Christopher Buckley has an interesting post over at the Daily Beast that looks at two examples of extreme hypocrisy: Newt "Family Values" Gingrich and the self-styled "sanctity of marriage obsessed" Roman Catholic Church. Gingrich is thrice married and left his former spouses under less than gracious and a dignified manner yet bloviates about "family values" amongst the wingnuts of the GOP. Meanwhile, we have the Catholic Church which for the proper sum of money can ALWAYS find a way to enter an annulment. Being a rich politician - like a Kennedy for example - doesn't hurt one's prospects for an annulment either. One might even say that Gingrich and the Catholic Church deserve one another since both tend to be devoid of principle and in my view are morally bankrupt. All Gingrich needs to do to be a perfect fit with the Vatican is molest some minors, preferably boys. Here are some column highlights:
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Brace yourselves for a tsunami of punditry this weekend, when the much-married Newt Gingrich is received into the Catholic Church. This would ordinarily be a private occasion, but Newt Gingrich is not ordinary. He is (I hedge) probably the most interesting putative candidate on the Right at this point.
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He—and Mother Church, from whose tender embrace I myself have regrettably lapsed—will both be made out to be appalling hypocrites. Who among us should throw stones, but Mr. Gingrich’s marital history is a matter of public record, and it is not tidy. He first married at age 19, to his 26-year-old former high school geometry teacher and then, so the story goes, presented her with divorce terms after she was wheeled out of cancer surgery.
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Mrs. Gingrich #2 was dumped after her husband had carried on an extra-marital affair with a fetching, blonde congressional staffer named Callista Bisek, who went on to become the present Mrs. Gingrich #3. This Family Values paradigm was complicated by the fact that whilst Mr. Gingrich was filibustering Ms. Bisek over the Speaker’s desk, he was simultaneously leading the impeachment charge against a naughty president of the United States.
Mrs. Gingrich #2 was dumped after her husband had carried on an extra-marital affair with a fetching, blonde congressional staffer named Callista Bisek, who went on to become the present Mrs. Gingrich #3. This Family Values paradigm was complicated by the fact that whilst Mr. Gingrich was filibustering Ms. Bisek over the Speaker’s desk, he was simultaneously leading the impeachment charge against a naughty president of the United States.
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As for Mother Church, she’ll come in for drubbing this weekend for seeming two-faced about the sanctity of marriage. As you know, divorce is still not allowed in the Catholic Church. But here insert a large “however” —she is liberal in the granting of annulments.
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Mother Church can be rigid, but at times—bless her—she can think like a $700 an hour K Street lawyer. Annulments are granted for a number of reasons: lack of discretion (I didn’t realize the bum was a drunk at the time); defective consent (The bum lied—he didn’t want kids all along); psychic incapacity (The bum was a schizophrenic!); prior bond . . . If the church had been this progressive in the matter of annulments back in the 1530s in merry olde England, the Archbishop of Canterbury would today be a Roman cardinal.
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It would be churlish in this Lenten season to suppose that Mr. Gingrich’s conversion is anything but deeply felt and sincere. The stated reason for it is that he wishes to worship alongside his wife, who is described on her husband’s website as “a devoted Catholic.” To the extent her devotedness is assessed alongside her early relationship with the then-married Mr. Gingrich, it should be borne in mind that to be “devoted” is not the same as being “perfect”
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It seems nearly any kind of sexual impropriety is fine with Rome as long as it doesn't involve same sex individuals because then - God forbid - they will be inherently disordered and evil.
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