“The Presidency is about character.” How many aspiring politicians and television talking-heads have uttered that phrase or a variant thereof? I’m sure former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has said it. But does he understand it?
Now that Gingrich is running for President, a spotlight has been shone upon his life. They say sunlight is the best disinfectant, but like the neural parasites of Deneva, some things are allergic to light.
Let’s take moment and review Newt Gingrich’s character. And since Newt is so obsessed with protecting marriage and peeking into other people’s bedrooms, let us concentrate on that aspect of his character.
Gingrich met his first wife when he was in high school – Jackie Battley was his geometry teacher, to be precise. They married when he was 19 and she 26. Newt ran around on his first wife, and belittled her as “not young enough or pretty enough” to be a politician’s wife. He told Jackie he wanted a divorce while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery. (Newt’s campaign has tried to dispute this, but court documents back up Jackie’s account.) Newt’s mistress at the time, Marianne Ginther, became Wife No. 2 a mere six months later.
While Gingrich was leading the House Republicans’ crusade to impeach President Clinton, he was having an affair himself, with Callista Bisek. Newt had already told Marianne that he wanted an “open marriage”. As any right-thinking person would, Marianne was not welcome to that idea. When Marianne was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Newt jumped ship, paving the way to install Callista as Wife No. 3.
Callista Gingrich has had the good fortune to maintain her looks – if that’s your cup of tea – and, so far as we know, her health. So, Newt has sought fit to lavish her with six-figures in goodies from Tiffany’s. Callista is 23 years younger than Newt. But one wonders what Newt, now 68, will do when Callista begins to sag. The best predictor of future behavior is past performance.
Newt’s wives have a tendency to become sick while married to him, and he discards them as if they were used condoms. Apparently, the phrase “in sickness and in health” means nothing to him. This is the very definition of a toxic person. Yet the whole time, Newt preaches the “family values” agenda - which has long been nothing more than an attempt to outlaw abortion, served up with a side of thinly veiled gay bashing.
In my experience, those who crow the most about family values are the least likely to live them.
For contrast, consider President Obama. He has consistently supported reproductive rights. He has been consistently for LGBT rights with the exception of full marriage for same-sex couples – to the extent that he’s done more for LGBT people than any President in history. He’s even stated repeatedly that he’s “evolving” on the marriage issue – coded-language to all but the completely tone deaf that his position will evolve to full marriage rights on November 7, 2012. By all reliable accounts, Barack Obama has led a morally upright life, and has been a model father and husband. He doesn’t spend his time telling others how to run their private lives, content to manage his own.
There is a great divide between “having character” and “being a character”, and Newt Gingrich is on the wrong side of that divide.
Now that Gingrich is running for President, a spotlight has been shone upon his life. They say sunlight is the best disinfectant, but like the neural parasites of Deneva, some things are allergic to light.
Let’s take moment and review Newt Gingrich’s character. And since Newt is so obsessed with protecting marriage and peeking into other people’s bedrooms, let us concentrate on that aspect of his character.
Gingrich met his first wife when he was in high school – Jackie Battley was his geometry teacher, to be precise. They married when he was 19 and she 26. Newt ran around on his first wife, and belittled her as “not young enough or pretty enough” to be a politician’s wife. He told Jackie he wanted a divorce while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery. (Newt’s campaign has tried to dispute this, but court documents back up Jackie’s account.) Newt’s mistress at the time, Marianne Ginther, became Wife No. 2 a mere six months later.
While Gingrich was leading the House Republicans’ crusade to impeach President Clinton, he was having an affair himself, with Callista Bisek. Newt had already told Marianne that he wanted an “open marriage”. As any right-thinking person would, Marianne was not welcome to that idea. When Marianne was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Newt jumped ship, paving the way to install Callista as Wife No. 3.
Callista Gingrich has had the good fortune to maintain her looks – if that’s your cup of tea – and, so far as we know, her health. So, Newt has sought fit to lavish her with six-figures in goodies from Tiffany’s. Callista is 23 years younger than Newt. But one wonders what Newt, now 68, will do when Callista begins to sag. The best predictor of future behavior is past performance.
Newt’s wives have a tendency to become sick while married to him, and he discards them as if they were used condoms. Apparently, the phrase “in sickness and in health” means nothing to him. This is the very definition of a toxic person. Yet the whole time, Newt preaches the “family values” agenda - which has long been nothing more than an attempt to outlaw abortion, served up with a side of thinly veiled gay bashing.
In my experience, those who crow the most about family values are the least likely to live them.
For contrast, consider President Obama. He has consistently supported reproductive rights. He has been consistently for LGBT rights with the exception of full marriage for same-sex couples – to the extent that he’s done more for LGBT people than any President in history. He’s even stated repeatedly that he’s “evolving” on the marriage issue – coded-language to all but the completely tone deaf that his position will evolve to full marriage rights on November 7, 2012. By all reliable accounts, Barack Obama has led a morally upright life, and has been a model father and husband. He doesn’t spend his time telling others how to run their private lives, content to manage his own.
There is a great divide between “having character” and “being a character”, and Newt Gingrich is on the wrong side of that divide.
1 comment:
Hi, Hank. In an earlier comment I already hinted at my contempt for Newt Gingrich, and your post exposes him for what he is: a reactionary hypocrite, and a farcical excuse for a politician (let alone for a candidate to the US presidency). And the other names from the Republican side - Romney, Santorum, etc - also give me the creeps. I hope Barack Obama gets reelected, for the good not only of America but of the whole world. Best regards, Carlos
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