Newt Gingrich’s campaign to secure the Republican party’s 2012 nomination doesn’t deserve to be taken as seriusly as plenty of serious people seem to be taking it. No-one thinks Newt can win but he receives vastly more coverage than other (and sane!) no-hopers such as Gary Johnson. Perhaps that’s explained by the fact that Newt can’t come within 150 yards of a microphone without making a fool of himself. As a result he provides good copy. Which wins him more publicity. The latest: his marital problems were just the consequence of his patriotism. He tells the Christian Broadcasting Network:
“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.
Emphasis added. But, look, Newt’s problems can’t be wished away. As David Frum says:[…]As a person, I’ve had the opportunity to have a wonderful life, to find myself now, truly enjoying the depths of my life in ways that I never dreamed it was possible to have a life that was that nice.”
It’s not the infidelity. It’s the arrogance, hypocrisy, and – most horrifying to women voters – the cruelty.
Anyone can dump one sick wife. Gingrich dumped two.
Quite. Newt has no chance of winning the nomination but apparently we have to pretend he’s some kind of interesting intellectual rather than a wife-dumping jackass whose chief aim in life is to persuade gullible journalists he’s a figure of substance whose presence adds gravitas and meaning to any occasion. The reality – and he has the wives to prove it – is that Newt only cares about Newt and his campaign, such as it is, will offer further proof of this. The man’s a buffoon, a charlatan and a cad. Even this Republican party can do much better than that. And might too.
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