Holy Newt
Passionate about country and other women
Rationalization is a rare talent, yet one that seems to be easily developed – even refined and perfected – by those in public life. Take the case of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. The Georgia Republican who crafted Congress’ “Contract with America” will likely be among the crowd seeking favor in the 2012 presidential primaries. To make his case for the nation’s top job, Gingrich, who is married to his third wife, has to mend a few fences smashed during his Washington days, especially with the religious right.
Now there’s nothing in the law against multiple marriages, if that’s your fancy – unless some of the unions overlap. Gingrich’s didn’t. But the relationships that led to marriage? Those did, and rather scandalously. Gingrich married his high school sweetheart, Jackie, after graduation. It wasn’t a traditional high school romance in that she wasn’t a classmate. She was seven years his senior and his geometry teacher.
Fast-forward to the day Jackie was served with the “terms of their divorce.” She was in the hospital recovering from surgery for cervical cancer. A few months later, he married his second wife, Marianne, a congressional assistant with whom he admitted having an affair during his first marriage. He’s now married to his third wife, Callista – with whom he acknowledges he had an affair in the mid-1990s, while he was married to Marianne. And here’s where the rationalization expertise comes into play.
Gingrich said in a recent interview that it wasn’t his fault. It was his “passion for his country” that led to his behavior. “There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate,” Gingrich told the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Poor fellow, he was working so hard and was so dedicated to the betterment of America that all of that “passion” spilled over into his personal life. Improper relationships in the workplace are nothing new. But using one’s passion for the work as an excuse for multiple marital infidelities is a bit of a stretch, even when trying to make nice with straitlaced and deeply religious potential voters. He did ask for forgiveness, he said, although apparently not from Jackie or Marianne. “I think most people, deep down in their hearts, hope there’s a forgiving God,” he said on CBN’s “The Brody File.” Gingrich is also proud of what all of these “experiences” have taught him, noting that now that he is 67 and a grandfather (with “wonderful” daughters and “two great sons-in-law” and a “great marriage”), he has “learned an immense amount.”
And the affair with Callista? It was during the time he was pushing for the impeachment of President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair. “There were times I was praying and felt I was doing things that were wrong but I was still doing them,” he told members of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group. Gingrich says the impeachment hearings weren’t about the affair, but rather about whether Clinton had lied about it. Otherwise, he said, he would be the last person able to “throw stones.” Nonetheless, he exhibited a pretty good arm.
It’s not his affairs that should give voters’ pause, though. It’s his hypocrisy when trying to court favor.
During the CBN broadcast, when Gingrich was asked to define the qualities of a great president, he said that the public needs to be able to look at a candidate and understand if the candidate shares their values.
So as not to throw stones, we won’t ask the obvious question. But if a potential candidate is going to put so much stock in character, shouldn’t he -or she – have some?
Scripps Howard News Service