HYPOCRITE

There are times when I wonder how it is that the Republican Party feels so freakin' strongly about standing on their "moral values". The few good Republicans that I know (my partner's family included) will find this as shameful as I do. What I've discovered is that "moral values" really only counts when you're blowing smoke up the American public's collective ass trying to get votes.

The good, moral people that I know include Republican, Democrats, heterosexuals, homosexuals and every shade and gender in the middle.

Anyone else ready for something other than this bullshit in our politics?


Gingrich acknowledges affair during Clinton impeachment
POSTED: 11:03 p.m. EST, March 8, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.

"The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press.

"There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards."

Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity.

"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. (Nice, isn't it, how he tries to change the story at this point in the game? I don't remember him using this argument when he was busy trying to impeach the President. Nope, back then it was all about cum on poor Monica's dress.)

"I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials." (Interesting...it seems that on a "purely personal level" Newt has no problem with infidelity. I wonder how his stance will change when he's running for office and talking about gay marriage and how wonderful and sacred the institution of heterosexual marriage is. Stay tuned for more hypocracy!)

Widely considered a mastermind of the Republican revolution that swept Congress in the 1994 elections, Gingrich remains wildly popular among many conservatives. (Of course he does. How sad that a political party has aligned itself to scum like this. REAL Republicans - hence, those who actually care about traditional REPUBLICAN issues like low taxes and independance from the government, should be ashamed to have him be "wildly popular".) He has repeatedly placed near the top of Republican presidential polls recently, even though he has not formed a campaign.

Gingrich has said he is waiting to see how the Republican field shapes up before deciding in the fall whether to run.

Reports of extramarital affairs have dogged him for years as a result of two messy divorces, but he has refused to discuss them publicly.

Gingrich, who frequently campaigned on family values issues, divorced his second wife, Marianne, in 2000 after his attorneys acknowledged Gingrich's relationship with his current wife, Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide more than 20 years younger than he is. (Wow...there are so many things wrong with this on so many levels.)

His first marriage, to his former high school geometry teacher, Jackie Battley, ended in divorce in 1981. Although Gingrich has said he doesn't remember it, Battley has said Gingrich discussed divorce terms with her while she was recuperating in the hospital from cancer surgery. (Wicked nice guy, huh? He's certainly the person I want claiming moral authority over me.)

Gingrich married Marianne months after the divorce.

"There were times when I was praying and when I felt I was doing things that were wrong. But I was still doing them," he said in the interview. "I look back on those as periods of weakness and periods that I'm ... not proud of." (Nice. When in doubt - or when trying to cover up for being a 100% fuckhead asshole - draw God into the argument and ask for forgiveness. Rather than require a person to actually BE good, we're going to let them off easy with a little prayer. That'll help fix it all. And then next time? Shit...just pray some more.)

Gingrich's congressional career ended in 1998 when he abruptly resigned from Congress after poor showings from Republicans in elections and after being reprimanded by the House ethics panel over charges that he used tax-exempt funding to advance his political goals. (It appears that his shit-headedness doesn't only apply to "family" and "moral" values. He's screwing those with less money than him too. Go Newt 2008!)