How do we know he�s leaning toward throwing his visionary, forward-looking, world-transforming hat into the ring? this press release, from Focus on the Family:
Gingrich Tells Dobson He�s �Sought God�s Forgiveness�Take heart, religious right! Your savior is saddling up his white horse! Lately, Newt has been quietly preparing to make himself the candidate of the religious right. He put out a quickie book called Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation�s History and Future and hosted a Fox News special on religion in America. He doesn�t just want to be a philosopher-king, he wants to be a philosopher-historian-futurist-theologian-king.
Former House speaker admits moral failings, discusses threat of radical IslamFormer U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich tells Dr. James C. Dobson he has �gotten on my knees and sought God�s forgiveness� for his personal moral failings in a two-part installment of Dobson�s international radio program airing Thursday and Friday.
Newt has said he�s going to wait until the fall to make a decision about running for president, and if the race still looks open, he might get in. It seems as though he wants to be president, he just doesn�t particularly want to run for president, to paraphrase something John McCain used to say. But the scenario actually seems pretty reasonable: once voters in, say, South Carolina start getting flyers in their mailboxes with photos of Giuliani marching in gay pride parades (or in a dress), he tanks. Meanwhile, hardcore religious conservatives can�t bring themselves to trust so recent a convert as Mitt Romney. For his part, McCain gives up trying to woo them and, figuring that they�ll remain fractured, goes back to making himself the candidate of moderates and independents. If all that were to happen, it�d be Gingrich Time.
Of course, Newt has some of the same problems Giuliani does; in fact, he may be the only candidate with a personal history displaying more sadism toward his former wives than Rudy. We all know the stories -- served his first wife with divorce papers while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery, had an affair with a young aide (now his third wife) while married to the second wife. But as we know, that stuff doesn�t matter much -- what�s more important is whether you can assure conservatives that you�re on the right team when it comes to the culture wars (see Limbaugh, Rush; Bennett, Bill; etc.). And nobody does hippie-bashing with more gusto than Newt.
So if you want to get a taste of what Newt is offering, at his web site, you can download �iNewts,� and listen to his wisdom while you�re on the stairmaster. That�s right, iNewts.
--Paul Waldman
