It’s no secret that the media is out to get Newt Gingrich. As a Washington outsider, he’s an easy target for the elite, liberal channels that so cunningly filter the truth out of the news that the American public consumes. The man is well aware that should he face Obama in a debate, he’ll need to do it mano y mano, without a moderator, because all reporters are for Obama. Truly, he is the quintessential underdog, who’s waged a hard-fought war of a presidential campaign against opponents with superior funding, but whom lack the intelligence, morality, or earnest character needed to be our next president. None of these opponents can stand in the way of our paragon of virtue, Newt Gingrich.
Newt.
Gingrich.
This has got to be some kind of bad comedy, because its almost too bizarre to be real. Have we as a nation failed to educate ourselves so heinously that Newt Gingrich can be considered a viable candidate for President of the United States of America? Newt Gingrich is a deeply flawed human being – just like the rest of us. That being said, his rationalizations and defenses of his past – and his actions in the present – that make him uniquely and completely unfit to lead a presidential campaign, let alone a nation. As a media-consuming public, we can never really be sure which Newt we’re going to get: The Newt of action, who’s on his third wife and was investigated for 75 different ethics violations? Or recovering sinner Catholic Newt, for whom we should forgo his past to join in his vision of the future? …And if we join him, is that as political insider Newt, or political outsider Newt? So many questions. Not that Fatal Downflaw hasn’t taken Mr. Gingrich to task before, but here are a few choice points to compare:
| Newt Gingrich, Paragon of Virtue | Newt Gingrich, Human Being | |
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May 11, 2011 – declares run for president | June 9, 2011 – entire campaign senior staff resigns during Candidate Newt’s two week luxury vacation in Greece |
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1998 – Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich shows restraint during the Clinton impeachment hearings | March, 2007 – Serial Adulterer Newt Gingrich admits to carrying on his own affair during the Clinton impeachment proceedings |
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December 12, 2011 – Endorses – but does not sign – the Family Leader Pledge, then compares himself to FDR. | December 20th, 2011 – Gingrich endorsed by AshleyMadison.com, an adultery dating website. |
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August 8th, 1981 – Newt marries second wife Marianne Ginther – sometime after having the “divorce talk” with his first wife, supposedly during her hospital stay, recovering from cancer. Newt & Marianne later divorce after she denies his request for an open marriage. | January 19th, 2012 – Gingrich eats John King’s soul during the SC GOP primary debate for daring to ask about Newt’s personal life |
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January, 2012 – Embattled Newt Gingrich responds to countless attacks against him by the liberal, elite media. | January, 2012 – countless media outlets acknowledge Newt’s media-savvy strategy of attacking the media |
Then there are things like his dual half-million revolving lines of credit at Tiffany’s, which he may or may not have defended in suspect fashion, and the ethically dicey position of being paid outrageous sums of money by lobbyists as opposed to yourself having the title of “lobbyist”, but whatever. That difference is an awfully big deal to Newton.
But even with the audacity of Newt’s carefully composed outrage at being asked about the details of his past marriages, let’s not direct too much hate at the Republican primary’s most notable historian. What is most astounding is not what Newt’s selling – it’s that we’re buying it. On January 21st, 2012, nearly a quarter-million people in South Carolina voted for Newt to be the republican nominee for President of the United States of America. THAT IS A LOT OF PEOPLE. And if it were only South Carolina, maybe we could, as a nation, hold an intervention. Get them some help, teach their children the value of media analysis, demonstrate some base concepts of making decisions in the present based not only on present information, but also a knowledge of the past. Maybe we could even get them to turn off Fox News for a little while.
In the hit reality television show that is the 2012 GOP Primary, Newt has pleaded the part of the underfunded underdog – while managing to tiptoe past any mentions of Citizens United, which he continues to insist has nothing to do with Romney’s massive commercial blitzes against (Newt’s) campaign. Tommy Christopher sums it up pretty nicely in the linked article:
That’s what Citizens United is, Newt. A bunch of millionaires getting together to run a negative campaign.
Newt is doing only what he must to survive in the ratings, be they Nielsen or ballots – and in 2012, that line is increasingly blurred. He’s as much a media darling as Herman Cain, Michelle Bachman, and anyone else with the cash money to make a run for the GOP nomination. Don’t hate Newt; he’s just selling what people will buy. If, on the other hand, you’re buying… You’re not part of the problem, you’re the problem. Newt Gingrich presents a thin façade of principled intellectualism that barely covers his storied past as a controversial politician, and not even controversial for good reasons – they’re not good at all. If you’ve allowed your vision to become so clouded that you’re willing to believe in Newt’s vision for America, do the rest of the country a favor and go vote somewhere else.
Let’s be clear: Newt wants to run for President, more power to him. You go, boy. But to hold any shred of belief that this man is an ideal world leader is the worst kind of ignorance. Whatever else this says about Americans, if Newt Gingrich is elected as our next President, we deserve him.
