{"id":3922,"date":"2011-03-10T15:57:40","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T20:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=3922"},"modified":"2011-05-02T19:07:38","modified_gmt":"2011-05-02T23:07:38","slug":"newt-gingrich-patriotism-led-to-personal-indiscretions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/10\/newt-gingrich-patriotism-led-to-personal-indiscretions\/","title":{"rendered":"Newt Gingrich: ‘Patriotism’ Led to Personal Indiscretions"},"content":{"rendered":"

When this story broke yesterday<\/a> I rolled my eyes and laughed like pretty much everyone else in the country. It was one of those moments… I like Newt, he\u2019s a fascinating, and occasionally brilliant, political thinker, but for whatever reason he just doesn’t seem to know when to shut-up:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn\u2019t trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them. I found that I felt compelled to seek God\u2019s forgiveness. Not God\u2019s understanding, but God\u2019s forgiveness. I do believe in a forgiving God. And I think most people, deep down in their hearts hope there\u2019s a forgiving God.<\/p>\n

Somebody once said that when we\u2019re young, we seek justice, but as we get older, we seek mercy. There\u2019s something to that, I think. I feel that I\u2019m now 67 I\u2019m a grandfather. I have two wonderful grandchildren. I have two wonderful daughters and two great sons-in-law. Callista and I have a great marriage. I think that I\u2019ve learned an immense amount.<\/p>\n

And I do feel, in that sense, that God has given me, has blessed me with an opportunity as a person. Forget about all this political stuff. As a person, I\u2019ve had the opportunity to have a wonderful life, to find myself now, truly enjoying the depths of my life in ways that I never dreamed it was possible to have a life that was that nice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a fascinating and frightening glimpse in to the mind of the man… At the same time he is admitting that he did wrong, he’s trying to justify his behavior by aggrandizing himself, which is why I’m convinced he should not run for president.<\/p>\n

Morality aside, from a political perspective if this is the best argument he can make as why voters should separate his personal indiscretions from his performance in office he’s doomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When this story broke yesterday I rolled my eyes and laughed like pretty much everyone else in the country. It was one of those moments… I like Newt, he\u2019s a fascinating, and occasionally brilliant, political thinker, but for whatever reason he just doesn’t seem to know when to shut-up: There\u2019s no question at times of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[748,186],"class_list":["post-3922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-2012-elections","tag-newt-gingrich","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-11g","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4150,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/11\/video-newt-gingrich-blasts-chris-wallace-for-his-gotcha-questions-at-iowa-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":0},"title":"Video: Newt Gingrich BLASTS Chris Wallace for his “Gotcha” Questions at Iowa Debate","author":"Jeff","date":"August 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This is just pure golden goodness: http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KxQTp07KS_k&feature=player_embedded Ouch, I love it! It's about time Republican candidates started calling the sound bite media on the carpet for wasting everyone's with time trivial,\u00a0tabloid gotcha questions instead of asking substantial policy questions. Newt was absolutely right to go after Chris Wallace the way\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Media"","block_context":{"text":"Media","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/media\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/KxQTp07KS_k\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":991,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/14\/poll-question-who-do-you-want-as-rnc-chair\/","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":1},"title":"Poll Question: Who Do You Want As RNC Chair?","author":"Jeff","date":"November 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"[poll id=\"11\"] My initial gut reaction is Newt Gingrich, though, the more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards Michael Steele or Fred Thompson. As much as I like Newt he may be to polarizing for the job. The choice between Steele and Thompson is tough one, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1011,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/18\/newts-prospects-fading-in-quest-for-rnc-chair\/","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":2},"title":"Newt’s Prospects Fading in Quest for RNC Chair?","author":"Jeff","date":"November 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Washington Times is reporting that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's bid to be the next RNC chairman may be losing steam. From the Washington Times: GOP governors and state party chairmen say former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be a leading Republican spokesman but not as its national chairman,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3660,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/04\/2012-republican-presidential-primary-straw-poll\/","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":3},"title":"2012 Republican Presidential Primary Straw Poll","author":"Jeff","date":"November 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time for round two of our 2012 Republican Presidential Primary Straw Poll. The candidates are (in not particular order): Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, John Thune, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, John Kasich, John Huntsman and John Bolton. [poll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1039,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/22\/newt-lets-have-a-real-middle-class-tax-cut\/","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":4},"title":"Newt: Let’s Have a Real Middle-Class Tax Cut","author":"Jeff","date":"November 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been a little out of pocket over the last couple of days so guess you could say I'm playing a bit of catchup with this post. I suspect most of you read Newt Gingrich's Wall Street Journal Op Ed on middle class tax cuts: Let's Have a Real Middle-Class\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4164,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/13\/rep-michele-bachmann-wins-iowa-straw-poll\/","url_meta":{"origin":3922,"position":5},"title":"Rep. Michele Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll","author":"Jeff","date":"August 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) won the 2011 Iowa straw poll with 28.55 percent of the vote, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) finished second with 27.65 percent and former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty finished a distant third 13.57 percent. From the Wall Street Journal: None of the 16,892 votes filed at Iowa\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3922\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}