgiving. Who wants to be judged on their past? Everybody has had issues." Yes, that's Ralph Reed saying, "Who wants to be judged on their past?" As Alex Pareene wryly observed: "Ralph Reed has become so ... morally laissez faire." Gingrich's embrace of Catholicism calls to mind the teachings of 15th-century Dominican Johann Tetzel, who famously remarked, "As soon as money in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory's fire springs." At any rate, Newt Gingrich is facing some tough decisions about how he's going to serve the country he's so passionate about, so if there is a way that America could maybe stop breaking up his marriages for the time being, that would be really nice.
Almost brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it? I wonder if someone could explain the Edwards/Gingrich paradox to me. When Edwards was cheating on his cancer-stricken wife, his name became mud and he had to exit politics. However, when Gingrich cheated on his cancer-stricken wife, all the while pointing his finger and passing judgment on Clinton during the Lewinsky affair, just to add to the duplicity and hypocrisy, it doesn't seem to matter to God's Own Party, the GOP. The party of morality and virtue. How is it that Edwards was discarded while Gingrich is golden?
Newt and his fellow christians have that get out of jail free card in their wallets the way I have my grocery stores gasoline discount card in mine. Absolution in perpetuity. Fill em up Newt.
Love is blind. Same effect is seen in Palin worshipers, etc. By the way, I was thinking about Howard Dean. Shame about the scream incident in Iowa in 2008. However, one scream ruined his political career for the dems. Now, if Dean were a republican and that happened, all he would have to do is say "The Lord took over my spirit and I was screaming in joy of the second coming. The scream was just a pre-rapture scream to signal to those sinning liberals that Jesus is coming to send you to Hell. I look forward to the rapture." If he said that, he would increase the number of republican followers like Jesus increased bread and wine...
Edwards had to deal with all the feminists in the democratic party, plus he knocked the girl up. A big no-no. For some reason, Clinton and Gingrich get a pass. Isn't that the way it is in ordinary life. the cad gets a pass? Heck, Clinton had the sluts lined up at his front door. Lol.
Whereas Gingrich met them at church? How does Gingrich get a pass from God's Own Party for serial infidelity? Are not the conservatives the bearers of the gold standard when it comes to rectitude? Remember, we are talking about a repeat offender who cheats on, and then leaves, disease-stricken wives. The guy's got it down to a system.
Conservatives bearers of the gold standard? Maybe twenty years ago. Lot of hypocrites running around nowadays, though in both parties. I am agree though, not sticking by his diseased wife is lowest of the low.
Maybe so, but they still claim God as their own and no one else's. They are the ones who want God in government. And it goes without saying that they know exactly what God wants. Because, serendipitously, it always seems to coincide exactly with what they want. Such a marvelously celestial alignment, wouldn't you say?
I really do not believe thinking Americans believe that, even the conservative ones, of which I lean toward.
Thinking Americans, no. Conservatives, almost always. Present company excluded, just listen to a conservative speak for any length of time. Invariably, he or she will invoke God and assume a place setting at His right side. Gingrich is regarded as the Right's "intellectual powerhouse." He invokes God, and his unyielding alignment with Him, with predictable regularity. Does this mean that the Right's "intellectual powerhouse" is not a thinking American? (Trick question.)