In his claim that God has forgiven his sins, is Gingrich slipping one past the goalie of fundmentalist voters? Or (as I think) are the fundamentalists who claim to uphold strict standards of moral behavior in one’s personal life cutting him a gigantic break they would otherwise deny any other candidate not with them on abortion, prayer in school, etc?
If your answer is a little a both, who do you fault more here? Also note the degree to which you think Newt might be truly repentant for violating the covenant of his marriage vows. Personally, I give him a 0% on that, and think that he’d cheat on Calista in the time it takes Bill Clinton to say the word “is” (if he thinks he’s not going to get caught).
Remember the evangelical leaders endorsed Santorum, which did him no good.
As for the rank and file, pulling the wool over the eyes of fundamentalists takes no great skill - they are a group pretty much defined that way. And they’ve heard about forgiveness for such sins from their leaders caught with their tools in the cookie jars more than once.
I think it’s more along the line of holding ones nose and voting for the lesser of two weasels. Sort of like a lot of liberal types are seemingly going to do for Obama this election, even though he’s just a sell out caver to the Republicans and isn’t exactly what they want. It’s pretty much that simple.
I dunno, the fundies seemed really fired up about Newt in South Carolina. If they were really just going with the lesser of two evils, you’d think they’d back Romney, since the conventional wisdom is that he’d be a tougher opponent for Obama.
They are fired up about Newt (such as they are) because he’s NOT Romney. When Romney wins the nomination they will be fired up about Romney (such as they will be) against Obama because, well, Romney isn’t Obama.
Like I said, it’s much the same as left wingers will support Obama in the coming election (and supported Kerry against Bush), even if he isn’t exactly their optimal choice, because the alternative is worse, in their minds.
This is simply their way of giving the middle finger to the “liberal” media which dared to report on his indiscretions. It doesn’t matter if Newt is scumbag of the highest order. Sticking it to the liberal elites is important to conservative voters these days than having a morally sound candidate.
