Affairs with Newt

Daniel Kulick, issue 16, Newt Gingrich, opinions, Opinion - By Daniel Kulick on Thursday, February 2, 2012 - 03:15

Out of the eight primary Republican candidates to enter the race, only four remain, and of those four, the man showing the least conservative values sits atop the ranks.

Newt Gingrich is a former Speaker of the House from the Clinton presidency. During that time, Gingrich attacked Clinton’s policies and personal life to great extent, making Clinton’s adultery a grand spectacle. Gingrich left his position as speaker under suspicion of ethics violations and a second affair with his third and current wife. Not to mention that he left his first wife when she got cancer and left his second wife when she got Multiple Sclerosis.

Romney, Gingrich’s opponent, is already the frontrunner in Nevada, and Gingrich will have to close the gap quickly if he hops to get the presidential nomination. On the same day that his second wife came out with a story claiming he proposed an open marriage, Rick Perry cast his endorsement in Gingrich’s favor; I was immediately surprised and revolted by his unfaithfulness.

Then Gingrich goes into a debate in South Carolina on Jan. 19th where the very first question asked is about whether or not this alleged proposal is true. Instead of speaking with any sort of dignity or even defending his actions, if they are defensible, or simply denying the charges, Gingrich threw a fit on national television. He completely dodged the issue and the question entirely.

I shouldn’t be surprised. It was wrong for that question to be asked at the very opening of the debate, but it appears that Gingrich’s response was well thought out, no matter when that question came up in the debate. I am just upset that this candidate put one of our presidents through public criticism based on his adultery, while Gingrich himself has demonstrated not once, but twice that he is uncommitted and untrustworthy, and ultimately a worse adulterer than former President Bill Clinton.

Despite this, he leads both Ron Paul and Rick Santorum in the Nevada polls. It seems silly to me that voters would prefer a candidate—or president, should Newt Gingrich get that far—that is not only a hypocrite but also breaks with his traditional base by committing adultery.

A presidential candidate’s personal life shouldn’t be the deciding factor on if they would make a good president or not, but if Gingrich is going to point out Clinton’s affairs in an attempt to bash him, he really should not be surprised when the same thing happens to him.

Given the generally traditional base of the republican party and how highly they hold the “sanctity of marriage,” it is surprising to see how well Gingrich is doing in the polls. But we still have a long time to go before anything is official.