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Bryan Fischer (pictured), who ran the Idaho Values Alliance from 2005 to 2009, appeared on Thursday morning's Today show, 
in a story titled, “The Politics of Personal Life.” The story focused on how GOP presidential candidate and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is explaining his two divorces, infidelity and three marriages to evangelicals, a substantial portion of Republican primary voters. Fischer appears early in the four-minute piece, speaking on behalf of the Mississippi-based American Family Association. Now a radio host for AFA, Fischer told NBC: “The problem with Mr. Gingrich is not once, but twice, he has violated that solemn and sacred oath. And that's why it's a show-stopper for me”/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Would Newt Gingrich's 2 divorces influence how you vote in the 2012 presidential election?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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idahogie on May 12 at 10:49 a.m.
Not very much.
Ender on May 12 at 10:50 a.m.
Um, not so much the divorces, but rather the blatant hypocrisy that man represents. He was going after Clinton on the Lewinsky thing but was cheating on his own wife at the same time.
That guy is a scumbag.
scootermom on May 12 at 10:55 a.m.
His infidelities are a private matter.
However, his very public pursuit of Clinton for marital indiscretion, while Newt was at the same time bumping uglies with his secretary, makes it a legitimate question of his character. Or complete and utter lack thereof.
He’s as slimy as a salamander.
Kootenai_Conservative on May 12 at 11:22 a.m.
It baffles me that mainstream media outlets continue to treat Bryan Fischer like he’s a serious person, rather than the vile and contemptible extremist that he is.
However, Fischer is right that Newt is going to have a mighty awkward and difficult time making pronouncements about the so-called moral disintegration of America given his less than admirable history.
Bubblehead on May 12 at 11:23 a.m.
It wouldn’t change my vote, but it would make me more likely to say “Gingrich will always love America, until America gets cancer”.
eagleproducer on May 12 at 11:38 a.m.
Yeah, but there are things that would make me change my vote concerning Newt. Here are my favorites:
“The secular-socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.”
Last year, he called for a federal law to stop the (nonexistent) onslaught of Sharia on American jurisprudence and accused the left of refusing to acknowledge its “mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it.” This nuanced grasp of world affairs was reinforced when he said that Mr. Obama displayed “Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior.”
In his world, advocates for gay rights are imposing a “gay and secular fascism” using violence and harassment, blacks have little entrepreneurial tradition, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the Supreme Court is a “Latina woman racist.”
A House ethics subcommittee found Saturday that Speaker Newt Gingrich brought discredit to the House by using tax-exempt money for political purposes, and by providing the committee with “inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable information” about the role of a political action committee in a college course he taught.
The full Committee on Standards of Official Conduct must still meet to decide whether to recommend disciplinary action. It is likely to call for some form of censure or reprimand, but not for a penalty so severe as to preclude his re-election as speaker, such as expulsion. A recommendation could come before 1997.
Gingrich did apologize, saying, “I brought down on the people’s house a controversy which could weaken the faith people have in their government.”
fortboise on May 12 at 1:43 p.m.
It is a wonder to behold Gingrich still strutting about in public, given his demonstrated lack of integrity. And running for President? The Republicans are a sorry lot to have him and Trump out there sucking up oxygen from more serious candidates.
(Ok, so they don’t really have any serious candidates, but still.)
Which is not to say that Bryan Fischer weighing in on this particular topic amounts to any spit in the ocean.
robertokoehler on May 13 at 12:48 a.m.
Part of the problem with Newt is he will give a speech in one place, then a couple of days later will give a different speech where his proposals are a 180 degree turnaround from the original. Then he gets indignant when someone points out his previous speech. http://bit.ly/kLS1Lj
Gary D Rhodes on May 13 at 8:10 a.m.
Ron Paul is in to win.
And I know most people here think he’s just a stupid tea bagger with no chance to win.
He is not your regular Republican.
I wish someone at Hucks could list the exact positions of Dr. Paul that you think make him fringe.
He thinks it’s time to end the war on drugs.
He thinks the housing bubble was completely a manufactured problem that could have been avoided.
The entitlements are unsustainable.
Our interventionist foreign policy is wrong and costly.
We should get our troops out of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, as well as Germany, Japan, Korea….
He wants to cut the Pentagon budget in half.
He thinks there is too much un-needed regulation.
He wants to end the income tax.
He wants to close departments of Education, Energy, HUD and other non-Constitutional departments that do no good.
(Have you seen our kids test scores compared to other industrialized nations?)
He thinks the fed is causing inflation.
He wants each citizen to to be free to live their lives without somebody coercing them.
Legalize freedom, support Ron Paul.
Bubblehead on May 13 at 8:36 a.m.
