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One Love
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Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/22/2012 9:07 AM (GMT -6) |   | "So long to the party of family values"
Roland Martin, CNN Contributor
updated 10:10 PM EST, Fri January 20, 2012
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Editor's note: Roland S. Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House." He is a commentator for the TV One cable network and host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, "Washington Watch with Roland Martin."
(CNN) -- When someone asks when the Republican Party abandoned its longstanding position as the party of family values, we will all be able to say it was shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 19, 2012, in Charleston, South Carolina.
When the invited audience of 2,300 Republicans stood up and applauded Newt Gingrich's angry and defiant response to the opening question from CNN's John King about allegations leveled by the ex-wife of the former speaker of the House, it was clear that the GOP, always judgmental about marital fidelity with Democrats, threw that out of the window.
The GOP's desire to beat President Barack Obama at any cost, and its unwillingness to coalesce around Mitt Romney, clearly outweighs its view on rampant adultery by one of its leading presidential candidates.
Those willing to make excuses for Gingrich's cheating on his second wife, Marianne, with his current wife, Callista (he also cheated on wife No. 1 with Marianne, who later became wife No. 2) are quick to say that the Christian faith requires forgiveness. And that is absolute right. But when has Gingrich apologized to President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore for his routine missives declaring both of them morally corrupt? When has Gingrich ever said publicly that while he was ripping other to shreds, he was doing the same to his marriage vows to forsake all others?
The nation clearly was made aware of Clinton's extramarital affairs while serving in the White House with the impeachment trial. But nothing of the sort was said about Gore. Yet that didn't prevent the bombastic Gingrich from lobbing his morally bankrupt grenades towards the Clinton-Gore White House. Now we know that while he was doing that, he was deeply involved in a torrid affair with Callista, then a Capitol Hill staffer.
What was amazing Thursday night is that we were in South Carolina, the Bible Belt, where evangelicals hold significant sway. Just last year, Republicans were aghast when the governor, Mark Sanford, was busted for engaging in an international extramarital affair, hiding away in Argentina and lying about his whereabouts. Details of his sordid affair made national headlines and embarrassed the state and the national party.
South Carolinians were disgusted with his behavior, and the potential presidential candidate who was a darling of Bible-thumpin' social conservatives ended his tenure in shame, losing his wife in the process.
So why was the GOP so quick to leap to their feet as Gingrich castigated King for even asking the question? No doubt they will say it was his denunciation of the media for asking such a tawdry question. Others will say that Newt's multiple affairs were common knowledge and since he was a declared changed man, we all should move on.
But how can someone like Gingrich stand up in debates and forcefully talk about the sanctity of marriage when he has no history of believing what he is saying? How can any social conservative talk about the moral fiber needed in a presidential candidate when the man many of them love has none?
It's highly likely that when the group of influential social conservatives met in Texas last weekend to coalesce around a candidate, Gingrich's rampant cheating was too much for them to overlook and that's why they settled on Rick Santorum.
The GOP loves to scream from the mountaintop about family values, but when a Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana continues to sit in the U.S. Senate after it was revealed he often used an escort service, then their protestations ring hollow. And there are many other Republicans who have had to come forward, some unwillingly, to own up to their transgressions.
See, when Republicans are busted for cheating on their spouses, they will quickly play the forgiveness card. Yet isn't a failure to have character and integrity at home a sign of how someone will act in the workplace?
And it must gall the GOP to watch Obama often dote on his wife, and make clear that even while in the White House, his family is a top priority.
Gingrich is correct in stating that many of the folks in the audience understand personal pain. But when Newt himself, and his party, has shown little concern in the past about such pain when it has affected someone in the other party, their pleas for understanding looks like shameful pandering.
So to the Republican Party, your high-minded and sanctimonious positions about others not having morals and values should end. If you are willing to accept Newt Gingrich with all of his failings, then you had better open your arms for a whole lot of other sinners who have also sought God's redemption.
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/22/2012 9:09 AM (GMT -6) | | | A poster said it well...
