Good going, So. Carolina Teapublicans, for supporting this hypocrite. Good going for trashing a real family values guy, Barack Hussein Obama, for the last 4 years, and cheering on a guy you wouldn't want near your daughters or granddaughters.
Of course we believe in redemption, it is YOU who don't.
It is the Teapartiers who never forgave a stupid stunt by very young Jane Fonda, or the terrible tragedy that involved Ted Kennedy. It is the family values crowd who continue to this day hammering President Obama for belonging to Rev. Wright's congregation, even when he left it and cut all ties with Wright. It is the Teapublicans who carry resentment and contempt in their hearts toward anyone who they believe has erred from the righteous and true path, and it is they who never accept people who change their hearts and learn from their mistakes.
EXCEPT, EXCEPT, EXCEPT for when it happens to one of theirs, then they go all Jesus-like and embrace the sinner, while rejecting the sin. How holier than thou of them. How utterly sanctimoniously one-sided in their forgiveness toward people they see as sinners.
Like the bully that he is, Gingrich, with faux indignation and belicose ranting, closed down a legitimate discussion about his asking his wife for an open marriage so that he could guiltlessly carry on with his mistress. It worked for the audience in So. Carolina, which apparently defends family values only when they are being trashed by Democrats. Then do the Teapublicans fall all over themselves to show America how Christian and caring for the family they are. Hypocritical weasels. All of them.
Here are a few other statements by pundits who watched the whole stomach-turning Gringrich debacle last night:
via Andrew Sullivan's blog The Daily Dish:
Will Wilkinson counters:
Newt's desperate opening attack on the media for daring to listen to what his ex-wife has to say about him was enthusiastically received by the crowd, but I thought made him look like a snarling, cornered dog.
Andrew Sprung:
Newt's little show of high moral dudgeon when asked at the opening gun about his ex-wife's allegations of cruel, self-serving betrayal is getting rave reviews as performance art. And it was an astounding display of the Audacity of Hubris. In the space of a minute or two, Gingrich managed to blame or condemn questioner John King, the news media, his ex-wife and Barack Obama for his being forced to address the consequences of his serial adultery.
PM Carpenter:
Gingrich's opening Joe McCarthy offensive -- he reveled in assaulting Bill Clinton's personal transgressions, but his are unfairly targeted by the vindictive media -- was perhaps the most despicable display of grotesque demagoguery I have ever witnessed.
And then there's this:
A reader writes:
Sorry Andrew, but I can not agree with your thoughts about Newt's private sex life. IF it had been a one time thing, maybe, but he cheated on TWO wives, and I don't think it a "bitter" thing for his second wife to come out on the campaign trail and tell the world the facts. The man is a lying, cheating hypocrite and certainly gets no sympathy from me. He sure showed no sympathy, charity or forgiveness to Clinton. I am a practicing Buddhist and it is what we call karma.
Another writes:
I know you don't consider ABC's piece a scoop because it was covered a while back by Esquire, and you are technically correct. That said, most people don't read Esquire and have no idea Gingrich had been so cheeky as to ask for an open marriage. And nobody has actually seen Newt's ex-wife tell all, an act that will have a very different emotional impact than reading an article in a magazine.
Another:
I am so angry with you right now*. Did you really (really?) use the words "bitter" and "hell hath no fury..." to describe the ex-Mrs. Gingrich's motives? You rightly decry when Newt uses dog-whistle signals about race, but then you fall prey to the same tactics in relation to gender? COME ON!
I would ask you: if you had been married to someone whose truest colors (the hypocrisy) hadn't really been dissected, and years and years later your ex-husband was somewhat this close to becoming leader of the free world, would you stand by idly? Would you not feel a responsibility to shed some light on his...awfulness? I suspect you would. But because she's a woman she's bitter and furious? So very unfair, and surprising, from you. Stop it.
*My real life boyfriend (I'm female) calls you my "Internet boyfriend" because I am always pointing out to him how right you are about most issues. So I guess this is our first fight. He's very happy right now.
Another:
If Marianne is "bitter", which I doubt from my reading of the Esquire interview, then we need more of her type of patriotic bitterness. Her interview went far beyond the hypocritical adultery. She disclosed symptoms which look like sociopathy or mental health issues. She doesn't believe Newt is fit for the presidency and I'm grateful she has the courage to come forward. Hopefully, ABC’s interview takes the right tone and puts the emphasis in the right place. Hopefully, the inevitable attacks against Marianne, the messenger, won't dissuade the media from aggressively pursuing the very real possibility of Newt's incompetence.
Good stuff. More HERE.
