Photo by:  Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel

For those who don’t know, I don’t live in the U.S.  I live in Canada, which means I still have a large vested interest in the activities of our friend and neighbour to the south.  As such, I have been following with some interest the campaigns for the leadership of the Republican party.  So far, I’ve been a little less than impressed by their “circus of the week” approach to selecting a front runner.

In their rush to find a political outsider who supports family [read Christian (read very narrow interpretation of Christian)] values, they have produced a series of truly spectacular failures with Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Michelle Bachman being just a few.  For me however, the most incredible candidate to date has to be Newt Gingrich.  This is a man who utterly typifies the very essence of modern democracy.

After serving for a number of years as the Speaker of the House, Mr. Gingrich then spent several more years selling himself and his political connections to the highest bidder.  All the while, he steadfastly refused to list himself as a lobbyist.  No-no!  He was just a consultant.  The beauty of this is not his non-lobbyist delusions.  The beauty lies in his ability to convince delegates and possibly himself that he is not a “Washington insider”.  That is hilarious!  But it’s not the best thing to come out of his campaign.  It gets better.

Mr. Gingrich also found time to work as a consultant for Freddie Mac.  You may have heard of them.  They, along with Fannie May, are the lending giants behind the sub-prime mortgage fiasco.  You remember that.  The record foreclosures, the collapse of the housing  bubble, and the bank bailouts that led to massive protests and the simultaneous destruction of faith in both business and government.  Yup.  Newt took a pile of consulting bucks from them.  This is still not the best part of his candidacy.  Nope.  The best part is his staunch defence of FAMILY VALUES.

That’s right.  Newt Gingrich values family so much that when Bill Clinton had an affair with Whitehouse intern Monica Lewinsky, Gingrich led the drive to have him impeached.  So it’s clear that he values family a lot.  The only problem, he isn’t sure which family he actually values.  You see Newt was cheating on his own wife whom he later divorced so that he could marry his paramour.  Okay.  That happens sometimes.  Right?  Maybe.  But then he cheated on that wife, divorced her and married paramour number two.  The second wife (first paramour) is now claiming that Newt “Super-Stud” Gingrich had asked her for an open marriage.  She declined, which she alleges is why he now married to paramour number two.

All of that would be “Yeah. Whatever.”  if he weren’t in danger of becoming the leader of a party which spends every possible moment screaming about Family Values and Christian Values.  Apparently, Newt never heard the bit about letting he who is without sin chuck the first brick.  The Republican  faithful seem to have missed the irony of having their holier than thou party led by someone who’s moral compass got smashed when his mistresses stepped on it.  Repeatedly.

Against the rest of the Republican circus, he polls well.  Against President Obama, the polls tell a significantly different story.  I’d like to see Obama get a second mandate.  Id like to see what he could do with another four years.

That’s the real reason why Newt Gingrich should get the Republican nomination.

Cheers, Winston

p.s.  I was just reading that Herman Cain (former candidate and pizza magnate) has thrown his endorsement to Newt Gingrich.  Mr. Cain dropped out of the running for the Republican nomination amid allegations of sexual harassment and marital infidelity.  His endorsement of Newt proves that birds of a feather really do flock together.

W