Newt Gingrich: Instability or Hypocrisy?

[Ilya Shambat]

In a recent TV appearance, Newt Gingrich had a fall and had to be
taken to the hospital after someone asked him if he was stable enough
to be US President.

Normally, I would never say anything about something like that.
However we are dealing with Republicans, who have a time-honored habit
of maliciously attacking anyone whom they perceive as having any kind
of emotional disturbance. So it would be rightful to treat Mr.
Gingrich in this situation in the same way as Republicans like to
treat everyone else in situations where any such a thing is suspected.
Indeed it would be only fair.

It should not be forgotten that during 1988 election, there was a
feeding frenzy about whether or not Democratic candidate Michael
Dukakis had ever seen a psychiatrist. There was a Republican
politician in the New England area who recently stated that people
with mental illness should be exiled to Siberia. Another high-profiled
case is Rush Limbaugh, who shouted for a long time about drug addicts
until he became one himself.

I am reminded of how many people shouted about Clinton's one-time use
of marijuana, but said nothing about Bush's habitual use of cocaine. I
am reminded of how many people shouted about Clinton's affair with
Monica Lewinski, yet said nothing about Newt Gingrich leaving his wife
at her deathbed to marry another woman or about Ronald Reagan having
been married two times. I am reminded about how many people claimed
that Clinton lying to the court about a consensual sex act was
sullying or weakening to American government, but having nothing
similar to say about Bush lying to get America into a war.

The problem with Newt Gingrich is not his instability; it is his
hypocrisy. He wants to impose upon America what he claims to be
"traditional family values"; meanwhile he himself had divorced a wife
who was dying of cancer in order to marry another woman.

So yes, laugh at him, call him a loony, say that he is weak and that
he has no character. He and his followers would do much worse things
to you if you had a similar experience.