Newt Gingrich: Instability or Hypocrisy?

In a recent TV appearance, Newt Gingrich had a fall and had to be taken to the hospital after someone asked him if he was stable enough to be US President.

Normally, I would never say anything about something like that. However we are dealing with Republicans, who have a time-honored habit of maliciously attacking anyone whom they perceive as having any kind of emotional disturbance. So it would be rightful to treat Mr. Gingrich in this situation in the same way as Republicans like to treat everyone else in situations where any such a thing is suspected. Indeed it would be only fair.

It should not be forgotten that during 1988 election, there was a feeding frenzy about whether or not Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis had ever seen a psychiatrist. There was a Republican politician in the New England area who recently stated that people with mental illness should be exiled to Siberia. Another high-profiled case is Rush Limbaugh, who shouted for a long time about drug addicts until he became one himself.

I am reminded of how many people shouted about Clinton's one-time use of marijuana, but said nothing about Bush's habitual use of cocaine. I am reminded of how many people shouted about Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinski, yet said nothing about Newt Gingrich leaving his wife at her deathbed to marry another woman or about Ronald Reagan having been married two times. I am reminded about how many people claimed that Clinton lying to the court about a consensual sex act was sullying or weakening to American government, but having nothing similar to say about Bush lying to get America into a war.

The problem with Newt Gingrich is not his instability; it is his hypocrisy. He wants to impose upon America what he claims to be "traditional family values"; meanwhile he himself had divorced a wife who was dying of cancer in order to marry another woman.

So yes, laugh at him, call him a loony, say that he is weak and that he has no character. He and his followers would do much worse things to you if you had a similar experience.