Okay, so on the home
page I said how I wanted to get away from the divisive nature of politics, and
I do, but one of the big things that people don't understand about my political
views is why I don't like any of the GOP candidates. I just want to devote a
post to the two front-runners to express why I wouldn't want either as the
president.
Newt Gingrich had
a moment on stage at a debate right before the South Carolina primaries that
really brought forward some of his great character flaws that I think should
preclude him from presidential candidacy. He was asked about a recent interview
that his second ex-wife gave regarding their marriage where she said that Newt
asked for an open marriage right before divorcing her (this during a time
shortly after she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis). When asked if he
wanted to respond to the accusation from his ex wife, Newt responded "No,
but I will..." to thunderous applause. He went on to say; "To take an
ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a
presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can
imagine."
I think that Jon Stewart put this the best with
his reaction to Newt's comment: "As close to despicable as you can
imagine?... You imagined your wife, while she was dealing with having MS, would
be open to you having sex with a woman who you had already been having sex with
for six years! I think that you have a pretty good imagination,
despicability-wise!"
I am dumbfounded at how Gingrich was able to win
people over by turning the question around on the media. He took something that
was shameful about him personally and somehow made people see it as an attack
by the liberal media elite on an innocent. I can't comprehend his "as
close to despicable as anything that I can imagine" line and how that
actually went over with people. Assuming that the only things that I have ever
heard in my life had to do with this specific question and Newt's personal
life, this still just barely hits the top four!
The third would
be divorcing your cancer stricken wife to marry the woman that you've been
having an affair with.
The second would be asking your wife of 16 years
(who had recently been diagnosed with MS and is the same woman that you left
your first wife for) to allow you to have an open marriage with
the woman you've been having an affair with for 6 of those years, then
divorcing that wife when she refuses to consent.
Finally, the most despicable thing that I can
imagine: having the nerve to call out a journalist for asking a question about
your personal life, which is clearly relevant to a primary election debate,
when you yourself led the charge against Bill Clinton for a somewhat less
despicable affair. Don't get me wrong, I in no way think that what Clinton did
was okay, but I do think that Gingrich's "somewhat overlapping
marriages" (credit to Jon Stewart) are quite a bit more despicable than
Clinton's affair.
Again, I don't want to get too much into mudslinging,
but this is one of the major reasons that I couldn't support Newt Gingrich as a
presidential candidate. I see him as being
hypocritical, especially as an advocate for the traditional family he
has led such a scandalous personal life.