South Carolina just amazes me; they'd rather have a despicable, lying criminal as president than an honest, hard working black man.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Post Edited (One Love) : 1/22/2012 8:12:42 AM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
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Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/22/2012 9:14 AM (GMT -6) | | Is Newt Race-Baiting?
Kurt A. Gardinier
Freelance producer, editor and writer
HuffPo
-----------------------------------
If asked, Newt Gingrich would obviously say no, in his arrogant, 'you're asking me a ridiculously stupid question' sort of way, but it sure sounds like he is lately. And if he is, he may be doing the "right" thing politically. At least for now as the next two primaries take place in the south (South Carolina and Florida).
Over the past few weeks Gingrich asserted that the poor children of the country need to learn how to work, and he has repeatedly called President Obama "the best food stamp president in American history," which inspired enthusiastic applause at Monday's Fox News GOP Debate, and a standing ovation shortly thereafter. During a campaign event in New Hampshire earlier this month, Gingrich told an audience, "If the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps." Is he suggesting that African-Americans choose not to work and are satisfied with not working and receiving food stamps? Seems like it. And it doesn't seem like he's even trying to be subtle about it.
The race-baiting strategy proved an effective one for another politician from the south. George Wallace. The four-time Alabama Governor who ran for president in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976 (three as a Democrat and one on the American Independent ticket). His most successful run was in '68 where he won five states (all southern), 46 electoral votes and 13.5% (nearly 10 million) of the popular vote (Wallace remains the last third party candidate to win any electoral votes). And he accomplished all that without ever really saying anything overtly racist, but he spoke in code, a code that was easily deciphered by the millions of white southern voters who supported him.
...
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/22/2012 11:51 AM (GMT -6) | | OMG.
Stick a fork in me...I am soooooo done.
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Newt Gingrich's three marriages mean he might make a strong president -- really
By Dr. Keith Ablow
Published January 20, 2012
FoxNews.com
Former Speaker of the House and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was attacked Thursday in an interview on ABC News by his second wife Marianne. She accused him of beginning an affair with his current wife Callista while Marianne and he were still married (which Mr. Gingrich admits). She also accused him of lobbying her for an open marriage that would allow him to continue seeing Callista without getting divorced (a claim Gingrich denies).
Well, in any case, no open marriage was in the offing, and the Speaker married his current and third wife.
As I have written before for Fox News Opinion, I don’t think voters belong in a candidate’s bedroom. But the media can’t seem to help itself from trying to castrate candidates for the prurient pleasure of the public.
I will tell you what Mr. Gingrich’s personal history actually means for those of us who want to right the economy, see our neighbors and friends go back to work, promote freedom here and abroad and defeat the growing threat posed by Iran and other evil regimes.
First, one note on what Mr. Gingrich’s married life, including his history of infidelity does not mean: It does not mean that Mr. Gingrich would be unfaithful to the United States of America or the Constitution of the United States.
You can take any moral position you like about men and women who cheat while married, but there simply is no correlation, whatsoever—from a psychological perspective—between whether they can remain true to their wedding vows and whether they can remain true to the Oath of Office.
I want to be coldly analytical, not moralize, here. I want to tell you what Mr. Gingrich’s behavior could mean for the country, not for the future of his current marriage. So, here’s what one interested in making America stronger can reasonably conclude—psychologically—from Mr. Gingrich’s behavior during his three marriages:
1) Three women have met Mr. Gingrich and been so moved by his emotional energy and intellect that they decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with him.
2) Two of these women felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married.
3 ) One of them felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married for the second time, was not exactly her equal in the looks department and had a wife (Marianne) who wanted to make his life without her as painful as possible.
Conclusion: When three women want to sign on for life with a man who is now running for president, I worry more about whether we’ll be clamoring for a third Gingrich term, not whether we’ll want to let him go after one.
