Lord knows I take no pleasure in writing about politics. I don't keep track of the likely contenders for mixing it up in the primaries, and if you laid out a slate of presidential hopefuls before me, I wouldn't have much to say to it. At this stage of the game, I just don't care. I'm not ashamed of that; we can't all be policy wonks, and since Darwin enjoys such stuff, I leave it to him.
However, today I saw an article about Newt Gingrich forming a committee to raise funds for his as-yet-undeclared candidacy. I don't know a great deal about Newt Gingrich. The Contract With America went down while I was still throwing aside the front page of the paper in favor of the comics and "Dear Abby", and my main memory of the political tenor of the heady days of the early '90s was the Washington Post's contest calling for the best limerick to include both "Lewinsky" and "Kaczynski".
What I do know about Gingrich is that he's been married three times, and that his second and third marriages sprung from affairs started during the previous marriage. I find that to be somewhat less than inspiring. Everyone has his own political line in the sand, some standard by which he makes decisions about the person for whom he'll vote. Here's one of my standards: If you can't be faithful to your wife, I don't particularly care to have you running the country. I know that Newt has converted to Catholicism; good for him. But I won't support his presidential bid.
While I'm getting politics off my chest, let me say that if Sarah Palin throws her hat into the primary ring, she'll hear my scoffing all the way in the Peoria Holiday Inn. No. You don't resign governorship in mid-term and then pop up and announce that now you think you might try your hand at Presidenting. And for all our sakes, cancel the reality show. And Bristol's publishing contract to write her memoirs.
That is all.
FROM THE ILLUSTRATED EDITION.
11 hours ago
11 comments:
I've never stopped throwing aside the front page of the paper to read the comics.
It does seem like politics has moved from being bread and circuses to being circuses and circuses.
This is why it's more important to vote in the primary than in the general election.
Who needs a newspaper? All the comics are online.
I agree when it comes to both Gingrich and Palin. I favor Mike Huckabee, but I'm also resigned to the fact that every presidential election is probably going to be an "Alien vs. Predator" situation: "Whoever wins... we lose."
I don't know that I'll support Gingrich politically, but I do believe that conversions are possible. I'm old enough to have been skeptical about Chuck Colson's, but apparently he allowed God in to clean things up, root and branch. It's unrepentant sinners I have a hard time with (sneaks look in mirror).
Well, yes, see it's all relative to the competition, correct? I cannot say that I am all too excited for Gingrich or Palin, and certainly earning my primary vote is unlikely. This of course assumes that at least one person in the running is better ... which is exactly my point. Gingrich - Palin ... Palin - Gingrich ... I cannot say I am ready to lend my support, but then again, should either of them win their primary and face a Democrat candidate ... that is all a different thing altogether now isn't it?
The only prominent Republicans who I would vote for are Mitt Romney and Mitch Daniels. Both have excellent track records from their governorships, and both generally avoid the lunatic birther/Obama-is-a-Marxist wing of the party. The problem is, I doubt that either one can win the R nomination, precisely because they both avoid the birther/Obama-is-a-Marxist wing of the party.
Joel
I am unmoved by how Palin stacks up against her opponents. If I can't count on her to stick it out in office, her principles avail me not. It's not like the Presidency is going to be easier and lower-profile than working in Juneau.
Joel, I assure you that I have more important criteria for politicians than the birther/Marxist dichotomy, such as whether a candidate resigned halfway through her term.
I suspect that without either a very good candidate (of which I don't yet see a clear front runner) or some unexpectedly bad news in the financial or foreign relations realms, the GOP doesn't stand much of a chance in 2012 anyway. Though once we get into the primary reason for real I'll pick a candidate, and I'll certainly pull for the GOP in the general election, I strongly suspect we'll keep the House, gain the Senate, but not take the White House. Most of the best GOP candidates will be more experienced and more ready to run in 2016.
On the sanity question, though, it doesn't matter who the GOP selects. They could nominate Andrew Sullivan and the left would suddenly decide that he was a tea partying birther wacko. (Of course in Sullivan's case he is a birther wacko -- it's just someone else's birth that he's a wacko about.)
Thank you on both counts! I remember Newt stepping down to set an example and do the "honorable" thing because he had called out Clinton for an affair before his own was discovered. But I thought it was an empty gesture. And I completely agree about Palin resigning in AK. Why is that such a non-issue?
Oh my goodness, I could have written that! How nice to hear someone who has exactly the right opinion, ha ha. I am with you 100% on Palin -- who in the world would vote for her after she quit being governor in the middle of her term? But though I was throwing aside the paper myself at the time, I do remember more about Newt and I am not impressed with what I remember, particularly his church bringing meals to his family after he served wife number one divorce papers while she was in her hospital bed recovering from cancer surgery. Actually, the whole Republican crew at the time -- Gingrich, Dole, and now-sainted Reagan -- had all left their wives and children. Why anyone considered them moral beacons was beyond me. Say what you want to about Clinton, he didn't leave his wife and child, even though people seemed to want them to leave him.
Yes, as a Catholic I will give Newt the benefit of the doubt and I hope and pray he is a better person now. I would shake his hand, I would sit down with him to talk or to eat or at mass -- but I would NEVER vote for him for president.
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