It's becoming painfully clear that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is so desperate either for attention or the Oval Office, or both, that he'll do and say anything to further his cause. A few months back he made outlandish, racist comments about President Obama's heritage and "Kenyan, anti-colonial" worldview. He's recently blamed his extramarital affairs on long work days and love of country. He's flip-flopped on the no-fly-zone in Libya. And this past weekend his sanctimonious, self-righteous arrogance was on full display in Iowa, where he preached morality to a bunch of preachers.
At the Rediscovering God in America gathering, Gingrich said he ranked values as the the top U.S. priority above the economy and national security.
"Some people may say we should stay away from values, stay away from social issues. I'm here to tell you that if you don't start with values, if you don't start by saying who we are as Americans. the rest of it doesn't matter."
Seriously, is he kidding? Here's a guy with a despicable record of cheating on his first two wives (when they were quite ill, no less) and cavorting around D.C. like a horny drunken sailor with a weekend pass, and he's lecturing us on morality? I'm not sure what I'm most incredulous of: that he has the balls to stand before a a group of clergymen and preach about values, or that they actually take him seriously.
The audacity of people like Gingrich to indiscriminately cheat and hurt people and then hide under the cloak of God or, more ludicrously, patriotism, is both astounding and reprehensible. Even Fox News' Chris Wallace said to Gingrich on his Sunday morning program that his excuses for his infidelity were "lame" and "hypocritical," especially given how Gingrich vehemently targeted Bill Clinton back in the 1990's over his marital indiscretions. "You love your country and you're working hard and so you strayed. That wouldn't work with my wife!," Wallace quipped sarcastically.
Wallace then asked Gingrich, more rhetorically than not, if he ever thought to himself back then about Clinton, "I'm living in a really glass house, maybe I shouldn't be throwing stones?" Bravo Wallace. I knew there's a reason I liked this guy.
I'm convinced that there's something pathological to Gingrich's lying and delusional perceptions of self. He's ruthless and cunning and devoid of reality. He personifies the Richard Pryor character who says to his wife as he's literally caught in bed with another woman, "You gonna believe me or your lyin' eyes?" As for potential-candidate Gingrich, I suggest he heed his own words and "stay away from values." That's a giant skeleton-crammed closet door he'd be smart not to open.