4) Two women—Mr. Gingrich’s first two wives—have sat down with him while he delivered to them incredibly painful truths: that he no longer loved them as he did before, that he had fallen in love with other women and that he needed to follow his heart, despite the great price he would pay financially and the risk he would be taking with his reputation.
Conclusion: I can only hope Mr. Gingrich will be as direct and unsparing with the Congress, the American people and our allies. If this nation must now move with conviction in the direction of its heart, Newt Gingrich is obviously no stranger to that journey.
5) Mr. Gingrich’s daughters from his first marriage are among his most vigorous supporters. They obviously adore him and respect him and feel grateful for the kind of father he was.
When I want to know who in a marriage (or, for that matter, a series of marriages) is the one who actually was aligned with their best interests, I never dismiss evidence of who the children gravitate toward and admire. In this case, they have judged the father who left their family, then remarried twice. And they judge him 10 out of 10. I only hope my own children love me and respect me as much when they are adults.
So, as far as I can tell, judging from the psychological data, we have only one real risk to America from his marital history if Newt Gingrich were to become president: We would need to worry that another nation, perhaps a little younger than ours, would be so taken by Mr. Gingrich that it would seduce him into marrying it and becoming its president. And I think that is exceedingly unlikely.
Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team. Dr. Ablow can be reached at info@keithablow.com. His team of Life Coaches can be reached at lifecoach@keithablow.com.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Post Edited (One Love) : 1/22/2012 10:55:43 AM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
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Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/22/2012 12:53 PM (GMT -6) | | Similtude:
The man is a poor psychiatrist if he's that naive. How someone his age doesn't yet know that Newt's childrens' approval of him can be due to something as pathetic as permissiveness is beyond me.
Exactly! And right on about transposing evil and good.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Post Edited (One Love) : 1/22/2012 11:56:38 AM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/22/2012 1:03 PM (GMT -6) | | | Just look at the comments.
It's downright scary, sometimes. Even the way they talk about Mitt! WOW!!! Seriously. 
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
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Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/22/2012 1:14 PM (GMT -6) | | Similtude:
Quite frankly, Newt seems like a pathological narcissist to me.
Yessir. So, pathological he can't stop himself...and even his Republican collegues know that. It takes a certain kind of person to seriously even ENTERTAIN the daughters of a wife you CHEATED ON while she was SERIOUSLY ILL trying to bolster your public relations situation.
As you've said very appropriately, Jeff: SHAMELESS!
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Newly recovered court files cast doubt on Gingrich version of first divorce
Alan Duke, CNN
updated 5:30 AM EST, Tue December 27, 2011
The documents, and interviews with people close to the couple at the time, contradict the Gingrich claim about who wanted the divorce.
Newt Gingrich filed a divorce complaint on July 14, 1980, in Carroll County, saying that "the marriage of the parties is irretriebably (sic) broken."
Jackie Battley Gingrich, the congressman's wife and the mother of Jackie Gingrich Cushman, responded by asking the judge to reject her husband's filing.
"Defendant shows that she has adequate and ample grounds for divorce, but that she does not desire one at this time," her petition said.
"Although defendant does not admit that this marriage is irretrievably broken, defendant has been hopeful that an arrangement for temporary support of defendant and the two minor daughters of the parties could be mutually agreed upon without the intervention of this court," her petition said. "All efforts to date have been unsuccessful."
When CNN presented the information found in the divorce file to the Gingrich campaign, its spokesman stood by the contention that it was Gingrich's ex-wife who asked for the divorce in 1980.
"Carroll County Georgia court documents accurately show Newt Gingrich filed for a divorce from his wife Jackie Battley, but it was Jackie Battley who requested the divorce," spokesman R.C. Hammond said in an e-mail to CNN Saturday. "Gingrich, her husband, obtained legal counsel and filed the divorce papers initiating the legal proceedings."
"It was the same legal proceedings that determined and set the amounts of payments Gingrich would provide to support his two daughters," Hammond said.
Atlanta divorce lawyer Jim Peterson, who was not involved in the Gingrich proceedings, said the wife's divorce filings make it "pretty plain" that she did not want the divorce.
