Newt Gingrich to announce his bid for the White House on Wednesday
It is now being reported that Newt Gingrich will announce his intentions to run for president on Wednesday. While this has been expected and is not really a shocking revelation I feel that it is now time for me to give my opinion of Newt Gingrich and his probable run for the White House.
Newt Gingrich will not have my vote, and here is why:
Newt Gingrich served his first wife divorce papers while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery and married the woman with whom he was having an affair. Heartless to say the least, but it doesn’t end there. When his second wife was diagnosed with MS he promptly dumped her and married the woman he was cheating on his second wife with, all the while leading the charge against Bill Clinton for his infidelities.
While I am one that thinks a person’s personal life is just that–personal–and that what a person does in the privacy of their own home is none of my business, this shows a lack of morals that I am simply not able to overlook, and when a man is running for public office he throws away any expectation of privacy that he once enjoyed. The way a man conducts himself in private can give us a little insight to how he might govern publicly and if a man cannot be trusted with the most sacred of personal vows and obligations how can I be expected to entrust this man with the future of the country? If a person is so willing to break a vow to a person that he supposedly loves how can he be expected to keep the vows he makes to a nation? I simply cannot get past Newt’s past because it shows a certain moral void and hypocrisy that I find unacceptable. Maybe that reflects more on me than it does on Newt, but so be it.
It was John Adams who once said about the constitution, “our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other,” and on the presidency, “may none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
As someone who believes that the founding fathers were among the most brilliant minds that the world has ever produced I look at these two quotes by John Adams on morality and honesty and I find Newt to be lacking in both. Recently Newt Gingrich offered what must be the most asinine and pathetic excuses for his infidelity when he blamed his love for America and his patriotism for his infidelity; claiming that he was fighting so hard for America that he made bad personal choices. Really Newt? Fighting hard for the country leads him to make bad choices; in other words, should we expect that while he is working hard and fighting for America as president we are supposed to believe he will not make bad choices which will affect us all? In my opinion his excuse calls his judgement into question right along with his morality and his honesty.
Am I being to0 hard on Newt Gingrich, let’s look at another bad choice he recently made:
I don’t think I need to say any more.
Trackbacks
- Newt Gingrich supports healthcare mandates « America's Watchtower
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- Primary news: Rick Perry drops out, Rick Santorum wins Iowa, the latest South Carolina poll, and Newt Gingrich’s personal problems « America's Watchtower
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SD, I agree with most of what you say. But lets review the other side of the argumnet. How can we trust any one in power? Maybe we just don’t ‘know’ yet. Should each election cycle weigh personal fidelity issues? For how many years do we hold politicians accountable? Percentages say that 90% of men will cheat and 80% of women will cheat on their spouses. What if someone matures and is rehabiltated? As well, 50-60% of all marriages end in divorce. As someone who will celebrate 25 years of marriage a week from now I take these questions very seriously. Marriage is work! Is it safe to say we have less high quality political candidtates today than we have had in the past?
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Good questions KP, and I guess the truth is that I no longer trust any of them. If your numbers are true about cheating spouces than that is certainly troubling and perhaps I am holding elected officials to too high of a standard. Congrats on number 25!
I do think that the quality of our candidates is less quality than in years past, but maybe this is just an effect of the 24 hour news cycle. After all JFK’s infidelity is legendary now but was covered up at the time, while FDR died in bed with his mistress but this was also not widely known at the time. Perhaps politicians simply cannot get away with this as they did in the past, but Newt’s transgressions seem to take it to a new level.
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I agree with you and TGY, Newt is crazy smart. He could successfully debate anyone, but his personal life will likely result in him debating again as a poplitical commentator by mid year 2012. As well, while he has all kinds of ideas I am not sure he was ever a great leader.
We see it the same relative to the 24/7 news cycle. It will stop many potential leaders from ever running for high office due to the toll on their families, let alone themselves.
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I wonder if in the end we will lose out on some of the better ones because they simply do not want to deal with the constant media barrage.
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The shame of it is that Gingrich is probably one of the smartest men available to either party as a candidate. Don’t misunderstand – even smart people choose wrong, and just because Newt’s smart doesn’t mean he’s right about everything. Or anything. But I agree with you, Steve, that this man’s personal morality is badly skewed – so badly skewed, in fact, that I think he’ll be hounded early from the race. Look to Twitter for a pretty rapidfire assault on him from the moral perspective, from members of a party whose incumbent President seems to be above reproach in that area.
The shame is that I think there’ll be a lot Newt can bring to the race that’ll be left unexamined. Again, not to suggest that whatever Newt suggests should be adopted, but if Newt suggests something, it deserves a thorough examination. And I doubt Newt will be around long enough to make a lot of proposals.
