(Too obvious? Sorry.)
Color me fit to be tied at Newt Gingrich's admission that he was actively having an extramarital affair while he was orchestrating the live presidential roasting for the same activity in the late 1990s. It's apparent that he finds it all slate-cleany to own up to this in an interview with the Religious Right's foremost arbiter of morality, James Dobson. Luckily for the Newtster, it seems that Dobson has absolved him and sent him on his merry (marry?) way to go forth and sin no more--or at least not so publicly.
In case you were wondering, he doesn't find it at all hypocritical that he was trying to serve up Filet de Clinton at the same time he was also enjoying the sins of the flesh with a woman some 20-30 years his junior. Nope. He's got the justification all figured out. Clinton, you see, was being raked over the coals because he lied, not because he and Monika enjoyed some cigars together in the Oval. But wait...didn't Clinton lie because he was being investigated about enjoying cigars with Monika? I don't know if Newt smokes, but it's clear that there was a little fire of the devil in his pants at right about the same time. Would that have been fair game during Newt Ascending? It's fine for him to tell the truth now--years after the fact and having divorced his second wife to marry the woman with whom he was having the affair--but where was the truth then?
I'd go and listen to the full interview, but I'm pretty sure the bile would get to me. Just based on the reported material, it's pretty clear his strategy is to play up the praying (oh, is that what she was doing on her knees?) going on during his moments of weakness--because, make no mistake, he has had some of those. In fact, from the sounds of it, he and the former president might want to consider getting to know one another at a 12-step meeting:
"There were times when I was praying and when I felt I was doing things that were wrong. But I was still doing them," Gingrich said during the interview. "I look back on those as periods of weakness and periods that I'm not only not proud of, but I would deeply urge my children and grandchildren not to follow in my footsteps."
Who's up for a timely set of Public Service Announcements starring that lovable rogue, Grandpa Newt?
Grandpa Newt says, "Don't have an affair and inform your wife that you want a divorce while she's in the hospital battling cancer! That's just not nice!"
Grandpa Newt says, "Judging other people is wrong. That's God's job."
Grandpa Newt says, "Words speak louder than actions! Don't be afraid to attack any public figure--whether a film director, a political colleague, or an entire class of people--if it keeps prying eyes off what you're doing! And whatever you're doing is A-OK, as long as you talk a good game.
He may not find any hypocrisy in what he's doing, but I think his admission makes him a candidate for a dictionary photo next to the term. Let's hope the voters--and he is courting them, let's not lose sight of that--can figure that out without a reference text.