Gingrich's Disingenous Calls to Faith

As noted before, the GOP continues to cynically and disingenuously use religion to pander for votes from the Kool-Aid drinking set and those who by their own laziness and disengagement make the choice daily to embrace ignorance. Yes, my assessment is harsh, but for democracy to work, citizens have an affirmative obligation to educate themselves on issues and matters of public debate. And that requires far more than watching Fox News and/or listening to Bible beaters in the pulpit. Yet, far to many Americans actively choose ignorance as they listen to people whose personal lives indicate that they don't mean a single word or slogan that spills from their lips. A case in point? Newt Gingrich the thrice married and frequent adulterer who is pitching faith and pretending the protect the "sanctity of marriage" - even though he's dragged his own marriage through the mud and made a mockery of the institution. Only a simpleton or moron should believe a word that Gingrich says. Here are highlights from the New York Times on Gingrich's disingenuous ploy:
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[Gingrich] will also have to grapple with aspects of his life and career that could give pause to elements of the Republican primary electorate, including a lack of a well-established association with religious conservatives and attendant questions about his two divorces.
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So as he travels the country, he is striking two related notes: that the nation faces not just a fiscal crisis but also a loss of its moral foundation, and that his conversion to Catholicism two years ago is part of an evolution that has given him a deeper appreciation for the role of faith in public life.
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On a recent winter night here, Mr. Gingrich, 67, stood on stage at a Catholic school with his wife, Callista, and introduced a film they produced about the role Pope John Paul II played in the fall of Communism in Poland. As Mr. Gingrich looked out over a crowd of 1,300 people, he warned that the United States had become too secular a society.
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To most audiences, Mr. Gingrich does not talk directly about converting to Catholicism, but his faith has become an important part of his dialogue with conservative voters.
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In an interview, Mr. Gingrich said he knew that a campaign would bring new attention on the full scope of his personal and political background. Last week, in an appearance at the University of Pennsylvania, he grew testy when he received a question from a Democratic student activist about the details of his two divorces.
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Mr. and Mrs. Gingrich sat for more than an hour signing inscriptions, with his best-selling book, “Rediscovering God in America,” a particularly popular item on this snowy night in Ohio.
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Dr. Jack Willke, an early leader in the anti-abortion movement in Ohio and across the country, was among those waiting for an autograph. Dr. Willke said he was delighted that Mr. Gingrich had increased the role of faith in his public appearances, something that he said he did not recall during Mr. Gingrich’s tenure as speaker of the House.
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As Dr. Willke and his wife, Barbara, mingled with others in the crowd, Mrs. Willke said she was delighted to read about Mr. Gingrich’s baptism as a Catholic in March 2009. When one woman asked about his conversion, Mrs. Willke replied: “His Catholicism certainly sounds legit, and even more so since Callista is in the picture now.”
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There are plenty of suckers throughout the electorate and Gingrich seems bent on playing them for fools with his bogus reinvention of himself.