You are here: Home » Commentary » My Mistake, Newt’s Marriages Do Matter To Some

My Mistake, Newt’s Marriages Do Matter To Some

Was it just a few hours ago I wrote that Newt being a serial adulterer wouldn’t bring him down? I may be wrong. A previously unknown group calling itself Iowans for Christian Leaders in Government has created a really nasty pamphlet about Newt’s marital history. It is being circulated in Iowa, which has a very deep core of Christian conservative voters, who are especially visible at the caucuses.

The pamphlet asks “If Newt Gingrich can’t be faithful to his wife, how can we trust him to be faithful to conservative voters?” Now, that’s a low blow, really below the belt.

There is a direction that so far no one is taking as concerns Newt’s moral compass….it has to do with what he hath wrought in Washington.

When Newt became Speaker of the House, he urged his Republican colleagues to leave their families back in their home districts instead of moving them to Washington. In the view of older Washington wives, like Marvella Bayh, this helped create the partisan rancor in the House and Senate. Members were no longer socializing after hours. Their kids were no longer going to school together. They weren’t attending church together.

But there was a broader consequence. Since they no longer were purchasing or renting houses in the suburbs for their families, Congressmen, including present Speaker John Boehner, accepted “deals” on rentals, or they accepted housing such as the C Street House run by The Fellowship at ridiculously low prices. The rules concerning squatting in their offices were lifted, and somewhere between 40 and 50 (no one knows the exact number) of Congressmen are sleeping in their offices, costing us increased utilities and security for four huge office buildings. And then there’s the epidemic of sexting and whoring. No wife to go home to, well, just post your shirtless picture on-line, or speed dial your favorite madam.

Gingrich made the argument at the time that leaving families at home would allow House members to more fully concentrate on governance. Funny, that’s the excuse he gave for his affair with Calista, he was just so completely involved, so passionately dedicated to this country that he was working too hard. What should matter to Christians in Iowa isn’t just Newt’s own marital history, but the way his instructions to his caucus gave them permission to accept unethical gifts of housing, cheat on their wives and cheat the taxpayers.

 

Related articles

• Newt Gingrich back from the brink (cnn.com)
• Poll: It’s a Four-Way Tie in Iowa’s Anyone-But-Romney Primary (advocate.com)
• Newt Is Dumb, Ctd (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
• Michael J. Hunt: Iowa College Republican Chair Picks Gingrich As ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ (huffingtonpost.com)
• Sweet and Sour Newt (slate.com)
• Newt’s surge: can a wonk be president? | Ana Marie Cox (guardian.co.uk)
• Newt Gingrich Paid $300,000 By Freddie And Fannie To Court Republicans (alan.com)
• The skeletons in Newt Gingrich’s closet (atlmalcontent.wordpress.com)