On Fri, 9 Dec 2011, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Newt Gingrich, explaining his multiple past affairs, to David Brody of
> CBN: "There's no question at times in my life, partially driven by how
> passionately I felt about this country, that I worked too hard and
> things happened in my life that were not appropriate."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/opinion/12collins.html
March 11, 2011
The New York Times
Eye of the Newt
By GAIL COLLINS
The presidential race is barely under way, but already we have had our
first Big Thought. I am speaking, of course, of Newt Gingrich's
suggestion that he was driven into serial adultery by hard work and
patriotism.
<snip>
Anyway, you can see how the topic of Gingrich's home life would come
up. Generally, he doesn't seem all that thrilled by the invitation to
explain himself. But he was very chatty on the Christian Broadcasting
Network. Perhaps this was because of the way the interviewer, David
Brody, phrased his question.
"Talk about a forgiving God?" he asked.
Newt was quite forthcoming about both God's readiness to forgive him
and the much, much better lifestyle he has embraced now that he's found
true love with Wife No. 3, converted to Catholicism and "learned an
immense amount."
People, can we all agree now that men who spend their early and middle
ages betraying women right and left are not allowed to get credit for
discovering the joys of monogamy at about the same time that they
receive their first Social Security check?
Of course, Gingrich is being a better husband this time around. He's
67! By then, most men have not just finished sowing their wild oats.
The oats have been harvested, ground up, reprocessed and turned into
soggy cornflakes.
"In general, in men and women, the sexual hormones decrease as you age.
It's a lot of work, dating and managing multiple partners," says Rose
Hartzell, a therapist at the San Diego Sexual Medicine Center.
God forgives you at any age, but voters should only reward reformations
that occur before the miscreant receives his first copy of the AARP
bulletin.
<end excerpt>