"She obviously didn't want the divorce, on the face of the pleadings," Peterson said.
...
Leonard H. "Kip" Carter, a former close Gingrich friend, backed the contention that it was Newt Gingrich who wanted the divorce.
"He (Gingrich) said, 'You know and I know that she's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a president,' " Carter, who now lives in South Carolina, told CNN recently, relating the conversation he had with Gingrich the day Gingrich revealed he was filing for divorce. Carter served as treasurer of Gingrich's first congressional campaigns.
Carter, who was a fellow history professor when Gingrich taught at West Georgia College in Carrollton, said he broke off his friendship with Newt Gingrich because of the congressman's treatment of his wife during the divorce.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Post Edited (One Love) : 1/22/2012 12:23:35 PM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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Corey
Five with a Four-wing
Date Joined Feb 2003
Total Posts : 1893
| Posted 1/23/2012 11:36 AM (GMT -6) | | | Nothing particularly substantive to my post here, but for what it's worth, THIS is scary!
The foreimage is apparently Newt Gingrich as a young college professor ( source)
Post Edited (Corey) : 1/23/2012 10:40:08 AM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/23/2012 12:44 PM (GMT -6) | | | LOLOL! Good one, Corey. Great WSJ article, too.
NY Daily News
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
These people are walking comedy specials!!
LOL!!!!! 
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Post Edited (One Love) : 1/23/2012 11:49:57 AM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/23/2012 12:57 PM (GMT -6) | | From Newt.org...on Callista's part...
“Newt is a changed man,” says Mary Ourisman, a former U.S. ambassador. “Callista has been amazing for him.” Though Newt was still taking some heat ahead of the January 3 Iowa caucus for his six-year extramarital affair with Callista when she was a congressional aide, friends say she is now among his strongest assets."
WTF???? Talk about minimizing...
"He (Gingrich) said, 'You know and I know that she's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a president,' " Carter, who now lives in South Carolina, told CNN recently, relating the conversation he had with Gingrich the day Gingrich revealed he was filing for divorce.
I guess Callista was (finally) a young and pretty enough wife...
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Post Edited (One Love) : 1/23/2012 12:26:22 PM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/23/2012 1:10 PM (GMT -6) | | | I wonder how Hayak and SK would have viewed the South Carolina debate audience. Particularly with booing of the golden rule.
Now that's a "crowd"!
Heh.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/23/2012 1:31 PM (GMT -6) | | Ok. Real talk, y'all.
Would any Black male (REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT, INDEPENDENT, whatever) who had the SAME TYPE of situation going on as Newt Gingrich be seen as a viable option for President? In other words, if a Black male running for President was a serial philanderer (married to his last mistress that he had for 6 years who was a congressional aide ) with the ethical problems and narcissism that Newt had demonstrated, would he be in Newt's position right now? Let's make it interesting and say that his latest wife is WHITE.
Seriously. Holla at me. I really wanna know what you guys think.
[Digression: I know that the racism of our country thing comes up with me, particular around the Election Cycles. But that's simply because it's so OBVIOUS during that time! It seems that this cycle EVERYONE can see it clearly...even the Republicans themselves. This is when it gets interesting being the only Black dude in this discussion board.  ]
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Post Edited (One Love) : 1/23/2012 12:39:27 PM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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One Love
Registered Member
Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888
| Posted 1/23/2012 1:48 PM (GMT -6) | | Corey:
I'd expect any Democrat would be decried by most Republicans for these behaviors
Yeah. Simple hypocrisy, right there...
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Corey:
But I seriously doubt that only a black male would get this reaction.
I hear you, but that wasn't necessarily my question. I wasn't saying that this would ONLY happen to a Black man. I was asking if you believed that a black man who had the same situation (confirmed extramarital affairs, narcissism, etc) would stand a real chance actually being seen as a VIABLE OPTION for President by ANY of the major parties. See the difference in the question?
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Post Edited (One Love) : 1/23/2012 12:52:21 PM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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