Take good care and may God bless us all!
TGY
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I agree; I think that Newt is a very smart man, but his morals are skewed to the point where it will be such an issue that it will overshadow everything else. I know it has in my case.
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How many times can we say FAIL on this?
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You know I have mixed feelings here. I’m with you on the moral side of the coin in regards to Gingrich. However he is very solid on the issues and I do believe he does bring something to the discussion; however I’m with you as far as casting my vote for him. I’m not a fan. Out of those who I believe are actually running I like Herman Cain. My number one is not running (Paul Ryan) and that’s a shame in my opinion.
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I love Hermain Cain and as of right now he has my vote. Newt may be solid on the issues but if he were nominated his past would come back to haunt him. I don’t think he is electable.
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When I first started reading this, I thought, yea, we know he’s gonna run, what up? But I didn’t know more than the first divorce. The second only proves that this was not one mistake/fluke, and Newt’s actions go well beyond infidelity. He is heartless, inhuman, and morally bankrupt. Definately not Presidential . . . and then his excuse, for love of country?!? Pathetic. I’m with you, and then some.
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It is a bit humbling to admit, I didn’t know all of Newt’s dark side either. As well, I didn’t know Cain’s full ties to the Fed in Kansas City (which is more philosophical than a moral issue and is not clear, in my view, whether it is a positive or negative). Still, it goes to show I have to keep an open mind while searching out “the rest of the story”.
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I didn’t know about Cain and the Fed either until yesterday, and that is a little concerning to me as well.
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I still can’t get over his excuse, that might be what bothers me the most. He did what he did, but did he really think people would buy the excuse that his partiotism led to his cheating? That is insulting to me.
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Don’t forget his push for amnesty. He’s actually working on that personally while claiming to be a patriot. Then there’s the attack on the tea party. He thinks the tea party spells disaster for the Republicans. Well, he’s right if he’s referring to the business as usual Republicans. Then there’s the infidelity, the Pelosi and Sharpton coddling…the list goes on. He would be the lesser of two political evils in 2012, but an evil just the same.
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I DID forget about his push for amnesty, yet another reason to avoid Newt. He is right about the Tea Party; if the good ole boy Republicans think they can ignore the voters than the Tea Party will hold them accountable, and that would be a disaster for the old guard.
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Newt needs to stay out of the race, plain and simple. With his utter lack of morals and his high level of hypocrisy, I think he will bring nothing but trouble to the Republican Party.
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I am afraid he will be more of a disaster and his private life will prove a distraction at a time when we cannot afford one.
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Newt definitely loves to have the spotlight on Newt. That is why he is willing to say and do some of the outrageous things he says and does. I think Newt had his place and time back in the 90’s, but I think that was his place and time. I also am a little bit disturbed about his past marriages and how they ended, and now he thinks he can trick the electorate into forgetting about his past. No amount of nice photos with your wife, or saying you have learned from the past, is going to change peoples opinion Newt…
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I agree, Newt had his time and his place but it is in the past. It is now time for the Republicans to get some new faces if they are to have any chance in the future.
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Newt Gingrich is part of the old skool Ruling Class, and he needs to go away. But MSM and Beltway types will push the likes of him, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney, precisely for the reason that they are the furthest left of the GOP bunch.
So predictable. The fact that these gentleman can’t see that they need to move over and let the conservative tidal wave through–well that fact alone says a lot.
Great post, Steve. Thanks for the info.
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Well, give credit where credit is due – it was Newt who revived the GOP and led the 1994 revolution with the Contract on America.
Take good care and may God bless us all!
TGY
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Nope. Not giving any credit there.
I know nothing of this 1994 revolution. Yeah, some states when from blue to red for a while. What did it get us?
NADA.
God bless you too, GA Yankee (who I used to think was a troll but isn’t).
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There were some important outcomes of the Republican Revolution in ’94. While much more may have been accomplished it did result in significant change for all of us (left, center and right). Elections and change of power always do.
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They pushed John McCain in 2008 because he was further to the left than the other Republicans only to abandon him in the general election and that is what they will do this time around as well. They figure that if they can help nominate a more left leaning Republican it will make it less offensive to them if that Republican ends up winning the general election, we cannot let them get away with this again.
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The Democrats would love for us to have Newt as our candidate. He would be easy to attack on so many fronts.
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Yep – Newt/Palin!
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UGH!!!
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Exactly!
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I would never vote for Newt and most everyone I know feel the same way. I am sure he is a smart man, but his morals make him very undesirable to lead our country.
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