Newt--for What?

Ash Wednesday was a strange evening. Turning on the television I learned that Newt Gingrich had confessed on a Christian Broadcasting station that he had been guilty of marital indiscretions. Well and good. I thought everybody ought to confess during this season of Lent. David’s Psalm is a model for us all. Gingrich told David Brody in a taped interview at the Faith and Freedom Coalition: He went on to say: “And what “There is no question at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too had and things happened in my life that were not appropriate.” He went on to add: “ I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn’t trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them. I found that I felt compelled to seek God’s forgiveness. Not God’s understanding, but God’s forgiveness. I do believe in a forgiving God. And I think most people deep down in their hearts hope there’s a forgiving God. Somebody once said that when we’re young, we seek justice, but as we get older, we seek mercy. There’s something to that, I think.”


Bill Clinton could have learned something from Newt Gingrich. Mr. Gingrich must have had a huge boulder in his arms when he said after Clinton’s indiscretions, “Never will I speak in public again without mentioning Clinton’s affair.” What we now know is that as he was adjusting his Pharisaic robes around him he was married to his second wife and was having an affair with a staff member that would become wife no. 3. Just think if Clinton had divorced Hillary and married Monica she might be Secretary of State and Hillary could be sitting at home working on her memoirs. Maybe if Clinton had said that because of Gingrich shutting down the government in his despair he jus could not resist Monica’s charms. President Clinton might have saved himself from impeachment.


Mr. Gingrich has a perfect right to run for President. But underneath that Brooks Brothers suit I think I saw the tail of a wolf. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, that there is a cheap grace and an authentic grace. Cheap grace costs little or nothing. I wonder if leaving wife No. 1 for no. 2 and leaving wife no. 2 for wife number 3 qualifies as a grace that asks nothing and costs nothing. Hmmm. I think I know who will not get my vote for President.

(You might want to read Gail Collins' article on Newt Gingrich's recent statements from a woman's point of view.)

(Another great response is by the wise Church historian, Martin Marty, Sightings, Newt Gingrich's Comic Repentance, 3/14/2011.)