Newt Gingrich’s Denial

The Republicans’ campaign is a good example of the worst politics has to offer. When he was governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney introduced a health insurance law similar to that which Barack Obama succeeded in passing in Congress in 2010. But now, Romney, who Republican voters have yet to appreciate, is against his own reform. And Newt Gingrich? Last summer, lost in the polls with only a few points in his favor, he refused to sign conservative group Family Leader’s petition asking candidates to support heterosexual marriage, oppose gay marriage and pledge fidelity.

But give it a few months, and everything changes.

Gingrich, the surprise Republican frontrunner for the White House — for one thing. We don’t doubt for a minute that he’ll self-destruct, as he lacks the discipline required for a presidential campaign — but he’s just changed his mind. Again. Now that he is a “serious” candidate (though it’s difficult to attribute the term “serious” to Gingrich’s name), he is following his principles. What matters are the voices of the people, after all. The man, who has married three times, has divorced twice, and is known for his extra-marital relations (he had an affair with his current wife, Callista, while he was still married), has signed a fidelity pledge, vowing to uphold traditional marriage by including it in the U.S. Constitution. He also pledged to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, which still provides abortions. An absolute farce from the man who announced to his second wife that he wanted a divorce while she was in the hospital fighting uterine cancer. But he gets even better. His first wife, nine years his senior, was his geometry professor, and he started dating her when he was just 16.

In this primary race, several weeks before the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary and symbolically very important, the former Speaker of the House is clearly in the lead. In Iowa, Gingrich has 30 percent of the projected vote, while Romney has only 20 percent. In South Carolina, the primary that takes place just after New Hampshire’s, Newt reaps 42 percent of the projected vote, while Romney has 23 percent, a practically insurmountable gap with one month until voting. Ditto in Florida.

But the incessant swell of leaders who disappear after a few tries has accustomed us to being cautious. Romney, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann were, each in turn, favorites. Gingrich is the flavor of the day. It won’t last. Same with the his flip-flopping and his submission to various branches of the tea party.