Newt Gingrich's Disingenuous Forgiveness Ploy

Under Christian belief - and certainly Catholic belief which Newt Gingrich now pretends to embrace - forgiveness requires true contrition. And not just contrition that one got caught. Newt Gingrich is using the forgiveness ploy to convince the cretins among the Christianist elements in South Carolina to vote for him even though his past deeds are things these mental midgets ought to abhor. From his sleazy money making deals to his serial adultery and multiple marriages, there's little in my book to show Newt's sorry for anything other than his tawdry history is being dragged out for the world to see. Will the idiots of the Christian Right fall for this ploy? Kathleen Parker has a column in the Washington Post that looks at Gingrich's disingenuous game plan. Here are highlights:

Newt Gingrich’s standing ovation Thursday night, when he attacked CNN moderator John King for asking about allegations that Gingrich wanted an “open marriage” with his second wife, told us little about South Carolina but much about human nature.

The query, for which King has been exhaustively critiqued, was both necessary and inevitable. Forget the elephant in the living room; it was the herd in the powder room.

Just as King had no choice but to ask, Gingrich answered in the only way he could — by attacking the questioner. Shooting the messenger is a time-honored method of spin control among royals and their imitators. Gingrich’s bilious reproach was an oratorical defenestration. King’s audacity was “despicable,” he intoned, and the crowd roared.

Suddenly, Gingrich’s questionable past was forgotten, and whatever ire his record might have inspired was redirected at The Media . . . He correctly counted on the empathy of his fellow man, if not necessarily womankind, and won the moment.

But a moment is just that, and projection of the sort experienced by the Charleston, S.C., audience can be fraught with peril. Over-identification clouds judgment, and, though we are all sinners, we are not all running for president of the United States. Gingrich’s sins of the flesh ultimately are of less importance than the narcissism and grandiosity that compel his actions.

Voters would do well to think less of what they would do in his shoes than what Gingrich will do, should he win the prize. As the reality of his astonishing self-regard sinks in and one imagines where his unflagging certitude might lead, it is less easy to identify with the weeds in his garden. As projection falters, empathy finds no place to land.

If we thought the delusion Chimperator George Bush thought he was inspired to make what proved disastrous decisions not the least of which was to launch the fool's errand in Iraq, just imagine what the uncontrolled ego of Gingrich might bring to pass. Personally, the man is not only amoral, but frightening in his delusions and demagoguery.