I think you pretty much listed all the positions that make him fringe, @Rhodetrip. The “End the Fed” proposal is definitely the one that’s most out there, however. Returning to the gold standard (or any type of “commodity-backed currency”) would destroy the American economy through a deflationary spiral that would make the Panics of 1819, 1837, 1839, 1873, 1893, and the Great Depression look mild in comparison. We’d be reduced to a bartering economy. Of course, those who support Rep. Paul don’t seem like they’d mind us returning to the 19th century.
Arch_Druid on May 13 at 8:45 a.m.
“Rhodetrip,” Ron Paul is an (old) leftist trying to claim the GOP mantle. So, what’s the difference between regulations that you deem to see as burdensome and the law that assures a civil society and protects people during the course of carrying out business relationships? Quite frankly, I don’t see a difference between one and the other.
It is only because of the lack of regulations or the failure to enforce existing regulations that this country truly suffered an economic catastrophe. Ron Paul suffers from a severe short term memory loss if he thinks that ending regulations will make the situation in this country all hunky dory again. It won’t.
We don’t have a Cold War mission in Europe and Japan anymore, that might be one reason for bringing the troops home. However, is Paul the man for the job of telling Germany, South Korea, Japan that they are now totally on their own when it comes to terrorism and Communist North Korea? I doubt that he has the qualifications.
And just because you like the idea of legalizing narcotics does not mean that I can as a conservative agree with this sort of (old) leftist thinking. I find it amusing, but I also see such efforts as doing more harm than good. And by the way, freedom is already legal in this nation, you can make your opinions public, right?
As for Gingrich, this is one time that I have to agree with Bryan Fischer. Gingrich doesn’t have what it takes to be president.
nic on May 13 at 8:49 a.m.
“I wish someone at Hucks could list the exact positions of Dr. Paul that you think make him fringe.”
OK, how about this: “He wants to close departments of Education, Energy, HUD and other non-Constitutional departments that do no good. (Have you seen our kids test scores compared to other industrialized nations?)”
first: that they “do no good” is purely opinion.
second: what makes them “non-Constitutional?” The constitution doesn’t prohibit them.
third: If you eliminate public education, what do you think will happen to our test scores? Who’s going to educate these kids when both parents (in most homes) work and (in many homes) can’t afford private education?
finally: who do you think pays for education in those other industrialized nations?
Australia: free (contribution fees are voluntary).
Canada: free from 1st through 12th grades and Catholic schools are also state funded.
Denmark: Daycare, elementary, primary, and universities - all state funded. Zero tuition for attending state schools - including colleges. Private schools also receive state funding.
France: state funded from age 2 through college and post graduate studies.
Germany: Kindergarten charges tuition but from first grade through their equivalent of American HS is tuition free. They have transitional schools between HS and college that are mostly free. Public universities do charge admission fees but are cheap compared to American universities.
Brazil: All levels of education are free including post-secondary schools.
Ireland: Public schools are state funded and free. Private schools are also state funded but charges fees and is reserved for elite students only. The state pays private school teachers the same salary they do public school teachers.
Sweden: Primary, secondary, high school, and universities are ll state funded. None charge tuition, although some universities do charge students for the cost of books and housing. Private schools also receive state funding.
The argument that education should be privatized in the US because we’re outscored by other industrialized nations fails on every level.
Gary D Rhodes on May 13 at 9:11 a.m.
The above posts concerning someone that ACTUALLY wants to solve our looming insolvency crisis, says it all.
We are doomed.
The D’s want no cuts to the entitlements.
The R’s want no cuts to the Pentagon, and agree with Obama that we need to be the world’s policeman and continue the wars in various in Muslim nations.
nic, states will continue public education without federal money that comes with strings attached.
Bubble, the fed has caused the economic problems we now are experiencing.
Sure we all lived beyond our means on this gusher of money they printed, but the debt was just transferred to our kids.
nic on May 13 at 9:20 a.m.
Rhodes, you seem to believer that Ron Paul is the only one that wants to fix things. I believe that he does want to fix things, but I don’t believe that he’s the only one.
Just because someone has different ideas than Dr Paul doesn’t mean they are hellbent on destroying America.
nic on May 13 at 9:25 a.m.
“states will continue public education without federal money”
Really? Even bankrupt states like California?
Or states like Idaho where business interest trumps public interest? This past legislative session proves that Idaho lawmakers would gut education as long as they’ve got taxes to cut. If education wasn’t federally mandated, I’m sure Idaho would completely abandon public education.
nic on May 13 at 9:28 a.m.
And you still haven’t explained why departments of Education, Energy, HUD, et al are “non-Constitutional.”
They’re not prohibited in the constitution. Legislation has allowed them and made them legal. If you want to do away with that section of law, you’d have to do away with every revision to the constitution since the original 13 states ratified it. (which, from the writings of Ron Paul that I’ve read, sounds like what he wants to do)
eagleproducer on May 13 at 9:41 a.m.
It’s not so much that Ron Paul’s policy solutions are fringe, it’s that they don’t make sense with even cursory examination.
