Newt and Marriage

I missed most of the CNN Republican Presidential Candidates Debate last night, but I did go back and watch a few of the clips that were provided of the debate. The clip that bothers me the most is the opening question, in which John King of CNN asks Newt Gingrich about statements made by his ex-wife that same day. Not because it is unfair to “attack” a candidate on past issues of their personal lives, but because of the way Newt Gingrich reacted to the question. This is a man who is running for the nomination of his party, the Republican Party, in which strong family values is a core belief they hold dear. They hold to the idea of marriage between a man and a woman and will fight any alternatives to that idea. This in and of itself is not a big deal in my view, this is America and they are entitled to their views whether they be based on religious beliefs or are simply values they personally share. For Newt to jump on the moderator, John King, the way he did was uncalled for and should be admonished, not applauded.

As I stated earlier, Newt Gingrich is one candidate for the Republican Party’s nomination for POTUS. If elected, he would try and impose on the country an ideal that “traditional” marriage is between one man and one woman, this coming from a man who is on his third marriage. Traditional marriage is so important to this man he will fight any alternative view of marriage with all the power given to him by the law of the land. In fact, he supports a Constitutional amendment that states marriage is between one man and one woman; I wonder how his history of marriage fits into that amendment. If marriage is between one man and one woman would that not void his two latest marriages? Would the amendment state that once a person says “I do”, they are forever married to that person? Will the Defense Of Marriage Act end divorce and the hurt and suffering, things Gingrich himself has said divorce causes, which thousands of people suffer every year because couples cannot work out their differences? Will Gingrich take the stand and say enough is enough with Americans treating marriage as a contract between two people, a civil union as it were, that when things get tough or when a new person comes into the picture they can just end this sacred fusion set aside for the few?

Gingrich lives in the United States of America and he has every right to marry as many women as he would like to and cheat on them with as many women as he would like to, but he should not be running as the candidate of a party whose core value is the idea of the sanctity of marriage, set aside for a chosen few, if he himself has never held those views as a sacred part of his own personal life. After last night’s complaint that it was appalling that one would question Gingrich’s integrity and past human involvement I would hope that people who support him and support the core values of the Republican Party would reject this man’s continuing effort to become leader of the free world.