Newt Gingrich knowingly rallied the Christian Right against Clinton for his indiscretions with Monica Lewinsky while he himself was cheating on his wife! The article I linked above says that he and Dobson, in their interview, said Clinton was impeached for lying before a federal judge about the matter. But that was not their rallying cry! They impugned Clinton for being a cheating husband, for his loose morals, for being a slimy creep. The fact that he lied was just the technical point of the whole thing.

People today still impugn Clinton for his morals - painting the entire Democratic party with this "family values" brush. Mitt Romney is running on it himself now, criticizing Rudy Giuliani for his messy divorce and lauding his only and faithful marriage.

Next fact I've been mulling - Newt has had three marriages himself. I'm not clear exactly on what happened with the first marriage transition, but the second - he was having an affair with a (much younger) congressional aide, and divorced wife 2 for said aide, to whom I assume he is still married.

Now, here's the big thing that's been with me all weekend. Sure Bill noodled with Monica (although apparently they never actually had technical intercourse, whatever). And maybe he was noodling with Paula Jones (although I'm inclined from what I've heard to think that that was more flirtation and kissing than actual affair, and a lot of media whoring by Jones). But - and think about this - Bill and Hillary stuck together. They have sorted out their problems (presumably). They took the hard road and stayed married - trust me, I know, this is in many ways the harder road (sexual preference issues aside). Working out your problems and issues and finding forgiveness for one another. Maintaining the ability to look one another in the eye.

So, wouldn't you consider this the more "moral" thing to do?  Or the thing that would be considered better "family values?" To stick with the person you married "for better or for worse?"

Now, I'm not criticizing any one who is divorced. Every single situation is personal and private and complicated. I know divorced people myself, and none of them went about the process flippantly or callously. Life happens. Mistakes happen. Immaturity happens. Disaster happens. Whatever.

But staying together as a family is something that ssssoooooo many Christian Right wing folks trumpet above all. Keeping the family together is a major thing for Christians and right wingers. Strong solid marriages.

But what is getting me is that Dobson and Gingrich think it's totally okay to impugn one man for an affair while the one doing the impugning is doing the same damn thing. And that's exactly what this is. You can bullshit me all you want that Clinton was impeached for lying to a federal judge, but the reason he was in front of a federal judge in the first place was because of the affair! They were trying to drive him out of office because he cheated on his wife! In the White House! He'd never have had to lie to a federal judge if they weren't all rabid over the fact that they had something on one of the most popular presidents of our generation!

But now Newt has found forgiveness and God. The man who has had three wives (and multiple rumored affairs)! Dude, I'm all for finding God/Jesus/religion, but don't excuse your past actions with it. Inmates that find God/Jesus/Allah while in prison aren't trying to excuse past hypocrisy for being a murder or rapist or whatever - they are trying to make the rest of their lives right. Certainly not run for president, for pete's sake!

Gingrich and Dobson deserve to be crowned Hypocrites of the Freakin' Decade for this bullshit! Hillary and Bill should be out there ringing the bell on how long they've been married, how they've weathered their problems and stuck together! Isn't that the kind of family values Christians and Right Wingers throw in liberal faces all the time? Vs. men who've been married three times and have had affairs? So it's okay for God to forgive Newt but Bill and Hillary are still Godless liberals?

WTF???!!! I know you all probably agree. I know you all know how hypocritical it is. But I just had to get this out of my head. It stuns me that the American public is letting Gingrich and Dobson get away with this. That Dobson still has any kind of moral authority in this country. That he is allowed to pontificate on this subject. That he is still accepted by the Christian community. That the media allows this kind of hypocrisy!!! That the democrats are sending Dobson down to d-list celebrity status, instead of the revered Reverend that he is still.

Don't moms around the country get it? Am I too liberal to forgive? Is it okay because he's Christian - do they all just automatically forgive each other, as long as the sinner is pro-life?

I'm not sure this will get this out of my head, because I'm even madder about it now that I've typed it! WTF is wrong with our society that people don't see the hypocrisy here? No one in this situation is Donald Trump or Marla Maples or The Black Widow or Cassanova. No ostensible careless marriages here.

Part of me wishes that some Democratic lackey would make Newt and Dobson's hypocrisy the issues of the year - instead of doing what most liberals/Democrats I've observed usually do, and that's take the high road.

Anyone feel like explaining this to me, about the Christian Right and Republicans? I'm at a total loss.

Thanks for tolerating my rant.