Gingrich: A gold medal in hypocrisy

[struggle4progress]

Posted at 10:00 AM ET, 11/29/2011
Gingrich: A gold medal in hypocrisy
By Jennifer Rubin

There a few things more distasteful about Newt Gingrich than his grotesque hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a quality not uncommon among pols, but Gingrich takes it to new levels. The man who was for the Libya war before he was against it, was for the individual mandate before he was against it, savaged Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan before he admired it, and snuggled up to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on global warming before he renounced her global warming fetish has no problem casting himself as the heroic, consistent conservative while criticizing his opponent Mitt Romney for his changes of mind.

And when it comes to excoriating lobbyists and special interests, no one tops the candidate from Big Pharm, Freddie Mac and the ethanol industry ...

But nothing quite tops his lecturing Herman Cain about adultery. Politico reports: “Newt Gingrich, who has been friendly with Herman Cain but who has suggested his opponent needs to deal with the drip-drip of allegations about his past, suggested the businessman needs to address the claims made by Ginger White. ‘It is something that Mr. Cain will have to settle with the country and talk to the country about,’ Gingrich told CNN’s John King, as relayed by Politico’s Juana Summers. ‘It is sad to see that level of pain brought out, but I think he’ll have to deal with it.’ ” Gag.

On this the commenters were priceless. “I would like Gingrich to address the nation about his past multiple affairs. Maybe Gingrich and Cain can do a joint press conference,” wrote one. Another: “Newt telling Cain to talk to the country. Yeah, like Newt ever has about himself being a serial adulterer....” And finally, like many of us, this commenter can barely hide disgust: “After all, Cain’s merely been accused of philandering, but Gingrich is known to have philandered with his current wife, and evidently that’s just the ticket to winning the Truer-than-thou-Conservatives’ ‘values’ votes.” ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/gingrich-a-gold-medal-in-hypocrisy/2011/11/29/gIQADKGg8N_blog.html