NYT on Newt's indignation: "Moralizing's High Cost"

[K8-EEE]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/opinion/moralizings-high-cost.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Marianne Gingrich’s most devastating memory is that the day after his request, Mr. Gingrich gave a speech entitled, “The Demise of American Culture.” Among other things, he said in the speech that the elimination of prayer in schools had left American teenagers morally adrift.

Thirteen years later, campaigning for president, Mr. Gingrich is still trying to tell Americans how to run their lives. He supports a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. He accuses Mitt Romney of being insufficiently anti-abortion, even pointing out that Mr. Romney expanded access to abortion pills. He lectures black people about valuing jobs and children in the purgatory of housing projects for lacking a work ethic. He signed a personal pledge to, at long last, “uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse.”

[Old and In the Way]

1. There is no bigger moral relatavist/hypocrite than Newt Gingriach.

[bemildred]

2. Yep, Newt is special, but not in a good way. nt

[pennylane100]

3. I am not sure if there is a god,

However Newt has begun to make me think that he or she may exist. How else can one explain the gift of Newt as a possible opponent in the next presidential election .

[Atman]

4. Just like any other rightie...Santorum also comes to mind...

As a general rule, if you spend most of your time pontificating about some certain amoral act -- be it male teenage prostitutes or marital fidelity -- chances are that you are doing so as a means to mask the skeletons in your own closet. How many of these assholes have we seen brought down, as they cry to their congregations that Jesus should forgive them.

That, imho, is the biggest problem with "religion." Virtually every one of the major organized religions is based upon getting to some version of a "heaven," no matter what your transgressions. Thus, a Jimmy Swaggart can diddle prostitutes, but as long as he accepts a mythical floating ghost's son, he's good. Newt can cheat on wife after wife after wife and impeach another dude for getting a blow job, then feign outrage at the media for ignoring the important stuff. '

Over and over again, these cretins dupe the easily dupe-able, the GOP, the uneducated. They have created the perfect "system." It is completely, 100% unverifiable. "Just trust us! Believe in the floating ghost, and send me 10% of your salary! Meanwhile, I'll be be fucking teenaged boys or cheating on my cancer-ridden wife. In their world, it is all perfectly acceptable, just so long as you cry as little when you're caught, and beg for forgiveness from an imaginary sky dude.

Then there are those of us who do not seek "forgiveness," do not seek a mythical savior, do not rely on imaginary floating ghost, do not figure we can do whatever we want while alive because we'll be forgiven once dead...we just live moral lives. We do what people are supposed to do not because we're afraid burning in hell, rather, because we're afraid of just being shitty persons.

I don't want to be a shitty person, so I am nice to people, I treat people well, I don't cheat on my wife, I don't diddle teenage male prostitutes...not because I'm afraid of a mythical fire-breathing bad dude, or because I'm seeking the love of a giant guy in flowing white robes who lives in the clouds. I live a good life because that is how I believe we're supposed to treat each other. But this current crop of homophobic, wife-swapping, tax-cheating, philandering, racist GOP assholes all swear one thing in common...their "God" will forgive them for their sins.

How CONVENIENT. Just do whatever the fuck you want, and as long as you beg forgiveness and cry a little bit, you're cool. Or you could just be a good person in the first place.

.