I have fond memories of Newt Gingrich. It was an amazing victory for conservatives when Republicans took the House. Many successes came with the help of his efforts. Perhaps some of them could be almost wholly attributable to him.
And, like most conservatives, he was attacked by the media as heartless. Remember the unflattering picture of him TIME used on its cover?
He’s brilliant. He has great ideas.
But his personal background, I think, makes it very difficult to support him for president of the United States. This is especially true since moral integrity was proclaimed such an important issue when Bill Clinton was running for president and after he became president.
Remember that there are the aspects of redemption, confession, and penance when acknowledging when we have fallen. And we all have. As Rick Perry said, who among us is unstained?
And one of the wonderful gifts of our shared Christian Catholic faith is that of the grace of forgiveness.
None of us can speak to what Gingrich personally, in his heart, has done to seek forgiveness. However, those in the public eye, such as politicians, have the additional burden in asking us to trust them that they prove to us that they deserve it. Do as I say, not as I do, doesn’t cut it.
And we saw and heard what he did in the last nationally televised debate. In his greatest public opportunity to date to exhibit genuine contrition, he did not answer the question regarding the TV interview his second wife gave about their marriage and his actions.
What his wife said in the interview was almost irrelevant. How he answered was and his response was to attack what he was asked and who asked it. This is someone who deeply regrets two extramarital affairs and two divorces?
Replace Gingrich with Clinton, make it a Democrat debate after a serious accusation of marital infidelity made against Clinton. Would Gingrich express the same shock had Clinton been asked about the accusation? He likely would have vigorously protested that the mainstream media was coddling Clinton had he not been asked.
Then there was this less-than-humble response:
On March 8, he told the Christian Broadcasting Network that his duty to his country contributed to the failure of his marriages. “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.”
Granted, the same article linked above includes other things he has said that seem more indicative of someone who is genuinely repentant. And his daughters have offered support for their father – a very important fact.
So, it would be unchristian to reject Gingrich solely because of his past. But it would be the same to completely ignore it and elevate him to the presidency without concrete evidence of his remorse for repeatedly violating the sanctity of marriage.
