Joan Walsh, Salon - "Newt Gingrich, hypocrite in chief"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Wednesday, Mar 9, 2011 16:10 ET

Newt Gingrich, hypocrite in chief
The would-be GOP leader blames his serial adultery on patriotism, says God will forgive him. Will voters?
By Joan Walsh

http://www.salon.com/news/newt_gingrich/index.html?story=/opinion/walsh/politics/2011/03/09/newt_gingrich_hypocrite_in_chief



It's a good thing Newt Gingrich believes in a forgiving God, because he needs so much forgiving. He cheated on, and then abandoned, not just one sick wife, but two. His first wife got Gingrich's final word on their divorce in the hospital, while recovering from cancer surgery; he then married his mistress. Esquire revealed last September that the mistress turned second wife, Marianne Gingrich, learned about Newt's infidelity with a young staffer just after Marianne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Now he's telling Christian Broadcast Network's David Brody that he betrayed two wives because he cared so darn much about his country.

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. 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. I found that I felt compelled to seek God’s forgiveness. Not God’s understanding, but God’s forgiveness. I do believe in a forgiving God. And I think most people, deep down in their hearts hope there’s a forgiving God. Somebody once said that when we’re young, we seek justice, but as we get older, we seek mercy. There’s something to that, I think.

What a hypocrite. Does anyone see evidence that Gingrich believes in a forgiving God or a God of mercy when it comes to anyone but him? As someone raised Catholic, I found another fact about Gingrich's second divorce particularly appalling: Although the Catholic Church forbids divorce, and prohibits divorced Catholics from remarrying, Gingrich actually got the church to "annul" his marriage to Marianne Gingrich, so he could marry mistress Callista Bisek, who is Catholic. And this was before Gingrich himself had even converted to Catholicism. I believe in a forgiving God, too, but the way the church hands out annulments to rich, powerful men -- Rudy Giuliani and Joe Kennedy, to name two others -- has always been a little unsettling to me.

[MNBrewer]

1. Stepford Wife 3.0!

[Zoeisright]

2. Wow. That woman's eyes are SCARY.

Blank, deliberately making them bigger, vacant. Shudder.

[truth2power]

11. Looks like she had some sort of facelift or eyelid surgery that went bad....

Yikes!! :scared:

[dogman]

3. Why is this not treated the same as Sheen's babble?

Is this not an indication of mental instability?

[Raven]

4. I doubt that God is that forgiving. I guess we won't find out until we

get there (if there is a there) but I suspect that God is going to have a list of the times we asked him for forgiveness and whether we are a serial begger for forgiveness. Sorry Newt, but I'm not stupid enough to mistake a con and a grifter for a holy man and God, I suspect, is a lot smarter than I am. :-)

[louslobbs]

5. I'm passionate about politics, so is that the new excuse for cheating on your partner or spouse?

He must be overly passionate and needs to vent the rest of his passion elsewhere, even if a wife is sick and dying LOL. What a pathetic excuse for a human being and alleged leader. He makes me................! What a hypocrite, dirt bag, pig liar.
Lou

[katty]

6. Newt: bobbling idiot

[Lil Missy]

7. That man is a horses ass.

[trusty elf]

8. "how passionately I felt about this country"......

[ScottLand]

9. I love my country so much I cheated on my taxes!

[tomg]

14. Oh yeah, well I love my country and

the free market system so much I opened a meth lab.

[yellowcanine]

10. "things happened in my life that were not appropriate" OKAY THEN!

We all know that shit happens, particularly when one is being patriotic.:rofl:

[Lindsey]

12. And some of this was actually happening when he was in

charge of Impeaching President Clinton. Seriously, there's a special place in Hell for him.

[roxiejules]

13. Newt also said you can't trust anyone with power

I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don't encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around a campfire but are lousy in politics.

-Newt Gingrich

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

15. Cheap Grace nm