Take education. The complaint is that students in the U.S. are not receiving as high a quality of education as students in other nations and the solution is to remove funding and national standards. The reason those nations are whooping arse in education is because they fund education at higher rates and have national standards. Sheesh.
The nations mentioned which are whooping the U.S. is educational achievement also have mostly nationalized energy sectors. Again, the problem with our energy department is that it’s controlled by the very companies it is supposed to regulate. Access to electricity, phone and the internet are considered basic human rights in most of those nations, like health care.
The record shows that when socialism isn’t combined with authoritarianism that it works and produces healthier, better educated and more productive people. Less government is not the solution.
eagleproducer on May 13 at 9:46 a.m.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/160588/eleven-craziest-things-newt-gingrich-has-ever-said
Great stuff in that link!
This one is perhaps my favorite: “This is one of the great tragedies of the Bush administration. The more successful they’ve been at intercepting and stopping bad guys, the less proof there is that we’re in danger…. It’s almost like they should every once in a while have allowed an attack to get through just to remind us.” [At a book talk in Huntington, NY, April 2008]
Dennis on May 13 at 9:52 a.m.
“it’s that they don’t make sense with even cursory examination.”—ep
Of course they don’t make sense. The vast majority of intelligent people see that and go in to full blown ignore mode any time Pauls name is mentioned.
Unfortunately, a few ignorant twits have bought in to Pauls Koolaide sales. And the rest of us have to suffer through their uninformed, ignorant diatribes.
Gary D Rhodes on May 13 at 9:55 a.m.
The record shows that when socialism isn’t combined with authoritarianism that it works and produces healthier, better educated and more productive people. Less government is not the solution.>>>
That makes me wonder if you have noticed Europe lately.
Socialism, (top down management of people) works only so long.
Personal freedom and responsibility is the way of the future.
http://economicsnewspaper.com/policy/german/seriously-injured-during-riots-in-athens-europe-at-odds-over-greece-24195.html
nic on May 13 at 10:03 a.m.
“Personal freedom and responsibility is the way of the future.”
Sure, if we lived in a perfect world. Everybody should live with personal responsibility. However, you can’t govern personal responsibility.
If we were to set up a government like Ronulan utopian ideals, the average American would get trampled by greed and corruption. Corporate interest would take advantage of the noble idealists living out their freedom and responsibility.
Sure, you could say that the courts could handle issues where one person’s freedom is infringed, but without regulation or las governing those freedoms - the court is powerless to help. They’d be more overburdened than they are now. Litigation would be backlogged and strenuous. Such conditions would fail our constitutional right to speedy trials. Justice would no longer be blind, it would be gagged and hogtied.
nic on May 13 at 10:04 a.m.
las = laws
Gary D Rhodes on May 13 at 10:15 a.m.
Laws currently exist to protect our unalienable rights, and should be vigorously enforced.
As long as you harm nobody and honor contracts, you should be free to pursue happiness as you wish. IMO
Ron Paul understands that some will prosper and some will fail on their own merit and work ethic.
It is the statists (R’s and D’s) that promise they can deliver utopia.
Gary D Rhodes on May 13 at 10:38 a.m.
What folks that don’t follow the issue of libertarianism closely probably are missing is this;
libertarian philosophy is not a branch of the Republican Party.
It stands alone. You can not take a little here, and water something else down there.
It is complete freedom. What nature and God want for humans so they can learn and grow.
As RP says, he never compromises his principles, he only tries to build coalitions with like the minded.
He works with Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich, as well as freedom loving members of the R’s.(thankfully there are more in congress lately)
It is ALL about people being able to experience this world without coercion.
That is something that scares many, that nanny-government is not directing and helping out cradle to grave.
Freedom can be hard, but the rewards are great.
greenlibertarian on May 13 at 11:18 a.m.
Gingrich is an ethically challenged clown who at times appears intellectual but once anyone scratches his surface, his idiocy, duplicity, and hypocrisy is readily apparent.
Go Newt!
http://reason.com/archives/2011/03/14/why-gingrich-cant-win
BTW, Ron Paul can’t win either, despite his success at getting his minions to part with their (mostly) hard-earned money.
Gary D Rhodes on May 13 at 11:24 a.m.
Excluding green(not)libertarian, who has already weighed in, I invite anyone else to listen and comment on these issues.
“If you heard it on Fox news, forget it. It’s a lie. They want you to live in fear…..”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJqvYyOjF5g&feature=related
Dennis on May 13 at 11:26 a.m.
I didn’t watch the debate a while back that Ron Paul participated in. But one thing that struck me as I was flipping through the channels and came across the debate. Pauls image showed up and what struck was the goofy look on his face….. Kinda like he had dipping in to “Grandma’s Old Cough Medicine” just before he had walked on stage.
Now,,,, Who in their right mind would want to vote for someone like that?
Gary D Rhodes on May 13 at 11:39 a.m.
You’re right.
I sure wish he were talked like Fred Thompson and looked like Hugh Grant.