MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Finally, some smart thinking about Newt Gingrich

• Posted by Beth on March 9th, 2007 filed in Blogs, General, Politics    

Tags: Newt Gingrich, 2008 elections, primaries

A confession–one that everyone already knew about:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.

Well, I beg to differ with the characterization of Gingrich as having “led the charge against President Clinton”–in fact, he was unusually silent during that episode, and it was widely acknowledged at the time. However, his infidelity wasn’t exactly a closely-guarded secret, either.

Michelle Malkin notes,

Whether they’ll buy into Gingrich as the best standard-bearer for the party and most deserving candidate for commander-in-chief–as opposed to anything more than the quick-thinking debater, cable TV guest, and lecturer that he now is–is another matter.

No kidding. In virtually every poll among bloggers and activists that I’ve seen, including the poll at CPAC, Newt commands a large base of support. All along, I’ve been saying, What are these people thinking? I’ve argued in comments all over the blogosphere and in email with Gingrich’s supporters, reminding them of not only his negative approval ratings, but his potentially higher negative ratings if the general populace were to become better informed about his personal issues. And make no mistake, they will.

Reports of extramarital affairs have dogged him for years as a result of two messy divorces, but he has refused to discuss them publicly.

Gingrich, who frequently campaigned on family values issues, divorced his second wife, Marianne, in 2000 after his attorneys acknowledged Gingrich’s relationship with his current wife, Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide more than 20 years younger than he is.

His first marriage, to his former high school geometry teacher, Jackie Battley, ended in divorce in 1981. Although Gingrich has said he doesn’t remember it, Battley has said Gingrich discussed divorce terms with her while she was recuperating in the hospital from cancer surgery.

Gingrich married Marianne months after the divorce.

Anyone who’s been seriously paying attention knows this, of course. Yet many have refused to acknowledge it, or they’ve just been wishing it would go away. It won’t. Think about it, Gingrich fans: if this were Barack Obama’s personal history, wouldn’t you make it an issue? Or Bill Clinton’s? Wait…we did do that. And rightfully so. So why give Gingrich a pass? You can’t have it both ways.

Sure, you can parse it by saying “Clinton did it in the White House,” and you’d be right that his actions were particularly egregious. But at the same time, so were Gingrich’s actions, specifically in the case of his first marriage. I’m sorry, but I find it even more so. And of course we can say “Bill Clinton lied about it, Newt didn’t,” and that would be correct as well. Still, that doesn’t absolve Gingrich of his failings. I for one find the circumstances of his first divorce unforgivable. Maybe it hits closer to home for me, or maybe you see it the same way. But having been through a very unnervingly similar situation, I know it takes a special kind of selfishness and lack of empathy to do such a thing.

At least Newt has brains in his favor, though. It makes him a “quick-thinking debater, cable TV guest, and lecturer,” but not a great candidate and not a great leader of this country. Gingrich is, in my opinion, absolutely right on the issues, but so are a lot of people. For that matter, so am I. Are you gonna vote for me for President? (Sorry, I’m not running this time.) See, it’s about more than being smart and positions on the issues of the day; it’s about a lot of things, including having admirable character and the ability to relate to all Americans–two things which I believe Gingrich is sorely lacking. Like Clinton or not, he was able to project the image to a hell of a lot of voters of being a Bubba who could “feel the pain” of the average American (spare me), and that’s what saved him. More to the point, Ace puts it this way (read his whole post):

Gingrich just isn’t a guy you can mistake for “just good folks.” He’s a brainy, smart-mouthed, silver-tongued Harvard-type who just happens to be a firebrand ideological conservative, laying claim to two archetypes the American people don’t seem to like all that much.

I like Gingrich’s teevee personality. I like brainy and smart-mouthed. I like his politics. I like his ability to get things done. But like Ace said, a lot of people don’t. I just can’t get past the sense that his personal morals are as malleable and compartmentalized as Clinton’s. I don’t want another President who can’t get anything done because he’s busy dealing with matters related to his genitals, thanks, and I don’t want to take that chance. Not that Gingrich would get to the Presidency, even if he got the nomination–anyone who thinks the Democrats wouldn’t savage him is frankly delusional, if not just plain stupid. Admit it–as I said, you’d do it too, if it were any of the Democratic candidates.

I also have to wonder what the hell Newt’s thinking, with his considering a run. Clearly he’s only listening to his supporters, and not to the ideologically like-minded who are being more realistic about what his candidacy would look like. It seems as though he’s in denial about his own negatives, although I suppose for the ambitious man with adoring fans equally in denial, it might be easy to be that way. I suppose.

But if you want to support a sure loser so you can say “I vote for the person who shares my views,” go ahead. See how that works out for you, when Hillarobama is elected President. See if that self-righteousness gets you what you want. Be that “Party of Stupid” they talk about.